No idea on the problem you're having with the SCSI controller, however, I think I can answer your VMS question. Since all you're wanting to do is test your hardware, you should be able to simply load VMS, and not actually need any License PAK's. It's only if you wanted to actually use the machine to do something that you would need the Licenses. Of course I'm not a Lawyer, and by doing this you might be violating something, I'm simply looking at it from the technical side of things.

Zane