Sorry for the delay replying, This ain't good. Your machine is failing the microcode self tests. A normal E-series machine on powerup does a quick series of tests. A normal sequence is to test the CPU and microcode data paths, then clear the register select LEDS and proceed to test all installed memory. While the memory test is running, the 16-bit display should increment at about 1 bit per second. Each time its incremented its detected and passed diags on 32K words. After passing the memory test, the machice should only have 1 register select LED lit. Only after passing all these tests does it enter the usual alter-memory-and-registers 'front pannel' mode. So, why does your machine fail self test? Several things might be wrong here... 1. No memory installed. Check to see that a memory controller (2102B or 2102E) is installed in the front backplane, bottom slot. Check that a memory ribbon cable connects the left-hand edge fingers of the memory controller to one or more memory boards located in any of the slots just above the memory controller. Jumpers matter too, but these depend on what sorts of memory your using. Check that the top 3 slots hold the DCPC, Memory Protect, and MEM boards (from top down), and that the DCPC ribbon cable is connected (not needed at this point, but if its not set up right then who knows whats been done to the machine before you got it). Note I did not list bad memory installed, as that gives a very different failure mode. 2. Power supply problems. Check the DC voltages at the top of the interconnect board. This is located above the front memory and rear I/O backplanes. Remove the screw at the top rear of the chassis, and slide the top cover off the machine to the rear and the interconnect ('cross-over') board is visible and well-marked as to the correct voltages. Your memory supply voltage may be missing. Note, sometimes the power supply can deliver the correct voltages and ~look~ good, but fail to generate the power good signals that start up the microengine. This failure would look very much like what you describe. 3. Bad CPU board or blown microcode ROMs. Hope its not this. But if it is, parts are available. I have a number of E-series machines and I know their hardware fairly well. I'm sure we can get this machine running for you. I can also help you out with software, etc once its up and running. Feel free to give me a detailed description of the machine and its configuration off-list, and we'll sort it out. If all else fails, you can sell/trade me the machine as a parts machine! I'll be keeping some E-series HP's running for a long long time to come, and I'm always looking for more parts or full machines. A small, portable HP programming language / operating system is soon to be released as Freeware that will run very well on an E-series machine, so even if you only have a CPU and no peripherals, its still something you can get running and play with. Will Jennings wrote: