5 Sep
1999
5 Sep
'99
8:58 a.m.
I've got a KA650 and RAM boards thanks to my last haul, I believe it's the
kind they sold to upgrade a MicroVAX II to a MicroVAX III. Anyway I'm
wondering if they needed their own Cab Kit, or can use the MV2 Cab Kit.
I pulled the board set out of the BA123, and swapped it with a MV2 board
set in a Sigma Rack mount chassis, unfortunatly the system seems to be
having problems. Another thought would be the RQDX3 revision as I didn't
swap them.
Also is there a writeup anywhere on what the various tests are as it counts
down?
Zane
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5 Sep
5 Sep
9:53 a.m.
I've got a KA650 and RAM boards thanks to my last
haul, I believe it's the
kind they sold to upgrade a MicroVAX II to a MicroVAX III. Anyway I'm
wondering if they needed their own Cab Kit, or can use the MV2 Cab Kit.
I pulled the board set out of the BA123, and swapped it with a MV2 board
set in a Sigma Rack mount chassis, unfortunatly the system seems to be
having problems. Another thought would be the RQDX3 revision as I didn't
swap them.
OK, I'll be bad and reply to my own message. Just booted the system, the
problem is the TK50 controller. So, now I'm wondering if the version of
the ROMs on the TQK50 makes any difference.
Gonna be a bit of a pain if I've got to downgrade the system to a MV2 if I
want to put a modern version of VMS on it.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
4:05 p.m.
New subject: Never Mind: MicroVAX 3
I solved my problem. Moved the TQK50 to the next row after the RQDX3,
instead of beside it and it works fine. Don't quite understand that, since
I'm positive I had the RQDX3 and TQK50 in the exact same spot with the
KA650 board set as they'd been with the KA630 board set, and I saw it
working in that config.
Does a system care if you've got a grant continuity board in a spot that
you shouldn't have a board? It seems to me that it should.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
6 Sep
6 Sep
7:30 a.m.
New subject: Never Mind: MicroVAX 3
Zane H. Healy wrote:
I solved my problem. Moved the TQK50 to the next row
after the RQDX3,
instead of beside it and it works fine. Don't quite understand that, since
I'm positive I had the RQDX3 and TQK50 in the exact same spot with the
KA650 board set as they'd been with the KA630 board set, and I saw it
working in that config.
Does a system care if you've got a grant continuity board in a spot that
you shouldn't have a board? It seems to me that it should.
Jerome Fine replies:
I saw some of the configurations and at first glance, it does seem as
if the Sigma backplane is "ABCD" all the way. However, one method
of testing that without taking any chances may be to add a few more boards
to the "AB" side all the way down and see if they still function. If only the
first 4 slots are "ABCD" and the 5th slot starts the "ABAB", then the
second
part of the 5th slot will require a bust grant to allow any interrupts to get to the
CPU. If the 5th and 6th slots and both "ABCD", then putting a single bus
grant card in the "AB" side of the 5th slot will allow the 6th slot to
function.
Suggestion: Put a bus grant card in the 5th "AB" slot and move the TK50
(or the RQDX3 - actually, I suggest it be the RQDX3 since you will not
even be able to boot and you will find out immediately) down to the 6th
slot. Tim, is this suggestion a safe way to find out? In general when doing
such testing, look for a safe way to test so that if you are making an
incorrect assumption, nothing will be damaged - it just will not work.
If the first 6 slots are all "ABCD", then probably the rest are as well. If
the Sigma box is running a uVAX II (or higher), I believe that "ABCD"
slots are required for the CPU and the memory. Tim is that correct -
I don't have any uVAX systems? But I do have ONE SMS Qbus box
which I believe is "ABAB" starting with the first slot and ran a dual
11/73 with memory beside it - if I remember correctly.
ALSO, I am about to try out (if I can get a degausser) some TK50 tapes
in a TK70. But I want to be able to have both the TK50 and a TK70
tape drive on line. I have done a SYSGEN and the MUX.SYS device driver
allows two devices, (MU0: and MU1:), but I don't have the dip switch
settings for alternate CSR values. Can anyone help? PLEASE?
Sincerely yours,
Jerome Fine
9:16 a.m.
I'm using a KA650 in a MicroVAX II cabinet w/no problems. I forget
the magic name for it, it is the 1' x 2' x 2.5' cabinet on wheels.
I just pulled the KA630 and RAM out, put the KA650 (w/ new RAM) in,
plugged in the old cab kit and it ran fine (except having to
recompile Ultrix to recognize the new CPU). The VMS FAQ says the
same cab kit was used with the KA630, KA650, and KA655 boards.
You did use the KA650 RAM didn't you? I believe the PMI connectors
don't line up very well if you goof.
I also recall something about a problem with certain older 3rd party
boards. IIRC the QBus interface chip on the KA650 had a bug in it
(that DEC refused to acknowledge... Deliberate bug perhaps) that
caused problems with 3rd party boards, specifically the TSV05 tape
controller, but might be more.
But, to answer your question, no, I don't know of a writeup on the
KA650 POST numbers... Sorry....
clint
PS I have a working system here running Ultrix... If you want to
send me your boards, I can swap them with mine and see if one is
bad.
On Sun, 5 Sep 1999, Zane H. Healy wrote:
I've got a KA650 and RAM boards thanks to my last
haul, I believe it's the
kind they sold to upgrade a MicroVAX II to a MicroVAX III. Anyway I'm
wondering if they needed their own Cab Kit, or can use the MV2 Cab Kit.
I pulled the board set out of the BA123, and swapped it with a MV2 board
set in a Sigma Rack mount chassis, unfortunatly the system seems to be
having problems. Another thought would be the RQDX3 revision as I didn't
swap them.
Also is there a writeup anywhere on what the various tests are as it counts
down?
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
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days inactive
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days old
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