19 Jul
2019
19 Jul
'19
7:52 p.m.
I pulled my Pro380 out of storage after getting a replacement
VR201 monitor. I connected it all together and on powerup I
get the following display:
http://www.dittman.net/pro380/screen.jpg
The tech manual says this is an error from slot 1 (the hard
drive controller) and the error is "Non-existent memory trap
occurred for longer than 20 seconds".
I reseated all the cards. I noticed three ICs are missing on
the hard drive controller but I don't know if they are empty
or someone removed the ICs (I can't remember where I got this
system). I can't find a picture of the controller to compare.
The missing ICs can be seen here:
http://www.dittman.net/pro380/missingics.jpg
These are the installed option cards:
http://www.dittman.net/pro380/cards.jpg
Any ideas?
--
Eric Dittman
23 Jul
23 Jul
5:45 p.m.
On Jul 19, 2019, at 10:52 PM, Eric Dittman via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I pulled my Pro380 out of storage after getting a replacement
VR201 monitor. I connected it all together and on powerup I
get the following display:
http://www.dittman.net/pro380/screen.jpg
The tech manual says this is an error from slot 1 (the hard
drive controller) and the error is "Non-existent memory trap
occurred for longer than 20 seconds".
I reseated all the cards. I noticed three ICs are missing on
the hard drive controller but I don't know if they are empty
or someone removed the ICs (I can't remember where I got this
system). I can't find a picture of the controller to compare.
The missing ICs can be seen here:
http://www.dittman.net/pro380/missingics.jpg
That's normal. I have a working 380 (well, last time I powered it up) and it has the
same three empty sockets as yours.
The description of the error code isn't very clear. It might mean that the card is
detected (slot present register says there is a card) but the attempts to read the card ID
code and associated selftest ROM failed. That would explain why the second line is 177776
rather than the card ID (000401).
You might need to clean the connector contacts (connector and backplane) and also check
for damaged contacts.
paul
25 Jul
25 Jul
7:46 p.m.
On 7/23/2019 7:45 PM, Paul Koning wrote:
Okay, I looked at the slot and it looks like one of the first pins is
missing:
https://www.dittman.net/pro380/pro380missingpin.jpg
I removed the HD controller and it fails to boot from floppy as well.
The error codes change but seem to point to the RX50 drive being bad.
I had another Pro380 but it's come up missing so I can't swap parts.
I guess I'll keep an eye out for another one.
--
Eric Dittman
On Jul 19, 2019, at 10:52 PM, Eric Dittman via
cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I pulled my Pro380 out of storage after getting a replacement
VR201 monitor. I connected it all together and on powerup I
get the following display:
http://www.dittman.net/pro380/screen.jpg
The tech manual says this is an error from slot 1 (the hard
drive controller) and the error is "Non-existent memory trap
occurred for longer than 20 seconds".
I reseated all the cards. I noticed three ICs are missing on
the hard drive controller but I don't know if they are empty
or someone removed the ICs (I can't remember where I got this
system). I can't find a picture of the controller to compare.
The missing ICs can be seen here:
http://www.dittman.net/pro380/missingics.jpg
That's normal. I have a working 380 (well, last time I powered it up) and it has the
same three empty sockets as yours.
The description of the error code isn't very clear. It might mean that the card is
detected (slot present register says there is a card) but the attempts to read the card ID
code and associated selftest ROM failed. That would explain why the second line is 177776
rather than the card ID (000401).
You might need to clean the connector contacts (connector and backplane) and also check
for damaged contacts. 
26 Jul
26 Jul
6:55 a.m.
On Thu, Jul 25, 2019 at 10:46 PM Eric Dittman via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:> >> I pulled my Pro380 out of
storage...
Okay, I looked at the slot and it looks like one of the first pins is
missing:
https://www.dittman.net/pro380/pro380missingpin.jpg
Bummer. I have a floppy controller that had the wiper in the ZIF
socket fail so it won't unclamp all the pins to slide down the
backplane slot. I suppose you need what I need - a dead board to
steal the connector from. There are short and long connectors - so
far, I see the short connectors on I/O cards and long connectors on
memory and video cards. I haven't dug into the reference manual deep
enough to see the signal differences.
I removed the HD controller and it fails to boot from
floppy as well.
The error codes change but seem to point to the RX50 drive being bad.
I've had 1 or 2 RX50 drives go out over the years. They are
essentially unrepairable outside of simple mechanical failures (broken
door latches mostly).
I had another Pro380 but it's come up missing so I
can't swap parts.
I guess I'll keep an eye out for another one.
I only have one Pro380 (a former console for our VAX8530 from the 90s)
but I've been able to borrow test parts from a Pro350. Unfortunately,
I have fewer full-sets of cards than I have boxes (classic N-1
problem). I seem to have a lot of memory cards and only one extra
bitplane (color graphics) card. I think I have one wonky primary
video card (garbage video) and one RX50 controller with a broken ZIF
connector.
20 years ago, it was easy to find cheap/free Pro350 pickups. I
haven't seen Professional boxes in the wild in quite some time, and I
don't remember anyone selling loose cards. Perhaps they did but they
weren't visible about it.
-ethan
2022
days inactive
2028
days old
3 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
-
dittman＠dittman.net -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
paulkoning＠comcast.net