13 Dec
2014
13 Dec
'14
4:17 p.m.
(apologies to those on the DecTec list, looking to widen the audience)
I am struggling to surmount a problem installing Ultrix 4.5 from a CD-ROM
onto a DECstation 2100 (MIPS)
After choosing the type of installation (basic or advanced) it tries to
offer the system disk selection. However, it keeps failing because it is
detecting the CD-ROM drive and saying it has an invalid block size. I can
hear it spin up the hard disk that I want to install on, so it should be
finding a suitable hard disk, but it looks like it keeps choking on the
CD-ROM drive. I can't tell if it is failing to see the hard disk properly,
but when I tried NetBSD on the same disk, and in the same machine, it is
fine, so the hard disk shouldn't be the problem.
Any ideas on how to resolve this?
Thanks
Rob
13 Dec
13 Dec
4:23 p.m.
On 12/13/2014 04:17 PM, Robert Jarratt wrote:
After choosing the type of installation (basic or
advanced) it tries to
offer the system disk selection. However, it keeps failing because it is
detecting the CD-ROM drive and saying it has an invalid block size. I can
hear it spin up the hard disk that I want to install on, so it should be
finding a suitable hard disk, but it looks like it keeps choking on the
CD-ROM drive.
What SCSI IDs are you using for all these devices? Off the top of my
head I don't recall what DEC's convention was for the CD (I'd guess 6),
but I wonder if the fairly simple-minded installer thinks the ID you've
used for the CD is supposed to be used for HDD...
Good luck,
--Steve.
4:57 p.m.
On Sun, 14 Dec 2014, Robert Jarratt wrote:
After choosing the type of installation (basic or
advanced) it tries to
offer the system disk selection. However, it keeps failing because it is
detecting the CD-ROM drive and saying it has an invalid block size. I can
hear it spin up the hard disk that I want to install on, so it should be
finding a suitable hard disk, but it looks like it keeps choking on the
CD-ROM drive. I can't tell if it is failing to see the hard disk properly,
but when I tried NetBSD on the same disk, and in the same machine, it is
fine, so the hard disk shouldn't be the problem.
Any ideas on how to resolve this?
You need to have a CD-ROM drive that supports a 512-byte sector size and
set it in that mode -- supporting drives will have a jumper to select
between the usual 2kB and the 512b sector size.
HTH,
Maciej
4:58 p.m.
On Sun, 14 Dec 2014, Robert Jarratt wrote:
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 00:17:52 -0000
From: Robert Jarratt <robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com>
Reply-To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>
Subject: Problem Installing Ultrix on DECstation 2100
(apologies to those on the DecTec list, looking to widen the audience)
I am struggling to surmount a problem installing Ultrix 4.5 from a CD-ROM
onto a DECstation 2100 (MIPS)
After choosing the type of installation (basic or advanced) it tries to
offer the system disk selection. However, it keeps failing because it is
detecting the CD-ROM drive and saying it has an invalid block size. I can
hear it spin up the hard disk that I want to install on, so it should be
finding a suitable hard disk, but it looks like it keeps choking on the
CD-ROM drive. I can't tell if it is failing to see the hard disk properly,
but when I tried NetBSD on the same disk, and in the same machine, it is
fine, so the hard disk shouldn't be the problem.
Is it a DEC CD-ROM drive? I think the blocksize must be 512 bytes but generic
CD-ROM drive have a 2K? block size. Somes drives have a jumper that sets the
block size.
Any ideas on how to resolve this?
Thanks
Rob
Peter Wallace
Mesa Electronics
(\__/)
(='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your
(")_(") signature to help him gain world domination.
8:23 p.m.
I am pretty sure the DECstation 2100/3100 is old enough that it requires a
512 byte sector CD-ROM to boot and/or install properly. I find some of the
older DEC machines are kind of picky... using a genuine DEC RRD drive will
almost guarantee you to succeed; early CD-ROM drives from other workstation
vendors of the same era (i.e. Sun) are also good bets. Most drives you will
pull from Macs or PCs of the era are set up to do 2048 byte sectors and are
no good for booting the old workstations (though they may work as a simple
peripheral to read CD-ROMs after the fact).
In fact, exactly this sort of thing happened last time I loaded a
VAXstation 3100 (with VMS, but, same principle) over the summer... IIRC, I
tried to boot it with a Sun drive first (note: 512 byte sector drive!) and
it actually booted the miniroot OK, but it always would fail when trying to
restore the save set to the disk. It only worked all the way through once I
put the Sun drive away and started using a DEC RRD45. Use an AppleCD 300
(2048 byte sectors) and it won't even boot the miniroot. So, just an
example of exactly how picky they can be ;)
I kind of miss my old DECstation 2100/3100s... Had a few maybe 15 years
ago. I ran NetBSD on mine... they were slower than dirt but I always
enjoyed staring into that big old black hole of a monitor that was the
VR290 hooked up to it... and I just love that font that DEC used for text
mode. I didn't think of it as such at the time, but the machine is kind of
historically significant; I think it was one of the first MIPS based
machines to sell in real volume.
Best,
Sean
On Sat, Dec 13, 2014 at 7:58 PM, Peter C. Wallace <pcw at mesanet.com> wrote:
On Sun, 14 Dec 2014, Robert Jarratt wrote:
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 00:17:52 -0000
From: Robert Jarratt <robert.jarratt at
ntlworld.com>
Reply-To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <
cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Problem Installing Ultrix on DECstation 2100
(apologies to those on the DecTec list, looking to widen the audience)
I am struggling to surmount a problem installing Ultrix 4.5 from a CD-ROM
onto a DECstation 2100 (MIPS)
After choosing the type of installation (basic or advanced) it tries to
offer the system disk selection. However, it keeps failing because it is
detecting the CD-ROM drive and saying it has an invalid block size. I can
hear it spin up the hard disk that I want to install on, so it should be
finding a suitable hard disk, but it looks like it keeps choking on the
CD-ROM drive. I can't tell if it is failing to see the hard disk properly,
but when I tried NetBSD on the same disk, and in the same machine, it is
fine, so the hard disk shouldn't be the problem.
Is it a DEC CD-ROM drive? I think the blocksize must be 512 bytes but
generic CD-ROM drive have a 2K? block size. Somes drives have a jumper that
sets the block size.
Any ideas on how to resolve this?
Thanks
Rob
Peter Wallace
Mesa Electronics
(\__/)
(='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your
(")_(") signature to help him gain world domination.
11:13 p.m.
I should have mentioned that the CD-ROM drive I am using has the sector size jumper and I
have tried it both with and without the jumper setting with the same result. In fact
without the jumper I cannot even get it to do the initial boot off the CD. The other
suggestion is about the SCSI ID. Previously the CD-ROM was ID 0, I then tried ID 4 (which
was higher than the HDD).
I think I have two courses of action, from the suggestions I have had. First is to try a
completely different model of CD-ROM drive (I have an RRD42 somewhere), and the other is
to try some different SCSI IDs for the CD-ROM drive.
Thanks
Rob
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Sean Caron
Sent: 14 December 2014 04:23
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts; Sean Caron
Subject: Re: Problem Installing Ultrix on DECstation 2100
I am pretty sure the DECstation 2100/3100 is old enough that it requires a
512 byte sector CD-ROM to boot and/or install properly. I find some of the
older DEC machines are kind of picky... using a genuine DEC RRD drive will
almost guarantee you to succeed; early CD-ROM drives from other workstation
vendors of the same era (i.e. Sun) are also good bets. Most drives you will pull
from Macs or PCs of the era are set up to do 2048 byte sectors and are no good
for booting the old workstations (though they may work as a simple peripheral
to read CD-ROMs after the fact).
In fact, exactly this sort of thing happened last time I loaded a VAXstation 3100
(with VMS, but, same principle) over the summer... IIRC, I tried to boot it with a
Sun drive first (note: 512 byte sector drive!) and it actually booted the miniroot
OK, but it always would fail when trying to restore the save set to the disk. It
only worked all the way through once I put the Sun drive away and started
using a DEC RRD45. Use an AppleCD 300
(2048 byte sectors) and it won't even boot the miniroot. So, just an example of
exactly how picky they can be ;)
I kind of miss my old DECstation 2100/3100s... Had a few maybe 15 years ago. I
ran NetBSD on mine... they were slower than dirt but I always enjoyed staring
into that big old black hole of a monitor that was the
VR290 hooked up to it... and I just love that font that DEC used for text mode. I
didn't think of it as such at the time, but the machine is kind of historically
significant; I think it was one of the first MIPS based machines to sell in real
volume.
Best,
Sean
On Sat, Dec 13, 2014 at 7:58 PM, Peter C. Wallace <pcw at mesanet.com>
wrote:
On Sun, 14 Dec 2014, Robert Jarratt wrote:
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 00:17:52 -0000
> From: Robert Jarratt <robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com>
> Reply-To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
> <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <
> cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: Problem Installing Ultrix on DECstation 2100
>
>
> (apologies to those on the DecTec list, looking to widen the
> audience)
>
>
>
> I am struggling to surmount a problem installing Ultrix 4.5 from a
> CD-ROM onto a DECstation 2100 (MIPS)
>
> After choosing the type of installation (basic or advanced) it tries
> to offer the system disk selection. However, it keeps failing because
> it is detecting the CD-ROM drive and saying it has an invalid block
> size. I can hear it spin up the hard disk that I want to install on,
> so it should be finding a suitable hard disk, but it looks like it
> keeps choking on the CD-ROM drive. I can't tell if it is failing to
> see the hard disk properly, but when I tried NetBSD on the same disk,
> and in the same machine, it is fine, so the hard disk shouldn't be the
problem.
>>
>>
>
> Is it a DEC CD-ROM drive? I think the blocksize must be 512 bytes but
> generic CD-ROM drive have a 2K? block size. Somes drives have a jumper
> that sets the block size.
>
>
>>
>> Any ideas on how to resolve this?
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>>
>>
>> Rob
>>
>>
>>
>>
> Peter Wallace
> Mesa Electronics
>
> (\__/)
> (='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your
> (")_(") signature to help him gain world domination.
>
>
3443
days inactive
3443
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5 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
classiccmp＠crash.com -
macro＠linux-mips.org -
pcw＠mesanet.com -
robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com -
scaron＠umich.edu