25 Sep
2013
25 Sep
'13
5:17 p.m.
Some posting on another list gave me a hankering for wanting to try to
get the old AIX for x86/PS2 systems running in a VM.
I have two old Floppy disks (3.5") labelled AIX BOOT and AIX INSTALL
... the BOOT disk boots but doesn't give an option for installing from
the install disk.
The install disk doesn't really seem to boot.
I assume there are more than just these two disks to get the OS
running. Anyone out there have a source?
--
-Jon
Jonathan Katz, Indianapolis, IN.
25 Sep
25 Sep
5:55 p.m.
On Sep 25, 2013, at 5:17 PM, Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> wrote:
Some posting on another list gave me a hankering for
wanting to try to
get the old AIX for x86/PS2 systems running in a VM.
I have two old Floppy disks (3.5") labelled AIX BOOT and AIX INSTALL
... the BOOT disk boots but doesn't give an option for installing from
the install disk.
The install disk doesn't really seem to boot.
I assume there are more than just these two disks to get the OS
running. Anyone out there have a source?
Damn. That takes me back. ;-) I worked on AIX PS/2 for a number of years
(from before it was a real product until just before IBM stopped active
development on it).
The full set was ~53 diskettes as I recall. I can't remember how many cases
of diskettes I ended up with since each build was delivered as a set of diskettes.
As I also recall we had to do some interesting things because the kernel didn't
fit on a single diskette. You'd boot the first one and then it would pause waiting
for the second one to finish loading in the kernel.
There were some "interesting" features. Mainly because it shared a lot with
AIX/370. You could set up a "cluster" of machines (could be a mix of PS/2s
and 370s). We found the easiest way to install a machine was to have one
running a cluster (of 1) and then booting a new machine and have it join the
cluster. All systems in a cluster keep their file systems in sync, so a new
machine joining the cluster is "out of sync" and is automatically sync'd to
the
cluster (this happened remarkably quickly). You could then break the cluster
and remove the newly installed machine from the cluster and use it standalone
(or use it to create a new cluster).
Last time I had anything to do with it was ~1992/3.
TTFN - Guy
26 Sep
26 Sep
4:49 a.m.
On Wed, 25 Sep 2013, Guy Sotomayor wrote:
On Sep 25, 2013, at 5:17 PM, Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> wrote:
How hardware-specific was it? Is there a chance of it running in a VM?
--
Some posting on another list gave me a hankering
for wanting to try to
get the old AIX for x86/PS2 systems running in a VM.
I have two old Floppy disks (3.5") labelled AIX BOOT and AIX INSTALL
... the BOOT disk boots but doesn't give an option for installing from
the install disk.
The install disk doesn't really seem to boot.
I assume there are more than just these two disks to get the OS
running. Anyone out there have a source?
Damn. That takes me back. ;-) I worked on AIX PS/2 for a number of years
(from before it was a real product until just before IBM stopped active
development on it).
The full set was ~53 diskettes as I recall. I can't remember how many cases
of diskettes I ended up with since each build was delivered as a set of diskettes.
5:13 a.m.
On 26 Sep 2013, at 13:49 , Steven Hirsch <snhirsch at gmail.com> wrote:
How hardware-specific was it? Is there a chance of it
running in a VM?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aixps2.gif>
.tsooJ
--
When the revolution comes, you will be first against the wall.
--
Joost van de Griek
<http://www.jvdg.net/>
5:43 a.m.
http://www.supervinx.com/Retrocomputer/IBM/8595/AJF/index.html
At the bottom you can find some screenshots of a PS?2 installation.
Not tried on a VM yet...
Regards
--
Vincenzo (aka Supervinx)
--==ooOoo==--
My computer collection:
http://www.supervinx.com/Retrocomputer
--==ooOoo==--
You can reach me at:
www.supervinx.com
www.facebook.com/supervinx
http://www.youtube.com/user/supervinx
http://www.myspace.com/supervinx
6:49 a.m.
On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 8:13 AM, Joost van de Griek <gyorpb at gmail.com> wrote:
"Challenge Accepted!"
I'm playing with VirtualBox but not getting anywhere. Kernel will
load, install disk 1 will load, but depending upon my setup (ESDI boot
disk with IDE controller, or SCSI boot disk with SCSI controller) I
get to different places. With ESDI/IDE combo I get to a "broken"
single-user shell that doesn't have a filesystem at all. With the SCSI
setup I get errors about lack of token ring, lack of devices, and it
halts/panics.
I'm wondering if the Virtual PC setup in the screenshot had some of
the more specific devices emulated (or patched through) which the
kernel is looking for (model of SCSI controller, etc.)
I bumped the RAM down to 32M and have a 1GB virtual disk.
How
hardware-specific was it? Is there a chance of it running in a VM?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aixps2.gif> 
6:56 a.m.
I tried it under QEMU and it failed when trying to use the install disk
-- it would reboot and tell me it wasn't a bootable disk, or on the
INstall0024 disk it would just hang at reboot :(
On 09/26/2013 09:49 AM, Jonathan Katz wrote:
On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 8:13 AM, Joost van de Griek
<gyorpb at gmail.com> wrote:
"Challenge
Accepted!"
I'm playing with VirtualBox but not getting anywhere. Kernel will
load, install disk 1 will load, but depending upon my setup (ESDI boot
disk with IDE controller, or SCSI boot disk with SCSI controller) I
get to different places. With ESDI/IDE combo I get to a "broken"
single-user shell that doesn't have a filesystem at all. With the SCSI
setup I get errors about lack of token ring, lack of devices, and it
halts/panics.
I'm wondering if the Virtual PC setup in the screenshot had some of
the more specific devices emulated (or patched through) which the
kernel is looking for (model of SCSI controller, etc.)
I bumped the RAM down to 32M and have a 1GB virtual disk.
How
hardware-specific was it? Is there a chance of it running in a VM?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aixps2.gif>
8:24 a.m.
On Sep 26, 2013, at 6:49 AM, Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> wrote:
On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 8:13 AM, Joost van de Griek
<gyorpb at gmail.com> wrote:
"Challenge Accepted!"
I'm playing with VirtualBox but not getting anywhere. Kernel will
load, install disk 1 will load, but depending upon my setup (ESDI boot
disk with IDE controller, or SCSI boot disk with SCSI controller) I
get to different places. With ESDI/IDE combo I get to a "broken"
single-user shell that doesn't have a filesystem at all. With the SCSI
setup I get errors about lack of token ring, lack of devices, and it
halts/panics.
I'm wondering if the Virtual PC setup in the screenshot had some of
the more specific devices emulated (or patched through) which the
kernel is looking for (model of SCSI controller, etc.)
I bumped the RAM down to 32M and have a 1GB virtual disk.
It's going to be a real challenge...it's likely that you'd have to add a lot
of support to the VM for the disks. The ESDI and SCSI subsystems
were not anything like what the rest of the PC industry did in that space.
I don't remember exactly what the ESDI interface looked like except
that it provided an LBA interface. I don't recall what it did about bad
blocks.
The SCSI interface was based upon IBM's SCB (sub-system control
block) architecture. There were some "funnies" in the SCSI interface
but it followed the SCB model. All control blocks were built in memory
and you gave the HW the address of the first control block to start with.
The control blocks could be chained and you could specify which
control blocks would generate interrupts when they completed. All status
and error information was also contained within the control blocks.
TTFN - Guy
How
hardware-specific was it? Is there a chance of it running in a VM?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aixps2.gif>
8:34 a.m.
OK, I'll give up. However, that screenshot which someone had from
"virtual PC" was interesting. Maybe I'll ferret that guy out.
On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 11:24 AM, Guy Sotomayor <ggs at shiresoft.com> wrote:
On Sep 26, 2013, at 6:49 AM, Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> wrote:
--
-Jon
Jonathan Katz, Indianapolis, IN.
On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 8:13 AM, Joost van de
Griek <gyorpb at gmail.com> wrote:
"Challenge Accepted!"
I'm playing with VirtualBox but not getting anywhere. Kernel will
load, install disk 1 will load, but depending upon my setup (ESDI boot
disk with IDE controller, or SCSI boot disk with SCSI controller) I
get to different places. With ESDI/IDE combo I get to a "broken"
single-user shell that doesn't have a filesystem at all. With the SCSI
setup I get errors about lack of token ring, lack of devices, and it
halts/panics.
I'm wondering if the Virtual PC setup in the screenshot had some of
the more specific devices emulated (or patched through) which the
kernel is looking for (model of SCSI controller, etc.)
I bumped the RAM down to 32M and have a 1GB virtual disk.
It's going to be a real challenge...it's likely that you'd have to add a lot
of support to the VM for the disks. The ESDI and SCSI subsystems
were not anything like what the rest of the PC industry did in that space.
I don't remember exactly what the ESDI interface looked like except
that it provided an LBA interface. I don't recall what it did about bad
blocks.
The SCSI interface was based upon IBM's SCB (sub-system control
block) architecture. There were some "funnies" in the SCSI interface
but it followed the SCB model. All control blocks were built in memory
and you gave the HW the address of the first control block to start with.
The control blocks could be chained and you could specify which
control blocks would generate interrupts when they completed. All status
and error information was also contained within the control blocks.
TTFN - Guy
How
hardware-specific was it? Is there a chance of it running in a VM?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aixps2.gif>
8:52 a.m.
On Sep 26, 2013, at 8:34 AM, Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> wrote:
OK, I'll give up. However, that screenshot which
someone had from
"virtual PC" was interesting. Maybe I'll ferret that guy out.
After I stopped working on AIX PS/2, I recall that there was some effort
to make it run on AT class machines. At this point I don't know if that
ever was shipped or what version (it could have been after 1.3) it was.
On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 11:24 AM, Guy Sotomayor <ggs at shiresoft.com> wrote:
On Sep 26, 2013, at 6:49 AM, Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> wrote:
--
-Jon
Jonathan Katz, Indianapolis, IN. On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 8:13 AM, Joost van de
Griek <gyorpb at gmail.com> wrote:
It's going to be a real challenge...it's likely that you'd have to add a lot
of support to the VM for the disks. The ESDI and SCSI subsystems
were not anything like what the rest of the PC industry did in that space.
I don't remember exactly what the ESDI interface looked like except
that it provided an LBA interface. I don't recall what it did about bad
blocks.
The SCSI interface was based upon IBM's SCB (sub-system control
block) architecture. There were some "funnies" in the SCSI interface
but it followed the SCB model. All control blocks were built in memory
and you gave the HW the address of the first control block to start with.
The control blocks could be chained and you could specify which
control blocks would generate interrupts when they completed. All status
and error information was also contained within the control blocks.
TTFN - Guy
> How hardware-specific was it? Is there a
chance of it running in a VM?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aixps2.gif>
"Challenge Accepted!"
I'm playing with VirtualBox but not getting anywhere. Kernel will
load, install disk 1 will load, but depending upon my setup (ESDI boot
disk with IDE controller, or SCSI boot disk with SCSI controller) I
get to different places. With ESDI/IDE combo I get to a "broken"
single-user shell that doesn't have a filesystem at all. With the SCSI
setup I get errors about lack of token ring, lack of devices, and it
halts/panics.
I'm wondering if the Virtual PC setup in the screenshot had some of
the more specific devices emulated (or patched through) which the
kernel is looking for (model of SCSI controller, etc.)
I bumped the RAM down to 32M and have a 1GB virtual disk. 
8:51 a.m.
On 26 September 2013 14:49, Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> wrote:
I bumped the RAM down to 32M and have a 1GB virtual
disk.
For one thing, a gigabyte was an impossibly-large disk for the era.
330MB was vast back then; 520MB was a ceiling even in about 1993/1994
as it required more than the maximum number of cylinders/heads/tracks
that some BIOS INT 0x11 implementations could handle.
I'd try 256MB or so.
The screenshot shows it working on VirtualPC. That's still around and
it's a free download - but you'll have to host it on Windows, and
Windows <= 7 on bare metal, not in a VM.
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven
Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884
9:03 a.m.
On Sep 26, 2013, at 8:51 AM, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
On 26 September 2013 14:49, Jonathan Katz <jon at
jonworld.com> wrote:
No we ran bigger disks than that. INT 0x13 (the BIOS disk interface)
did have a limit of 512MB (my fault actually) but for AIX PS/2 it only
required that the boot block and kernel be located within that range.
Once the kernel was running, it could access as much as the HW would
support and didn't use BIOS for anything.
TTFN - Guy
I bumped the RAM down to 32M and have a 1GB
virtual disk.
For one thing, a gigabyte was an impossibly-large disk for the era.
330MB was vast back then; 520MB was a ceiling even in about 1993/1994
as it required more than the maximum number of cylinders/heads/tracks
that some BIOS INT 0x11 implementations could handle.
I'd try 256MB or so.
The screenshot shows it working on VirtualPC. That's still around and
it's a free download - but you'll have to host it on Windows, and
Windows <= 7 on bare metal, not in a VM.
11:08 a.m.
On 26 September 2013 17:03, Guy Sotomayor <ggs at shiresoft.com> wrote:
No we ran bigger disks than that. INT 0x13 (the BIOS
disk interface)
did have a limit of 512MB (my fault actually) but for AIX PS/2 it only
required that the boot block and kernel be located within that range.
Once the kernel was running, it could access as much as the HW would
support and didn't use BIOS for anything.
OK, I defer, but do bear in mind that the snapshot I found might not
be the final version, it may have required specific disk controllers
found in PS/2s that VirtualPC can't emulate, and lots more
opportunities for things to go pear-shaped. :?)
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven
Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884
8:15 a.m.
On Sep 26, 2013, at 4:49 AM, Steven Hirsch <snhirsch at gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, 25 Sep 2013, Guy Sotomayor wrote:
It was *very* HW specific. The only disk interfaces were the PS/2 ESDI card and
two of the PS/2 SCSI cards ("spock" and "tribble"). I wrote all of
the SCSI subsystem
code.
The text console code was VGA specific (I wrote the initial version...modified
heavily later).
TTFN - Guy
On Sep 25, 2013, at 5:17 PM, Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> wrote:
How hardware-specific was it? Is there a chance of it running in a VM? Some posting on another list gave me a hankering
for wanting to try to
get the old AIX for x86/PS2 systems running in a VM.
I have two old Floppy disks (3.5") labelled AIX BOOT and AIX INSTALL
... the BOOT disk boots but doesn't give an option for installing from
the install disk.
The install disk doesn't really seem to boot.
I assume there are more than just these two disks to get the OS
running. Anyone out there have a source?
Damn. That takes me back. ;-) I worked on AIX PS/2 for a number of years
(from before it was a real product until just before IBM stopped active
development on it).
The full set was ~53 diskettes as I recall. I can't remember how many cases
of diskettes I ended up with since each build was delivered as a set of diskettes. 
27 Sep
27 Sep
3:21 p.m.
On 09/26/2013 10:15 AM, Guy Sotomayor wrote:
On Sep 26, 2013, at 4:49 AM, Steven Hirsch <snhirsch at gmail.com> wrote:
Hmm... how do I know if I have a spock or tribble board, vs. something
else? Do you happen to know the part numbers?
I hauled a PS/2 65sx out of a dumpster a few weeks ago (using more modern
PCs as stepping stones to reach it) and it's got a SCSI board and a 60MB
drive fitted - putting AIX on it (assuming that AIX is OK with that
particular model, and 6MB of RAM is enough) might be fun.
Currently it halts with 161 & 163 errors, which I think is down to a dead
CMOS battery, but hopefully if I fix that then it will be happy (of course
I've no idea yet what's on the hard disk - assuming that the drive isn't
dead - so for all I know it's got AIX on there already :-)
cheers
Jules
On Wed, 25 Sep 2013, Guy Sotomayor wrote:
It was *very* HW specific. The only disk interfaces were the PS/2 ESDI card and
two of the PS/2 SCSI cards ("spock" and "tribble"). I wrote all of
the SCSI subsystem
code.
On Sep 25, 2013, at 5:17 PM, Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> wrote:
How hardware-specific was it? Is there a chance of it running in a VM? Some posting on another list gave me a hankering
for wanting to try to
get the old AIX for x86/PS2 systems running in a VM.
I have two old Floppy disks (3.5") labelled AIX BOOT and AIX INSTALL
... the BOOT disk boots but doesn't give an option for installing from
the install disk.
The install disk doesn't really seem to boot.
I assume there are more than just these two disks to get the OS
running. Anyone out there have a source?
Damn. That takes me back. ;-) I worked on AIX PS/2 for a number of years
(from before it was a real product until just before IBM stopped active
development on it).
The full set was ~53 diskettes as I recall. I can't remember how many cases
of diskettes I ended up with since each build was delivered as a set of diskettes.
4:09 p.m.
On Sep 27, 2013, at 3:21 PM, Jules Richardson <jules.richardson99 at gmail.com>
wrote:
On 09/26/2013 10:15 AM, Guy Sotomayor wrote:
"spock" = IBM PS/2 Micro Channel SCSI adapter with cache: FRU 85F0063. You can
tell because it has 2 memory dimms (simms) on the board.
I haven't been able to find any information on "tribble". It's
basically the same adapter without the cache.
It was *very* HW specific. The only disk interfaces were the PS/2 ESDI card and
two of the PS/2 SCSI cards ("spock" and "tribble"). I wrote all of
the SCSI subsystem
code.
Hmm... how do I know if I have a spock or tribble board, vs. something else? Do you
happen to know the part numbers?
I hauled a PS/2 65sx out of a dumpster a few weeks ago (using more modern PCs as stepping
stones to reach it) and it's got a SCSI board and a 60MB drive fitted - putting AIX on
it (assuming that AIX is OK with that particular model, and 6MB of RAM is enough) might be
fun.
I can't remember if the 65sx was MCA or ISA. You'll have a problem if it's
ISA.
Currently it halts with 161 & 163 errors, which I think is down to a dead CMOS
battery, but hopefully if I fix that then it will be happy (of course I've no idea yet
what's on the hard disk - assuming that the drive isn't dead - so for all I know
it's got AIX on there already :-)
Probably either Windows or OS/2.
TTFN - Guy
4:51 p.m.
On 09/27/2013 06:09 PM, Guy Sotomayor wrote:
Most likely. OS/2 would be quite nice, actually; the closest I ever got to
it was using its boot manager circa 1993 to dual-boot a Linux and MS-DOS
machine, but I've never played around with the OS itself.
I've just hacked away at the Dallas RTC chip and grafted a new battery onto
the top - I'll know in a moment if it works...
thanks,
Jules
On Sep 27, 2013, at 3:21 PM, Jules Richardson
<jules.richardson99 at gmail.com> wrote:
This one has no cache. IBM FRU 15F6561. It's mentioned here:
http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohlandl/IBM_SCSI/scsi-A.html#SCSI
... which given the 'location' column in the table, seems to suggest that
it is indeed a tribble board. (Mine has the 64F1368 firmware).
On 09/26/2013 10:15 AM, Guy Sotomayor wrote:
"spock" = IBM PS/2 Micro Channel SCSI adapter with cache: FRU 85F0063.
You can tell because it has 2 memory dimms (simms) on the board.
I haven't been able to find any information on "tribble". It's
basically the same adapter without the cache.
It was *very* HW specific. The only disk interfaces were the PS/2
ESDI card and two of the PS/2 SCSI cards ("spock" and "tribble"). I
wrote all of the SCSI subsystem code.
Hmm... how do I know if I have a spock or tribble board, vs. something
else? Do you happen to know the part numbers? Currently it
halts with 161 & 163 errors, which I think is down to a
dead CMOS battery, but hopefully if I fix that then it will be happy
(of course I've no idea yet what's on the hard disk - assuming that
the drive isn't dead - so for all I know it's got AIX on there already
:-)
Probably either Windows or OS/2.
6:04 p.m.
On 09/27/2013 06:51 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:
I've just hacked away at the Dallas RTC chip and
grafted a new battery onto
the top - I'll know in a moment if it works...
Well, it's promising on the battery front, but then the setup floppy (which
was in the machine when I found it) went bad. I wrote a new one from a
downloaded image, but then the machine suddenly coughed up a memory error
during a power cycle. Maybe it's cursed.
If they're just plain 'ol 72-pin simms, I *may* have a generic x86 PC which
uses them, and which I can borrow from. I'll try reseating what's in there
first though, just to be sure.
cheers
Jules
11:44 p.m.
Il giorno ven, 27/09/2013 alle 20.04 -0500, Jules Richardson ha scritto:
On 09/27/2013 06:51 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:
Parity simms...
I've just hacked away at the Dallas RTC chip
and grafted a new battery onto
the top - I'll know in a moment if it works...
Well, it's promising on the battery front, but then the setup floppy (which
was in the machine when I found it) went bad. I wrote a new one from a
downloaded image, but then the machine suddenly coughed up a memory error
during a power cycle. Maybe it's cursed.
If they're just plain 'ol 72-pin simms, I *may* have a generic x86 PC which
uses them, and which I can borrow from. I'll try reseating what's in there
first though, just to be sure.
cheers
Jules
28 Sep
28 Sep
12:47 a.m.
On Fri, 27 Sep 2013, Jules Richardson wrote:
On 09/27/2013 06:51 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:
Depending on the memory board, the 72-pin simms could be. 30-pin simms on
IBM memory boards aren't (special module size sense contact arrangement).
You might try cleaning the contacts on the simms with IPA before you try
swapping them though. I found that 9 times out of 10 that would take care
of things. I still clean memory module contacts for this reason, and it
really does make systems more reliable. Even brand new modules can have
dirt and oils on their contacts.
I've just hacked away at the Dallas RTC chip
and grafted a new battery
onto the top - I'll know in a moment if it works...
Well, it's promising on the battery front, but then the setup floppy
(which was in the machine when I found it) went bad. I wrote a new one
from a downloaded image, but then the machine suddenly coughed up a
memory error during a power cycle. Maybe it's cursed.
If they're just plain 'ol 72-pin simms, I *may* have a generic x86 PC
which uses them, and which I can borrow from. I'll try reseating what's
in there first though, just to be sure.
30 Sep
30 Sep
7:31 a.m.
New subject: PS/2 memory problems (was: Re: AIX for PS/2?)
To recap, I found a PS/2 model 65sx with 6MB of RAM via an on-board 2MB
and 4MB SIMM (no additional memory boards). POST would pass the RAM, but
then cough up 161 and 163 errors due to a dead Dallas module battery.
I grafted a new battery into the Dallas module, which cleared the 161 and
163 errors - but then POST suddenly started throwing up 203 and 201 memory
faults (along with error locations).
Playing around with swapping the two SIMMs around and booting with just one
in either of the two sockets seemed to suggest that the 2MB module had gone
bad; with just the 4MB module in either of the two system board sockets,
I'd get "00640 KB OK" and a 201 error, but no error location.
Assuming (incorrectly?) that the 201 was now due to the system not having
the amount of memory it expected, I booted from the reference disk and did
an automatic configuration (as suggested by the software when RAM had been
changed). That said all was well and that I should reboot, which I did - at
which point POST would count up to ~3700KB[1], overwrite with "400000 FFFE
201", clear the screen and show "3712 KB OK" along with a 201 and 164
error.
[1] the overwrite happens so fast that I can't read the exact number,
although it seems sensible to assume that it's actually 3712.
Two things puzzle me:
1) Two SIMMs going bad at once seems unlikely (although not impossible, of
course),
2) I can boot the reference disk, and the system shows that it has 4MB of
RAM, and when the self-tests are run it passes the memory just fine.
I suppose it's possible that the 3712 figure is correct, given that the
techref for the 65sx talks about reserving 128KB for video memory, 128KB
for system ROM and 128KB for I/O ROM - but it doesn't explain why I'm
getting that "400000 FFFE 201" message and 164 error. It's almost as though
it's forgetting across reboots that it just has 4MB now, and so it barfs
when it tries to count beyond the 4MB boundary.
Anyone able to shed any light on this?
cheers
Jules
7:47 a.m.
New subject: PS/2 memory problems (was: Re: AIX for PS/2?)
On 30 September 2013 15:31, Jules Richardson
<jules.richardson99 at gmail.com> wrote:
To recap, I found a PS/2 model 65sx with 6MB of RAM via an on-board 2MB and
4MB SIMM (no additional memory boards). POST would pass the RAM, but then
cough up 161 and 163 errors due to a dead Dallas module battery.
I grafted a new battery into the Dallas module, which cleared the 161 and
163 errors - but then POST suddenly started throwing up 203 and 201 memory
faults (along with error locations).
Playing around with swapping the two SIMMs around and booting with just one
in either of the two sockets seemed to suggest that the 2MB module had gone
bad; with just the 4MB module in either of the two system board sockets, I'd
get "00640 KB OK" and a 201 error, but no error location.
Assuming (incorrectly?) that the 201 was now due to the system not having
the amount of memory it expected, I booted from the reference disk and did
an automatic configuration (as suggested by the software when RAM had been
changed). That said all was well and that I should reboot, which I did - at
which point POST would count up to ~3700KB[1], overwrite with "400000 FFFE
201", clear the screen and show "3712 KB OK" along with a 201 and 164
error.
[1] the overwrite happens so fast that I can't read the exact number,
although it seems sensible to assume that it's actually 3712.
Two things puzzle me:
1) Two SIMMs going bad at once seems unlikely (although not impossible, of
course),
2) I can boot the reference disk, and the system shows that it has 4MB of
RAM, and when the self-tests are run it passes the memory just fine.
I suppose it's possible that the 3712 figure is correct, given that the
techref for the 65sx talks about reserving 128KB for video memory, 128KB for
system ROM and 128KB for I/O ROM - but it doesn't explain why I'm getting
that "400000 FFFE 201" message and 164 error. It's almost as though
it's
forgetting across reboots that it just has 4MB now, and so it barfs when it
tries to count beyond the 4MB boundary.
Anyone able to shed any light on this?
I am fairly useless with hardware stuff, but there is an easy way to
sometimes get old SIMMs back to life. It's trivially easy to clean
their connectors - you just give them a vigorous scrub with a pencil
eraser. Both sides. It's non-conductive so it's safe enough, AIUI. If
there is severe corrosion - i.e. visible - then the harsher side of a
double-ended eraser, i.e. a pen eraser, is worth a try, but don't go
too crazy with that, you can damage the contacts.
Worth a try.
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven
Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884
8:19 a.m.
New subject: PS/2 memory problems (was: Re: AIX for PS/2?)
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Jules Richardson
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 9:31 AM
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Subject: PS/2 memory problems (was: Re: AIX for PS/2?)
To recap, I found a PS/2 model 65sx with 6MB of RAM via an on-board 2MB and
4MB SIMM (no additional memory boards). POST would pass the RAM, but then
cough up 161 and 163 errors due to a dead Dallas module battery.
I grafted a new battery into the Dallas module, which cleared the 161 and
163 errors - but then POST suddenly started throwing up 203 and 201 memory
faults (along with error locations).
Playing around with swapping the two SIMMs around and booting with just one
in either of the two sockets seemed to suggest that the 2MB module had gone
bad; with just the 4MB module in either of the two system board sockets, I'd
get "00640 KB OK" and a 201 error, but no error location.
Assuming (incorrectly?) that the 201 was now due to the system not having
the amount of memory it expected, I booted from the reference disk and did
an automatic configuration (as suggested by the software when RAM had been
changed). That said all was well and that I should reboot, which I did - at
which point POST would count up to ~3700KB[1], overwrite with "400000 FFFE
201", clear the screen and show "3712 KB OK" along with a 201 and 164
error.
[1] the overwrite happens so fast that I can't read the exact number,
although it seems sensible to assume that it's actually 3712.
Two things puzzle me:
1) Two SIMMs going bad at once seems unlikely (although not impossible, of
course),
2) I can boot the reference disk, and the system shows that it has 4MB of
RAM, and when the self-tests are run it passes the memory just fine.
I suppose it's possible that the 3712 figure is correct, given that the
techref for the 65sx talks about reserving 128KB for video memory, 128KB for
system ROM and 128KB for I/O ROM - but it doesn't explain why I'm getting
that "400000 FFFE 201" message and 164 error. It's almost as though
it's
forgetting across reboots that it just has 4MB now, and so it barfs when it
tries to count beyond the 4MB boundary.
Anyone able to shed any light on this?
cheers
Jules
http://www.mcamafia.de/pdf/m65_ssi.pdf gives a PDF of the manual for your
system, and addresses the memory problems you are having. It requires 85ns
or 100ns memory, 16MB max.
Cindy
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No virus found in this message.
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27 Sep
27 Sep
4:53 p.m.
Il giorno ven, 27/09/2013 alle 16.09 -0700, Guy Sotomayor ha scritto:
On Sep 27, 2013, at 3:21 PM, Jules Richardson
<jules.richardson99 at gmail.com> wrote:
Hmm, looks like this...
http://www.supervinx.com/Retrocomputer/IBM/8565/061/index.html
On 09/26/2013 10:15 AM, Guy Sotomayor wrote:
"spock" = IBM PS/2 Micro Channel SCSI adapter with cache: FRU 85F0063. You can
tell because it has 2 memory dimms (simms) on the board.
I haven't been able to find any information on "tribble". It's
basically the same adapter without the cache.
It was *very* HW specific. The only disk interfaces were the PS/2 ESDI card and
two of the PS/2 SCSI cards ("spock" and "tribble"). I wrote all of
the SCSI subsystem
code.
Hmm... how do I know if I have a spock or tribble board, vs. something else? Do you
happen to know the part numbers?
25 Sep
25 Sep
6:34 p.m.
On 26 September 2013 01:17, Jonathan Katz <jon at jonworld.com> wrote:
Anyone out there have a source?
From a very quick Google...
http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohlandl/AIX_1-3/AIX_Index.html
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
MSN: lproven at hotmail.com ? Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven
Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 ? Cell: +44 7939-087884
8:50 p.m.
On Sep 25, 2013, at 6:34 PM, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
On 26 September 2013 01:17, Jonathan Katz <jon at
jonworld.com> wrote:
That's kind of cool. ;-)
TTFN - Guy
Anyone out there have a source?
From a very quick Google...
http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohlandl/AIX_1-3/AIX_Index.html
4101
days inactive
4105
days old
25 comments
11 participants
participants (11)
-
bdwheele＠indiana.edu -
ggs＠shiresoft.com -
gyorpb＠gmail.com -
jon＠jonworld.com -
jules.richardson99＠gmail.com -
lproven＠gmail.com -
sales＠elecplus.com -
snhirsch＠gmail.com -
supervinx＠libero.it -
tothwolf＠concentric.net -
webmaster＠supervinx.com