1 May
2000
1 May
'00
7:51 p.m.
Hello All,
I've got two VLCs, I'm running them both headless. They are connected to S1
and S2 of a VT340 terminal. One of them "loses" the terminal sometimes. If
try typing nothing is echoed although I can still send stuff to the serial
port from a process and it displays. Sometimes I can "fix" it by breaking
to the chevron and then typing 'c' (continue). This happens on both VMS and
NetBSD so I don't think it is a driver problem.
The other VLC doesn't have any issues like this at all.
The VLC that has no issues has Firmware 1.5, the one that has issues has
Firmware 1.3. I'm wondering if there is a way to flash the firmware? I've
got an EPROM programmer but I don't know if there are is anything else I
need to do.
--Chuck
1 May
1 May
10:08 p.m.
Hello All,
I've got two VLCs, I'm running them both headless. They are connected to S1
and S2 of a VT340 terminal. One of them "loses" the terminal sometimes. If
try typing nothing is echoed although I can still send stuff to the serial
port from a process and it displays. Sometimes I can "fix" it by breaking
to the chevron and then typing 'c' (continue). This happens on both VMS and
NetBSD so I don't think it is a driver problem.
Any problems with drives going offline? I've spent the last couple hours
fighting with this blasted one I just got. Decided it must be the 2GB HD
(it's a 3rd party drive) so put the RZ23L in, got a bit farther before it
to decided to go off-line.
Plus I think it dislikes my 'floater' CD-ROM. This is the CD-ROM I use on
*everything* that's SCSI. The wierd thing is, I've used it to load other
DEC systems, but I had to flip the blocksize switch, and I'm just about
positive I just flipped it to 2048-byte blocks, WTF!
I'm starting to think the only way I'll get this system up is to boot it
into my cluster as a diskless client! Grrr!
BTW, I'm 1.3 on my firmware.
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
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+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
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10:57 p.m.
Any problems with drives going offline? I've spent
the last couple hours
fighting with this blasted one I just got. Decided it must be the 2GB HD
(it's a 3rd party drive) so put the RZ23L in, got a bit farther before it
to decided to go off-line.
No issues in that regard. I'm running the RZ24L that came inside of it. I
did get the occasional bit of flakiness before I got it terminated but once
that was done loaded VMS and NetBSD just fine. I'm using a Sun CD-ROM to
load is (I know, Horrors!) Its only a 2x drive but it does work.
Plus I think it dislikes my 'floater' CD-ROM.
This is the CD-ROM I use on
*everything* that's SCSI. The wierd thing is, I've used it to load other
DEC systems, but I had to flip the blocksize switch, and I'm just about
positive I just flipped it to 2048-byte blocks, WTF!
I don't think that's the issue. Perhaps your drive is attempting to
negotiate disconnect/reconnect behaviour and the VLC isn't telling it not
to? What happens with the drive goes off line, just it just hang or is
there and error message to that effect? On my M76 I took off the delayed
spin-up jumper to insure that the drive was there when probed but I don't
think the VLC cares.
The other thing of course is to be sure that you're not running one of the
drives as ID 6, and perhaps consider moving the disk to a different ID (I
don't know if disconnect/recconect might "assume" the computer is 7 but you
never know.)
I'm starting to think the only way I'll get
this system up is to boot it
into my cluster as a diskless client! Grrr!
Should work :-)
BTW, I'm 1.3 on my firmware.
If I figure out how to change it I'll make it available for other VLC owners.
On a whim I connected up the keyboard/monitor and booted VMS. It came up
but when I logged on it said "Can't Determine Terminal Type" and scrolls
the screen about half way down. I thought VMS might be smart enough to know
it was using the framebuffer but I guess not.
--Chuck
2 May
2 May
3:10 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2000 01:57
Subject: Re: VAX/VLC firmware upgrade?
Try again ;-)
The VLC is a nice SCSI box, and with 24 MByte Ram not even that bad for VMS.
owners.
(c) !
Good luck,
emanuel
No issues in that regard. I'm running the RZ24L
that came inside of it. I
did get the occasional bit of flakiness before I got it terminated but
once
that was done loaded VMS and NetBSD just fine.
I use for this purpose a nice expensive active terminator. Really helps if
you don't know if your termination is right, specialy, if you're mixing
SCSI1 & SCSI 2 devices.
And check the cable !
I'm using a Sun CD-ROM to load is (I know,
Horrors!)
Its only a 2x drive but it does work.
It's definitely faster than a 72x drive which doesn't work ;-)
>Plus I think it dislikes my 'floater'
CD-ROM. This is the CD-ROM I use
on
>*everything* that's SCSI. The wierd thing is,
I've used it to load other
>DEC systems, but I had to flip the blocksize switch, and I'm just about
>positive I just flipped it to 2048-byte blocks, WTF!
I took mine, put in in the right block mode an labeled it "DEC !!!". And
never change it again !
I don't think that's the issue. Perhaps your
drive is attempting to
negotiate disconnect/reconnect behaviour and the VLC isn't telling it not
to? What happens with the drive goes off line, just it just hang or is
there and error message to that effect? On my M76 I took off the delayed
spin-up jumper to insure that the drive was there when probed but I don't
think the VLC cares.
Weird idea, but: are the fans in the vlc working ? probably the drives are
getting hot (small enclosure !!) and shut down ?
The other thing of course is to be sure that
you're not running one of the
drives as ID 6, and perhaps consider moving the disk to a different ID (I
don't know if disconnect/recconect might "assume" the computer is 7 but
you
never know.)
Probably wouldn't even start on ID 6.
I'm
starting to think the only way I'll get this system up is to boot it
into my cluster as a diskless client! Grrr!
Should work :-) BTW, I'm
1.3 on my firmware.
If I figure out how to change it I'll make it available for other VLC
2:55 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, May 01, 2000 22:51
Subject: VAX/VLC firmware upgrade?
The VLC that has no issues has Firmware 1.5, the one
that has issues has
Firmware 1.3. I'm wondering if there is a way to flash the firmware? I've
got an EPROM programmer but I don't know if there are is anything else I
need to do.
Try to exchange te EPROMs first. That's the easiest way to find out, if the
hardware is flaky ...
cheers,
emanuel
4:01 p.m.
Make sure to read the old one first! Or at least verify they are the
same manufacture's part number. It would be truly bad to destroy your
good firmware, and not have anyway to replace it.
clint
On Tue, 2 May 2000, emanuel stiebler wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, May 01, 2000 22:51
Subject: VAX/VLC firmware upgrade?
The VLC that has no issues has Firmware 1.5, the
one that has issues has
Firmware 1.3. I'm wondering if there is a way to flash the firmware? I've
got an EPROM programmer but I don't know if there are is anything else I
need to do.
Try to exchange te EPROMs first. That's the easiest way to find out, if the
hardware is flaky ...
cheers,
emanuel
3:59 p.m.
Hi Chuck,
The firmware is probably stored in EPROMs, and not flash. You need to find
a blank replacement EPROM of the same type (size/speed/pinout) and copy
the good one to the new one.
Is there a manufacture's part number on the V1.5 ROM? I might be able
to cross reference it to a current replacement.
Clint
On Mon, 1 May 2000, Chuck McManis wrote:
Hello All,
I've got two VLCs, I'm running them both headless. They are connected to S1
and S2 of a VT340 terminal. One of them "loses" the terminal sometimes. If
try typing nothing is echoed although I can still send stuff to the serial
port from a process and it displays. Sometimes I can "fix" it by breaking
to the chevron and then typing 'c' (continue). This happens on both VMS and
NetBSD so I don't think it is a driver problem.
The other VLC doesn't have any issues like this at all.
The VLC that has no issues has Firmware 1.5, the one that has issues has
Firmware 1.3. I'm wondering if there is a way to flash the firmware? I've
got an EPROM programmer but I don't know if there are is anything else I
need to do.
--Chuck
8847
days inactive
8848
days old
6 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com -
emu＠ecubics.com -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
vaxman＠uswest.net