RLV11 Debugging

[Jon Elson]

On 08/18/2015 10:24 AM, Ben Sinclair wrote:
> So I'm apparently back to just trying to get the basic system running.
>
> I have no idea why this system is so flaky. One day it works great,
> the next it doesn't. Maybe it's just cursed!
>
>
I ran a MicroVAX-II at home for 21 years, from 1986 to about 
2007. I added stuff to it for some time, had 3 tape drives, 
several disks, several generations of graphics systems, 
etc.  Some time around 1999 or so, it started to get flaky, 
and once a month or so it would hang.  The fix was to power 
off, reseat all the cards and it would usually come up for 
another month or two.  Cleaning the card cage connectors by 
vacuuming first, then wiping with alcohol-soaked towel 
helped it a bit more.  I've finally retired the system and 
given most of the peripheral boards away.  The CPU still 
works, but the disk I had used for a long time died.

So, cleaning the card edge connectors and backplane 
connectors may help.

Jon