Microvax 3800 Soon to arrive

[william degnan]

Same testing as with any early 90's server.   If the server boots and
squeals to holy hell you prob have a bad drive, but the system is pretty
robust and if you have multiple drives it might seal it off and boot
anyway.

>From the >>> you can check things out at the ROM level.

Run the SHOW DEV command if you don't know what to B/1 (boot with diaglog)
to. This way you can reset the password if you don't know it.  My system's
boot drive is DIA0:, yours will likely be different. Keep trying them until
it works. My VAX 4000 also has a DIA1: and a DIA5: among others.

>>> B/1 DIA0:

This will eventually drop you to the SYSBOOT prompt.

SYSBOOT> SET/STARTUP OPA0:
SYSBOOT> SET WINDOW_SYSTEM 0
SYSBOOT> SET WRITESYSPARAMS 0
SYSBOOT> CONTINUE

This will drop you to the $ prompt.

$ SPAWN
$ @SYS$SYSTEM:STARTUP
$ SET DEFAULT SYS$SYSTEM:
$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:AUTHORIZE

This will drop you to the UAF prompt.

UAF> MODIFY SYSTEM /PASSWORD=whateveryouwant
UAF> EXIT

This will bring you back to the $ prompt. Log out

$ LOGOUT

The VAX upon return then asked me to reset my password to something 8-32
chars, etc.

>From there I got to a $ prompt with full access privs.

On Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 1:02 PM, devin davison <lyokoboy0 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello. I seem to be getting quite a big assortment of DEC equipment over
> here as of late. Back in July I made a trip to Miami to pick up a PDP 11/34
> with related equipment a while back and posted about it here on the list.
> I'm still working on getting the power supply on the pdp 11 fixed but am
> making good progress and learning a lot in the process. Recently a deal
> popped up on a microvax 3800 that was too good to pass up so I jumped at
> the chance to get it and it is on it's way to being shipped here.
>
> I have never dealt with any Vax hardware before. The closest I've been to
> one is running a simulation of a machine in the simh emulator. Is there any
> special hardware I will need to get this up and running? I have a couple of
> VT 100 terminals that go with the pdp 11 that should work nicely with the
> Vax. Is there anything a beginner with such hardware should look out for? I
> would like to try and disconnect the power supply and test it separately if
> possible to save myself the headache I experienced with the PDP 11.
> Any suggestions or other info much appreciated.
>
> --Devin
>



-- 
Bill