Strange Problem on DECstation 2100

[Jarratt RMA]

Sorry for the delay in replying. I am not able to try the things you
suggest for a couple of weeks now. I didn't try MOP booting NetBSD, but I
certainly could try that. I tried booting the DECstation across power
cycles, but until I have done an initial boot off CD-ROM it won't MOP boot
at all.

Regards

Rob

On 21 December 2014 at 17:22, Sean Caron <scaron at umich.edu> wrote:

> Oh, also, did you boot once, then interrupt, then try to boot again? I
> honestly don't remember if it's like on the VAX but sometimes the machines
> get confused and you need to INITIALIZE between boot attempts. Just another
> idea. MOP boot just fails completely now across power cycles, etc?
>
> Best,
>
> Sean
>
>
> On Sun, Dec 21, 2014 at 11:10 AM, Sean Caron <scaron at umich.edu> wrote:
>
> > Hi Robert,
> >
> > Will it MOP boot NetBSD successfully? Something to help give you a
> feeling
> > if the issue is intrinsic to the machine or it's just something with
> Ultrix
> > 4.5.
> >
> > You can always try swapping network cable, switch port, AUI
> transceiver...
> > sometimes this stuff can have some unexpected effects... I had an old
> > SPARCstation 10 years ago that wouldn't boot from any media... or it was
> > just continuously locking up, crashing... I don't remember... but after
> > replacing every part in the box, finally swapping another SPARCstation 10
> > entirely and having the issue persist, I found it was, believe it or
> not, a
> > bad Ethernet cable!!
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Sean
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Dec 21, 2014 at 4:13 AM, Robert Jarratt <
> > robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com> wrote:
> >
> >> I have been trying to get my 2100 working. I have been using MOP to boot
> >> the
> >> machine and try to install Ultrix, although this is not working for some
> >> other reason at the moment. Until this morning, it was booting from MOP
> >> just
> >> fine, but now it, after leaving the machine overnight and not doing
> >> anything
> >> to it, I get this when I try to MOP boot:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Ultrixload - V4.5  Thu Sep 14 07:07:53 EDT 1995
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Excptn:    (vtr=NRML)
> >> Excptn pc: 0x807001f8
> >> Creg:      0x30000010(CE=3,EXC=RADE)
> >> Sreg:      0x30000000(CU1,CU0,IPL=8)
> >> Vaddr:     0xaaaaaafe
> >> Sp:        0xa13fbba8
> >>   0xa13fbba8 : 0xaaaaaaaa 0x80701310 0xa0003b60 0x80700000
> >>   0xa13fbbb8 : 0xaaaaaaaa 0xaaaaaaaa 0xaaaaaaaa 0xaaaaaaaa
> >>   0xa13fbbc8 : 0xaaaaaaaa 0xaaaaaaaa 0xaaaaaaaa 0xaaaaaaaa
> >>   0xa13fbbd8 : 0xaaaaaaaa 0x80700048 0xa00039c8 0xaaaaaaaa
> >>   0xa13fbbe8 : 0xaaaaaaaa 0xaaaaaaaa 0xaaaaaaaa 0x00000000
> >>   0xa13fbbf8 : 0xaaaaaaaa 0xaaaaaaaa 0x00000001 0xa00039c8
> >> exit(-1)
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> The really strange thing is that if I attach a CD-ROM drive and boot off
> >> that first, then try the MOP boot after that, the MOP boot works! Before
> >> anyone asks, I have other problems which mean it won't successfully
> >> install
> >> Ultrix from the CD-ROM, and I am trying the MOP route because of this.
> The
> >> CD-ROM problem is something to do with the block size, I know about the
> >> block size jumper and have tried with the jumper installed and removed.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I have a workaround which is to connect the CD-ROM, boot off the CD-ROM,
> >> let
> >> the CD-ROM installation fail, then unplug power from the CD-ROM and boot
> >> from MOP. But that is horrible, and wasn't necessary until this morning.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Any ideas?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Regards
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Rob
> >>
> >>
> >
>