Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390

[Jay Jaeger]

On 5/26/2018 3:15 PM, Dave Wade via cctech wrote:
> Folks,            
> 
>  
> 
> Well in case any one has the slightest bit of interest, I have now plugged
> the RAID card back in and after replacing on of the drive carriers I can get
> five of the six drives to spin up. Its now copying stuff to my Buffalo NAS
> but as its 10Mbit LAN its not terribly fast. I think the NAS isn't very fast
> either. It looks like zipping up the files and FTPing the ZIP files might be
> the quickest way to go.
> 
>  
> 
> Dave
> 
>  
> 
> From: Dave Wade <dave.g4ugm at gmail.com> 
> Sent: 18 May 2018 22:31
> To: 'Benjamin Huntsman' <BHuntsman at mail2.cu-portland.edu>; 'General
> Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts' <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> 
>  
> 
> I thought I had captioned that picture. It's the original RAID controller
> which I am not using. If I plug it in it starts the disks in the RAID array
> which takes ages, and steals the hard disk BIOS vector which I need for the
> SCSI card that's running the system.
> 
> I didn't want to remove it fully as I need to label the cables feeding it.
> One feeds the top drive bays, and the other the bottom so if I ever need to
> put it back it I need to know which is which. 
> 
> If I get some free time I will have a go at starting the disks in it and
> repairing the RAID array, and perhaps copy the disks that are installed.
> 
>  
> 
> Dave
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> From: Benjamin Huntsman <BHuntsman at mail2.cu-portland.edu
> <mailto:BHuntsman at mail2.cu-portland.edu> > 
> Sent: 18 May 2018 21:49
> To: Dave Wade <dave.g4ugm at gmail.com <mailto:dave.g4ugm at gmail.com> >; General
> Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org
> <mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org> >
> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
> 
>  
> 
> I gotta ask, what's the deal with the dangling card?  That cracked me up!
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for posting some pics!
> 
>  
> 
>   _____  
> 
> From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org
> <mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> > on behalf of Dave Wade via cctalk
> <cctalk at classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org> >
> Sent: Friday, May 18, 2018 1:46 PM
> To: 'Guy Sotomayor Jr'; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
> Subject: RE: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Guy Sotomayor Jr <ggs at shiresoft.com <mailto:ggs at shiresoft.com> >
>> Sent: 15 May 2018 21:39
>> To: Dave Wade <dave.g4ugm at gmail.com <mailto:dave.g4ugm at gmail.com> >;
> General Discussion: On-Topic
>> and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>>
>> Subject: Re: Restoring a PC Server 500 P/390
>>
>>
>>
>>> On May 15, 2018, at 1:29 PM, Dave Wade via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org
> <mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org> >
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> That's, in effect, what I did. Whilst there were Microchannel IDE
> Controllers
>> I have never seen one. There are no IDE interfaces on the "Planar" so
> every
>> thing must be on the MCA bus.
>>> So I bought a BusLogic BT646 SCSI card on E-Bay. I also bought an
> Adaptec
>> card as a spare.  I think I struck lucky with the BT646. It is a simple
> SCSI/2 card,
>> no raid but it does have a BIOS with support for two bootable drives and a
>>> 4GB drive option.
>>> OS/2 has drivers for it so it works out of the box. The OS/2 boot disks
> find
>> the drive and install the proper drivers.
>>> To compensate for the slower "narrow" drives I bought a SCSI2SD card
> that
>> puts an SD card on the bus. OS/2 just sees it as a up two four drives
>> depending on how I configure it. At present I have two 4gb drives. The
> card
>> in it is 32gb so I can add 2 x 12gb drives or 1 x 24gb or some other mix.
> The CD
>> ROM sites on the same bus. I haven't tried the tape drive yet..
>>>
>>
> 
> 
> Well I found an XGA2 card in the pile of bits so now I have 1024x768 display
> resolution. I have swapped the CDROM for a SCSI DVD drive. 
> 
> I managed to boot MTS and there are a few pics here:-
> 
> https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1 
> 
> 
>  <https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1> 
> 
>  <https://flic.kr/s/aHsmc1pkB1> P390
> 
> flic.kr
> 
> Explore this photo album by Dave G4UGM on Flickr!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> next job is to tidy up and re-assemble the case..
> 
> Dave
> 
>> Some time ago I acquired a PCI P/390 card (along with the various LIC
> files).  I
>> went down the same path as you to build a P/390 system with OS/2 but I
>> kept running into problems with OS/2 versions and supported hardware.
>>
>> I finally gave up and acquired a PCI based RS/6000 that I'll install AIX
> on and
>> have an R/390.  ;-)  I haven't had the time yet to make any progress on
> it.
>>
>> But it's good to know that you've managed to do this if I decide to go
> back
>> and attempt the PC route again.
>>
>> TTFN - Guy
> 
> 

I used Clonezilla to make an image of my PCI machien with a P/390E card
to a USB drive - but in your case that would, of course, require it to
recognize your RAID array (which it just might, if the BIOS recognizes it).