SCSI2SD in a DEC 3000/300 - T-ERR-SCSI A

[Alexander Jacocks]

> On Sep 26, 2021, at 10:03 AM, Bill Degnan via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
> I was either sacrifice a data drive to make it a backup of the primary or
> find a like drive first, get the system stable and then upgrade.  I have a
> 3000 too here if you want to work together to troubleshoot yours
> 
> Bill
> 
>> On Sun, Sep 26, 2021, 9:46 AM Zane Healy via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> On Sep 26, 2021, at 12:22 AM, Alexander Jacocks via cctalk <
>>> cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I’ve got a DEC 3000/300 system that has some SCSI drives with aging
>> bearings installed. I’d like to be able to start to migrate some of my
>> systems, like this, to flash media, of some kind, as even my large
>> repository of SCSI disks is starting to dry up.
>>> 
>>> Here is my SRM level info:
>>>   DEC 3000 - M300
>>> Digital Equipment Corporation
>>>    VPP PAL V5.56-80800101/OSF PAL V1.45-80800201 - Built on 30-SEP-1996
>> 09:18:31.84
>>> 
>>> As far as I have read, the SCSI2SD v6 2020 should be compatible with
>> several varieties of DEC hardware, from the VAXen to the Alphas. However, I
>> can’t seem to get anywhere useful with mine. I have the virtual disks
>> configured as follows:
>>> 
>>>>>> sh dev
>>> 
>>> BOOTDEV      ADDR      DEVTYPE    NUMBYTES     RM/FX    WP    DEVNAM
>>  REV
>>> -------      ----      -------    --------     -----    --    ------
>>  ---
>>> ESA0         08-00-2B-3F-4C-9A , TENBT
>>> DKA100       A/1/0     DISK         9.54GB      FX            RZ40
>>   6.0
>>> DKA300       A/3/0     DISK         9.54GB      FX            RZ40
>>   6.0
>>> DKA400       A/4/0     RODISK     305.01MB      RM      WP    RRD45
>>    6.0
>>> 
>>> All three disks are from the SCSI2SD. I have attempted to make the
>> inquiry strings match the originals, as closely as possible. In the SCSI2SD
>> utility, I have the following config:
>>> 
>>> General page: all defaults, termination off (I have tried parity, scsi2
>> mode, and setting SCSI speed to sync, with no improvement)
>>> Device 1: enabled, ID 1, device Hard Drive, start sector 0, sector size
>> 512, sector count 18636800, vendor “DEC     ", product “RZ40     “,
>> revision “ 6.0”, serial number <random string>
>>> Device 2: enabled, ID 3, device Hard Drive, start sector 18636800,
>> sector size 512, sector count 18636800, vendor “DEC     ", product “RZ40
>> “, revision “ 6.0”, serial number <random string + 1>
>>> Device 3: enabled, ID 4, device CDROM, start sector 37273600, sector
>> size 2048, sector count 148933, vendor “DEC     ", product “RRD45    “,
>> revision “ 6.0”, serial number <random string + 2>
>>> 
>>> I’ve also tried booting from a virtual CDROM, only, with no luck there,
>> either. In all cases, I get the following from SRM:
>>> 
>>>>>> test scsi
>>> T-STS-SCSI A - Data Trans test
>>> ? T-ERR-SCSI A - Data Trans test - nondma/sync inq size miscompare
>>> T-ERR-SCSI A - id = 1 lun = 0
>>> 
>>> ? T-ERR-SCSI A - Data Trans test - nondma/sync inq size miscompare
>>> T-ERR-SCSI A - id = 3 lun = 0
>>> 
>>> ? T-ERR-SCSI A - Data Trans test - nondma/sync inq size miscompare
>>> T-ERR-SCSI A - id = 4 lun = 0
>>> ?? 002      SCSI 0x0008
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 84 FAIL
>>> 
>>> Does anyone have an idea what might be causing this? Has anyone tried a
>> v6 SCSI2SD in a DEC 3000?
>>> 
>>> Thanks!
>>> - Alex
>> 
>> I picked up a couple v6 boards for my AlphaStation 200 4/233, but haven’t
>> tried to use them yet.
>> 
>> Are you using the onboard SCSI, or a SCSI board?  I’m ‘going to assume
>> you’ve tried a different cable, and to get it working from actual physical
>> drives?  Have you tried turning the termination on, on the board?  Is your
>> SCSI Bus Terminated?
>> 
>> You actually have RZ40’s in the system?  I’m asking as I’m not actually
>> familiar with that drive type, at least it’s not one I remember off the top
>> fo my head.  I usually use RZ29’s.  On my v5.2 board on my VAXstation
>> 4000/90 I think I went with basic 8GB drives, without a vendor string or
>> product string.

I have a Quantum XP2160 and a Seagate 1050 in my 3000. Both function, but have significant bearing whine, and I have no idea how many hours are on each. So, I know my scsi subsystem and termination are fine. I’m going to pull a scsi2sd v5.2 from a Quadra 700 and try that, to see if I get the same errors.

I used the RZ40 as the inquiry string, and matched the sector count, to make SRM happy. I have real RZ25s and RZ26es, but they are quite small. Most of my modern scsi disks are 10 and 15k U320s, and not a good choice for heat constrained enclosures like the 3000. Not to mention that 300gb is just silly for Digital UNIX.

- Alex