[HECnet] Bringing up a MicroVAX 3100-80

[Supratim Sanyal]

folks,

ummm ... not sure how to sugarcoat this, but Steve found the root problem:

the hard disk in the MicroVAX 3100 model 80 has OpenVMS Alpha installed 
on it.

Best,
Supratim

On 3/31/20 4:05 PM, Supratim Sanyal wrote:
> Remote troubleshooting and system recovery at its absolute best, 
> executed by a master.
>
> Also many lessons learned about things I have heard about but never 
> really got into in a pure simulated environment.
>
> Thanks Steve.
>
>
> ---
> Supratim Sanyal, W1XMT
> 39.19151 N, 77.23432 W
> QCOCAL::SANYAL via HECnet <http://www.update.uu.se/~bqt/hecnet.html>
>
>
> On Mar 31, 2020, at 3:46 PM, Steve Davidson <steve at davidson.net 
> <mailto:steve at davidson.net>> wrote:
>
>> I am happy to report that Supratim and I have managed to connect me 
>> to his system, create a VAXcluster boot node on SimH, boot the system 
>> into the cluster as a satellite and now running 
>> ANALYZE/DISK/REPAIR/READ against the troubled disk.
>>
>> -Steve
>>
>> On Tue, 2020-03-31 at 10:00 -0400, Steve Davidson wrote:
>>> Supratim,
>>>
>>> If you can contact me offline I can probably walk you through any 
>>> number of scenarios to deal with this.
>>>
>>> -Steve Davidson
>>>
>>> SF:iP1
>>>
>>>> On Mar 31, 2020, at 01:00, Supratim Sanyal <supratim at riseup.net 
>>>> <mailto:supratim at riseup.net>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  On 3/31/20 12:25 AM, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
>>>>> On 3/30/2020 10:59 PM, Ray Jewhurst wrote:
>>>>>> I haven't tried burning but I used p7z through File Roller on a 
>>>>>> Linux Mint system. I have only used it as an image on Simh. I am 
>>>>>> not at my computer tonight but if you need it tomorrow I can get 
>>>>>> you a checksum on the unzipped image.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Ray
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Okay. Maybe it's a difference between Linux and macOOS.  I 
>>>>> downloaded the file from WInWorldPC. The actual file came from 
>>>>> someone named "Ricky" in Germany.  The file downloaded was "DEC 
>>>>> VMS 5.5-2H4 (Jul 1993) [VAX] (ISO).7z"  I ran it through 
>>>>> "TheUnarchiver" and it produced a folder with two files.  A txt 
>>>>> file and "VMS 552h4 VAX.iso". I tried burning that ISO file but 
>>>>> then I get the disk image is invalid error.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'll have to get a copy of SimH running on my Mac and see it it 
>>>>> can read the ISO.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Vaxhaven's AG-PXL1A-RE.iso is 236013792 bytes, Winworld's "VMS 
>>>> 552h4 VAX.iso" is 205508764. Neither can be burnt by MacOS directly 
>>>> from the GUI. The following command line results in a "raw" burn 
>>>> (remove the -testburn switch to enable the laser).
>>>>
>>>> $ hdiutil burn -testburn -imagekey diskimage-class=CRawDiskImage 
>>>> -speed 2 Downloads/DEC\ VMS\ 5.5-2H4\ \(Jul\ 1993\)\ \[VAX\]\ 
>>>> \(ISO\)/VMS\ 552h4\ VAX.iso
>>>>
>>>> The Vaxhaven raw burn does not boot. I will try the Winworld 
>>>> version next. BUT, just to make sure the RRD42 is not the problem, 
>>>> here's a couple of questions about it:
>>>>
>>>> 1) I have connected the SCSI cable at the bottom and a terminator 
>>>> at the top. Is this okay?
>>>>
>>>> 2) When I insert the caddie in (with the CD in the caddy), the 
>>>> green light turns on for a few seconds and then turns off. Nothing 
>>>> else happens. MicroVAX comes back to ">>>" prompt after a few 
>>>> minutes, no other messages. Should I expect to hear some noises of 
>>>> the plate at the bottom of the caddie moving sideways to expose the 
>>>> CD to the laser, etc?
>>>>
>>>> Also, even if I get to a point where I boot into standalone backup, 
>>>> how am I to fix the problem with DKA100's contiguity issue?
>>>>
>>>> The previous owner said he had actual PAKs that he could not find, 
>>>> but are loaded in the LMF databse. I would very much like to at 
>>>> least be able to copy the LMF and am averse to reinstalling a fresh 
>>>> copy of VMS on DKA100 (everyobdy here will understand exactly why 
>>>> this is super-important now).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Mon, Mar 30, 2020, 11:53 PM John H. Reinhardt 
>>>>>> <johnhreinhardt at thereinhardts.org 
>>>>>> <mailto:johnhreinhardt at thereinhardts.org>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>     On 3/30/2020 10:46 PM, Ray Jewhurst wrote:
>>>>>>     > I have tried both the VAXHaven and WinWorldPC copies of 
>>>>>> 5.5-2H4 and I tend to agree that the VAXHaven one is corrupted 
>>>>>> (at least it's never worked for me). But the WinWorldPC copy 
>>>>>> works great. Also, corrupt is the MicroVMS 4.7 TK50 image on 
>>>>>> VAXHaven.
>>>>>>     >
>>>>>>     > Ray
>>>>>>
>>>>>>     The file I got from WinWorldPC came as a ".7z" archive.  and 
>>>>>> I unpacked it with "TheUnarchiver".  Does that match what you 
>>>>>> did? The file I get from that always gets the "Could not burn 
>>>>>> "VMS 552h4 VAX.iso". The disk image is invalid." error from the 
>>>>>> Mac disk burn software.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>     Did you do something differently?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>     Thanks.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>     John H. Reinhardt
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> Supratim Sanyal, W1XMT
>>>> 39.19151 N, 77.23432 W
>>>> QCOCAL::SANYAL via HECnet

-- 
Supratim Sanyal, W1XMT
39.19151 N, 77.23432 W
QCOCAL::SANYAL via HECnet

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