Re: MicroVAX 3500 questions

On 16 mei, 06:01, dgsof...@xxxxxxxxx (David Goodwin) wrote:
On Thu, 15 May 2008 14:09:32 -0700 (PDT), H Vlems <hvl...@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:



David,
visit Google groups and enter the search string "microvax 3500". The
amount of hits is enough to get you going.
HP still has some documentation on-line:

http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/vax/archive/mv3500.html

It's been too long, I'm sure my memory is not accurate anymore. Didn't
the 3500 have an RA82 drive in the top of the cabinet?
The cpu runs at around 3 VUPS. The 3400/3500/3600 models didn't have
DSSI nor SCSI, they're equiped with KDA50 controllers
for the disks.
The battery powers the nvram. If it's dead, each time the system boots
it will ask what language you want for the console.
It won't remember the default boot device, what to do at power up or
after a failure and so on.
It's an inconvenience but the system will boot without it.
If you get to the >>> prompt, try ? or HELP
Try SHO DEV or SHO ALL to list its hardware configuration. DUA0, DUB1
etc are disks (try >>> B DUA0)
MUA0 is the tape drive, if present.
Good luck,
Hans

Thanks for the information. I guess I will just pull the battery out
so it doesnt make any more of a mess than it already has. Considering
the amount of green on the console ports contacts the PCB is going to
need quite a bit of cleaning before I wire up an adapter cable.

Ive put some images of the four ports, label and cards on google:http://picasaweb.google.com/dgsoftnz/MicroVAX3500/

This machine has no hard disk but that probably isnt too bad -
considering how long it has taken to get just a vax I dont think I
could ever find replacement SDI disks. Im considering disconnecting
the TK70 drive for about the same reason - the tape in the drive has
snapped making the machine rather noisy.

Ive pulled the machine apart a bit and it has (from right to left) a
TK70 drive, the operator control panel and those port things. It has
the following cards installed:
1* KA650 CPU board (M7620 according to the panel, M7626 according to
the board)
2* 16MB MOS Memory cards (M7622)
2* Grant Continuity cards (M9047)
1* TK70 controller (M7559)
1* DELQA Ethernet controller (M7516)
1* CMD CQD-220/TM (SCSI I think)
1* CMD CQD-220/M (also SCSI I think)
2* Webster Computer Corp. WQDHV11/02 (no idea what these are)

If the two CMD cards are SCSI I suppose I could attach a hard disk to
one of those and boot off that. Otherwise, maybe there is some way I
can network boot OpenVMS from my AlphaServer 1200.

Thanks,
David Goodwin

David,
picture 4 is the panel that connects to RA disks. As Chris mentioned,
there is no longer a KDA50 in the system, but these are not really
rare. The disks are a different matter. The RA81 (456 MB) or RA82
(622MB) are rare. An RA81 would fit, but at 121 MB it's rather
useless. Alternatives are the RA70 or RA72 but I'm not sure there is a
way of fitting those. The RA90 (1 GB) or RA92 (1.2 GB) are each half
the size of an RA8x disk and these might be available somewhere. The
RA8x and RA9x drives take a *lot* of mains power for relatively little
storage. The RA7x drives are about the size of an RD54. A little more
storage though, and as Chris mentioned, you're blessed with SCSI
controllers that support disks, so buy a couple of 4 GB drives, a
CDrom drive and install VAX/VMS.
Booting over ethernet probably works on a 4200. Booting off an AS1200
only works if you have a VAX/VMS system disk on it. I've never tried
to boot a VAX off an installation CD in an Alpha. What does work is
install VMS on a simh (emulated) VAX, and boot the 4200 as a satellite
node in a local area cluster. It is probably the fastest way to boot
the 4200 and get VMS on it without scsi peripherals.
Hans
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Not able to boot from SCSI disk on SYM21002 but all other works
    ... It is a two channel SCSI hba with 16 bit SCSI and PCI interface. ... as I tried to boot the new system from the SCSI disk it presents only "PRESS ANY KEY TO REBOOT' and stops. ... So if any of the drives in the SCSI system could be found this would be enabled as C: ...
    (comp.periphs.scsi)
  • Asus A7N8X-E w/SATA and SCSI, 4.10 sys install snafu
    ... Old buslogic SCSI controller with 2 drives, a cd, and a tape. ... and nt going off the sata drives. ... I configured the mobo to boot from cd first, ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Re: Installed New IDE HD, Now Fedora Wont Boot from SCSI HD
    ... Now the computer wants to boot from the IDE drive, but the SCSI HD ... Linux started with SCSI hard drives so I think is should still work, ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)
  • Re: how to change out system disk?
    ... > you that "the SCSI BIOS is not needed this time so I didn't bother to load ... then remove the other two drives and change the 36 GB ... > mean what common sense would call the 'boot volume', ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: Cromemco Help
    ... I have been trying to get the system to boot using some 8" qume 242 drives and ... the heads load now and the drive seems to read the boot track and fails. ... a few old cromemco 8 disks that I had but have no idea if they are good so I'm ... Does anyone have 5 1/4" CPM or CDOS disks for this beast. ...
    (comp.os.cpm)