Re: RS6000 43p/140 AIX 4.3 new install - get stuck!

Dan -

Thanks so much for your quick reply!

I'd moved from using the greenscreen InfoWindowII3153 that came with it
to using hyperterminal because there's a limited amount of space in my
apartment, and my wife likes being able to find things on her desk.
She hasn't seen that I put the console on top of everything yet.

I hooked up the serial console, and rebooted. Sure enough, there's
like 2x more info coming down the pipe than I thought. I figured with
hypertrm that if I was seeing as much as I was (the RS6k init screens,
the console config, install options and screens, etc), it must've been
everything. Thanks for the suggestion! I can get in now - Quite cool!

I'm going to reinstall things from scratch, as I tend to not trust
installs of OS's that get turned off halfway thru. Plus i've forcibly
shut down this thing enough times without unmounting the disks
(thinking there's something wrong), that fresh is better.

I'm a SMB field tech for Microsoft networks. We work on newer hardware
- Server/SBS 2k/2k3 systems, etc. It's been a number of years since I
dug out older hardware and tried to revive it (i've got an HP Vectra
486 server that's longing to be FreeSCO'd - I hear it calling me.) I'd
either never known, or completely forgotten, about the voltage and key
(those notches) differences in the ram. I'll try and track down some
of the older ECC ram for this board, see what I can scrape together.

I'll most likely have a number of questions throughout next few
weeks... I do want to get a video card (and one of the tablets that
hook up to this?) to get X installed and running. I may also track
down a processor upgrade kit. I'd love to get as much juice out of
this thing as I can. But I may end up opting for another (newer) RS6k
and using this as a terminal server.

Thanks very much for your help dan - You got me moving right away!
Look forward to needing more assistance!

Rgds,
John-Luke



Dan Foster wrote:
In article <1151168580.243829.216790@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, neomagick@xxxxxxxxx <neomagick@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Good morning -

Top o' day. :)

I've recently come into ownership of a well used RS6k 43p model 140
terminal server (and all the serial gear came with it! Very cool!).

Very nice! :)

Just keep something in mind, should you ever get the itch to upgrade it
to AIX v5: 5.1 is the last OS version that you CAN install on the model
140.

With that said, 4.3.3 was a solid OS version, and I've run that on our
former 140 for years without undue trouble.

(If you're really curious about 5.1, they're readily available on eBay,
inexpensively, I seem to recall. 5.2 and later will *DEFINITELY* _NOT_
work on the 140 as they dropped PReP support.)

I've got the manuals for the RS6k, and for the full version of AIX 4.3
that came with it (install guides, network maintenance guides, etc). I
popped a used 4.3gb barracuda drive in, and ran the AIX install off the
CD by a serial console (I've managed to use both the greenscreen serial
terminal that came with it, and my laptop w/ Hypertrm as a console).
The first CD finished up the installation, then rebooted. Now when it
boots, I get the following:

No login prompt, eh? Means your serial cable is not wired properly for
full null modem control. That's a very common issue that trips up the
unwary.

Check the AIX FAQ online (Google search can find it quickly) and read
through the serial cable section. You can either purchase one from a
local electronics store (e.g. Radio Shack in the U.S.) or make the cable
with perhaps USD $2 in parts and about 60 seconds of your time.

There IS a workaround involving 'CLOCAL' and booting off the CD; it is
also mentioned in the AIX FAQ for that procedure. This would hold you
well without needing to obtain the proper hardware.

I've read that the architecture in the system isn't compatible with
x86based hardware (I'm thinking specifically video cards), so I can't,

That's correct. The "BIOS" is very different. This is an issue for any
cards that goes into the system... particularly video card.

So you usually must obtain only cards designed for AIX systems.

With that said, doesn't the 140 already come with a video card? If it
doesn't, you should be able to get one via eBay or some such source.

I've also read that the monitors need to have higher support for the
video being piped down the cable, so an off-the-shelf monitor won't
work with the video coming out of the system.

Nah, they _will_ work with them. Just plug in an ordinary VGA monitor
with a HD-15 VGA connector, and you're all set. :)

If you've got a fancier card with 13W3 outputs, then yeah, you'd need a
monitor with 13W3 cable/connector or some kind of 13W3/VGA adapter.

I'm also curious about the memory. My system has 32mb that it came
with. The manual says it will take up to 768. Is that something a
bios/firmware update would increase? And it doesn't appear to take

Nah, firmware update probably wouldn't increase it. 768 MB is the
maximum that IBM has actually verified will work. It _MIGHT_ be possible
to get higher capacity RAM to work, but you'd be doing it with trial and
error.

If you don't have spare memory or money to try trial-and-error, then
you'd probably need to stick to that if you want to be absolutely sure
you will have a working setup.

768 MB is *plenty* for the 140, even if you run X and Java.

standard dimms - I tried fitting in a few PC-100 sticks that I had
sitting around, but the notch nearest the smallest grouping of contact
points is just slightly off from the stick from the system. Does it
not take standard ram? Do I need to buy a special form?

You usually have to buy ECC RAM for these machines (even for the
'workstations'). I don't have the specs for 140's memory offhand but
should be able to find it via a search online. If nobody here knows
offhand, I can look it up.

I would also advise against trying to force the RAM you have, because it
is likely not just non-ECC... it is probably also the wrong voltage.

That notch you refer to, is slightly offset, if you try to plug it into
the wrong voltage motherboard. It fits only if you plug it into the
correct voltage motherboard.

(There are newer 3.3V DIMMs and there are older 5V DIMMs.)

My apologies for the barrage of questions - I'm very keen to get this
up and running!! Thanks very much for your help!

No apologies necessary. We've all been where you are now. :) You're
also asking good and well-reasoned questions.

Cheers,

-Dan

.

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