HP 9000/840S is alive (sorta)

From: Steve Robertson <steverob_at_hotoffice.com>
Date: Mon Jun 7 15:13:32 1999

For anyone that cares...

This weekend I fired up my new (old) HP 9000/840S minicomputer.

The 840S is a fairly large minicomputer circa 1987. This particular unit is
fully loaded with 24MB of RAM (I think 12MB was standard), 36 serial ports,
4 HPIB interface cards, a SCSI card, and a LAN interface. The system is 3
1/2' tall, 2 1/2' wide, and 3' deep. I weighs between 350 and 400 pounds.

The CPU has an emormous transformer in the base with a number of primary
windings. This allows it to be configured for a number of different line
voltages including: 110, 120, 220, 240, and 208. Fortunately, there is a
wiring diagram printed inside the power distribution panel and the jumpers
were all color coded. I set it up for 240 since that's what my voltmeter
indicated at the outlet.

I had previously removed all the cards from the CPU (there are approx 25
cards). I turned the machine on and tested each of the 3 power suplies.
There is a "System Monitor" module that runs the control panel and it also
provides test points for all the system voltages. When I checked them, they
were all pretty close to the voltages indicated on panel.

I reinstalled all the cards and connected a terminal to the console port.
Flipped the breaker and the machine came alive! The CPU did it's self test
and everything seemed to work just fine. After a few moments, it indicated
a BOOT error as would be expected without a boot device attached.

The system came with a pair of HP 7937 hard drives mounted in rolling
cabinet. The drives are approx 14 tall, 14" wide, and 30" deep. They weigh
between 80 and 100 pounds each and have a capacity of approx 500MB.

A cursory inspection of the drives found that the heads had not been locked
in the "ship" position. I didn't know what kinda treatment they had
received so, I just crossed my fingers and fired them up.

There was a loud squeel from the drives as they spooled up. That was
obviously a bad sign :-(

I spent the entire afternoon Saturday and most of the morning on Sunday
working on the HDs. After removing them from the cabinet and disassembling
them on the kitchen table, I discovered what was making the horrific
noises. The motor, that spins the fan, also spins the HD through a belt
drive. When the motor started up, some of the old insulation got caught in
the belt and gummed it up pretty good. That particular foam insulation
turns to a sticky, gooey, black mess when it ages and the S*** was all over
the place.

After several hours, up to my elbows in Acetone, I managed to get
everything cleaned up and completely reassembled the units (OH my aching
back). Now I was ready to try it again.

I applied to power to the first HD and it spun up without the horrible
noises it made previously. The only problem was the LEDS, on the front
panel, indicated a "Servo" ERROR. I cycled the power on the unit several
times (allowing it to spin down) and about 30% of the time I could get a
green LED (disk OK). I applied power to the second HD and got similar
results although it failed the POST more often.

So, I attached the first HD to the CPU and was ready to go. I had to cycle
the HD several times to get a green indication and then I turned on the
CPU. After several moments, it went through the boot sequence... Yipee!.

During the BOOT, FSCK detected numerous faults in the HD and several of the
scripts in the ETC/RC directory could not execute. Obviously, the HDs were
having difficulties. After about 15 minutes, I finally got an "(un)welcome"
screen and login prompt. It said "Property of the US government... blah,
blah, USC code XXX... blah, blah, you're going to jail".

Since I didn't know the ROOT password, I was at a dead end but, at least it
did boot!

I rebooted the system and tried to restart in single user mode hoping, I
could find a way in to the system. Alas, I cannot get the system to boot
again. I think FSCK probably tried to fix the HD, during the previous boot,
and now it doesn't work at all :-(

I had intended to register the system with HP and get the OS upgrade
anyway. Thankfully, they're offering HPUX 10.2 for free so, it won't cost
me anything for the software.

With any luck, I'll be able to reformat the HDs and clear up the problems
they were having. I'll let y'all know what happens.

See Ya,

Steve Robertson <steverob_at_hotoffice.com>
Received on Mon Jun 07 1999 - 15:13:32 BST