Booting a VAXstation 4000 VLC off the hobbyist boot CD-ROM

From: Mark Wickens <m.wickens_at_rhodium-consulting.com>
Date: Fri Jul 16 05:23:50 2004

David,

Yes, I got this with the Pioneer drive - I'm presuming it just hangs
after the 'Verification in progress' text. This is because your drive is
simply not compatible with the VAX. Refer to my previous email.

Check the following URL:

http://sites.inka.de/pcde/help/dec-cdrom-list.txt

For a list of successes.

Regards,

Mark.

p.s. the drive will work file for normal file accesses - it is just
installation that is a problem (I now have 3 scsi drives!!)

Mark Wickens
Rhodium Consulting Ltd


-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces_at_classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces_at_classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of David Betz
Sent: 15 July 2004 17:18
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Booting a VAXstation 4000 VLC off the hobbyist boot CD-ROM

I borrowed a Plextor drive model PX-45CS and it boots standalone backup
and presents me with a '$' prompt. If I type the restore command:

$ backup/image dka400:vms072.b/save dka0:

I get the following message and nothing else:

%SYSTEM-I-MOUNTVER, SABKUP$DKA400: is offline. Mount verification in
progress.

Does anyone have any idea how to get past this?

Thanks,
David

On Jul 15, 2004, at 5:06 AM, Mark Wickens wrote:

> David,
>
> The joys of SCSI CDROMs and VAXes ;) Are you sure you really want to
> know
> :-o
>
> I had the same thing with a VAXstation 4000/90 recently. The problem
is
> that in order to boot off a CDROM the VAX requires that the drive be
> set
> in 512 bytes/sector mode. This will be configured by a jumper on the
> drive itself. You may well find that the drive does not support this
> mode, as most PC-compatible drives use 2K bytes/sector. Also, not all
> SCSI cdrom drives are made equal - I have a Pioneer drive which
> supports
> 512 bytes/sector but still doesn't boot correctly.
>
> In the case where it doesn't work I would suggest rather than messing
> around trying drives you get yourself a Plextor UltraPlex 40x drive
> (they can be picked up off ebay, I would say that a 32x drive would
> also
> work but don't quote me on this) - this is the only type of drive that
> has worked for me.
>
> Persevere though - it is worth it - I recently got to the stage where
> I'm into DECwindows and it is scary seeing it after nearly 12 years
> since I saw it last.
>
> Mark.
>
> Mark Wickens
> Rhodium Consulting Ltd
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk-bounces_at_classiccmp.org
> [mailto:cctalk-bounces_at_classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Antonio Carlini
> Sent: 14 July 2004 23:29
> To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
> Subject: RE: Booting a VAXstation 4000 VLC off the hobbyist boot
CD-ROM
>
>> I have my VAXstation 4000 VLC running to the ">>>" prompt and would
>> like to boot the hobbyist CD-ROM to install VMS on the hard drive but
>> I'm having trouble getting the CD-ROM to boot. If I type
>> 'boot dka400'
>> at the prompt, the CD-ROM spins up and I get the text "-DKA400"
>> displayed on the console but then I get the ">>>" prompt again. Can
>> anyone tell me why that would happen? I'm using a NEC CDR-1910A SCSI
>> CD-ROM drive set to SCSI ID 4.
>
> I'm assuming that you are using a VAX VMS CD and not an
> Alpha one :-) (And that it's the OS one and not one of
> the layered products ones ...)
>
> Some of the later CDs (V6.1 onwards or so) allow
> you to boot to OpenVMS rather than SA BACKUP:
>
> So something like:
>
> B/R5:10000000 DKA400:
>
> may work. If you have another working VMS box
> you can verify that the CD you have does indeed
> have a [SYS1] root.
>
> "B DKA400:" should have booted SA BACKUP, so
> if it didn't are you sure that:
> - you used the right CD (what part number and OS version is it)?
> - that your CD actually is DKA400: (SHOW DEVICE should help here)
> - that your CD supports 512-byte blocks and is configured to do so
> (what CD is it)?
>
> Antonio
>
>
> --
>
> ---------------
>
> Antonio Carlini arcarlini_at_iee.org
>
>
>
Received on Fri Jul 16 2004 - 05:23:50 BST

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