[Info-vax] DEC 3000/900 bootup problem

[SMS]

Vance Haemmerle wrote:
> Today my DEC 3000/900 developed a problem.
> It was in a cluster with a VAXstation and was
> booted out of the cluster, both had been up for
> 42 days, it appeared to have hung.  Now the DEC 3000/900
> cannot boot.  [...]

   Sounds bad.

> Whether booting from the system disk, an internal
> RRD45 or a newly connected RRD43 (just in case it was
> a disk or cd-rom problem) after all the inits and
> book checks pass and the
>
> OpenVMS (TM) Alpha Operating System, Version 7.1-2
>
> message appears and a few more disk activities occur
> (drive or CD-ROM) the bootup appears to hang.
>
>
> Details and things I've tried:
>
> All power-on tests are OK
> All console tests pass
> The number on the console display is normal ("90").
> A boot from the V7.1-2 and V7.2-2 CD-ROMs hang
> soon after the OS version string.
> Conversational boots with "MIN", USE DEFAULT and SET/STARTUP OPA0:
> all hang.
> The system also has a drive with Tru64 Unix V4.0F on it
> but it boots all the way up and runs!
>
> Any ideas of what to try or what it might be and why it only
> affects VMS bootup?  I assume something in the autoconfigure
> is going bad.

   Is it using the same console as you are?  (And what is
that?)  In some cases the early messages get sent to
multiple ports, but then it narrows its scope to one, and
if you're using the wrong one, it looks dead.

   If it's trying to cluster, does a REPLY /ENABLE
terminal on another system show any OPCOM messages?