[Info-vax] Hobbyist RX2620

[dugs at y7mail.com]

Hi Group,

I purchased a rx2620 from an online liquidator in Australia, who new
nothing about this device, with the hope to replace my aging DS10.  I
received the rx2620 today.  A kind fellow VMS user provided a hobbyist
copy of VMS (8.3-H1) to install.

I am pretty naive about Itanium hardware.  I have played with the
management processor on some rx2600s at a former job, for very basic
commands.  I am a programmer not really a VMS administrator.

The rx2620 does not have a lights out management card install - so I
pulled a Radeon 7500 from my DS10 and installed in the rx2620.  I
powered up the unit and attempted to boot off the internal DVD driver
and I got the following error after selecting boot from internal DVD
from the menu.  (There is no other OS on the internal drives)

EltCheckDevice: Error Reading Catalog Device Error.

After searching HPs website I saw that could indicate a faulty DVD
drive.

The rx2620 has BMC 3.48.  Which I assume is probably pretty old.

I can go to the Shell and enter service mode and the response to
sysset looks okay.

What options do I have to move forward from here?

Is there a way using my alpha I can install VMS onto the rx2620?
(DS10 only has CDnot DVD)

Can I put write a image onto a external USB 2.0 hard drive and boot
the system?  I saw all the comments about USB keys on the group?

Is there anyway I can test the DVD - say using LINUX DVD?


I agree with other comments on the group about the noise of the
rx2620.  Pretty impressive.

Thanks

Dug