[Info-vax] Trying to boot a MicroVAX II with VMS 7.3

[johnwallace4 at yahoo.co.uk]

On Mar 28, 2:44 pm, "Robert Jarratt" <nos... at nosp.am> wrote:
> I am trying various ways to boot my MicroVAX II. I am currently unable to do
> this using MOP because 7.3 does not support DEQNA. So I am now trying
> standalone backup using TK50. I created the kit on another machine running
> 7.3 and put it into the MicroVAX II. After a while I got:
>
> %SYSBOOT-F-PFN allocation overwrites CI ucode.
>
> This seems to be related to SYSGEN parameters essentially requesting too
> much memory. Is there a way to generate a standalone backup kit on another
> machine such that I can avoid this issue?
>
> Thanks
>
> Rob

[interim answer till the usual - more reliable - oldtimers turn up]

The ideal solution (since your VAX is actually networked) might be to
find a DELQA from somewhere and junk the DEQNA, so that you are not
later caught out by the DEQNA lockup "quality improvement
opportunity" (it's not a problem, it's not an issue, it's a QIO). They
might be expensive for a hobbyist machine though.

Why is a MicroVAX worrying about CI microcode anyway?Is there a CI
interface in this MicroVAX (it's unlikely but not impossible in a Qbus
system)? Or is the error message misleading?  Did that error message
get printed as you seem to say, or did you look it up based on a
numeric error status value? If numeric, are you confident you got the
decimal/hex thing right (I can't remember the details or check right
now but I can remember being caught out by the difference between $
exit 910 and $exit %X910 etc).

I have a very vague recollection that the DEQNA check could at one
time be overridden by boot flags but can't currently find any evidence
of this (and would be very surprised if it lasted as late as VMS 7.3
anyway).

If you are worried about SYSGEN parameters, have you tried booting
conversationally and then the usual conversational boot options are
available to you?

Whatever happened to VAXrsm (Remote System Manager) anyway... netboot
a VAX and install VMS over the LAN without actually needing to be
clustered (plus many other useful things which I have mostly
forgotten). It might even not have a DEQNA check in it.

Good luck.