[Info-vax] Not getting a dump file when VMS crashes

[David Froble]

Dale Dellutri wrote:
> On Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:52:54 -0400, David Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
>> Bob Koehler wrote:
>>> In article <jldgn6$ala$1 at dont-email.me>, David Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> writes:
>>>> Unless I've forgotten everything I've ever known (might not be much), the contents of 
>>>> memory are written by default to SYS$SYSTEM:SYSDUMP.DMP.  I'm not trying to write the dump 
>>>> to the paging file, or DOSD (off system disk) or anything like that.  My SYSDUMP.DMP is 
>>>> the size of physical memory.
>>>    Is sysdump.dmp contiguous, or at least CBT?
>>>
>>>    When you say "crash", do you mean "FATAL BUGCHECK" on the console?
>>>
> 
>> No, what I'm getting is the system will all of a sudden begin the self test.  Nothing on 
>> the console to indicate that anything happened.
> 
>> Stinks like a power problem to me ....
> 
> We recently had the same problem on two different systems.
> In each case it was a bad Operator Control Panel (OCP).

Yeah, I've seen all kinds of weird problems.

> The hardware engineer could make it happen by simply tapping the OCP.

In this case, the "hardware engineer" is me, and that's a rather BIG joke ....

Then there is the parts availablity question, for VAXstation 4000s ....

> Both systems are now working properly with the OCPs replaced.
> 

As was suggested, if it keeps happening, I'm going to both try alternate battery backup, 
and a power supply out of one of my spare VAXstation 4000s.  (Makes me wish I had kept the 
several model 60s I once had, for parts.)

That's sort of the limit of my "hardware engineering" ....