[Info-vax] rx4640 fails to boot OpenVMS 8.4

[MG]

On 4-3-2012 17:32, Paul Wuerrer wrote:
> I recently acquired a pretty nice rx4640 and thanks to the hobbyist
> program I also got provided with an image of OpenVMS 8.4 for Itanium.
> My problem is that the machine refuses to boot from the burned media.
> I've burned the DVD twice, one using wodim on Linux, the other one
> using CdBurner XP on Windows.

Congratulations with the rx4640.  I saw one get sold locally recently,
it only took a few days!  (I don't know for how much it went, though.)

Anyway, did you use the [Hobbyist] media as provided by HP?  (Could
you also perhaps provide a bit more information about the system?)

I've installed V8.4 on an rx4640 a few months ago.  The installation
went fine and everything worked great.  (Just so you know, the rx4640
is definitely supported and I can tell from experience.)


> When I try to boot from the linux-burned one absolutely nothing
> happens after "Starting: Internal Bootable DVD" - I left the system
> running for several hours with no success. And the DVD burned from
> Windows keeps giving me strange errors, the MP reports "BOOT_IVT_
> OFFSETtrap taken" and "system firmware error.
>
> The last time I tried the EFIalso reported "interrupt with ic bit
> clear" and "ext int taken, number in ext PE.

That doesn't sound too good...  I'd prepare a firmware CD and try to
reflash the firmware.  (See the HP site for the IPF CDs.)


> What's also strange is that I can't get the system to boot from the
> 4.29 firmware CD I downloaded from HP. This one was also burned with
> CdBurner XP, the EFI always aborts with "not found" and doesn't seem
> to map the drive.

That is quite peculiar.  This might be worth checking, although not
very likely: Are you sure that you have downloaded the EFI ISO image
and not the MP/iLO FTP upgrade data?


> Unfortunately I can't really determine if it's the drive because my
> other machine (a rx2600 I got with the 4640) is waiting for new PSUs
> at the moment.

(The rx2600 also doesn't support up to the firmware version of the
rx4640, which could've been useful to compare.)


> The firmware on the 4640 is E.03.30(MP), 04.05(BMC), 05.48(EFI) and
> 04.29(System)

Apart from the MP/iLO firmware (I run E.03.32 in my rx2620s), for the
rest everything seems up to date.  Which speaking of, if the CD/DVD
upgrades aren't working out, you might want to consider an MP/iLO
upgrade (with FTP).

  - MG