[Info-vax] Changed Boot behavior on XP1000 since 2013

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2013-01-29 11:07:50 +0000, Hans Vlems said:

> The next question is : can we fix the error?
> Very likely we won't get any support from HP, presumably there are very 
> few XP1000's or ALpha Server 1200's (let alone Digital Server 5305's) 
> covered by a
> hardware maintenance contract.

AlphaStation XP1000 is listed as a supported system for OpenVMS Alpha 
V8.4 <http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/spdalphaintegrity84.pdf>, so HP 
will either be changing the SPD here, or changing the firmware, or 
(likely) changing the OpenVMS Alpha code.

> So is it possible to patch or edit the binary firmware file?

Yes, but not easily.

The relevant OpenVMS kernel code is easier to get at, it's in the 
source listings, and it's easier to patch.

Pending any comments from HP and pending any patches, the easiest fix 
is probably whacking the toy value directly from the SRM nvram script.

Something like the following (untested!) should work, if edited into 
the nvram script

10 deposit -b toy:9 0d

The line number (10, in the example) must be unique within the script.  
 See the SRM edit command and the nvram script documentation for 
details.

Given I see no obvious way to do math on the values examined by 
previous SRM console commands, this nvram hack script will have to be 
changed once a year.  Set a calendar alarm for December 2013, with some 
notes to either look for a patch, or to tweak the nvram script.

-- 
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