[Info-vax] SPM 3.4 installation issue on VMS 6.1

[Kerry Main]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Info-vax [mailto:info-vax-bounces at info-vax.com] On Behalf Of
> William Pechter via Info-vax
> Sent: 20-Jan-16 12:42 PM
> To: info-vax at info-vax.com
> Cc: William Pechter <pechter at pechter.dyndns.org>
> Subject: Re: [New Info-vax] SPM 3.4 installation issue on VMS 6.1
> 
> In article <mailman.2.1453039466.15674.info-vax_info-vax.com at info-
> vax.com>,
> Kerry Main  <kerry.main at backtothefutureit.com> wrote:
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Info-vax [mailto:info-vax-bounces at info-vax.com] On Behalf Of
> >> abrsvc via Info-vax
> >> Sent: 15-Jan-16 5:54 PM
> >> To: info-vax at info-vax.com
> >> Cc: abrsvc <dansabrservices at yahoo.com>
> >> Subject: Re: [New Info-vax] SPM 3.4 installation issue on VMS 6.1
> >>
> >> >    OBTW, the last set I got was the white shelves.  But I rely on my
> >> >    old CDs more often.
> >>
> >> If you really want to use old technology, I still have the
> >manuals on fiche.
> >> I think I was 1 of only a few that used this option back in the day...
> >>
> >> Dan
> >> _______________________________________________
> >
> >Under topic of semi-related war story and walk down memory lane-
> >
> >As an ex Field Service type, I can say there were 4 things you
> >always had
> >In your trunk - your scope (oscilloscope for youngsters), your
> >tool case,
> >your ufiche reader, and the box of ufiche.
> 
> And in the PDP realm the fiche were extremely importand.
> Running diags without the fiche to see error codes and what called
> what routine would leave you screwed.
> 
> XXDP diags before the Diag Supervisor left you with some homework to
> do to interpret failures.  The stuff after the DS> days wasn't too
> bad at giving you better error messages.
> 
> I miss the days of linking DECX11...
> 
> >
> >Another fond memory was filing new ufiche updates and throwing out
> >the old ufiche.
> 
> Yup... did it quarterly at home or when things in the office got slow.
> 
> >
> >All the FS manuals, IPB's, print sets, diagnostic program info
> >and listings,
> >etc. were all on ufiche, so they were an essential component of
> >what any
> >self-respecting FS type had in their trunk.
> 
> Any DEC FS guy who didn't carry their stuff into the computer room
> was either working just Vaxes and big 11's (where they could and
> often used the Remote Diag folks for support).  I always brought the
> diag fiche in for stuff beyond the 11/34 2 board cpu set and
> simple memory errors.
> 
> I also had most of the peripherals I dealt with in hard copy manual
> form to use. (Wrote in alignment and troubleshooting procedures on the
> paper margins of the books -- since you couldn't update the fiche
> with your favorite shortcuts and tips).
> 
> 
> >
> >This was really critical for those who worked on systems like PDP8's,
> >PDP11's etc. where board level replacement from a kit full of
> >spares was
> >not always possible and you had to find the bad module using diags and
> >your scope.
> >
> >:-)
> 
> >Regards,
> >
> >Kerry Main
> >Kerry dot main at starkgaming dot com
> >
> 
> Pretty much board swap by the time I got their in '82...
> Too much pressure to close tickets, file the LARS report and get
> to the next ticket.  Scope was mostly an alignment tool by then as
> well as power issues.
> 
> Once had an Engineer from the US Navy's Trenton Naval Propulsion
> site call in a trouble ticket on a bad TE16 not going on line.
> 
> He told be chip U-(whatever) on the TM03 wasn't going high
> when the on-line tape registered on line on the front panel so the OS
> saw the drive as offline.
> 
> I told him I'd see him in 3 weeks when the single chip he wanted me to
> replace got in from logistics -- or in 15 minutes plus 5 travel he'd
> be running when I replaced the LAW (logic & write board) on the drive.
> 
> Love when engineers want to rub it in to techs that they can
> troubleshoot too. (He settled for board swap...)
> 
> 
> Bill
> 

Another amusing war story from my remote support days:

FE had been working on an intermittent problem that a standalone 
diag  picked out and was constantly failing with an error on the console.
Call had been escalated to our support group and I was assigned the call.

When I called the site, the Cust stated the FE had packed up and left
saying the problem was fixed.  When I finally reached the FE, he stated
he had reseated all the system modules as the fix. 

When I asked him about the diag that was failing, he stated "oh, that
was a diag bug as it needed bit x to be set in the front panel switch 
register...". 

mmmm .. ok, so I check the ufiche for that diag and guess what bit x
was? .... "disable error printout .."

:-)

[yes, I had to go back to the site with the FE ..]

Regards,

Kerry Main
Kerry dot main at starkgaming dot com