[Info-vax] Troubles with using LCD monitor on Vaxstation 3100/38

[johnwallace4 at yahoo.co.uk]

On Friday, 4 November 2016 21:39:57 UTC, malt... at gmail.com  wrote:
> I am testing a number of Vaxstations before sending them to my users and none of them are generating output to the monitor.
> 
> 1) I am using the Digital brand cable of 15 pin male breaking out to 5 BNC connectors and then into VGA end for LCD monitor.
> 
> 2) I am using the same Dell 1908FP monitor they use at the plant that is autosyncing and has the range to work with the output from the VAxstation.
> 
> 3) I have a keyboard and mouse connected to the Vaxstation, but no network (is that the problem)?
> 
> 4) The S3 switch is down, but I've tried it in the up position without any luck.
> 
> I have tried other monitors as well with no luck.  I don't have a SOG type monitor, nor any CRT ones.
> 
> The monitor is telling me no output is coming.
> 
> Any ideas?  I am stuck and the vendor is not helping.
> 
> Thanks, Mike

This may be a silly question, but have you any evidence the
system itself is alive? Serial console output, maybe? Can the
system(s) be taken to a known good SOG-capable monitor for
testing, or vice versa?

There's more than one kind of VAXstation 3100, and more than
one possible graphics option. Is the system in this picture
*really* the same as the ones you have that work?

When you say you are using the same 1908FP monitor, do you
mean a monitor which has itself been seen to work with SOG
graphics, or just another instance of the alleged same model
of monitor, which may or may not be identical internally
with one that works. E.g. the SOG circuitry may have been
"value engineered" out as no one uses it any more, right?

VAXstations date back to an era when documentation was often
considered important. There may well be an Owners Guide or
a Service Guide for your model(s) of VAXstation, and within
it you may find known good suggestions for what to do if
your VAXstation doesn't behave as expected.

Provide a bit more info on the *exact* details of the 3100
in question, get some evidence there's life in of the box
(e.g. serial console), and then you can start to look at
SOG and then maybe even network-related issues. 

Best of luck.