[Info-vax] dead XP1000

[Phillip Helbig undress to reply]

An XP1000 left my cluster.  The power supply still works.  The CD drawer
still works.  Neither the reset button nor power-cycling it has any
effect, other than producing three beeps.  Nothing at all shows up at
the console.  All cables (power, console, network, SCSI, graphics 
monitor, keyboard, mouse) are well connected.

I plan to replace it with another machine, possibly after removing some 
memory from it to go into the replacement machine.  (It has 2 GB or RAM; 
the replacemnet machines have less.)  (Of course, I'll test the 
replacement machine at the console before booting it into the cluster.  
I suppose that a memory fault could be the trouble, so obviously I need 
to make sure that the memory in the replacement machine is OK; however, 
I don't think that I've ever had bad memory cause a machine to fail.)

Any ideas on what to look for once I have it out of the cluster?

Yes, it is old hardware, probably 20 years old.  Fortunately I have some 
replacements (enough to keep me going until I die).  As soon as VSI has 
VMS on x86 and machines and licenses (hobbyist?) are available at a
reasonable price, I plan to transition.  It's really not worth the 
trouble to go through Itanium.  At first, I'll have a mixed-architecture 
cluster, as I did with Alpha and VAX.  (I hope that this is supported 
for more than just a rolling reboot.)  When I have enough machines, I 
can go all-x86.  If replacement machines are quickly available, I'll 
probably need six (three for the main cluster, one for a satellite in 
another room, two replacements); if not, I'll probably need seven (three 
replacements).