[Info-vax] InfoServer 150

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 1/28/19 10:20 AM, Dave Froble wrote:
> On 1/28/2019 9:50 AM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> On 1/28/19 9:31 AM, John E. Malmberg wrote:
>>> On 1/28/2019 8:03 AM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>>> On 1/28/19 4:17 AM, hb wrote:
>>>>> On 1/27/19 11:44 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>>>>>>> it does matter. You can't mount the .iso or the CD you have
>>>>>>> created as
>>>>>>> a drive on  Windows or Linux so it will look like a coaster,
>>>>>> Right.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Not that it solved the initial problem, but there are a couple of 
>>>>> tools
>>>>> to access/mount an ODS-x disk/CD on Windows or Linux.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The coasters were because instead of loading the image on the
>>>> CD/R it created a directory and copied the .img (or renamed
>>>> .iso) file to the newly created directory.
>>>>
>>>> For those still following I have installed imgburner and it says
>>>> the .img file is "invalid or unsupported image file format".  I
>>>> tried the wodim command offered and it burned a CD that, when
>>>> examined, appears to be identical to the .img file.  It also
>>>> does not boot.  LED on the drive flashes a few times, goes
>>>> out and the system just sits there until I hit the reset button.
>>>> I have even tried waiting for over an hour because, after all,
>>>> it is a very small, slow VAX  (KA41-2).
>>>>
>>>> So, I have now tried a combination of 9 different OS/Applications
>>>> for burning CD's.  It still doesn't boot.  Either the images are
>>>> not what we all seem to think they should be or the Infoserver is,
>>>> in fact, dead.  Even if it seems to go through the startup just
>>>> fine.
>>>>
>>>> I don't think I am going to win this one.
>>>
>>> I just remembered that the VAXen CD-ROM drives of that era were very
>>> picky about what recordable media that they would read.  They may not
>>> be able to completely read the more modern media.
>>
>> All the CDROM drives I have used have successfully booted and installed
>> other OSes on the VAX from CD/R's.
>>
>>>
>>> But you do not need a CD-ROM image.  You can temporarily replace the
>>> CD-ROM with a hard drive that contains the infoserver boot image.
>>> Preferably write locked.
>>
>> Tried that, too.  No success.
>>
>>>
>>> A linux system should be able to create the disk image or
>>> backup/physical should also.
>>
>> I did it using dd on a BSD box.  A VAX, no less.  :-)
>> But it still doesn't boot.  You would think I would at
>> least get some kind of error message but it is as if the
>> drive was just empty.
>>
>> I did figure out how to do the MODE stuff with IMGBurn (and
>> learned what the CUE file is all about) and burned yet another
>> CD making sure the MODE was right.  It would not use the .img
>> file but it did accept the same file with the extension changed
>> to .iso.  It still won't boot, but then, I still don't think
>> just changing the extension would be enough to make an invalid
>> file suddenly valid.
>>
>> bill
>>
>>
> 
> Have you tried booting that CD on another VAX?
> 

I get either nothing or I get an error about file format.  I
suspect the image is unique to the hardware configuration of
the Infoserver 150 or KA41 VAX.  I suspect that is also why
the Infoserver won't even attempt to boot anything else.  Not
even to the point of complaining about what is on the CD.

Or, the Infoserver is broken in some way that I haven't yet
determined from the limited messages it puts out.  I think
this afternoon I will try running something like TEST 50
and see if the 3100 docs can interpret the numbers it returns.

bill