[Info-vax] Failure of PWS433AU video card

[Hans Bachner]

Hi Chris,

Chris Townley schrieb am 18.10.2020 um 08:07:
> After a brief spell of the monitor repeatedly trying to autofit, or 
> seems the video card in my PWS433AU
> 
> [...]
> Mine came with a Matrox, which worked well enough.
> 
> Looking for a replacement, and see on the bay of E, 2MB Matrox 
> MGA-MIL/2BI 576-06 REV: B PCI VGA Graphics Video Card
> 
> This seems a slightly later version - will it work?
> 
> Otherwise any other suggestions? Please bear in mind I cannot currently 
> get access to the console to change any settings

Can't comment/guess on the Matrox card, but I'm pretty sure you can 
switch the console to serial by connecting a terminal (emulator) to 
COM1, switch on the PWS and repeatedly hit <enter> on the terminal until 
the SRM prompt appears. Once you are there, you can make the setting 
permanent with ">>> set console serial".

At least this approach works for several other Alphas I've come across.

Hope this helps,
Hans.