topic Re: dec microvax 2 3800 cmd cqd-220 scsi disk drive not seen vms 5.4 in Operating System - OpenVMS

dec microvax 2 3800 cmd cqd-220 scsi disk drive not seen vms 5.4

spart007 — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 09:44:37 GMT

hi,

I am trying to get a bootable vms scsi disk on my microvax 2 using a cmd cqd-220m disk controller.

The onboard uitlity formats and tests the drive ok, but when i boot the tk50 vms 5.4 stabackit there is no hard drive device seen.

I also changed the csr and added the disk and controller to my working microvax 3800 but the command prompt 'show device' sees the controller but does not recognise the disk type, shows ? instead of RA/RF

The disk is DSP3120 RH20-e (dec) , or can I use any scsi drive?

Any help welcome, ive spent a week on this reading up but can't see where i am going wrong.

Thanks very much

Re: dec microvax 2 3800 cmd cqd-220 scsi disk drive not seen vms 5.4

Steven Schweda — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 13:34:38 GMT

> The disk is DSP3120 RH20-e (dec) , or can I use any scsi drive?

Just about any (working) SCSI drive should work; CMD didn't have a
DEC-only restriction. I don't know what the size limit is.

Have you tried any other disks? Have you tried that disk elsewhere?

> I also changed the csr [...]

Plenty of potential trouble hides in that vague comment.

> [...] can't see where i am going wrong.

Can't see where you're going.

On the bright side, the CQD-220/M is the disk-only variant.

I have some relevant PDF docs lying around. Let me know if anything
looks interesting.

220223B3ARELEASENOTES.PDF;1
                        27 11-NOV-1999 22:05:33.42
220223INSTALLGUIDE.PDF;1
                        149 11-NOV-1999 22:04:40.04
220223JUMPERSETTINGS.PDF;1
                        30 11-NOV-1999 22:04:44.92
220A223AINSTALLGUIDE.PDF;1
                        40 13-NOV-1999 00:04:20.80
CQD-220_CQD-223_NOV90.PDF;1
                        6940 12-OCT-2006 17:18:27.29

The big one is the User's Manual.

Re: dec microvax 2 3800 cmd cqd-220 scsi disk drive not seen vms 5.4

spart007 — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 14:25:07 GMT

Hi,

Wow, thanks for the quick response.

I have the CQD-220_CQD-223_Nov90 pdf which I have been working from, but
none of the others-They would be useful if you could send me the links.

It is marked as a CQD-220/M but the utility menu accessed from the rs232
port shows disk and tape menus, and at one point it asked if I wanted to
make it disk only which I did.

I have tried different disks as well, and different scsi id's.

The onboard utility sees and tests the drive(s) using the test scsi device
(id=0) ok, so I assume the controller and disk(s) must be ok.

I have reverted back to factory settings for csr and tried it as the only
disk controller in both the microvax 3800, and microvax 2.

The MV2 takes forever to boot the TK50 tape and sees no device apart from
MUA0.

The mv3800 has the option after passing self test to 'show device' and with
the CMD controller installed only it sees

UQSSP Disk Controller 0 (772150)

-?

The original DEC DSSI controller installed shows

UQSSP Disk Controller 0 (772150)

-DUA0 (RF71)

UQSSP Disk Controller 1 (760334)

-DUB1 (RF73)

And with the CMD added as well as the DEC DSSI (with CMD CSR change)

UQSSP Disk Controller 2 (760340)

-?

It's as if the disk requires some sort of DEC id, I seem to recall something
on those lines for non-DEC disks, but these disks I have are seen as RZ25
and RH20 by the scsi onboard CMD utility.

I'm perplexed and run out of ideas.

Many thanks for your support

David Jones (CSCS Supervisor ECS/JIB Engineer)

Interlan Network Services

Office 01423 712222

Mobile 07711227368

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Re: dec microvax 2 3800 cmd cqd-220 scsi disk drive not seen vms 5.4

Steven Schweda — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 19:32:53 GMT

> It is marked as a CQD-220/M but the utility menu accessed from the rs232
> port shows disk and tape menus, and at one point it asked if I wanted to
> make it disk only which I did.

Hmmm. My impression was that CMD was rather protective about its
mode restrictions. Any chance that your gizmo is the result of someone
trying to transform a /M to a /TM (and not succeeding)? Other hardware
problems are also possible, of course, including bad cables, bad
termination, ... It'd be a shame to lose one of those (rare and
valuable) cards.

> I have reverted back to factory settings for csr and tried it as the only
> disk controller in both the microvax 3800, and microvax 2.

Have you run through the whole SYSGEN CONFIGURE procedure (specifying
the actual adapters) to make sure of the CSR and vector values?

> UQSSP Disk Controller 0 (772150)

That (familiar) CSR looks accepted. I don't remember (and am too
lazy to look to see) whether that has a floating vector. If so, then
you'd still need to worry about the vector.

> The MV2 takes forever to boot the TK50 tape [...]

It's old. If you had a working SCSI adapter, then you could use a
(much faster) CD-ROM.

> [...] and sees no device apart from MUA0.

If the console doesn't see a disk, then I wouldn't expect that the OS
would.

> [...] They would be useful if you could send me the links.

I doubt it, but you're welcome to look:

http://antinode.info/ftp/cmd/

Re: dec microvax 2 3800 cmd cqd-220 scsi disk drive not seen vms 5.4

Steven Schweda — Sat, 26 Jun 2021 01:52:32 GMT

You might want to ask at comp.os.vms, too. Plenty of old VAX hands
hang out there.

Re: dec microvax 2 3800 cmd cqd-220 scsi disk drive not seen vms 5.4

spart007 — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 14:26:01 GMT

Ok Ive managed to get an RD53 on an RQDX3 controller fired up, ive abandoned the CQD for now.

Now thge problem I have is I created a STABACKIT on a TK70 from my working MV3800 and a full system backup.sav save set.

I can boot the STABACKIT TK70 on my MV2 but on restoring the save set the RD53 becomes 'disk is full' as it is obviously too small in capacity.

Do you know what directories are actually required to get a working copy of VMS 5.4 on my MV2, as against me doing a full backup/image? Can I include /exclude or is it unlikely to even fit? I'm sure VMS 5.4 was on my old disk that trashed.

Re: dec microvax 2 3800 cmd cqd-220 scsi disk drive not seen vms 5.4

Steven Schweda — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 18:15:58 GMT

> [...] Ive managed to get an RD53 on an RQDX3 controller fired up,
> [...]

71MB is pretty small. An RD54 was small enough (159MB) that I'd want
two of them.

> Do you know what directories are actually required [...]

I'd approach it from a different direction. I'd try a fresh
installation of V5.4, and see if that's possible, perhaps with some
tailoring-off. Then, perhaps, see if there's enough space to add
anything from the old backup.

Re: dec microvax 2 3800 cmd cqd-220 scsi disk drive not seen vms 5.4

spart007 — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 10:05:21 GMT

Hi,
Thanks for that.
A fresh install is what I am looking for but all I have in a bootable Stabackit tape which I created and a fully working MV3800. Can I create an install tape?
Many thanks

Sent from my iPhone
07711227368

Re: dec microvax 2 3800 cmd cqd-220 scsi disk drive not seen vms 5.4

Steven Schweda — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 04:11:42 GMT

> [...] Can I create an install tape?

I'd expect so, if you have the required data. And a TK50 tape or
two.

It's been a while, and I'm not sure where my notes went, so no bets,
but, as I recall...

When everything would fit onto one TK50, I believe that a complete
TK50 VMS installation kit could be made by creating a TK50 Stand-Alone
Backup tape, and then COPYing the VMS installation save sets (VMSxxx.%,
DECWxxx.%) onto that tape. DEC might have packaged things differently,
perhaps Stand-Alone Backup and the DECwindows save sets on one volume,
and the VMS save sets on another.

I believe that you can just mount the tape, and use COPY. You might
need some /BLOCKSIZE option on the MOUNT command, but I'd start simple,
and see what happens.

The details shouldn't matter much. You need to be able to boot
Stand-Alone Backup from something, and use it to restore VMSxxx.B onto
the destination disk. Then, boot from that destination disk, and tell
the installation script where to find the other save sets. Shuffle
tapes around as needed.

If you have Stand-Alone Backup available on some disk (hard disk,
CD-ROM), then booting from that would almost certainly be faster than
booting from a TK50. (But all-tape would be more authentic/miserble.)