Hang on Alphaserver DS20E

[mahesh arora]

checked all scsi ports. removed all cards from system except graphic card. connected disk to on board scsi connector. we are unable to get os option selection screen .

we have used command :
boot -fl 0,30000 dqa0 ( cd drive )

the last message on screen is before it hangs is " %LOADER-I-INIT, initializing SYS$PKADRIVER.EXE "

we do not reach to the stage where PAK needs to be installed.

is there a sequence to load vms. we have 3 systems and all 3 stopping at same point. once it goes to stop state ctrl c and p also does not work.

[Hein van den Heuvel]

In all but the first example the boot is done using -flags 0,3. Why the 3?
That flag asks the system to load Xdelta but not to take a breakpoint. Have you recently tried a normal, nostop boot (the default) with -fl 0 or 0,0 ?

fwiw,
Hein.

From the documenation...
The following table describes the valid values you can specify when booting with XDELTA:
Value System Response
0 Normal, nonstop boot (default).
1 Begins a conversational boot and then displays the SYSBOOT prompt.
2 Includes XDELTA but does not take the initial breakpoint.
3 Displays the SYSBOOT prompt and includes XDELTA but does not take the initial breakpoint.
6 Includes XDELTA and takes the initial breakpoint.
7 Includes XDELTA, displays the SYSBOOT prompt, and takes the initial breakpoint at system initialization.

[mahesh arora]

we have done boot -fl 0,0 dqa0 also but system hangs at following point:

%SMP-I-SECMSG, CPU #01 message: P01>>>START
%SMP-I-CPUTRN, CPU #01 has joined the active set.
%STDRV-I-STARTUP, OpenVMS startup begun at 21-AUG-2008 20:25:21.31
%EIA0, Twisted-Pair mode set by console
%EIA0, Half Duplex 10BaseT connection selected

we were advised to use " boot -fl 0,30000 dqa0 " to check exact messages status. system hangs at :
%LOADER-I-INIT, initializing SYS$DVDRIVER.EXE
%LOADER-I-INIT, initializing SYS$IIDRIVER.EXE
%LOADER-I-INIT, initializing YS$PKADRIVER.EXE

we have 3 systems and all were used previously in unix environment. is there any set of parameters which needs to change while installing openvms. we have changed os_type to openvms. all 3 system can not have same problem therefore there is a common element in these system we have overlooked to change.

[DECxchange]

For starters, I assume you went ahead and upgraded the firmware to the correct level, since your included output does not show that message anymore?

Looking at your text file, showing the reboot sequence, I see you typed YES in response to Autogen's request to change SYSGEN parameters to allow DECwindows to start. Reboot again, and if it asks you this question, answer NO for now. (BTW, is DECwindows suppose to run for your application?)

Then see if you get the accounting info that normally follows the "login interactive limit" message that typically appears at the end of the reboot.

Then at your terminal, hit carriage return to see if you get a username prompt. If so, try to login and check system functionlaity, show sys, etc.

If you don't get a username prompt, try

boot -fl 0,1 and set startup_p1 to "MIN" (you may have already tried this. Then see if you are able to get a $ prompt. I think you mentioned before that you were able to get a dollar prompt at some point. Then try executing your systartup_vms.com commands one step at a time to see where things are getting hung up.

Not knowing your system, I don't know what it is "suppose" to do when it was working. As I said before, I find it strange that you have 5 SCSI adapters, PKA0, PKB0, PKC0, PKD0, and PKE0, but you only have one disc drive DKB0, and one tape drive, MKE0.

Again, I ask, is the system startup expecting an application to run off a disc drive that is not connected for some reason? Having so many SCSI controllers implies to me that you have several drives that are not connected to your system. Is there a way to verify that you have all of your peripherals connected properly?

Beyone that, it's getting difficult to understand what could be going on without actually being there by the system opr having remote access, and/or seeing what cabling connections there should be on the back. Can you check cabling, etc? Is this DS20E in a cabinet with other disc drives and such?

[idorenyina]

hello guys...saw your posts on hang on Alphaserver DS20E and have been keenly going through it cos i have the same problem as well.

i recently installed an application on  a DS25 server, and i keep having this hang problem

%VMScluster-I-LOADSECDB, loading the cluster security database
%SYSINIT-I- waiting to form or join an OpenVMS Cluster
%EIA0, FastFD mode set by console
%EIA0, Full Duplex 100BaseTX connection selected
%EIB0, FastFD mode set by console
%EIB0, Full Duplex 100BaseTX connection selected
%EIC0, FastFD mode set by console
%EIC0, Full Duplex 100BaseTX connection selected
%EID0, FastFD mode set by console
%EID0, Full Duplex 100BaseTX connection selected
%EIE0, FastFD mode set by console
%EIE0, Full Duplex 100BaseTX connection selected
%EIF0, FastFD mode set by console
%EIF0, Full Duplex 100BaseTX connection selected
%EWA0, 100mbps_full_duplex mode set by console (EGA0_MODE)
%EWA0, 5703 LOM located in 64-bit, 66-mhz PCI slot
%EWA0, Device type is BCM5703C (UTP) Rev A2 (10020000)
%PKA0, Copyright (c) 1998 IntraServer Technology Inc. PKW V2.1.22 ROM V2.0
%PKA0, SCSI Chip is SYM53C895, Operating mode is LVD Ultra2 SCSI

the system stalls at this point "%PKA0, SCSI Chip is SYM53C895, Operating mode is LVD Ultra2 SCSI"

which is thesame as the problem with the comments on the DS20 server the only diffrence is that this happens when booting occurs in cluster.

please i would love you guys to comment on this its has been giving me a headache for a while now and dont know how to go about it.

thanks

[Steve Reece_3]

There's not been an update on either of these for a while, but could it be that the systems just have insufficient votes to form a cluster on their own?  What are the values of votes and expected votes?

For the original poster, this probably isn't so relevant if they have no licenses on the system to be able to form a cluster.