MicroVAX 3100-90

[FOX MULDER_2]

Are there any console commands to disable the date and time query when booting up on OpenVMS V7.2 running on MicroVAX 3100-90 ?

or any dip switch ?

regards,

fox

[Karl Rohwedder · Accepted solution]

Perhaps you may use the sysgen parameter TIMEPROMPTWAIT:

Depending on the value specified for the TIMEPROMPTWAIT
parameter, the system acts in one of the following ways:

o If TIMEPROMPTWAIT is 0, no prompt or wait occurs; the system
boots immediately, using the time of the last boot as the
system time.

regards Kalle

[Ian Miller.]

apart from prompting due to TIMEDPROMPTWAIT VMS may also ask if it considered the value stored is invalid.

[Vladimir Fabecic]

Did you have date and time query before?
Note that you can also have problem like that when battery is dead.

[Jon Pinkley]

The normal sysgen parameter to force the system to prompt for time is SETTIME. However, if the battery on the clock chip is dead, then VMS will prompt and wait for the number of seconds specified by TIMEPROMPTWAIT.

So I would first check to make sure that SETTIME is not set to a non-zero value.

$ MCR SYSGEN SHOW SETTIME

If it is not zero, set it to zero using the following commands:

$ MCR SYSGEN
SYSGEN> USE CURRENT
SYSGEN> SET SETTIME 0
SYSGEN> WRITE CURRENT
SYSGEN> EXIT

Also verify that you SYS$SYSTEM:MODPARAMS.DAT file does not have this value set to 1. If it does, the next time an AUTOGEN is done, the value will be reset.

If this used to work, and no one has changed the value during a conversational boot, then the most likely cause is a bad battery, as noted by others.

For more infor about these sysgen parameters:

$ MCR SYSGEN HELP SYS_PARAM SETTIME
$ MCR SYSGEN HELP SYS_PARAM TIMEPROPTWAIT

[Hoff]

Here are details on the Dallas chip, the TOY / BB_WATCH / non-volatile parameter storage chip that is used in most (though not all) of the later-generation VAX and most Alpha systems:

http://64.223.189.234/node/441

Replacement chip cost tends to be around US$20, give or take. If you want to go the Dremel route and replace the battery within the Dallas (an approach which I do not recommend), there are pointers to that, too.

[Colin Butcher]

Doen't the VAX 3100 have a small rechargable battery pack, like the 4000-100 and so on? It's usually that which dies first. Easy enough to buy some rechargable AAA cells and make a pack up.

I usualy swap the battery pack out and the Dallas chip if I'm trying to resurrect an old VAX.

The issue is usually caused by the stored time / date on disc being more than a given period (about a year o so I recall) out of sync with what the system clock thinks it is. If I recall correctly then the usual trick was to issue a "SET TIME" every so often - which would write the time / date back to disc. Doesn't work on CDs. Might have fun if you're running Phase V and DTSSS.

Cheers, Colin (http://www.xdelta.co.uk).

[Hoff]

I've not seen a conclusive list of which boxes have the Dallas, which have a coin cell, which have the 3-cell NiCd pack, and which have something else. (I do know the MicroVAX II boxes had the NiCd battery.)

Yes, you do need to save system time once a year with a VAX, and you do need to reset the time when you're swapping media with different saved base dates, and you usually need to reset the time when you're booting a distro kit.

The requisite first-quarter SET TIME doesn't have any affect on the time prompting. The box boots with the wrong year if the SET TIME in the SHUTDOWN processing is not invoked; if the box is hard-halted or crashes after the 497 days; after circa 11-Apr of each year.

Asking for the time each time (without media swaps) points to battery or the charging circuitry, or to a failed Dallas. (The Dallas has a permanent battery; it draws power and doesn't get recharged.)