VAX 4400 with OpenVMS v6.2 Diagnostics

[VPedraza]

Hi,

To make a long story short I need to find out if my VAX has some diagnostics programs included in the OS.

The machine is under a PM program and there are no funds to bring a technician to perform the PM and that's why I'm trying to find out if it can be done in house.

Thanks

[Volker Halle]

Hi,

welcome to the OpenVMS ITRC forum.

OpenVMS VAX itself does not include 'diagnostic' programs. OpenVMS will log hardware error to ERRLOG.SYS, which you can view with ANALYZE/ERROR.

There are standalone diagnostics programs called MDM (MicroVAX Diagnostics Monitor), but you need the MDM media (TK50) to start them.

OpenVMS includes UETP (User Environment Test Package), which can generate system load and run functional tests on devices and disks, but I would not call that a 'Diagnostics' program.

Do you have any problem with your VAX 4000-400 you're trying to diagnose and solve ?

Volker.

[VPedraza]

Thanks Volker,

The machine has a bad hard drive, what I need to do is run tests to make sure that the machine hardware is in working order.

We used to have HP come and do the PM for us, what the technician did I don't know but he was supposed to verify the hardware.

The HD issue will be dealt when we find a replacement, so far no luck.

Was looking on the manuals and found the Monitor function, this lets me see what's going on but doesn't do any testing.

[Volker Halle]

Running MDM would probably be the best option, if you have the MDM media. This is a standalone tool, which does not run under OpenVMS, but has to be booted from tape (typically TK50/TK70).

If not, you could run UETP and at least check, if any error are being logged. Running UETP is described in the OpenVMS VAX System Manager's Manual Chapter 19.

Other than that, rely on OpenVMS to log errors, if there are any hardware problems with $ ANAL/ERROR

Volker.

[VPedraza]

Can't find the MDM media, don't know if we had it or not.

"If not, you could run UETP and at least check, if any error are being logged. Running UETP is described in the OpenVMS VAX System Manager's Manual Chapter 19."

I have the book printed on 5/93 for OVMS 6.0 and chapter 19 talks about VMScluster Considerations. Can I find the UETP instructions on line?

[DECxchange]

No, VMS Cluster is a different utility of the OS than UETP. I have a VAX4400 myself. If you can tell me what errors you're seeing I might be able to give you some pointers.

In any case, somebody posted a link for VMS documentation yesterday in another thread. You might be able to find it by searching this forum for VMS Documentation. If I find it, I'll repost it here.

[DECxchange]

Online VMS docs:

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/index.html?jumpid=/go/openvms/doc

[Steven Schweda]

> Can't find the MDM media, don't know if we
> had it or not.

A MicroVAX II was normally shipped with a
slightly crippled "DIAG CUST" tape. (And you
needed the deluxe "DIAG MAINT" kit to format
a virgin RD-series disk.) I don't know if
any later models included it. Somewhere
around 1992, a friendly DEC Field Service guy
loaned me a TK50 when I needed one. (He
seemed to expect me to make a copy, so I
wouldn't need to bother him again.)

I keep hoping that someone will release MDM
for general (free) use by hobbyist mu-VAX
owners, but perhaps some folks are still
willing to pay for it. (Or else it would
just be extra work for someone.)

> The machine is under a PM program [...]

Not?

> The machine has a bad hard drive, what I
> need to do is run tests to make sure that
> the machine hardware is in working order.

Which sort of disk? (You know it's bad
because ...?) If the system works (was
working?) except for the bad disk, what do
you expect to learn from any diagnostics?
(I'm pretty sure that the MDM didn't do
fan-failure prediction.)

[VPedraza]

Thanks for the replies, will read the UETP documentation to in order to run the tests.

I'm not looking for errors or troubleshooting, only need to run some tests in order to complete a PM that was given to me in order to assure that the Vax is working properly.

The bad drive that I mentioned gives a red light and isn't visible on the system but I'm not trying to fix that at this time. It's been like that for the past 3 years and the admin can't find a replacement for it.

[Steven Schweda]

> [...] admin can't find a replacement for it.

As I said, "Which sort of disk?" RF-series
(DSSI) disks are hard to find new, but
claimed-working ones do appear on auction Web
sites from time to time. Q-bus SCSI adapters
also appear from time to time (although not
often at incredible-bargain prices), and
new/good SCSI disks are pretty common.

While you appear not to need this particular
disk, it might be nice to have a plan to deal
with a failure of the system disk (or any
other disk which you actually do use). Unless
you don't really need this system, of course.