system hang (blue screen) while starting up

[jess_14]

screenshot of the blue screen.

[Volker Halle]

Jess,

is this VGA terminal connected to a KVM switch ? This may make things even more complicated.

Please consider to use the serial console and make sure you use COM1 (not COM2). But this all depends on your type of Alpha system, which you have to net revealed...

Volker.

[Mobeen_1]

Please hit the break button on server and as Steven mentioned...this should get you to what we call as chicken prompt :)...i.e

>>>>

then you perform

>>>> show console

[Hein van den Heuvel]

>>>Apr 23, 2010 08:59:41 GMT N/A: Question Author
screenshot of the blue screen.

Now that my friends, is the first real screen shot I have seen in years!
This is a keeper. Check it out.

Jess, we realize this is all new to you, and it can be daunting. But it is really difficult for us to imagine what you have been doing /typing / seeing.

What we have so far is that you put in an OpenVMS CD, hit the power button, drive lights flashed and the VGA screen turned blue.

- What is the exact system name?
- Have you typed anyting, and where?
- Did you attach a keyboard to a keyboard or USB port on the system?
- We (me) suspect that you should NOT be using that VGA screen/keyboard
- You should connect a 'real terminal' (VT220, whatever) or a terminal emulator (Hyperterm, recent PuTTY with serial support) to a DB9 - SERIAL PORT, then power up.

By using a Hyperterm or Putty session, you can stop using the camera for screenshots.

Hope this helps some,
Hein

[cnb]

Ah yes, now THAT's a blue screen!

Yep. Bypass the KVM and directly connect to the system serial port as suggested by everyone else.

***Exactly *WHICH* Alpha Model are you trying to boot?*** If you are unsure look on the front or the back of the system for the system serial number tag, there should be a model number like DS- or DH-, etc... Or a name...ALPHASTATION, ALPHASERVER DSxx, ESXX, ASXXXX on the front bezel somewhere.

It makes it easier for us to help you.

Rgds,

[Andy Bustamante]

Please provide the model of KVM. Most don't support OpenVMS very well. Remove it while troubleshooting as previously suggested.

Also please provide output from the following at the console, SHOW FRU, SHOW DEVICE, SHOW BOOT*, SHOW CONSOLE

Second, how long does the blue screen last? Is there disk activity during this period?

[Stanley F Quayle]

You might have gotten the thing into the BIOS mode (for booting Windows NT) instead of the SRM mode (for booting VMS). The Multias I used to have would sometimes come up wrong because the NVRAM battery needed replacing...

[Khee Chan]

To *jess*

If you really want all the highly knowledgeable folks to help you properly instead of engaging in speculation, please reply with the following info:

1) Exact model of your Alpha system
2) Make & model of CD-ROM drive used to boot
3) Also is the CD-ROM drive SCSI or IDE?
4) What are the outputs before you see "jumping to bootstrap code"?

Without the above info, my WILD guess would be that you are trying to boot off an IDE CD-ROM drive installed in an early model Personal Workstation. The early PWS (the ones without a Qlogic SCSI controller on the logic board) have braindead IDE chipsets and do NOT boot OpenVMS CD's off the installed IDE CD-ROM drive in spite of initial indication that the boot process has started.