Operating System - Tru64 Unix
1748166 Members
3802 Online
108758 Solutions
New Discussion

Re: DEC Alpha 5/250 - Setup all over

 
araya
New Member

DEC Alpha 5/250 - Setup all over

I acquired an old Aplha Server which I want to bring back to life.

When I started for the first time, It started fine, but got stuck while validating the hard drives. When I shut it down and restarted, I am getting lots of errors. The console indicates it is stuck while checking i/o subsystem. The screen shows a CIPCA error.

Can I load a newer OS? I am a newbie for this, so bear with me and let me know what you need anything to help me.

 

Thanks

A.Raya

1 REPLY 1
Steven Schweda
Honored Contributor

Re: DEC Alpha 5/250 - Setup all over

> I acquired an old Aplha Server which I want to bring back to life.

   You might start by providing the actual model name/number (instead of
your brief summary of the actual model number).  Any system with "5/250"
in its name is pretty old, but a Web search for the actual model
name/number should find much information.  This hardware was generally
very well documented, and many documents are easy to find.

   After that, a more complete hardware inventory might be nice.

> When I started for the first time, It started fine,

   From your choice of forum, I'll guess that it was running Tru64.

> [...]  got stuck while validating the hard drives.

   I don't know what "validating the hard drives" means to you.  What,
exactly, did you do?

> When I shut it down and restarted, I am getting lots of errors.

   With my weak psychic powers, I can't see any of them.

> The console indicates it is stuck while checking i/o subsystem. The
> screen shows a CIPCA error.

   What, exactly, is "The console"?  Are you using a keyboard, mouse,
and graphic display, or a serial terminal/emulator, or what?  One
advantage of using a serial terminal emulator would be that it should
then be pretty easy to copy+paste actual output from the console, so
that we wouldn't need to rely on vague descriptions or interpretations
(like, say, "The screen shows a CIPCA error.").

   I know nothing about a CIPCA, but my quick Web search found, for
example:

      http://h41379.www4.hpe.com/openvms/products/cipca/

> Can I load a newer OS?

   Newer than what?  Tru64 development is pretty close to dead these
days.  Most Alpha systems can also run VMS, and there's a VMS hobbyist
program which can get you the software and licenses at no cost.  There
may be a GNU/Linux distribution which still supports Alpha hardware.

> [...] I am a newbie for this, so bear with me and let me know what you
> need anything to help me.

   Actual information rather than vague descriptions or interpretations
would be what's needed most.