HP 9000 800/G30

[Michael Vang]

I have an old HP 9000 800/G30 (A2434A?) server sitting in my closet that I'd
like to get running... I have been told that it works, but I've never seen
it run... Here is what is in it:

2 very large power supplies...
1 small BNC/AUI network card (28640-69001?)...
1 small J2092A Mux card (J2092-60001?)...
1 large combo card with a parallel port, an external SCSI port with an AMP
terminator and an APMUX16 port (A1703-60022?)...
1 memory board (A1703-60005?) with 4 16MB memory boards (A2230-80001?)...
1 CPU board (A1703-60017?)...
1 big case...
1 Toshiba XM-3301B SCSI CD-ROM...
1 Mitsumi DK4-SS4001 tape drive (C1503-69201)
1 SCSI hard drive of unknown capacity (0950-2364?)...
1 CD in caddy titled HP-UX Release 10.10 Date Code 3602 (B3920-10075?) ...
1 long cable... One end has a male Mux connector... From there it splits
into 2 cables... On one of the other ends it has a female DB9 ond the other
end has what appears to be a male Centronics connector (A1703-63005?)...
1 "Direct Distribution Panel" (5062-3066?)...

Anyways, I am retired and I like to play around with old stuff...

I pulled everything apart and cleaned it... It fires right up and sounds
like it is doing something... I've tried to connect the server to my PC with
the Mux cable... I tried both Mux ports... I plugged the DB9 into COM1, set
up with Hyperterminal as 9600,8,N,1... If I fire up the server with the
cable in the small MUX card, nothing happens... If I use the combo card it
crashes the PC... I've tried it both in WinXP and from DOS, with a DOS
terminal program... The yellow lights above the Mux ports initially blink,
but then they go out after a few seconds... The blinking light on the
network card always blinks... It seems odd that I am able to crash the PC
like that... It did give a message once about an "interrupt storm"... I
tried disabling ACPI but it made no difference... Nor did hardwiring the
IRQs and I/O addresses in the BIOS...

The only thing I haven't tried is to plug the PC into port 0 of the box...
To do that I've got to figure out what kind of cable to use...

I didn't see any power interlocks on the chassis, so I don't think that is a
problem... The lights light up and the hard disk spools up...

The CPU board has chips with large heatsinks... One heatsink is black and
the other is silver... There is also a large socket that is unpopulated...

Anyways, I was wondering which Mux port I should concentrate on and whether
or not I was going in the right direction... I was also wondering if anyone
could identify some of these parts... I've been working with PCs and small
computers for 20+ years, but I've never seen anything quite like this...

I also was wondering why there is a little battery in each power supply...
They don't look big enough to be a UPS...

If anyone is willing to help me get this system running, I would be more
than happy to call you on my dime to discuss it... Just email me your phone
number...

I'd also be interested if someone has some documentation they would like to
sell... And if that CD I have is not the OS then I guess I might need to get
something to run on it... I'm almost afraid to ask how much that might
cost... I'm almost certain the CD is not the OS because in one spot it says
"Upgrade Tools for 9.* to 10.*"...

And finally, on HP's support site there is no mention of a "G" class
server... What class is the G30?

I'm certain that this box is not worth sinking much money into, but if I can
get it to work then at least I have something to play with...

Thanks!

Mike

[Michael Vang]

Oh yeah... I forgot to mention that the first, second and fourth light are always on on the front panel (Looking left to right...) and the HD LED lights up initially when the HD is spooling up, but then something beeps and a few seconds later the HD LED goes out...

[Curt Thompson]

Hello Michael,

The G30 goes way back to the NOVA class of HP systems. I am not surprised that the HP site no longer has any info because the system is an oldie (but a goodie).

The little battery in the power supply was used to keep memory alive during a power outage. When power was restored, memory would be intact and processing could continue. And you are right, it is not a battery for a UPS.

The large heatsink is used to eliminate heat from the CPU chip, and the unpopulated socket was used for an optional floating-point processor.

The leds on the front panel are used to guage the state of the machine. From left to right:

Run LED (indicates that the Operating System is running. Should turn solid GREEN when the OS starts)

Fault LED (will be ON during selftest and will
go out after the OS is started)

Remote LED (indicates that the modem dial-in connection has been enabled from the console)

Battery LED (ON=charging, OFF=charged)

Hope some of this helps.

Good Luck,
Curt

[Michael Tully]

Hi Mike,

Curt has already given you some information the G30
that will certainly help you.
The last time I played with one of these G30's was about
4-5 years ago and then we were de-commissioning it.
They happily ran HP-UX 9.04 of the operating system,
I haven't seen this model with HP-UX 10.xx of anything although
I worked on a site last year that had a G50
running HP-UX 10.20, so I wouldn't be surprised if
it worked on this but you may not have enough RAM to
run it and you may not have enough disk to house
the OS. Be aware that HP-UX 9.xx is not
Y2K compliant, but if your just fooling around with it
this may not matter to you. The 'console' will require a
proper terminal. HP-UX 9.xx will not boot without
a dedicated console. A PC may not do the job, but if
you can get yourself an old 70096 HP terminal or
maybe even an old Wyse terminal you may be in business.
A second-hand computer store may have one of these
sitting in a corner just waiting to be given away.
I cannot really suggest where you can get a set of
CD's as from what I remember HP-UX 9.xx was supplied
on DDS tape. HP-UX 10.01 was released in 1996 and it
was on CD. The CD you describe was a tool supplied to
assist in upgrading from 9.x systems to 10.01.
I'm in Australia, so a DIME probably won't even be
able to call my country code of 61.

Good Luck
Michael

[Michael Vang]

Thanks for the great information!

If I should happen to find a dumb terminal, do I plug the Mux cable into the little Mux card or the large combo card? I think I read earlier that the dumb terminal itself plugs into port 0 on the little box...

I have the tape drive, but no tapes... If I cannot get the OS on tape or CD then I guess I will just part out the box on eBay... It is probably not worth much, but without an OS it is worthless to me...

I talked to one of the people who used to support my particular box today and he mentioned that he thinks they got rid of it because the HD went bad... He couldn't say for certain because it has been so long, but that might explain why the run light never turns green and why the fault light stays lit...

[Gordon Brown_5]

Hi

Your PC should connect to Port 0 on the DDP unit, set hyperterm to use XON/XOFF handshake, vt100 emulation , 9600,8,n for baud,character size and parity.

When the G30 fires up you should hear two chimes , one from each PSU about 5 seconds after power up. The beast won't boot unless both power supplies are running so make sure that you have used two power cords.

For further info refer to my reply about the G40 late May.

Regards
Gordon

[Curt Thompson]

Hello Michael,

Yes. Plug the mux cable into the 'combo' card, not the little (J2092A) card. BTW, the 'combo' card was known as the MFIO (Multi-Function Input/Output) card.

So, here is the complete setup for your console connection:

1) Connect the mux cable to the system using the mux connector on the MFIO card.

2) Connect the other end of the mux cable (the small 9pin connector) to the DDP (Direct Distribution Panel). Don't use the larger 50 pin connector at this time.

3) Connect your 'console terminal' to port 0 on the DDP. The cable you use to make this connection only needs pins 2, 3 & 7, but your PC may need some additional pins jumpered just to get it to work. If you have a dumb terminal, I suggest you use it instead. If not, don't buy one just for this test. Please repost a response if you need more help in this area.

4) Refer to Gordon's post regarding the correct
setup of the communication parameters for the terminal or PC.

5) Power on the computer and if everything is connected and working, you will eventually get a boot menu on your console.

Pay particular attention to the area of the console cable connection. This hangs up more people than you would think.

Good Luck,
Curt

[Angus Crome]

Just a quick note;

I found an old Table of Hardware Support for
all HP unix;

The G series supports up to HP-UX 11.04 (32-bit) from the G30 to the G70
The H series from the H20 to H70
The I series from I30 to I70

You will need a minimum of 64Mb to run (and should have 128Mb as a working minimum if you
are going to run anything useful.

I currently have a G60 dual-booting 10.20 and 11.00 with 384Mb and two 4Gb internal drives.
I am very happy with it so far. The 10.20 is really only for testing weird problems with our 10.20 production servers though. We usually keep it running with the more current operating system.