Alphastation 255 Open VMS troubles

[James Dolomount]

I'm fairly new at OpenVMS and errors really through me for a loop. I'm trying to restore from a backup tape to new harddrives installed in Alphastation 255 series machine.

Getting error message after I type the command
>>>MOUNT/FOREIGN DKA0:
The error message is
%MOUNT-I-OPRQST, Please Mount Device _SABKUP$DKA0:

DKA0 is my system hard disk and I get this error every time i try it. if I input the same command for the application HD, which is DKA100, the mount process works properly. What's up..... any help would be greatly appreciated.

[William Webb_2]

Are you booted from an OpenVMS binaries CD?

WWWebb

[Robert Gezelter]

James,

Try MOUNT/FOREIGN/OVERRIDE=ID DKA0:

I also strongly suspect that the prompt you are getting is a "$", not the ">>>" of the console subsystem (the console generates a different series of messages).

The %MOUNT message after a MOUNT/FOREIGN/OVERRIDE=ID will display the volume name. You will also have to specify /INITIALIZE on the output volume.

The full documentation can be found on the OpenVMS www site at http://www.hp.com/go/openvms

I hope that the above is helpful.

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com

[James Dolomount]

Yes, i have booted from the CD.

[James Dolomount]

Bob, you are correct the command i typed was after the $.

$$$MOUNT/FOREIGN DKA0:

Jamie

[Dale A. Marcy]

I do not believe the /Over=Id is required for Mount/Foreign. At least I have never used it.

What is the output of SHOW DEV D?

[James Dolomount]

I've tried command
$$$ MOUNT/FOREIGN/OVERRIDE=ID DKA0:

and received the same reply/error as before
%MOUNT-I-OPRQST, Please Mount Device _SABKUP$DKA0:

[James Dolomount]

Results of "SHOW DEV D"

Dev Name | Dev Status | Err Cnt

DAD0: Online 0
SABKUP$DKA0: Online 20
SABKUP$DKA100: Online 0
SABKUP$DKA400: Mounted wrtlck 0
SABKUP$DVA0: Online 0

[Robert_Boyd]

The fact that you see an error count of 20 does not look promising.

There is a chance that you are having any of a variety of hardware problems.

It is possible that the drive is failing.
You could have a loose or bad/failing cable or other connector component between the system and the drive. The SCSI interface on the system might be failing.
ANother possibility is that there is another device on the SCSI bus that is masquerading as device 0.

Make sure all the cables/connectors in the SCSI chain are firmly in place and that the terminator(s) are enabled in the right place(s).

You might try changing the SCSI ID of the drive to one of the available remaining IDs to see if that changes the behavior.

If that fails to change the behavior, then it is fairly likely you have a hardware problem that will require a replacement of the drive or possibly a component of the system.

[Vladimir Fabecic]

Hello
What is your OS version?
$ MOUNT/FOREIGN should mount every disk device that is SUPPORTED in current OS version. It does not even have to be initialized.
If you can not mount a disk, it may not be supported or you have a hardware problem.
Can you send output of:
>>> show device
so we can see what kind of disk you have.

[Volker Halle]

James,

you would get a clearer error message immediately, if you would use MOUNT/FOR/NOASSIST DKA0:

The fact that MOUNT issues a %MOUNT-I-OPRQST message, indicates that mount thinks there is no medium in the drive (probably due to a SS$_MEDOFL error when trying to access the device). I would assume, that the drive does not spin up. This looks like a hardware problem.

Volker.

[Willem Grooters]

The system cannot access DKA0: for some reason. The system can read the label so the controller seems allright.

Either the disk is broken, or not supported. Be sure it fits the controller, probably it should be an older type of disk (8-bit SCSI, 10Mb, IIRC from my own Alphastation). In console mode (when starting the machine, it will show >>> prompt) give the command SHOW DEVICE D and send is the details.

[Antoniov.]

James,
welcome to vms world :-)

I'm afraid you have some trouble on DKA0: and now you have to understand where is the trouble.
Can you mount DKA100:? If you can mount it with MOUNT DKA100:/FORE I think you have problem located on DKA0.
You can open SRM, bootstrap console with prompt >>>
You can type
>>>SHO DEV D
you can se all disk informations.
At SRM level check for operating system
>>>SHOW OS_TYPE
and if it isn't vms set right value
>>>SET OS_TYPE VMS

May you report SHOW DEV at SRM level ?

Antonio Vigliotti

[Jan van den Ende]

Hello James.

First: execute Antonio's test. OS_TYPE may be the soloution.

If not,
>>> show device.
Note the device type of DKA0.

Then, boot your CD.
Which version of VMS is it?

Try to MOUNT/FOR every disk.
Can you mount any of them?

@Willem:

The system can read the label so the controller seems allright.

HUH?? _I_ did not spot any label...
The SABKUP in the error message is the _NODENAME_ identification. If booted from CD that is SABKUP....

Perhaps the firmware level does not yet support DKA0's hardware type.

Do a $ WRITE SYS$OUTPUT F$GETSYI("PALCODE_VERSION")
and also of CONSOLE_VERSION
and post the output for us to check.
There MAY be issues there.

We will take it further from there depending on your answers.

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[James Dolomount]

Ok Gents, lets see if i can answer everyones questions here....

OS Version = OpenVMS (TM) Alpha Operating System, Version V7.1-1H2

>>> SHOW OS_TYPE
Open VMS

>>> SHOW DEVICE
dka0.0.0.6.0 DKA0 SEAGATE ST32550N 0021
dka100.1.0.6.0 DKA100 RZ26N 1103
dka400.4.0.6.0 DKA400 RRD45 0436
dva0.0.0.0.1 DVA0
mka500.5.0.6.0 MKA500 ARCHIVE Python 04687-XXX 6580
ewa0.0.0.14.0 EWA0 00-00-f8-21-24-03
pka0.7.0.6.0 PKA0 SCSI BUS ID 7

if i try
$$$ MOUNT/FOREIGN/NOASSIST DKA0:
I get message
%MOUNT-F-MEDOFL, medium is offline
Sounds like the hard drive is spinning but the thing gets pretty hot.

Antonio.... I have no problem mounting DKA100.

Jamie.

[Vladimir Fabecic]

DKA100 is RZ26N, disk with DIGITAL firmware. That is why you can mount it.
DKA0 is SEAGATE ST32550N (2.1GB), disk with SEAGATE firmware, so that is why you can not mount it. This disk is probably not supported in your OS version. I think this type of disk is hardware compatible with one of Digital RZ disk (RZ28x).
This disk works fine with TRU64.
It would work if you change the firmware, but it is very hard to find. Maybe someone has it.
Maybe this disk can work on OpenVMS v7.3-2. Did someone try?

[James Dolomount]

JPE,

Palcode_Version = 5.56
Console_Version = V6.8-2

[James Dolomount]

JPE,

Palcode_Version = 5.56
Console_Version = V6.8-2


Jamie

[Dale A. Marcy]

Maybe I am reading this wrong, but would there not be a SCSI conflict between the DVA0 and the DKA0 devices?

dka0.0.0.6.0 DKA0 SEAGATE ST32550N 0021
dka100.1.0.6.0 DKA100 RZ26N 1103
dka400.4.0.6.0 DKA400 RRD45 0436
dva0.0.0.0.1 DVA0

If so, changing the SCSI ID on one or the other device should resolve the problem (Just don't make it 1 or 4).

[Volker Halle]

Dale,

DVA0 is the floppy and not a SCSI device.

Volker.

[Vladimir Fabecic]

ST32550N (Seagate Barracuda 2LP) should have firmware RZ28D. In that case it must work (if the hardware is OK).
Does anyone have firmware file?
I have the utility.
Did you try with OpenVMS 7.3-2?

[Vladimir Fabecic]

ST32550N should be RZ28C-E or RZ28D-VA if SBB.

[Antoniov.]

Hi James,
I happened the same on old alphaserver 400 and a Seagate HD. After upgrade of SRM console disk worked better, just sometime I got mounting error. But your PAL code is up to time while console might be V7.0.

Now you can play with SCSI terminator: if you have SCSI terminator connected to cable, disable termination on HD and on SRM
>>>set control_scsi_term external.
At last you can try with
$ INIT DKA0: /ERASE
to verify read and write feature.

Antonio Vigliotti

[Jan van den Ende]

Antonio,

you are simply too fast! :-)

(He reacted to your answer to my question in the time I need to drive home)

James, pay attention to his answers!

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Antoniov.]

Jan,
these days I'm very reactive. This is the merely reason I'm on podium :-D
I feel this can continue just for some days, then I return to sleep!

Antonio Vigliotti