error when booting vms 7.3-1

[Igor Fosic]

I want to backup my system disk, and for that reason I wanted to boot operating system from original CD which came with my Alpha server. But after command
>>> boot -flags 0,0 dqa0
I got error:
% sysboot-f-pfnalloc, slice allocation for pfn DB failed, status=00002334

Can anyone help me !
Thanks in advance.

[Antoniov.]

Igor,
sorry but I never seen that message.
Becuase you are using a IDE CD-ROM are you sure IDE configuration is right?

Antonio Vigliotti

[Igor Fosic]

How can I check IDE configuration? When I boot OVMS regulary from system disk I can read CD !

[Antoniov.]

Hi Igor,
at SRM console level, issuing SHO CONFIG you could see ISA slot and configuration.
Post them here, I can compare with my system.

Antonio Vigliotti

[Antoniov.]

ehm,
I've forgotten ...
can you boot in minimal configuration?

Antonio Vigliotti

[Igor Fosic]

a year ago I have made mini OVMS on another disk with STABACKIT. When I boot from that disk booting goes OK, but then I can not work with SDLT tape and SDLT robot, can't mount drive although mini OVMS recognize it, also I have made:
$$$ MCR SYSMAN IO FIND
$$$ MCR SYSMAN IO AUTOCONFIG

[Volker Halle]

Igor,

thanks for posting the full error message. This is always the FIRST step towards a solution.

Which Operating System CD were you booting from ? There was a problem in V7.3, which caused this kind of problem with V7.3 (solved with VMS73_SYSBOOT-V0100) on certain machines with > 16 GB memory...

Volker.

[Igor Fosic]

I think this patch may solve the problem 'cause recently I have upgraded server with more memory (now 18 GB),but before upgrade with memory booting from CD worked fine. Thanks I will try with this patch.

[Volker Halle]

Igor,

you can't patch a CDROM !

Is it possible you were using the V7.3 CD and not the V7.3-1 (or V7.3-2) one ? Try to using the most recent OpenVMS Alpha operating system CD you've got.

Volker.

[Peter Hofman]

if this problem can occur with memory >16GB as Volker indicates, then why not try booting with 16 Gb instead of 18 Gb?

[John Gillings]

Igor,

You didn't mention the version or hardware model.

There's a patch which corrects this symptom for V7.3, when booting an ES40 or higher class system with more than 16GB.

VMS73_SYSBOOT-V0100 (rolled into VMS73_UPDATE-V0100).

If you've upgraded your memory since the original installation, this is probably why it's failing now.

Try booting from V7.3-1 or V7.3-2 CDs, it's not relevant what version you're actually running. Otherwise, use SYS$SYSTEM:AXPVMS$PCSI_INSTALL_MIN to build a minimal OpenVMS on another disk (trust be this is SO much faster than booting from CD that I'd be advising it anyway!)