Need V7.2 -

[Stephen C. Jackson]

I have a AlphaServer 800, which only supports V7.2 or V7.2-1 of OpenVMS. I have newer versions, but have not been able to locate V7.2. Does anyone know how to get a copy or have a copy or create a copy that they could send to me.
It would be appreciated.

I would also like to know why firmware support was dropped on some Alpha systems and not others. An example: PWS workstations support OpenVMS 8.3, but the newer XP100 only supports OpenVMS V7.3.

[Steven Schweda]

> [...] which only supports [...]

> [...] XP100 only supports OpenVMS V7.3.

XP1000?

Where are you getting this (mis-)
information?

VMS V8.3 on an XP1000 will emit a spurious
complaint about obsolete firmware, but it is,
as I say, spurious. This is documented
somewhere. Search.

The VMS SPD says what's supported, and very
few systems have ever been dropped from the
list.

Firmware updates tend to stop appearing for
old systems when no new hardware is supported
on them.

[Steven Schweda]

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/index.html

http://docs.hp.com/index.html#openvms

http://docs.hp.com/en/12697/OVMS831H1SPD.pdf

HP OpenVMS Alpha Version 8.3 and HP OpenVMS Version 8.3-1H1 for Integrity Servers SPD 82.35.12

[...]
Alpha Systems Supported
[...]
AlphaServer 800 (All chip speeds)
[...]
Digital Personal Workstation 433au, 500au, 600au
[...]
AlphaStation XP1000
[...]

[Stephen C. Jackson]

I follow the list of firmware and supported computers and the last firmware release for the XP1000 is V5.9-1 and the book says that the highest version of OpenVMS supported is V7.3 - not V7.2-2 for some reason. When I try to install a higher version and it tells me that it is not supported, I stop right there. It did not say it is not supported, but go ahead and install it. Tell them to change the message.

I don't understand what the PWS updated until firmware V7.1-1. While there are motherboard and CPU differences, I'm sure the same devices are supported.

Tell them to just update the version number and keep them on the firmware CDs. It has been very hard to find and update the old firmware. HP loses them every once in a while and the firmware is sometime on a CD image and somtime you have to create a floppy.

[Steven Schweda]

> [...] the last firmware release for the
> XP1000 is V5.9-1

True.

> and the book says that the highest version
> of OpenVMS supported is V7.3 - not V7.2-2
> for some reason.

It's an old book.

> When I try to install a higher version and
> it tells me that it is not supported, [...]

A higher version of what? VMS? Firmware?

VMS versions and firmware versions are not
directly comparable.

[Stephen C. Jackson]

Can I now take back points I have given for what I thought was a solved solution?

I finally got around to trying to boot the V8.3 & 7.3-2 & V7.3-1 OpenVMS install disk. I got variations of the following 2 messages.

On V8.3 - %Sysboot-E-LDFAIL, failed to load excelet, status = 001380F4

On V7.3-2 - %EXECINIT-F-LOADERR, error loading PROCESS-MANAGEMENT, status = 001380F4

On V7.2-1 - %EXCEINIT-F-LOADERR, error loading SYS$VM.EXE, status = 001380AC.

Can I now suggest that the previous answer was not correct?

I now ask again if someone will copy Alpha OpenVMS V7.2-1, or lower, and send it so I can put OpenVMS on this system.

[Robert Gezelter]

Stephen,

Please forgive me for asking what may be obvious, but are we sure that the Alphaserver does not have a hardware problem of some sort?

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

[Stephen C. Jackson]

I know the CD boots with the firmware. I can also do a SET OS_TYPE NT and the system will boot up and run NT V4 with no problems. I have run the console TEST with no problems, besides having no EWA0 loopback.

[Steven Schweda]

> Can I now take back points I have given for
> what I thought was a solved solution?

I neither know nor care much about these
Forum points.

> Can I now suggest that the previous answer
> was not correct?

Sure. Suggest away. Which answer, in which
respect?

You said things about the XP1000 which I said
were not true, and I pointed to the relevant
SPD. That SPD also says that the AlphaServer
800, is supported (but I didn't write it).

Around here:

alp $ tcpip show version

HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS Alpha Version V5.4 - ECO 7
on a COMPAQ Professional Workstation XP1000 running OpenVMS V7.3-2

And I have another XP1000 running V8.3, but
I'm too far away from it to demonstrate that.
So, I'm certain that you were wrong about the
XP1000. All I know about the AlphaServer 800
is what I read in the SPD.

alp $ sysmsg %x001380F4
%LOADER-F-NO_SUCH_IMAGE, the requested image cannot be located

alp $ sysmsg %x001380AC
%LOADER-F-NO_TRANSLATED, can't load translated image

I don't know anything about

Your hardware
Your firmware
Your CD-ROMs
Your boot command
Your default console boot flags

any of which might affect your results.

> I now ask again [...]

I'm away from my CD-ROM collection at the
moment, but I generally try to avoid
discussing distribution of copyrighted
materials in a forum run by the copyright
owner. If you haven't found anything in a
week or so, I could look around in my CD-ROM
pile for something obsolete.

[Robert Brooks_1]

This is not particularly official, but I do work for HP, was a member of VMS Engineering for seven years, and still have been known to make changes to the VMS source . . .

As Steven Schweda has pointed out via the SPD, your hardware is absolutely supported by V8.3, and I'll be shocked if it's not supported by V8.4, when it arrives some time late next year. I'm pretty sure that we still support the old TURBOchannel-based systems from the early 90's.

The issue with the XP1000 and the firmware message was an oversight, that I hope will be corrected for V8.4, but nonetheless, you can safely ignore that errant message.

While I can't tell you why you appear to be having problems with your CD's, the fact is that many folks are running XP1000's on V8.3
with no problem; I'm one of them. It's a popular system within VMS Engineering, especially when loaded up with 2GB of memory.

If you are getting "%LOADER-F-NO_SUCH_IMAGE, the requested image cannot be located" errors, I'm claiming that it's safe to assume that the problem is somewhere on your end. Is this the actual media shipped by Compaq, or is it a copy?

-- Rob

[Stephen C. Jackson]

The V7.3-1 & V7.3-2 are the complete official versions of those releases of OpenVMS from HP. The V8.3 is a release of OpenVMS from OpenVMS Hobbyist.

[Stephen C. Jackson]

More information:

In all cases, the OpenVMS CDs are booted with a >> BOOT -FLAGS 0,0 DKA400.

The firmware version is documented above.

The CDs are documented above.

The hardware is a AlphaServer 800, 192MB of memory, 3 SCSI disks (2.1GB, 4.3GB & 9.1GB - all DEC or Compaq, Sony CDrom CDU-765, S3 Trio64/Trio32 Graphics, & a TLZ09 tape. The disks are currently formated FAT and have a running copy of Alpha NT 4, along with Back Office Small Business Server. The OS_TYPE is set to OpenVMS.

Other questions?

[Volker Halle]

Stephen,

based on the error messages you're seeing, it looks like the data read from the CDs is sometimes not correctly copied into memory. You can try to boot using >>> b -fl 0,30000 DKA400 - make sure to capture the full output using the serial console line and a terminal emulator. Are these error absolutely reproducable, i.e. same error with same image every time ? Can you boot from these CDs on another Alpha server ?

Volker.

[Stephen C. Jackson]

I'm still trying to figure how to get a console printout. I don't have a spare LA120 around, though I might be able to get a parallel to USB cable interface for my VT525. Putting a serial port on a PC would be quite painful unless there is a USB to serial option somewhere.

[Stephen C. Jackson]

Update - I found and ordered a USB to serial option.

[Robert Brooks_1]

If you have a terminal server, plugging the console into the terminal server, and using
reverse LAT to access the console may be a quicker and easier option to get logged output.



-- Rob

[Stephen C. Jackson]

Terminal servers went out with the LA120.

[Hoff · Accepted solution]

OpenVMS Alpha V7.2 likely won't work here too, as I'd bet your Sony drive is incompatible with OpenVMS.

Confirm that drive is set to 512-byte block operations. Or (better) get a supported CD drive; the Sony CDU765 is both very old and rarely discussed.

Sure, this configuration probably all works fine with Windows NT. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the hardware itself works and / or that the hardware is supported by OpenVMS Alpha.

Terminal servers are still useful and widely available, and the devices remain in active use in many environments. The current euphemism for these classic devices varies, but one of the more widespread names is "JetDirect". The MP or "Management Processor" is another. There are new terminal servers available from various vendors.

The AlphaServer XP1000 SRM version has gone in and out of support per the (per HP comments: bogus) output during the bootstrap over various OpenVMS versions, and tends to get a release note or a support article every couple of OpenVMS releases when the firmware check or the data in SYS$SYSTEM:FIRM_REV_MATRIX.DAT seems to get broken.

--

$ x=f$message(%x001380F4)
$ sho sym x
X = "%LOADER-F-NO_SUCH_IMAGE, the requested image cannot be located"
$ x=f$message(%x01380AC)
$ sho sym x
X = "%LOADER-F-NO_TRANSLATED, can't load translated image"
$

[Stephen C. Jackson]

I meant to say that any terminal server I might have had (I did'nt), would have gone away about the same time as the LA120 and the VT compatible terminals used as console devices. My environment is my den. I don't have a lot of what has become obsolete equipment because I don't have a lot of storage space. Years ago I discarded several versions of VMS manuals, extra copies of VMS installation tapes and CDs, and my mag tapes. A number of you still work for sites where these items are still sitting around.

[Stephen C. Jackson]

It looks like the CD drive was the problem. Reading the user guide, I found that the CD and the 4 lower hard drives slots are hardwired for SCSI 0 - 4. You can't just replace the CD drive and use SCSI ID 4. I put a RRD46, set to SCSI 5, used a different slot on the SCSI cable, and was able to boot the install disk and am now installing VMS V8.3.

BTW - I saw no warning message about the computers firmware being out of date.

[Stephen C. Jackson]

I am closing this thread. The CDROM drive turned out to be the problem. I still have a problem putting another SCSI CDROM into this box because of the hardwired SCSI IDs 0-4, the SCSI ID 5 TLZ09 and the fact that one of the drives is SCSI ID 6 and does not use the SCSI ID 2 slot. I have not given up yet.

The system is now running both OpenVMS V8.3 and NT 4.

Thanks to all of you for your input.