New to OpenVMS: BADSYSROOT and HWPBD errors

[dentistcorn]

Just installed VMS on an Alphastation 400. Getting the error messages of BADSYSROOT and invalid HWPBD during boot. I have searched the entore HP VMS web site and cannot find any references.

Now, If I power the unit off and back on, it boots OK.
Please help.

[Lokesh_2]

Hi Gvalor,

Check BOOT_OSFLAGS and BOOTED_OSFLAGS at you console and set them correctly. Can you paste the output of following command at console?

>>> show boot*

HTH,
Thanks & regards,
Lokesh

[labadie_1]

and while you are at the SRM prompt (>>>)
check you have memory_test =full and not partial. While it is not your problem, it may help later

[Jan van den Ende]

qvalor,

Let me start by welcoming you to VMS!!!!
(first bit of education: OpenVMS is Marketing Speak, technical people prefer saying VMS).

BADSYSROOT, especially in combination with correct boot thereafter, suggests you somehown specified booting from a device that does NOT contain a system root, AND/OR, specifying a root that does not exist on the device you specified, and/or does not have the expected structure.

A little explanation:
A VMS system structure is constructed from a system root, being a [SYSn] toplevel directory, with some subdirectories that contain (mainly) some configuration-specific files (n = hexadecimal number, 0 ... FFFF ). One special sub-directory: SYSCOMMON. This actually is an alias (compare to, but not exactly, a *UX hard-link) for topdirectory VMS$COMMON. This structure contains (nearly) ALL of VMS.
Essentially this is the heart of both flexibility in upgrading, and, more importent, the consistency of clusters.
THERE CAN BE MANY, MANY occurences of [SYSn] !!!!! (official supported: 96, but several hundreds have been demonstrated).
And... that number of systems is SIMULTANIOUSLY, COORDINATEDLY accessing VMS$COMMON (and anything else on any disk).

And all this to be able to come back to you.

If you are booting, you have to specify both from WHICH disk, and fom WHICH [SYSn].
This is done by default by the console BOOT variables BOOTDEF_DEV and BOOT_OSFLAGS.
They can be overruled by specifying another disk in the >>>boot command, and/or by specifying -FL n,m, where n is the n in SYSn mentioned above, and m is the decimal value of a bitmask specifying boot flags.

All this to explain:
My guess is that you somehow mis-typed or mis-defaulted to a non-existing SYSn, or to a SYSn that does not have the expected structure

Enjoy VMS!!!

Jan

[Antoniov.]

Hi gvalor,
welcome to vms forum :-)
On my AS400 I upgraded SRM to install V7.xx of vms; with upgrade you can install and use only V6.2.
In SRM don't forget set os_type VMS and don't use any flag (-flag 0,0);
typing SHOW HW you must see 2000;
type SHOW VERS I see V7.xx;
I'm using V7.3-2 on AS400: very good!

Antonio Vigliotti

[dentistcorn]

Everyone... thank you for your kind assistance.

Regards,
qv