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OpenVMS Hobbyist Program | OpenVMS Hobbyist Media Kits | OpenVMS Alpha Media Kits
Author My alpha kit cd won't boot!
gorg
Member

Posts: 7
Joined: 21.09.06
Posted on April 06 2007 06:44
Hello everyone,
I purchased an OpenVMS V7.3-1 CD for my Alphaserver 1000A/266 and discovered that it won't boot!.

After issuing a 'boot dka400' command from the SRM prompt, the system barfed the following:

[code:1:f3b53b542d]block 0 of dka400.4.0.200.0 is a valid boot block
reading 969 blocks from dka400.4.0.200.0.
failed to send Read to dka400.4.0.200.0
failed to read dka400.4.0.200.0
bootstrap failure
[/code:1:f3b53b542d]

As far as I can tell, my CDROM drive works fine, I had debian installed and can boot a cd-r copy of OpenVMS 8.2 with no problem (that is booting untill it starts complaining about my firmware beeing old).

I've read in the OpenVMS Hobbyist Guide PDF that the CDROM drive must be "512-byte sectored" which alarmed me a bit.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!
Author Re: My alpha kit cd won't boot!
ItsMeOnly
Member

Posts: 30
Joined: 13.02.07
Posted on April 06 2007 08:58
[quote:a26cccdab3="gorg"]can boot a cd-r copy of OpenVMS 8.2 with no problem[/quote:a26cccdab3]
You're not alone, my Jensen machine with RRD42 had identical problems- read bootblock, but did not proceed further.

I guess time for "backup" copy, besides, if you have valid 8.3, your hobbyist licenses will work fine. You could also look for new drive, which is rather tricky, because you'd need some VERY old Teac, NEC or Yamaha drive (i heard some newer Mitsumis still have jumpers instead of firmware procedures.
21221452 m_roguski@yahoo.com m_roguski http://rambo.id.uw.edu.pl
Author
gorg
Member

Posts: 7
Joined: 21.09.06
Posted on April 06 2007 10:53
I have a RRD45 Drive. I figured out how to update the firmware through ARC and managed to boot my cd-r copy of OpenVMS 8.2.
Unfortunately, the installer couldn't accept my license and I got ended up with an unusable installation.

What do you mean by "backup" copy? The 7.3 cd (from the alpha kit) is not recognized by my PC. I can't seem to mount it via Linux. Although I can 'dd' it and create an image file. Are you saying that if I burn this image on a standard cd-r, I'm going to be able to boot it from my Alpha ?
Author
ItsMeOnly
Member

Posts: 30
Joined: 13.02.07
Posted on April 06 2007 13:17
[quote:be216bf125="gorg"]Are you saying that if I burn this image on a standard cd-r, I'm going to be able to boot it from my Alpha ?[/quote:be216bf125]
Yup! That's how I got mine working.
21221452 m_roguski@yahoo.com m_roguski http://rambo.id.uw.edu.pl
Author
imiller
Administrator

User Avatar

Posts: 277
Location: UK
Joined: 24.02.06
Posted on April 11 2007 02:42
"Unfortunately, the installer couldn't accept my license "

What was the exact error message?
http://www.encompasserve.org/~miller/
Author
Altivo
Member

User Avatar

Posts: 86
Location: Illinois
Joined: 26.05.07
Posted on October 19 2007 11:09
I've received the same error when booting the new trial copy of OpenVMS 8.3 on the PWS 433au. It doesn't seem to be the CD drive, which worked to install OpenVMS from the same CD two days earlier, and still works if I mount the CD after VMS has booted up. Nor is it the CD media itself, which still boots fine in another Alpha (DS10.) I suspect something has altered in the SRM settings, but I can't find what it is.

I notice that SRM sometimes rearranges the hardware device names unexpectedly, so that the CDROM is dqb0 on some occasions and dkb0 on others. The two SCSI drives also shift around between dka0 and dka100 when the CD is dqb0, and dkc0 and dkc100 when the CD is dkb0. The floppy drive may also jump around, but since I haven't been using it I haven't paid attention.
http://altivo.dreamwidth.org/
Author vms cd won't boot!
squalus
Member

Posts: 1
Joined: 13.11.07
Posted on November 13 2007 17:55
I'm getting something similar on my DS10. Apperently montegar ran a bit short on silvers of 8.2 so I recieved an 8.3 prototype on a cdr. Sounds fine to me except that I get:

>>>boot DQA0
(boot dqa0.0.0.13.0 -flags 0)
block 0 of dqa0.0.0.13.0 is a valid boot block
reading 1226 blocks from dqa0.0.0.13.0
failed to send read to dqa0.0.0.13.0
failed to read dqa0.0.0.13.0
bootstrap failure

I think the cdrom is ok, I was able to install debian from it. This leads me to believe I'm either trying to boot from a shiny coaster or that some SRM setting could be misconfigured. Any ideas?
Author
Altivo
Member

User Avatar

Posts: 86
Location: Illinois
Joined: 26.05.07
Posted on November 13 2007 18:33
Try this at the SRM prompt

>>>set os_type openvms
>>>init
[wait for the BIOS to reinitialize]
>>>show dev
>>>boot "devicename for CDROM"

If your os_type is set to UNIX or if Linux (you mention Debian) was the last operating system booted, then the VMS bootstrap doesn't always seem to read in and execute properly. That's what I learned. Since instituting this procedure when switching operating systems, I've had no trouble. Set the os_type environment variable in the SRM firmware, then reinitialize. Boot only after doing that.
http://altivo.dreamwidth.org/
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malmberg
August 04 2022
No more VAX hobbyist licenses. Community licenses for Alpha/IA64/X86_64 VMS Software Inc. Commercial VMS software licenses for VAX available from HPE.

ozboomer
July 20 2022
Just re-visiting.. No more hobbyist licenses? Is that from vmssoftware.com, no 'community' licenses?

valdirfranco
July 01 2022
No more hobbyist license...sad

mister_wavey
February 12 2022
I recall that the disks failed on the public access VMS systems that included Fafner

parwezw
January 03 2022
Anyone know what happened to FAFNER.DYNDS.ORG? I had a hobbyist account here but can longer access the site.

gtackett
October 27 2021
Make that DECdfs _2.1A_ for Vax

gtackett
October 27 2021
I'm looking for DECdfs V2.4A kit for VAX. Asking here just in case anyone is still listening.

MarkRLV
September 17 2021
At one time, didn't this web site have a job board? I would love to use my legacy skills one last time in my career.

malmberg
January 18 2021
New Hobbyist PAKs for VAX/VMS are no longer available according to reports. Only commercial licenses are reported to be for sale from HPE

dfilip
January 16 2021
Can someone please point me to hobbyist license pak? I'm looking for VAX/VMS 7.1, DECnet Phase IV, and UCX/TCPIP ... have the 7.1 media, need the license paks ... thanks!

Bart
October 16 2020
OpenVMS, and this website!

malmberg
September 05 2020
VSI community non-commercial licenses for AXP/IA64 are available now.

malmberg
September 05 2020
See the forum about licensing. Don't know if HPE hobby licenses still being issued. Commercial licenses still being sold.

silfox70
September 01 2020
I need the license for OpenVMS7.3. Where can I find them?

malmberg
August 29 2020
Eisner, which is currently being moved, got an SSH update and the keys were updated to more modern encryption standards.

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