SEO

This is for you older guys ;-)

Some time ago I inherited an 9000/847 H30. I powered it up, and resat the
password, fiddled with the startup-scripts, and then left it sitting for
about 2 years. Now, I'd like to resurrect it, and a good way of really
making it my own would be to start by reinstalling it. My problem lies in
getting the thing to boot off of my 10.20 Core cdrom.

I can boot from the original harddisk (scsi id 5, primary boot-path
52.5.0.0.0.0), and into the installed hpux 10.20. What I cannot do, is boot
off of my cdrom drive(s) (scsi id 0, alternate boot-path 52.0.0.0.0.0)

I've tried with two different (old) cdrom drives, a Plextor Ultraplex 32
(jumpered to parity, termination and 512byte-blocks), and a Toshiba XM5201B
(jumpered to parity and termination - no jumper-option for 512byte blocks).
I don't know the state of either of the drives, but I would think that at
least one of them was still good.
My copy of the install CD seems good - I have no problems reading the disk
raw under Linux, nor taring up the whole file-tree.

The actual problem when booting from the cd, is a hang (freeze) after or
while reading the kernel from the cdrom;

(manually copied from the serial terminal)
"
Booting...
Boot IO Dependent Code (IODC) revision 4


HARD Booted

ISL Revision A.00.38 Oct 26. 1994

ISL Booting hpux (;0) INSTALL

Boot
: disc(52.0.0;0):INSTALL
3462652 + 315392 + 305120 start 0x1b92e8
"
....and there it sits - apparently forever.

I have googled for this problem, and have found several similar situations
(hang/freeze right after the kernel loads), and the suggestions have mostly
been 'check SCSI termination, check CDROM blocksize, possibly a HD failure'
etc.
I am /pretty/ sure my SCSI termination is OK (external terminator on the
rear port, cdrom terminated her) - the system gives me an "ENTRY_INIT status
= -4" the second I forget termination on either end of the chain.
I know the Plextor drive is set to 512B blocks, and I have from hearsay that
the Toshiba drive does this as well.
I also do not think I have a hd failure. I get this same symptom both with
the old (working) HD attached, as well as without any HD at all.

I've reached the end of my whits here - any ideas or ovious errors in the above?

Please cc me (remove the -nospam tag) with any answers.

Yours,
-S
--
Simen Thoresen, Wulfkit Support, Dolphin ICS
http://valinor.dolphinics.no/~simentt/cluster

"Simen Thoresen" <simentt-nospam@dolphinics.no> wrote in message
news:4081BD3E.5090603@dolphinics.no...
> This is for you older guys ;-)
>
> Some time ago I inherited an 9000/847 H30. I powered it up, and resat the
> password, fiddled with the startup-scripts, and then left it sitting for
> about 2 years. Now, I'd like to resurrect it, and a good way of really
> making it my own would be to start by reinstalling it. My problem lies in
> getting the thing to boot off of my 10.20 Core cdrom.
>
> I can boot from the original harddisk (scsi id 5, primary boot-path
> 52.5.0.0.0.0), and into the installed hpux 10.20. What I cannot do, is boot
> off of my cdrom drive(s) (scsi id 0, alternate boot-path 52.0.0.0.0.0)
>
> I've tried with two different (old) cdrom drives, a Plextor Ultraplex 32
> (jumpered to parity, termination and 512byte-blocks), and a Toshiba XM5201B
> (jumpered to parity and termination - no jumper-option for 512byte blocks).
> I don't know the state of either of the drives, but I would think that at
> least one of them was still good.
> My copy of the install CD seems good - I have no problems reading the disk
> raw under Linux, nor taring up the whole file-tree.
>
> The actual problem when booting from the cd, is a hang (freeze) after or
> while reading the kernel from the cdrom;
>
> (manually copied from the serial terminal)
> "
> Booting...
> Boot IO Dependent Code (IODC) revision 4
>
>
> HARD Booted
>
> ISL Revision A.00.38 Oct 26. 1994
>
> ISL Booting hpux (;0) INSTALL
>
> Boot
> : disc(52.0.0;0):INSTALL
> 3462652 + 315392 + 305120 start 0x1b92e8
> "
> ...and there it sits - apparently forever.
>
> I have googled for this problem, and have found several similar situations
> (hang/freeze right after the kernel loads), and the suggestions have mostly
> been 'check SCSI termination, check CDROM blocksize, possibly a HD failure'
> etc.
> I am /pretty/ sure my SCSI termination is OK (external terminator on the
> rear port, cdrom terminated her) - the system gives me an "ENTRY_INIT status
> = -4" the second I forget termination on either end of the chain.
> I know the Plextor drive is set to 512B blocks, and I have from hearsay that
> the Toshiba drive does this as well.
> I also do not think I have a hd failure. I get this same symptom both with
> the old (working) HD attached, as well as without any HD at all.
>
> I've reached the end of my whits here - any ideas or ovious errors in the
above?
>
> Please cc me (remove the -nospam tag) with any answers.
>
> Yours,
> -S
> --
> Simen Thoresen, Wulfkit Support, Dolphin ICS
> http://valinor.dolphinics.no/~simentt/cluster

Have you tried with the Block size set to 2048? IIRC, this is what you need for
it to boot properly.

Josh

Joshua Scott wrote:

....
>>ISL Revision A.00.38 Oct 26. 1994
>>
>>ISL Booting hpux (;0) INSTALL
>>
>>Boot
>>: disc(52.0.0;0):INSTALL
>>3462652 + 315392 + 305120 start 0x1b92e8
>>"
>>...and there it sits - apparently forever.
>>
>>I have googled for this problem, and have found several similar situations
>>(hang/freeze right after the kernel loads), and the suggestions have mostly
>>been 'check SCSI termination, check CDROM blocksize, possibly a HD failure'
>>etc.
>>I am /pretty/ sure my SCSI termination is OK (external terminator on the
>>rear port, cdrom terminated her) - the system gives me an "ENTRY_INIT status
>>= -4" the second I forget termination on either end of the chain.
>>I know the Plextor drive is set to 512B blocks, and I have from hearsay that
>>the Toshiba drive does this as well.
>>I also do not think I have a hd failure. I get this same symptom both with
>>the old (working) HD attached, as well as without any HD at all.
>>
>>I've reached the end of my whits here - any ideas or ovious errors in the
>> above?

>
> Have you tried with the Block size set to 2048? IIRC, this is what you need for
> it to boot properly.
>
> Josh
>

Hi Josh,

Just tried it. No effect (it didn't work, but there was no change at all
either). I would have expected some sort of hard error due to the mismatched
blocksize. While googling, I read that only 'some' cdrom drives were usable,
and interpreted that as meaning that only 'some' were configurable to 512B
blocksize.

I guess I'll have to test my cdroms on a different system (pc) to make sure
they actually work. It would surprise me if they're both borked the same
way, tho.

Thank you .-)

-S

--
Simen Thoresen, Wulfkit Support, Dolphin ICS
http://valinor.dolphinics.no/~simentt/cluster

Simen Thoresen <simentt-nospam@dolphinics.no> wrote:
[deleted]
> HARD Booted
>
> ISL Revision A.00.38 Oct 26. 1994
>
> ISL Booting hpux (;0) INSTALL
>
> Boot
> : disc(52.0.0;0):INSTALL
> 3462652 + 315392 + 305120 start 0x1b92e8
> "
> ...and there it sits - apparently forever.
[deleted]

Others may correct me, but AFAIK, this ("<number> + <number> + <number>
start <address>") is the last message to the *physical* console.
Everything else goes to the *logical* console (/dev/console and its
links). So I think that you have a problem with your logical console.
What is it? Is it an HP (compatible) terminal (emulator) in *HP* mode?
If not, IIRC, the console can hang in an ENQ-ACK sequence.

In any case, start over and at the last message check if the disk
access light goes out (as it would if my suspicion is correct).

To eliminate disk-related problems, you might want to try the ISL
"hpux ls" command to list the contents of your boot disk. Note that the
"devicefile" of the ls command is not simple (and totally different from
a HP-UX device file), so read the hpux(1M) page before you try (if
needed, see <http://www.docs.hp.com>).

You could start with something like:

ISL> hpux ls disc(52.0.0;0) /stand

where "disc(52.0.0;0)" is the devicefile as stolen from your (implicit)
"hpux boot" command.

*Maybe* defaulting the devicefile also works:

ISL> hpux ls /stand

See also the "hpux ll" command and the options for the ls command.

Frank Slootweg wrote:

> Simen Thoresen <simentt-nospam@dolphinics.no> wrote:
> [deleted]
>
>>HARD Booted
>>
>>ISL Revision A.00.38 Oct 26. 1994
>>
>>ISL Booting hpux (;0) INSTALL
>>
>>Boot
>>: disc(52.0.0;0):INSTALL
>>3462652 + 315392 + 305120 start 0x1b92e8
>>"
>>...and there it sits - apparently forever.
>
> [deleted]
>
> Others may correct me, but AFAIK, this ("<number> + <number> + <number>
> start <address>") is the last message to the *physical* console.
> Everything else goes to the *logical* console (/dev/console and its
> links). So I think that you have a problem with your logical console.
> What is it? Is it an HP (compatible) terminal (emulator) in *HP* mode?
> If not, IIRC, the console can hang in an ENQ-ACK sequence.

My console is a serial terminal (Tandberg Xterminal). I have jury-rigged a
3-wire console connection, using the pinout found at
http://www.openpa.net/doc/din800.txt. It seems stable, and works well for
the serial console. The only 'consoleish' port on the H30 is the modemport.

> In any case, start over and at the last message check if the disk
> access light goes out (as it would if my suspicion is correct).

You are correct. While booting from the cdrom, the cdrom activity-led
flickers (normal operation), the Boot -message gets printed, and the cdrom
led continues to flicker for a few seconds before going off, then comming on
for about half a second (solid), then going off and staying that way. This
is repeatable, and it too happens with both models of cdroms.

> To eliminate disk-related problems, you might want to try the ISL
> "hpux ls" command to list the contents of your boot disk. Note that the
> "devicefile" of the ls command is not simple (and totally different from
> a HP-UX device file), so read the hpux(1M) page before you try (if
> needed, see <http://www.docs.hp.com>).
>
> You could start with something like:
>
> ISL> hpux ls disc(52.0.0;0) /stand
>
> where "disc(52.0.0;0)" is the devicefile as stolen from your (implicit)
> "hpux boot" command.
>
> *Maybe* defaulting the devicefile also works:
>
> ISL> hpux ls /stand
>
> See also the "hpux ll" command and the options for the ls command.

All invocations of 'hpux ls' failed with

: disc(52.0.0;0)
Cannot open directory

just doing 'ls' gives me
(again, copied by hand)

filename type start size created
================================================== ====
HPUX -12928 1607704 848 96/06/01 01:03:51

The auto-execute (lsautofs) file contains
hpux (;0):INSTALL

Trying to run this gives the same results as if I had booted from the
alternate path (cdrom), without entering isl - ie a freeze after the Boot
-message.

Thank you for your help - I hope the above can tell you something. It seems
possible to me that the 'logical' console now is somewhere else, but where I
cannot say. How would I get it set to my serial console?

Yours,
-S

--
Simen Thoresen, Wulfkit Support, Dolphin ICS
http://valinor.dolphinics.no/~simentt/cluster

Simen Thoresen <simentt-nospam@dolphinics.no> wrote:
[much deleted]
> Thank you for your help - I hope the above can tell you something. It seems
> possible to me that the 'logical' console now is somewhere else, but where I
> cannot say. How would I get it set to my serial console?

Oops! Sorry! I thought you were trying to boot from hard-disk, but you
are trying to boot from an (install) CD. My bad.

I still think that it is a console problem, because the CD's access
light goes out and you do *not* get an error message, i.e. the (install)
kernel *is* loaded and supposedly started. I still think about the
ENQ-ACK problem. That could be solved by manually typing a ACK character
when the machine hangs, but I do not know the key-combination which
generates an ASCII ENQ character. Perhaps others can help with that, or
have other ideas/suggestions.

You don't happen to have any sort of "exotic" I/O cards in the machine
do you?

rick jones
--
oxymoron n, Hummer H2 with California Save Our Coasts and Oceans plates
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to raj in cup.hp.com but NOT BOTH...

Rick Jones wrote:

> You don't happen to have any sort of "exotic" I/O cards in the machine
> do you?
>
> rick jones

Nothing that I would call exotic, but still. In addition to the
lan/console/scsi card, the machine has 2 modem mux'es and 2
scsi-parallell-cards installed.

I'll yank all of them and give it a spin.

Thanks for the idea.

Yours,
-S
--
Simen Thoresen, Wulfkit Support, Dolphin ICS
http://valinor.dolphinics.no/~simentt/cluster

Frank Slootweg wrote:

> Simen Thoresen <simentt-nospam@dolphinics.no> wrote:
> [much deleted]
>
>>Thank you for your help - I hope the above can tell you something. It seems
>>possible to me that the 'logical' console now is somewhere else, but where I
>>cannot say. How would I get it set to my serial console?
>
>
> Oops! Sorry! I thought you were trying to boot from hard-disk, but you
> are trying to boot from an (install) CD. My bad.
>
> I still think that it is a console problem, because the CD's access
> light goes out and you do *not* get an error message, i.e. the (install)
> kernel *is* loaded and supposedly started. I still think about the
> ENQ-ACK problem. That could be solved by manually typing a ACK character
> when the machine hangs, but I do not know the key-combination which
> generates an ASCII ENQ character. Perhaps others can help with that, or
> have other ideas/suggestions.

Frank,

While I'm not sure how to send this sequence, I'd like to mention that when
I boot off of the harddisk, I do get a normal console, so unless the
installed kernel is configured differently than the one on the install
cdrom, this is not the problem.

Yours,
-S


--
Simen Thoresen, Wulfkit Support, Dolphin ICS
http://valinor.dolphinics.no/~simentt/cluster

Simen Thoresen wrote:

> Rick Jones wrote:
>
>> You don't happen to have any sort of "exotic" I/O cards in the machine
>> do you?
>>
>> rick jones
>
>
> Nothing that I would call exotic, but still. In addition to the
> lan/console/scsi card, the machine has 2 modem mux'es and 2
> scsi-parallell-cards installed.
>
> I'll yank all of them and give it a spin.
>

Ok, I've removed 2x J2094A Modem Connect MUX cards, and 2x 'SCSI (SE)
PARALLEL' cards. No change at all. Does anyone want any of these cards? :-)

-S

--
Simen Thoresen, Wulfkit Support, Dolphin ICS
http://valinor.dolphinics.no/~simentt/cluster