philst@hirst1.UUCP (Pierre Wodon) (08/07/84)
We run 4.1BSD on a VAX11/780 with a single disk, a RA81. Since the beginning, sporadic unexplained disk faults occurred. These faults recently reached an intolerable rate. We tried to install 4.2BSD, but to no avail: the disk goes offline during the process. (DEC told us that such problems did not occur under 4.2.) If you have a similar configuration, experienced similar problems and solved them OR, if you have the same configuration (only one RA81 on a 780), we would be very grateful to hear from you. Michel Lacroix & Georges Louis Philips Reseach Lab. Brussels
rbbb@RICE.ARPA (08/20/84)
From: David Chase <rbbb@RICE.ARPA> Before running off and badgering your DEC field service people, why not look for yourself? Open the front of your machine, and look in the Unibus. The UDA50 occupies two hex slots, and has all sorts of gory lights and cables. If you find two boards numbered M7161 and M7162, then you have an OLD UDA50. Those are known to sometimes drop offline without any pattern or warning (we had one that would run for weeks without this problem). If the two boards are numbered M7485 and M7486, then you have a NEW UDA50, and it should NOT mysteriously drop offline. Should you have an old UDA50, then you should get it upgraded. The upgrade replaces almost every board involved, and requires that you REFORMAT your disk. The OLD UDA50/RA81 diagnostics are NOT compatible with the NEW boards. The NEW hardware should still work with existing drivers. (It does for us). A good tool to use in this operation (backup, reformat, restore) is DEC Standalone Backup, since it moves the bits much faster than existing unix utilities. We used it, and it worked great. You MUST use a version from VMS 3.4 or higher (there is an ominous-looking bug fix in the release notes for 3.4, though we didn't and had no problems). If you have any questions on this, direct them to rbbb@rice.arpa; I have little knowledge of unix device drivers, but lots on hardware, diagnostics, and VMS BACKUP (my friend). If DEC field service does not believe this, refer them to the "UDA USER GUIDE", number EK-UDA50-UG-002. That (plus sad experience) is where I got my information. drc
jcp@BRL-TGR.ARPA (08/26/84)
From: Joe Pistritto <jcp@BRL-TGR.ARPA> When did you get your UDA50/RA81 combo? There have been some SERIOUS problems with these that shipped in the early part of last year. (there was a 6 month manufacturing hold at DEC on UDA50s, but a lot slipped out before then). The sporadic offline problems you are having sound like this could be the problem. This is fixed by a micro-code revision and some assorted hardware munging in the UDA50. Ask you DEC field service people to look into the rev levels of the equipment you have. MANY DEC FIELD SERVICE PEOPLE WILL NOT ADMIT ANY OF THIS IS TRUE!!!, so you may have to be persistant. -JCP-