msitd22@ms3.UUCP (Jim Chappell) (12/16/86)
I am installing virgin 4.2 on several VAX 11/780's. I have succeeded with 2 of them but have hit a snag with the third one. I can load the mini and full root, but in tarring in /usr on /dev/ra0h, I get the following errors, usually followed by a hung system. /* One iteration of */ uda0: hard error, disk transfer error, unit 0, grp 0x0, hdr 0xb1558 /* several iterations of */ uda0: hard error, SDI error, unit 0, event 0353, hdr 0x0 The sequence can repeat with a higher hdr number. This VAX has two memory controllers with 4 MB on mcr0 and 2 MB on mcr1; one uda50; and 3 ra81 drives. DEC has been in several times and can't isolate the problem. I'll appreciate any help the net can offer. Thanks, Jim Chappell ...!seismo!vrdxhq!ms3!jrc ISN Corp. (703) 979-8900 1235A Jeff Davis Hwy, Suite 605A Arlington, Va 22202 -- Jim Chappell ...!seismo!vrdxhq!ms3!jrc ISN Corp. 1235A Jeff Davis Hwy, Suite 605A Arlington, Va 22202
chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) (12/17/86)
In article <491@ms3.UUCP>, msitd22@ms3.UUCP (Jim Chappell) writes: >I am installing virgin 4.2 on several VAX 11/780's. (Why? You should be installing 4.3. Anyway...) >uda0: hard error, disk transfer error, unit 0, grp 0x0, hdr 0xb1558 >uda0: hard error, SDI error, unit 0, event 0353, hdr 0x0 The 4.2BSD UDA50 driver prints `hard error' messages for many soft errors. If the hard error message is not followed by another error of the form `ra%d: hard error sn%d', it was a soft error. `event 0353' is, I think, a `1 symbol ecc data error'. `hdr 0xb1558' indicates that the error was associated with logical block 0xb1558. None of this is very reliable information. The 4.3BSD driver is only slightly better. A much-improved driver may soon be available. (CDC is replacing an HDA here; until then the driver is not going anywhere.) This one has pinpointed a number of RA81/UDA50 problems locally, from failing HDAs to a bad port on a UDA50. (The last was a guess on my part: `ctlr detected pulse or parity data error' sounded like a problem in the drive-to-controller cables or serial interface. It was. VMS diagnostics could not find the problem, but moving the cables proved it.) -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7690) UUCP: seismo!mimsy!chris ARPA/CSNet: chris@mimsy.umd.edu
sechrest@orstcs.UUCP (sechrest) (12/18/86)
We have sometimes had similar problems on our RA81`s. I have no specific understanding of what is going on, but it seems that we can eliminate some class of disc errors by replacing the spindle brushes and insuring good clean contacts on the ground wires. There was a suggestion on the net a long time ago that it was a static build up on the spindle. Dec has said that this should not happen, but they come in and change the brushes when I ask them. The normal sequence of failures starts out with a couple of errors and then it slowly builds up to many errors. The HDR errors are generally not the same. Ie they seem to move around the disc. If they get too bad the disc will get some serious trash on it, but we fix the problem before that. John Sechrest sechrest@orstcs