roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) (02/23/85)
This morning our local F.S. rep tried and failed to install DEC's new
required FCO VAX 11/750 R 0007. After swapping the CPU boards, the
system passed micro diags, but Unix failed to boot (It never got beyond
the "%%" from the console emulator). When we backed out the changes,
all was well again.
So, the question is: has anybody successfully had this FCO installed on
a UNIX (4.2 bsd in particular) system? Has anybody had problems with
it? From what I can tell from the documentation that came with the FCO
kit, this primarily fixes problems on systems with CI750's or DR750's.
Since we don't have either of these devices, should I request that they
not insist on doing the upgrade if they can't get it to work right?
Various possibly important configuration info:
Unix 4.2 BSD VAX-11/750, micro-code level 5f
4Mbytes 64k-chip memory (2 DEC, 2 EMCC) Single Unibus
UDA-50 w/ RA-81 TU-80
DMF-32, Emulex CS-21/F, Able DZ-16 AED-767 DMA interface board
P.S. The FCO documentation actually mentions Unix! It says that if the
customer is running Unix, after loading the microcode, you should (step
number 42 b) "Boot the UNIX Operating System." We didn't do this, I
guess that's why it didn't work :-)
--
The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect
the views of the Public Health Research Institute.
{decvax,ihnp4}!vax135!timeinc\
>!phri!roy (Roy Smith)
{allegra,rocky2}!cubsvax/mminnich@udel-huey (Mike Minnich) (02/24/85)
Offhand, I would say that the FCO was not installed correctly. The upgrade simply adds a patchable control store option to the machine; the revision level of the microcode is not changed unless you load the new ucode supplied with the FCO. When ours was installed, we did not yet have the modifications to /boot or an on-line copy of the PCS ucode. The machine came right up without any problems. If I remember correctly, the modifications to /boot to allow it to load the PCS were discussed here some time ago, so you might want to look back through your bboard archives. mike