jim@ferkel.ucsb.edu (Oreo Cat) (09/15/90)
I have a MV II system which a few months ago was completely broken,
but I am now close to having it up and running again. I'm almost
there, but I need a few more pieces to complete things.
First, the one big problem with this system was that the hard disk
died. It was an RD53. I took it out and tested it on an IBM AT
compatible and found that while there was something wrong on the
way to head 0, the rest of the drive worked OK. Repairing the drive
would cost $150-200. However, in the process of testing the drive,
I wiped the formatting. I didn't realize that you had to have special
software to format the thing. I have the 'Customer Diagnostics' tape
but I understand that I need to have the 'Maintenance Diagnostics' tape
to format disks. So first off, is there anyone out there who will lend
or sell me their 'Maintenance Diagnostics' tape or disks? Alternatively
I understand that there are places which specialize in repairing DEC
drives. Would they be able to reformat the drive for me? I would
imagine that this would be a great deal more expensive though. Another
option is to just buy a whole new drive. I see them advertised for
$150 for a RD52, $300 for a RD53, and $1400 for an RD54. I was thinking
that maybe someone on the net would have one of these (preferably and
RD53 or RD54) for cheaper than this. If you do, send me a note. Also,
out of curiousity, why is the RD54 so expensive? It's just over twice
the capacity of an RD53, but 4 times the price! Another question: Is
it possible to hook up non-DEC drives? It's just an ST506 interface,
and a lot of these drives are really cheap. I understand that this
would require the 'Maintenance Diagnostics' discussed above, but what
else do I need to know?
Next, I purchased a DLVJ1 four line async card from someone
on the net, but unfortunately it did not come with cabling. Does this
have the same pinouts as the console serial port? Or does anyone have
the cabling and would like to get rid of it? Specifically, I need
CK-DLVJ1-LA, the Cabinet Kit for the BA123 enclosure.
Next, sometime after it crashed, the mouse cable got pulled
out of it's DB-15 connector. The mouse itself is probably fine, but
I have no idea what the pinouts on it are. Does anybody know the
right pinouts? Or does anybody have an extra mouse they'd like to sell?
It's model VS10X-EA Rev A3.
I also have a pretty old version of the operating system. It's
1.2. If anybody has an unused OS, I'd be interested in buying it. Or
any other neat stuff for this system.
Thanks for the help!
Jim Lick
Work: University of California | Home: 6657 El Colegio #24
Santa Barbara | Isla Vista, CA 93117-4280
Dept. of Mechanical Engr. | (805) 968-0189 voice
2311 Engr II Building | (805) 968-1239 data 1
(805) 893-4113 | (805) 968-2734 data 2
jim@ferkel.ucsb.edu | bahamut!jim@ivucsb.sba.ca.us pavlov@canisius.UUCP (Greg Pavlov) (09/19/90)
In article <6285@hub.ucsb.edu>, jim@ferkel.ucsb.edu (Oreo Cat) writes: > I have a MV II system which a few months ago was completely broken, > but I am now close to having it up and running again. > > ....I understand that I need to have the 'Maintenance Diagnostics' tape > to format disks. So first off, is there anyone out there who will lend > or sell me their 'Maintenance Diagnostics' tape or disks? .... At the time that we were mucking around with these (RD disks, etc) DEC would not sell the Maintenance Diagnostics. Instead, it wanted to charge you for on-site formatting "service". DEC took at least one company to court over this... I don't know if DEC has become any more benevolent on this issue. > I see them (DEC drives) advertised for..... > $150 for a RD52, $300 for a RD53, and $1400 for an RD54. > ....out of curiousity, why is the RD54 so expensive? It's just over twice > the capacity of an RD53, but 4 times the price! For many reasons, there are a lot more RD52's and RD53's floating around in the used-equipment market. If you are an end-user and want to sell one to an equipment dealer, you pretty much have to give it away. > Another question: Is > it possible to hook up non-DEC drives? It's just an ST506 interface, > and a lot of these drives are really cheap. As best as we could tell, our two RD53's were Micropolis drives. The only difference was that some sort of skid plate had been added on. Another alternative, which costs more money, is to get a SCSI controller for the QBUS and attach a SCSI drive. greg pavlov, fstrf, amherst, ny/
jcd@pitt.UUCP (Jim Durham) (09/27/90)
In article <2873@canisius.UUCP> pavlov@canisius.UUCP (Greg Pavlov) writes: >In article <6285@hub.ucsb.edu>, jim@ferkel.ucsb.edu (Oreo Cat) writes: >> I have a MV II system which a few months ago was completely broken, >> but I am now close to having it up and running again. >> >> ....I understand that I need to have the 'Maintenance Diagnostics' tape >> to format disks. So first off, is there anyone out there who will lend >> or sell me their 'Maintenance Diagnostics' tape or disks? .... > > At the time that we were mucking around with these (RD disks, etc) DEC > would not sell the Maintenance Diagnostics. Instead, it wanted to charge > >> I see them (DEC drives) advertised for..... >> $150 for a RD52, $300 for a RD53, and $1400 for an RD54. >> it possible to hook up non-DEC drives? It's just an ST506 interface, >> and a lot of these drives are really cheap. > > As best as we could tell, our two RD53's were Micropolis drives. The only > difference was that some sort of skid plate had been added on. Another RD53's are Micropolis drives. There are other drives, like Maxtors that have the same geometry as the Micropolis, but the DEC "Customer Formatter" will not touch them. I understand that "real" RD52s and RD53s have a "descriptor block" somewhere on the drive that tells the formatter that this is a "real" RD and allows it to format the drive. The "Field Service" diagnostics apparently *will* format other drives, and in fact, write out the "descriptor block". Trying to get your hands on the "Field Service" diags is well nigh impossible. I don't have complete confidence in this information, gleaned mostly 2nd had, but if someone knows better, I'd like to know also...> I also own a MVII, which I have been trying to get running properly. They can be bears.... Jim Durham
terry@spcvxb.spc.edu (Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr) (09/28/90)
In article <8691@pitt.UUCP>, jcd@pitt.UUCP (Jim Durham) writes: > RD53's are Micropolis drives. There are other drives, like Maxtors > that have the same geometry as the Micropolis, but the DEC "Customer > Formatter" will not touch them. I understand that "real" RD52s and RD53s > have a "descriptor block" somewhere on the drive that tells the formatter > that this is a "real" RD and allows it to format the drive. There are a number of issues here. The earlier DEC controllers (RQDX1 and 2) needed to determine the drive type at every power-up, so they need to be able to find out the drive type rapidly. Thus, the DEC drives supported on the 1 and 2 have unique characteristics. That's what R7 on the RD53 is for - to tell the RQDX2 that it's an RD53 instead of an RD52. The RQDX3 (and integrated controller in a 2000) write the geometry infor- mation on the drive when it is formatted. Thus, they can accomodate non-DEC drives (unlike the 1 and 2). I believe the formatter only asks you "which DEC drive do you have". You can specify drive geometry (in the RQDX3 inter- nal formatter), but you need more numbers than you can easily get in order to define the MSCP regions. Terry Kennedy Operations Manager, Academic Computing terry@spcvxa.bitnet St. Peter's College, US terry@spcvxa.spc.edu (201) 915-9381