[comp.sys.dec] If DECsystems exist, why does my DECstation refuse to talk?

davecb@yunexus.YorkU.CA (David Collier-Brown) (08/25/90)

berman@paul.rutgers.edu (Michael Berman) writes:
>I have added 8 meg to my DECsystem 3100 (which is functionally
>equivalent to a DECstation 3100, without a monitor).  

  This reminded me of a problem with DECstations (2100s, to be precise)
which the hotline could not seem to answer...

  I have some DECstations which are servers, and by rights should be hooked
to our VAX's cluster console.  Alas, if I set the eeprom to have either of
the serial ports be the console of the machine, it never manages to get to
the ">>" prompt.  Instead the self-test completes but instead of prompting
me with ">>" so I can say "auto", it says ">> nn-nn-nn-nn-nn", where the nn's
are my ethernet number, and incidentally one of the status messages that
had just been sent to the display.  Then it says ">>" folowed by the next
status message, then the next, then the next, etc.
  To reproduce this, just set the environment variable and reboot...  You'll
have to disconnect all the cables and reboot a few times to get it to
automagically go back to using the display as the console (:-))

  Do the two machines have different boot roms, prechance?  

--dave
-- 
David Collier-Brown,  | davecb@Nexus.YorkU.CA, ...!yunexus!davecb or
72 Abitibi Ave.,      | {toronto area...}lethe!dave 
Willowdale, Ontario,  | "And the next 8 man-months came up like
CANADA. 416-223-8968  |   thunder across the bay" --david kipling