[comp.sys.sun] VME interrupts after adding 753

SYSRUTH@utorphys.bitnet (Ruth Milner, Systems Manager x2746) (04/21/89)

In v7n215, David Classen <dclassen@swift.bcm.tmc.edu> writes:

>My Sun 4/260 crashes with a an eror message of
>
>           spurious VME interupt at processor level 5 VME level
>            3, VME vector 0xffffffff
> ... My configuration is:
>         4/260-32 run SunOS 4.0
>         SCSI tape
>         Xylogics 450/451  with 2 micropolis 256 MB drives
>         Xylogics 753 with CDC Sabre 1.2 GB drive.

Actually the Xylogics 451 could be the culprit here. It often comes from
the factory with the wrong interrupt level set. It should be at level 2.
Check that JX has pins 5-6 jumpered and all others clear.  You might only
be seeing this now that your bus is getting more laoding. Note that
Interrupt Request Level != Bus Request level (I got confused about this
once, and it won't work if you change BRQ).  The latter has to be 3 on Sun
systems. The former depends on the device.

It is unlikely to be the 753 because its IRQ is not set by jumpers or
switches, but appears to be done in firmware/driver (see the 753 manual
for details). However I suppose anything is possible.

The only other time I have ever seen this error is when there is a second
Ethernet interface in the system, which you don't mention. If you do have
one, however, first check the above and then call Sun if the 451 turns out
to be OK. With a second Ethernet, it is normal to see these errors, but
they should not be crashing your system. Ours did initially, and a new
rev. of the CPU board cleared that up.

Hope this helps.

Ruth Milner
Systems Manager
University of Toronto Physics