martin@prodix.liu.se (Martin Wendel) (01/11/89)
We have experienced trouble with our DN4000 machines hanging when rebooted. We are running a CALMA CADCAM-system and have a digitizer Kurta table and a extra alphanumeric screen. It seems that the ports to these can hang and that no "red button" nor anything else can reset them. (Well, when intelligence won't work force might.) I got the idea to try and shut the power off, and it worked. Can any of you Apollo people out there explain to me why I have to do this. /Martin
dbfunk@ICAEN.UIOWA.EDU (David B. Funk) (01/14/89)
Martin Wendel, In posting <82@prodix.liu.se> to "apollo@umix.cc.umich.edu" you asked about a problem with a DN4000 hanging due to devices connected to the serial ports. You didn't specify what revision of the OS that you were running. I think that the following information may be helpful though. At sr9.6 & sr9.7 there was a bug in the serial I/O handler such that if the node received characters into the SIO port while it was booting, the serial input could hang. As this also caused serial input on port #0 (the keyboard port) to hang, the node wouldn't respond to the keyboard. The node was actually running and could be accessed over the network but it ignored its keyboard. Shutting it down, htting the reset switch, & rebooting it didn't cure the problem. A power off & on, or running a pass of CPU.DEX would cure it. If you unplug the devices connected to the serial port during the boot-up process and then reconnect them after it was up, you could use them with out problem. Sr9.7.0.1 was a patch release intended to fix this and some other small bugs. On DN3000 or DN4000 series machines, it introduced a new bug that could break SIO output. It would cause the SIO output to lock up after outputing a few thousand characters. If these are the problems that you are having then you need an OS patch kit. Revision sr9.7.0.3 or newer will fix these problems. Use the Aegis shell command 'bldt' to display your OS revision level. Call your Apollo service rep for the patch kit. Dave Funk University of Iowa