What HP/DEC/Compaq do we have.

[smj]

with a QBUS SCSI card

Oh my.... that was my "dream" card back in '95 for the uVAXII I had (in a BA23). So expensive then.. I guess now impossible to come by? AFAIK it was the only way to extend the disks in the machine beyond low capacity MFM... may be mistaken here but it has been 17 years

ESDI and SMD controllers, even the KDA50 (RA-series drives) were all commonly used, but today they might as well be MFM...

However the SCSI cards do pop up from time to time. A quantity of them became available a couple years ago in a group buy (~US$250), and they continue to pop up on eBay ranging from "ouch" to professional reseller prices. Right now there's a Viking card offered for $150 with the necessary bits to turn it into a disk+tape controller (often models were sold that only did one or the other). Genuine DEC KZQSA's are still being offered for $105, but OS support may be limited.

[urbancamo]

Received one AlphaServer DEC 3000/800 AXP and two DEC 3000/600 AXP's, all rackmount variations, and very imposing!
I've only fired up the '800 so far which works just fine, they are all in excellent condition so I have high hopes for the other two.

[robespierre]

I found that every time I took one of the DEC 3000 machines apart, my hands started bleeding. Watch out for that.

[Irinikus]

An Alphastation 255 300 running tru64

Its in very good cosmetic condition and was built up from two donor machines, one from Germany and one from Spain.

[bifo]

I've got a DEC 3000/400 in rather ugly condition (with, it must be said, a partially torn off EVIDENCE sticker on the front for good measure). Only 64mb ram but it runs VMS 8.4 and OpenBSD 6 like a champ so long as you dont try to use X. If anyone needs a turbochannel graphics card let me know, I have no use for it since I just SSH into it when I need to. It's been semi-retired in the last two months.

It's been retired because I picked up an Alphaserver DS10L, EV67 617mhz/512mb ram model, slight damage to the front plastic. I've also put in a Radeon 7500, which works quite well and also makes it think it's an XP900 workstation. Two IDE harddrives contain VMS 8.4 and NetBSD, but NetBSD is a lot more troublesome than OpenBSD when it comes to X and using the Radeon. I'm putting off banging my head against that inexplicable problem for a while until I feel like I can be bothered to put in more effort (It will not install any graphics drivers and it also won't properly compile the modular X system). I have a set of ram to max it at 1gb but for some reason it bleeps loudly and won't post when it's installed, so for the time being I've also put that aside, since VMS works fine anyway and 512mb is plenty of overhead for now.

I found that every time I took one of the DEC 3000 machines apart, my hands started bleeding. Watch out for that.

yeah they did not spring for the good metal work on those cases.

[johnnym]

[...]
It's been retired because I picked up an Alphaserver DS10L, EV67 617mhz/512mb ram model, slight damage to the front plastic. I've also put in a Radeon 7500, which works quite well and also makes it think it's an XP900 workstation. Two IDE harddrives contain VMS 8.4 and NetBSD, but NetBSD is a lot more troublesome than OpenBSD when it comes to X and using the Radeon. I'm putting off banging my head against that inexplicable problem for a while until I feel like I can be bothered to put in more effort (It will not install any graphics drivers and it also won't properly compile the modular X system). I have a set of ram to max it at 1gb but for some reason it bleeps loudly and won't post when it's installed, so for the time being I've also put that aside, since VMS works fine anyway and 512mb is plenty of overhead for now.

I'm unsure if it is possible to run the DS10L with its hood open (at least for testing). If yes or if you can cheat a possibly installed sensor, you could (1) try to use the 512 MiB memory modules without the two risers or (2) try them together with the "original" 256 MiB modules without risers. The DS10L has a 128-bit memory bus, so it needs at least two modules installed. If you only use one of the two known working 256 MiB modules, do you get the same response from your DS10L (i.e. bleeps and no POST)?

[bifo]

[...]
It's been retired because I picked up an Alphaserver DS10L, EV67 617mhz/512mb ram model, slight damage to the front plastic. I've also put in a Radeon 7500, which works quite well and also makes it think it's an XP900 workstation. Two IDE harddrives contain VMS 8.4 and NetBSD, but NetBSD is a lot more troublesome than OpenBSD when it comes to X and using the Radeon. I'm putting off banging my head against that inexplicable problem for a while until I feel like I can be bothered to put in more effort (It will not install any graphics drivers and it also won't properly compile the modular X system). I have a set of ram to max it at 1gb but for some reason it bleeps loudly and won't post when it's installed, so for the time being I've also put that aside, since VMS works fine anyway and 512mb is plenty of overhead for now.

I'm unsure if it is possible to run the DS10L with its hood open (at least for testing). If yes or if you can cheat a possibly installed sensor, you could (1) try to use the 512 MiB memory modules without the two risers or (2) try them together with the "original" 256 MiB modules without risers. The DS10L has a 128-bit memory bus, so it needs at least two modules installed. If you only use one of the two known working 256 MiB modules, do you get the same response from your DS10L (i.e. bleeps and no POST)?

it works fine with the known working modules, and it's definitely possible to run with the hood up (i have to due to the ide cables being just a little too tight anyway, can't quite fully close it). I've only tried them with the risers, I'm not certain that the DIMMs will fit in the slots without the risers? AFAIK the maximum ram the DS10L can handle according to spec is 1GB, although the DS10 can handle 2gb and since it's the same mainboard I'm not sure how the capabilities are different. For the time being I'm fine with the 512MB, I'm more focused on getting software working. CSWB (seamonkey) is extremely disagreeable and won't allow me to download things or load any plugins at all.

[johnnym]

it works fine with the known working modules, and it's definitely possible to run with the hood up (i have to due to the ide cables being just a little too tight anyway, can't quite fully close it). I've only tried them with the risers, I'm not certain that the DIMMs will fit in the slots without the risers?

I don't have a DS10L, but from pictures on the web I assume the risers just rotate the module orientation by +/- 90 degrees and the modules should fit fine into the sockets without the risers. Of course the hood won't close then, but it's just meant for testing the modules (1) without the risers or (2) with the known working modules. If one or both 512 MiB modules are defective case 1 should give the same symptoms (beep code and no POST) - I just want to rule out any problems with the combination of the risers and the 512 MiB modules. But case 2 might actually make the machine do a POST and just deactivate any defective modules - which could then be checked in the SRM (assumption). At least for the DS20E this seems to be supported (see "Memory Features" in the DS20E technical summary), it isn't mentioned under "Memory Features" for the DS10 or DS10L though.

Other ideas: (3) Have you decoded the beep code (the AlphaServer DS10 User Reference Card lists some) and (4) what does the RMC say when the machine powers up? The RMC should emit some messages on the first serial port (default configuration) as soon as power is applied to the machine and when the machine is started and detects a problem, the RMC might also emit some messages (assumption). You can find more information about the RMC in the AlphaServer DS10 / DS10L, AlphaStation DS10 Console Reference.

AFAIK the maximum ram the DS10L can handle according to spec is 1GB, although the DS10 can handle 2gb and since it's the same mainboard I'm not sure how the capabilities are different.

I believe the 1 GiB limit is just because only a maximum of two modules can be used (and only in combination with the risers) in this machine when the hood is closed because of height restrictions and 512 MiB was the maximum memory module size available or supported at that time. I don't assume that the other memory bank is deactivated in any way.

For the time being I'm fine with the 512MB, I'm more focused on getting software working. CSWB (seamonkey) is extremely disagreeable and won't allow me to download things or load any plugins at all.

Your decision, of course. But if you ever try to diagnose this again, it would be interesting to know what you found out then.

[Artlace]

I have a DEC PWS Alpha Miata MX5 /433a.

Unfortunately(?) it's IDE-only and supposed to be an "a" model but modded it to be "au" and running my boxed copy of Tru64 5.1 on it without problems.

[uridium]

Most of my VMS stuff I do on my TS10 (Rack mounted DS10e). Here it is with it's top off and Radoslav trying to get in on the action (Wouldn't be discouraged):

The ES40 is my "big hitter" when I need four processors .. which unfortunately is less and less these days and I just run off the VAX 4000-m96, the VLC, the TS10 as I mentioned and sometimes even just simh running on RPI. The DS20E's (4) sort of fall in the middle and are beginning to become neglected.

There's also a 4000-m60 mariah, some uVAX-II's.

I love my -11's. I have board sets for 11/[03,23,23Plus,73,83 (no PMI), 93 (PMI)].

On the x86 front there's a Venturis.

MIPS (SPIM) wise I have a Personal DECStation 5000/50 + spares. Sadly only 16mb ram (trying to find more so I can play with Felix's Turbo Channel USB adapters that arrived).

Oh..there's a bunch of VAX3100's .. but everyone has these (they're like fleas on a dog and I swear they breed in number when left in the corner for a few years).

[chatuser]

HP C3600: working Ok
HP C3700: damaged power supply
AlphaServer DS10: see images
AlphaServer has two IDE hard disks, it has installed Tru64 Unix, Windows 2000 and Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 ("lenny").

[uridium]

That's a nice setup.

I should get some ram for the C3750 I have. It has an FX10. Mostly when I need to do some HP-UX work for work I just use the RP2470 or the A180C if I want to build hppa1.1e binaries. Less and less call for HP-UX both itanic and PA-RISC. So sad they murdered and didn't finish the x86 port.

What's the intergraph video card in the DS10? Is it intended for win32 only or is there VMS support? Just a dumb 2d FB like my elsa gloria's or?

[ClassicHasClass]

I suppose I should update the list:

HP:
HP 9000/350 in rack with 670H hard disk and floppies, and a cantankerous 9144A tape drive I haven't got working yet. My usual HP system.
HP 9000/715t (started as a 420t, then was upgraded, a very odd duck. Powers up but no hard disk)
at least two C8000s, both dual 1.1GHz PA-8900 systems

DEC:
AlphaPC 164LX, works great, runs Tru64 and OpenGenera
VAXstation 3100 M76, runs VMS 7.3
DEC PRO 380 running Venix. It's such a great old beast and runs like a monster. Still looking for a colour head for this; I just have a monochrome terminal.
DECmate II
PDP-11/44 in storage in unknown condition

[bifo]

Your decision, of course. But if you ever try to diagnose this again, it would be interesting to know what you found out then.

I finally got around to having another go at it and realized both why the system was sent with the wrong memory and why it wouldn't boot with the new ram:

The idiots who sold me this system had read "512MB" on the sticks but not "SET OF 2"
They gave me a partial refund previously and I've now sent them another ebay message demanding the rest of the negotiated refund and also explained to them that it was their fault.

Can anyone confirm that 20-00ESA-08 or 20-01ESA-08 are 512MB modules or were Compaq/HP in the habit of labeling sets for the full amount of the sets rather than the individual sticks?

[johnnym]

Can anyone confirm that 20-00ESA-08 or 20-01ESA-08 are 512MB modules or were Compaq/HP in the habit of labeling sets for the full amount of the sets rather than the individual sticks?

I cannot confirm and I currently also cannot have a look in my DS20E (which has 16 x 256 MiB stacked DIMMs for reference), but there's an info page at HPE that lists 20-00ESA-08 as a 512 MiB stacked DIMM. On the other hand the text is not explicit enough to say that these number apply to singular DIMMs. How do you understand it?

There's also a parts list at IslandComputers for AlphaServer ES40s and there it lists both 20-00ESA-08 and 20-01ESA-08 as stacked or mono 512 MiB DIMMs respectively. As it later also lists "Memory Options" (with 1 GiB and 2 GiB capacity, i.e. more than any singular DIMM available for the ES40 ever had), I assume the above numbers really relate to singular DIMMs.