🚀 go-pugleaf

In <3msigf$cvv@news3.digex.net> wkearney@access3.digex.net (Bill Kearney) writes:

>It's a good thing I bought this 3/60 of mine cheap.  I need the extra 
>cash to pay for the booze I end up drinking because of the suffering it's 
>causing me.

Not good. 8-)

>Sometimes it boots, sometimes not.  Mainly I keep getting an exception 2c 
>at 4000E when I try to get it to boot from a Sun 4.4.1 boot tape.  I did 
>boot this tape once and installed a generic system.  Now it wants nothing 
>to do with the tape any longer.  I've tried different tapes and get the 
>same errors MOST of the time.  Sometimes I get a Bus Error, I turn the 
>whole mess off and reboot and I'm back to the exceptions.

>What do I have to do to make this freaking thing boot consistently?

Don't panic. How far does it get each time? Can you disconnect everything
from the SCSI port and get it to come up in the ROM monitor without
failing *every* time you power it up? If so, this would mean that the RAM
is OK (it's tested by the bootrom at power-up), and everything the bootrom
needs to function correctly is working fine.

If not, and the exceptions are occuring before you can type 'b st(0)',
then perhaps there is a RAM problem. Taking into account how much RAM is
fitted to the machine, are the memory back select jumpers on the main
board (up the back near the clock battery) set correctly? 

If the machine has more than 4 meg, try removing RAM in 4 meg blocks
(remembering to adjust the memory jumpers as you do this) at a time and
see what happens each time. If you have access to some spare 9-chip, 1 meg
SIMM's, swap yours for them and see what happens. 

If you consistently have trouble *after* this point [ie. after you've
typed b st(0)], are you using the same tape drive all the time, and is it
properly configured? Have you tried another tape drive if you can get 
access to one? Have you tried booting via the ethernet off a friend's 
3/60 if you have access to another machine?

Alternatively, get hold of another SCSI chip and put it in place of yours.
The SCSI controllers in the 3/60 is a stock-standard NCR-5380 (also made
by Nat. Semi. and others), and it's socketed (thankfully). They are very
cheap and should be available from better electronics supply places. 

Regards,

Craig.
-- 
     Craig Dewick, located in Sydney, Australia. cdewick@orb.apana.org.au
 Phone: (int. +612, loc. 02)-527-1292. Snail-mail: PO Box 740, Cronulla, 2230.
 Always striving for a secure long-term future in an insecure short-term world
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