Hi,
My objective it to get my microvax 2 bootable.
I have a bootable microvax 3800 with DSSI RF71 and RF73.
I have a cmd qbus disk controller with an RZ25 disk attached.
The onboard serial port utility sees the drive and tests it Ok on both systems.
My problem is the Microvax 3800 does not see the drive as an RA/RD disk and therefore I can't install VMS on it. The 'show device' after self test shows UQSSP Disk Controller 0 (772150) ?
Added as the 3rd controller the system sees the DSSI RF drives ok but the CMD drive is seen as '?'
I have tried SYSGEN as well but should the pre-boot show device see the drive as an RA or RF?
If I install it in the MV2 as the only disk controller, the TK70 boots STABACKIT but only sees MUA0, no drives.
The only odd thing is that the CQD22-M serial config utility shows a tape menu as well as disk. At some point it asked me if i wanted it to be disk only which I replied yes to. The menu then has disk test options and scsi bus scan options.
I have also tried a different scsi disk DSP3120 RH20-e with the same problem.
Am I missing something obvious, any support appreciated to stop my brain from exploding.
Many Thanks

On 2021-06-27 14:53:59 +0000, blockhouse007 said:

> Am I missing something obvious, any support appreciated to stop my
> brain from exploding.

I do not know how much you know about Q-Bus.

You are aware that you have to reset all controllers when adding or
removing Q-bus boards, correct?

If not... SYSGEN tells you its desires, and—if you never lie to SYSGEN
CONFIGURE, and describe the complete configuration—you will get a
working CSR and vector configuration.

SYSGEN *LIES* about the current vector settings. In any SYSGEN
configuration display, SYSGEN displays the desired settings. Not the
actual vector settings. SYSGEN LIES.

If the Q-Bus CSR setting is wrong, you may not see the device, or you
may see the wrong device, or you may see a whole barrage of wrong
devices.

The only Q-Bus boards that will ~always have correct vectors are the
soft-loaded boards. All hardware switchpack-encoded Q-Bus boards will
show the desired settings in SYSGEN displays, not the actual settings.

SYSGEN CONFIGURE will generate a CSR and vector configuration which you
then need to establish across all Q-Bus controllers present.

Adding or removing one Q-bus controller can and variously does require
switchpack changes to some or all of the other Q-Bus controllers
present.

SYSGEN and SYSGEN CONFIGURE here also refers to the console Q-Bus
display and Q-Bus configuration tools found on the 3000 series and
newer MicroVAX consoles.

--
Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC

On Monday, June 28, 2021 at 2:54:01 AM UTC+12, ihatecom...@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi,
> My objective it to get my microvax 2 bootable.
> I have a bootable microvax 3800 with DSSI RF71 and RF73.
> I have a cmd qbus disk controller with an RZ25 disk attached.
> The onboard serial port utility sees the drive and tests it Ok on both systems.
> My problem is the Microvax 3800 does not see the drive as an RA/RD disk and therefore I can't install VMS on it. The 'show device' after self test shows UQSSP Disk Controller 0 (772150) ?
> Added as the 3rd controller the system sees the DSSI RF drives ok but the CMD drive is seen as '?'
> I have tried SYSGEN as well but should the pre-boot show device see the drive as an RA or RF?
> If I install it in the MV2 as the only disk controller, the TK70 boots STABACKIT but only sees MUA0, no drives.
> The only odd thing is that the CQD22-M serial config utility shows a tape menu as well as disk. At some point it asked me if i wanted it to be disk only which I replied yes to. The menu then has disk test options and scsi bus scan options.
> I have also tried a different scsi disk DSP3120 RH20-e with the same problem.
> Am I missing something obvious, any support appreciated to stop my brain from exploding.

Is this really a CQD220/T? Not a CQD220/M or a CQD220/TM?

The impression I got is T = TMSCP (tape drives) and M = MSCP (disks). So the CQD220/TM supports tape drives and hard disks while the CQD220/M supports hard disks only. If this really is a CQD220/T perhaps it only supports tape devices?

> The impression I got is T = TMSCP (tape drives) and M = MSCP (disks). So the CQD220/TM supports tape drives and hard disks while the CQD220/M supports hard disks only. If this really is a CQD220/T perhaps it only supports tape devices?

Having had a CQD220/TM (disk + tape) back in the day, I was told that the CQD220T (tape only)cannot do disk drives; it's a software restriction in the PROM.