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From: chytil@vlsivie.tuwien.ac.at (Chytil Georg)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: Supposed nasties in MD12 prom...
Message-ID: <2194@tuvie.UUCP>
Date: 3 Dec 90 15:12:37 GMT
References: <9011281730.AA04136@meto.UMD.EDU> <2185@tuvie.UUCP> <4e573c70.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM>
Sender: plank@tuvie.UUCP
Organization: Vienna University of Technology, Dept. of VLSI-Design
Lines: 53

In article <4e573c70.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM> heinzl_c@apollo.HP.COM (Carl Heinzl) writes:
>
>>(I wrote :)
>>Now that I'm at it : Are You also experiencing lots of nasties in the 
>>MD of the 400t ? 'EX'ing a commandfile, e.g. salvol, leaving it and
>>trying to 'EX' another just barks with strange error-messages in Hex.
>
>You don't mention what version of the MD prom you have, but I just performed
[...]
>(using rev 1.4).  What other "nasties" are you experiencing (you DID say lots)???
>
I always wondered how Hpollo staff can stand this machines, now I know : You are
privileged in getting the debugged versions ( ;-), but not so funny after all )
AAMOF, our brand-new 400t has MD12 Rev. 1.2, Bootrom Rev. 1.1 .
I performed from the MD-prompt (sketches only)
EX CALENDAR	(works as expected, exiting normal)
EX SELFTEST	
	FAULT BUSERR Hex Hex
	Hex 	Hex
		(hangs, reset button, service mode)
BOOT
	Kernel 10.2.4
	PhaseII shell 10.2.4
REBOOT
		(MD-Logo, something like)
	REBOOT
	FOUND DISK
		(hangs, resetting by button)
PNET E
PNET
Eth802.3 blabla
BOOT
		(booting, logging in)
RTSVC
----------
Apollo-token-ring first=primary
ETH802.3_DIOorso_but_not_primary_at_all

Beside the pnet-command, which made me uninstall the token-ring-controller in
order to boot diskless from our ethernet, these 'nasties' are more or less flaws and
glitches, my original posting was more meant as a remark then a complaint or
quest for remedies as far as the MD is concerned. I found them remarkable, however,
since they shed a certain light on the maturity of the product. As a few peronal
replies have shown, these symptoms are familiar to others too.

>>Is that why the reset-button is on the front ;-) ?
>There's ALSO an "RE" command in the prom.  This command has the advantage of
>not executing all the HP reset code performed either during powerup or by hitting
>the reset button and therefore takes less time.
Believe me, I'm already very familiar with this command :-), thus the smiley in
the original.

					Georg