Info-3b2 Digest, Number 23

[Info-3b2 Mailing List]

                           Info-3b2 Digest, Number 23
 
                          Thursday, October 13th 1988
 
Today's Topics:
 
                            Problems with diagnostics
                                Devtools/idtools
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 88 18:28:40 BST
Subject: Problems with diagnostics
From: hoptoad!quaduk!graham (Graham Glen)

I don't know if this is a common problem or if anybody else has come across
it, but in the hope that someone has, I will describe it anyway.

Our main 3B2 is a 400. It currently has 6 ports cards, 2 eports, 1 GPIB and
one CTC controller fitted (Ethernet was in, is now out and will be back in
again soon), 4Mb of memory and 2 190Mb Maxtor drives.

The machine had been running *very* reliably for about 2 years until
recently when I upgraded it to 3.1 and added some more cards (moving some
of the others around in the meantime). Since then it has been Panic'ing
between 1 a week and twice a day.

I suspect that the real problem is just a buildup of dirt on the edge
connectors on the cards exacerbated by them being moved. However, as a
check that there is not something nastier lurking I want to run diagnostics
on it. This is where the problem starts......

>From firmware I can happily load dgmon, show the Equipped Device Table, and
see the help screen. However, if I try and list the available diagnostic
phases for any device I get an error 1-03, and get put back to the dgmon
prompt. If I try and run any diagnostics on a board (without specifying any
particular phases - as I ca't see what they are) I get an error 1-02.

>From memory I think the error message says "Error 1-03 /dgn/X. is not a
regular file).

Well, /dgn exists and has a reasonable looking set of permissions, it seems
to contain all the necessary files for diagnostics on each device type.

I tried to copy dgmon and /dgn/* from another of our 3B2's (also running
3.1), and that didn't work either. I then tried running diagnostics on the
3B2 I had copied them from, and found I get exactly the same error.

Does anybody have any suggestions? Is this a known problem that Olivetti
(who distribute 3B's over here) don't know about.

Thanks

Graham

------------------------------
 
From: ucsfmis!ide!uunet!vsi!friedl
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 88 08:45:35 EDT
Subject: Devtools/idtools

> A short time ago, someone replyed about upgrading hard drives on the 3b2's
> with larger drives not from ATT. They made reference to the DEVTOOLS disk
> and i have been trying to get information about this disk ever since. Does
> anyone out there know what this disk is, or where to get one.

Devtools has been replaced with idtools, and this whole bit
is available in the _3B2 Maintenance Reference Manual_.  This
covers how to rip apart your machine, how to put it back together :-),
part lists, etc., plus the idtools disk that lets you format hard
drives as well as doing other diagnostics.

Fairly reliable rumors are that idtools will not format > 1024
cylinders, so there is a limit of about 140MB on drives.  We're
getting a Maxtor 1140 (1024cyl x 15 heads) tomorrow or so and
will report our findings to this list.  We have formatted 72MB
CDC drives with no difficulty.

Ordering information for this: 

	_AT&T 3B2 Computer Maintenance Reference Manual_
	Select code: 305-395, issue 2
	under $50

	AT&T Customer Information Center
	+1 800 432 6600 USA
	+1 800 255 1242 Canada
	+1 317 352 8556 less fortunate

*All* 3B2 sites should have this manual.

     Steve

--- 
Steve Friedl    V-Systems, Inc.  +1 714 545 6442    3B2-kind-of-guy
friedl at vsi.com     {backbones}!vsi.com!friedl    attmail!vsi!friedl
---------Nancy Reagan on the Three Stooges: "Just say Moe"---------

 
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