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Author boot from cd on alpha
Khalid Schofield

2004-01-23, 4:50 pm

Hi,
my dec just displays a blue screen with a white curser in the top left
hand corner of the screen. The root disk on the system failed and so I
need to re-install an os onto the unit. I would love tru64 or freebsd but
at the moment getting some life out of the unit would be just great for
me lol.

any surgestions? The server is a Dec Alpha 2100 the Sable model and I have
the 2100A system. They were from the peeps in the other dept accross from
me. The university of Oxfords ERMINE and SABLE digital unix systems for
modest computing needs (12000 users).

well help me rescue these sexy unix boxes plz



*********************
Khalid Schofield
System Administrator / EM Technician
Dept. Of Materials
University Of Oxford
Parks Road
Oxford
OX1 3PH

Email: khalid.schofield@materials.ox.ac.uk
Tel: 01865 273785
Fax: 01865 283333
Web: http://www-em.materials.ox.ac.uk/pe...ield/index.html

Andrew McCallum

2004-01-23, 4:50 pm

Hi Khalid
The following is a guideline for installing Tru64 on your server
quote:

> my dec just displays a blue screen with a white curser in the top left


Have you tried hitting enter a few times on the blue screen. The
problem is most likely that the console is set to serial, and you are
attempting to connect via the graphics card.

Hit enter 2 or 3 times, and you should get a P00 prompt. At this
prompt

P00>>set console graphics
P00>>set bus_probe_algorithm new
P00>>init

This will set the console to graphics mode, and re initialise and
reboot the server.

Once this is done you should see some (not all) of the boot time
messages. You will once again be taken to the P00>> prompt. Here you
can insert the CD into the machine, and you will then have to type

P00>>show device

....
dkaxxx.x.x.x.x DKAxxx RRDxx
....
and note the line with RRD or CD-ROM, what we are interested in here
is the value in the second column, write this down.

P00>>boot DKAxxx
this will then boot from the CDROM, and start installing the OS.

If you have any problems where the monitor turns itself off after
booting before the start of the installation, it is possible that the
monitor can not run the Xserver as required. In this case you may
find that you need to use the serial console, (and SET CONSOLE
SERIAL).

Do not take these steps as gospel, please read any documentation you
might have on the OS, and its requirements, however I hope that this
might help you.

Andrew McCallum
UNIX Administrator
andrewmccallumau@hotmail.com
Finnbarr P. Murphy

2004-01-23, 4:51 pm

Khalid,

In case you cannot find the documentation for these boxes, they
are still available at the AlphaServer retired systems site:

http://h18002.www1.hp.com/AlphaServ.../2100_tech.html

- Finnbarr


Khalid Schofield <oums0246@crow.linux.ox.ac.uk> wrote in message news:<Pine.LNX.4.58.0310150738530.8289@crow.linux.ox.ac.uk>...
quote:

> Hi,
> my dec just displays a blue screen with a white curser in the top left
> hand corner of the screen. The root disk on the system failed and so I
> need to re-install an os onto the unit. I would love tru64 or freebsd but
> at the moment getting some life out of the unit would be just great for
> me lol.
>
> any surgestions? The server is a Dec Alpha 2100 the Sable model and I have
> the 2100A system. They were from the peeps in the other dept accross from
> me. The university of Oxfords ERMINE and SABLE digital unix systems for
> modest computing needs (12000 users).
>
> well help me rescue these sexy unix boxes plz


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