Unix True 64 - And AlphaBIOS mysteriously appears.

Author

And AlphaBIOS mysteriously appears.

Steven Young

2004-09-05, 8:46 pm

I recently sold a 500au on eBay. I have been running this system for about a
year as my e-mail server (yea Qmail) and web and whatnot on a hobbyist
licensed Tru64 v 5.1a. Right before I packed it up in the box, I took screen
shots
(http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...716470121&ssPag)
to verify that yes indeed it is a 500au that works and incidentally is
running SRM v 7.2-1 and Tru64.

My buyer sent me an e-mail stating that when he plugged it in it tried to
boot to "Windows NT". After a quick phone conversation I realized that he
was describing the AlphaBIOS boot process. I am a little dumbfounded; could
he have hit a hotkey that brought him to AlphaBIOS? Could a jumper have
fallen out during shipping?

I have given him instructions and links to the firmware files to flash it
back to SRM but he seems to just want his money back. I am inclined to do
that however, I am a little afraid that he could be doing some kind of
switch-a-roo on me. Perhaps that sounds a tad paranoid but having been a
poor person my whole life, nothing has diswaded me from the conviction that
the entire world is out to get me.

I call on the great UNIX gods (and godesses) to offer me any suggestions to
understand how this could of happened and/or any quick remidies to right
this problem.

- Steve

Borje Sennung

2004-09-06, 2:47 am

In article <urO_c.9648$2s.9615@twister.nyroc.rr.com>,
"Steven Young" <illjit@hotmail.com> writes:
>I recently sold a 500au on eBay. I have been running this system for about a
>year as my e-mail server (yea Qmail) and web and whatnot on a hobbyist
>licensed Tru64 v 5.1a. Right before I packed it up in the box, I took screen
>shots
>(http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...716470121&ssPag)
>to verify that yes indeed it is a 500au that works and incidentally is
>running SRM v 7.2-1 and Tru64.
>
>My buyer sent me an e-mail stating that when he plugged it in it tried to
>boot to "Windows NT". After a quick phone conversation I realized that he
>was describing the AlphaBIOS boot process. I am a little dumbfounded; could
>he have hit a hotkey that brought him to AlphaBIOS? Could a jumper have
>fallen out during shipping?
>

Probably the backup-battery has run out of power. Replace it, matbe reflash,
and everything will be fine. This is a well known problem with old PWS.
Been there, done that...

>I have given him instructions and links to the firmware files to flash it
>back to SRM but he seems to just want his money back. I am inclined to do
>that however, I am a little afraid that he could be doing some kind of
>switch-a-roo on me. Perhaps that sounds a tad paranoid but having been a
>poor person my whole life, nothing has diswaded me from the conviction that
>the entire world is out to get me.
>
>I call on the great UNIX gods (and godesses) to offer me any suggestions to
>understand how this could of happened and/or any quick remidies to right
>this problem.
>
>- Steve
>
>

--
Börje Sennung
IT-chef Maskinsektionen Telefon: +46 31 - 772 37 06
Chalmers Tekniska Högskola Fax : +46 31 - 772 11 92
412 96 Göteborg Sweden E-mail : bse@me.chalmers.se

Stefaan A Eeckels

2004-09-06, 2:47 am

On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 00:46:18 GMT
"Steven Young" <illjit@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> My buyer sent me an e-mail stating that when he plugged it in it tried
> to boot to "Windows NT". After a quick phone conversation I realized
> that he was describing the AlphaBIOS boot process. I am a little
> dumbfounded; could he have hit a hotkey that brought him to AlphaBIOS?
> Could a jumper have fallen out during shipping?

There's no jumper, AFAIK, but when you remove the battery it
goes back to AlphaBIOS (I've just done this, so it's first
hand experience). Tell your buyer to get hold of a new battery
(type CR2032) and he'll be fine. These systems are getting
old, and the battery most likely gave up the ghost during
transport.

There's no need to reflash, the Flash ROM has both images so
it's simply a matter of hitting the right keys :-)

SRM->AlphaBIOS
>set console graphic
>set os_type nt
Reboot
AlphaBIOS->SRM
F2|CMOS setup|Advanced|Unix Console|F10
Reboot

> I have given him instructions and links to the firmware files
> to flash it back to SRM but he seems to just want his money back.

No need to give the money back, there's nothing you did to
warrant that. It's perfecty normal for backup batteries in
5-year old machines to go belly-up.

> I call on the great UNIX gods (and godesses) to offer me any suggestions
> to understand how this could of happened and/or any quick remidies to
> right this problem.

Tell your buyer to email me (Stefaan dot Eeckels at ecc dot lu)
if he needs some TLC - I've just finished setting up one of
these 500au's with Tru64 for my Unix collection and I'd be happy
to help him out (like how to open _his_ machine and get at the
battery, for instance :-).

Take care,

--
Stefaan
--
"What is stated clearly conceives easily." -- Inspired sales droid