[rescue] DEC 3000/800S question

Skeezics Boondoggle skeezicsb at gmail.com
Wed Mar 12 15:13:26 CDT 2008


Rescuers,

I'm slowly going through my hardware pile to sort out the living from
the dead. The first attempt is a DEC 3000/800S: EV4, 128MB, 3x
internal disks, a nice complement of Turbochannel cards.  The machine
is pristine inside and out, looks brand new.  I last managed this box
about 8 years ago, and it's probably been powered off for almost that
long... It powers up fine, disks spin up, and it runs through POST but
stops at diag code F0 and no output ever appears on the console (a
VT320 that is properly cabled).

What little I've gleaned from Google and the docs I've found leaves
little hope;  I've done the obvious things that were suggested;
checked and re-seated all the memory, I/O module, Turbochannel cards,
etc.  Diag code F0 seems to mean that POST completed okay but it hung
trying to enter the console code.  Is the serial ROM fried?  Is there
an NVRAM or TOD clock with a dead battery somewhere hiding in there?
Anyone ever seen this and solved it?

If not, it'll probably end up on the sell/strip/recycle pile. :-(

I'm bummed as all get-out that it seems the only true
d|i|g|i|t|a|l-badged box I own is toast - I'd had a hankerin' lately
to bring up a KL10 simulator on it and take a trip down memory lane...

Help?

-- Chris



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