Google Answers: How do I find out if a vme computer without an o/s works?

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Q: How do I find out if a vme computer without an o/s works? ( No Answer, 0 Comments )

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Subject: How do I find out if a vme computer without an o/s works?
Category: Computers > Hardware
Asked by: charlie2345-ga
List Price: $45.00

Posted: 02 May 2003 13:01 PDT
Expires: 01 Jun 2003 13:01 PDT
Question ID: 198536

I have recently acquired a few old motorola VMEs with the following boards in them: MVME 167 MVME 167B MVME 167-34A MVME 177-005 MVME 332XX MVME 710B The vmes do not have operating systems on them, but I do have access to a terminal and a monitor. Is there a way for me to find out if each of the boards are working?
Clarification of Question by charlie2345-ga on 02 May 2003 16:55 PDT I have thought some more about this, and I thought one possible way would be to take out all the processor boards and then just put one in at a time and see if the vme worked. However, I do not know how I could tell if it had worked as I have never used a vme box before. Does it have a bios like a PC? How would it show an error if there was a problem with one of the cards? Is there a way for me to find this out without swapping the cards?
Clarification of Question by charlie2345-ga on 03 May 2003 02:38 PDT I have done some more searching on the web myself and have come up with the follwoing information: general board configuration for mvme-167: http://www.esrf.fr/computing/cs/sysadmin/rtk/config/m16x/m16x_www/node22.html#SECTION00090000000000000000 Which has the quote "Always before installing a new board or whenever suspecting a hardware fault, board's self-diagnostics program should be executed from the Mbug-16x's Diagnostics execution directory:" and "For the MVME-167 board, verify that the Mbug-167 PROMs are in the sockets U1 and U2. Make sure you have a VT-100 compatible terminal connected to the terminal port of the board (9600 baud, 8 bits, no parity)." Being a bit of a beginner to all this (as you may have guesses eariler ;o) - I have upgraded PCs before though) . I suppose the thing to do would be to just start up the computer and see what happens. If it doesn't have this diagnostic PROM in it, how could I get it or another one that does a similar job? Is there any further information that could be useful before I start it up? Is it safe to assume that all motorola boards can use the same PROM? more stuff about configuration for most motorola boards http://www.roe.ac.uk/atc/projects/vista/background/phase_b/software/VxWorks/docs/libIndex.html#M
Request for Question Clarification by maniac-ga on 05 May 2003 19:39 PDT Hello Charlie2345, A very interesting problem. I did find a site ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/mvme68k/snapshot/ that has a distribution of the NetBSD operating system and how you can install it on any one of MVME147 , MVME162 , MVME167 , MVME172 , and MVME177 models. That appears to cover four out of the six boards. The different models appear to have different capabilities. Some boot across the network using TFTP. Others require a serial interface and use an S-record download. Of course, something like NetBSD requires a disk drive and other equipment to go with your single board computers. Do you have additional peripherals (such as disk drives)? If so, what are they? There is a section titled "Preparing your System for NetBSD Installation" in ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/mvme68k/snapshot/20011014/INSTALL.html that may also be helpful. Is this the kind of information you need? Are there some more basic questions to be answered such as: - where are the dip switches / what do they do? - what does the "167-Bug" program allow you to do? - how can I hook up my PC to the serial port? - where can I find system documentation for these boards? and so on. --Maniac
Clarification of Question by charlie2345-ga on 09 May 2003 00:43 PDT Hi Maniac-ga, the problem is a little more difficult since I couldn't find a cable to go between the terminal and the vme. I started them up and the green lights on the board came on (LAN, +12v, Run ,scon, etc). Do you know what these are? and if this means the board is working or not? If this is not a good indication I would like to find out if they are working correctly without installing an o/s. If I do manage to get a wire to go between the terminal and the VME [I notice you "say how can I hook up my PC to the serial port?"-is this an alternative to connecting a terminal?], is there some built-in diagnostic checker on the board or program I could download to boot on? - All the VME's have floppy drives. Cheers, Charlie2345-ga
Request for Question Clarification by maniac-ga on 09 May 2003 10:31 PDT Hello Charlie2345, Let's take the issues in order: A serial cable. Actually from what I can read from http://www-esd.fnal.gov/esd/catalog/main/motorola/mvme167_d3.pdf the more important part is having a connector from the card to a "standard serial connector". The description in Appendix A has some data related to this as well. There may be a "transition module" attached to the board or something you attach to the IO ports - I can't tell for sure. If you do have such an item (or your card is a different model and has a serial interface on the board), you could describe the connector [size, # of pins if you don't know its name] available on the VME rack and your PC and I can help you find the right cable. There are a number of vendors such as "Black Box" that will sell you a serial cable at moderate cost (say $10-$40). To connect to a terminal or your PC, you would need a cable with the right connectors on it and it should "cross over" the lines used to receive / transmit data. If you use a PC, tell me the OS version so I can look up a compatible "terminal emulator" for you to use as well. On the green lights, you said LAN, +12v, Run ,scon, etc. From that same User Manual, those lights mean... - LAN says the LAN chip is local bus master - +12V says you have 12V power - Run says the local bus master is running - SCON says this board is the VME bus system controller Those all look OK to me. You don't see any red / yellow lights which indicates the CPU is running and the board has not "failed". About an on board diagnostic, etc. The 167Bug program is described at http://www.powerbridge.de/download/manual/vme/vme-cpu/firmware/MVME167BUG-D3.pdf and describes the capabilities you have with that program - it should already be loaded on the board. There is a long list of tests available with the debugger (once you can talk with it). It appears you need the serial port connection set up before you can run these. The LAN connection appears to be inactive (until you load a program) based on what I found. Let me know what you have based on this and we can go down some additional steps. I'll also take a look at some of these other boards and see if they may be easier to get set up than the 167. --Maniac
Request for Question Clarification by maniac-ga on 14 May 2003 17:42 PDT Hello Charlie2345, Do you still need an answer for this question? If so - what do you want to focus on, information on the boards, the likely PROM software, or the console (serial) interface? If you don't need an answer, I suggest you close the question so you can't be billed. --Maniac

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