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Conference mvblab::alphaserver_4100

Title:AlphaServer 4100
Moderator:MOVMON::DAVISS
Created:Tue Apr 16 1996
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:648
Total number of notes:3158

454.0. "OPA2 errors" by KAOFS::M_NAKAGAWA () Thu Jan 30 1997 15:14

    I don't have a machine to play with and have to ask here.
    
    Anyone seen this? 
    The symptom is that OPA2 increases its error count by 1 in
    every 2 seconds.
    The console terminal(VT420) works fine at console level but
    it will slow down as soon as VMS is booted, displaied data is fine 
    but it acts as if we set it to 300 baud.
    
    It's running AXP VMS V6.2-1H3 without a VGA card installed.
    
    ">>> set console serial, >>> init" is done but system still sees 
    OPA0(vga), OPA2(keyboard), and OPA3(mouse).
    
    The errorlog of caurse doen't say anything about it.
    
    Here are some info how live system sees it.
    
    $ sh dev opa
    Device                  Device           Error
     Name                   Status           Count
    OPA0:                   Online               0
    OPA2:                   Online           26389
    OPA3:                   Online               0
    
    I/O data structures
    -------------------
    OPA2		Unknown			UCB address:  82586080
    
    Device status:	00000013 tim,int,online
                                 ^^^^^^^
    				  ???? <------ OPA0/OPA3 don't show them.
    
    
    Owner UIC [000001,000004] Operation count 25139 ORB address 8262AD80
    					      ^^^^^
                                               ???
    
    	  PID        0001000B Error count     25127 DDB address 8E724878
                                              ^^^^^
                                               ???
    
    
    Thanks,
    CRDC/Mitz
    
    
    
      
    
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454.1OPA2 errors vms6.2-1h3CSC32::HUTMACHERThu Jan 30 1997 17:3328
    Hi i cant seem to recreate this on our asrv4100 but we have S3
    vga card in the backplane. setting console to serial and running
    vms 6.2-1h3 from there is not generating errors on opa2 with
    keyboard installed or not
    
    so have questions 
    
    what srm console version? ours is 3.0-10
    
    do you have any keyboard on mouse connected to distribution panel
    where you connect vt terminal to com1? if you do remove them
    
    does >>>show console show serial   for sure?
    
    there is a sysgen> param Window_system that should be set to 0 if no
    vga adapter present
    
    sysgen>set Window_system 0
    sysgen>write current
    sysgen>write active 
    
    reboot system
    
    dont know if this will help but only thing i can think of checking
    so far.
    
    jim hutmacher mvhs colorado csc 800-354-9000 ext 25561
    
454.2WINDOW_SYSTEM is set to "1"KAOFS::M_NAKAGAWAThu Jan 30 1997 17:5534
    Hi Jim, Thanks for such a quick reply.
    
    >>what srm console version? ours is 3.0-10
     
    YES! V3.0-10
    
    >>do you have any keyboard on mouse connected to distribution panel?
     
    NO, nothing is connected.
    We connected a keyboard with live system but it did not make any diff.
    VT terminal is connected to COM1.
    
    >>does >>>show console show serial   for sure?
    
    YES!
    
    
    >>there is a sysgen> param Window_system that should be set to 0...?
    
    It is set to "1" !!!!!
    
    SYSGEN>  SHOW WINDOW_SYSTEM
    Parameter Name  Current Default Min. Max. Unit       Dynamic
    --------------  ------- ------- ---- ---- ----       -------
    WINDOW_SYSTEM	  1        0   0    2 Pure-numbe    D
    
    We will try setting WINDOW_SYSTEM to "0".
    Will update this entry with the result.
    
    Thanks again,
    CRDC/Mitz
    
    
      
454.3Window_system = 0 didn't helpKAOFS::M_NAKAGAWAThu Jan 30 1997 18:1118
    Set sysgen parameter "Window_system" to "0".
    It did not help.
    
    Since its a Dynamic parameter we did not reboot system but did
    SYSGEN> WRITE CURRENT, WRITE ACTIVE, USE CURRENT.
    (This is a critical system and can't reboot it now)
    
    Customer still has S3 VGA card on site but we do not have empty PCI 
    slot to put it backin for troubleshooting.
    
    Jim, any chance for you to remove S3 VGA card from your system to
    see whether we can reproduce the symptom?
    
    Thanks,   
    Mitz
    
    
    
454.4opa2 errors on vms6.2-1h3 CSC32::HUTMACHERThu Jan 30 1997 18:3731
    another thought i had was maybe system is running ECU for WNT
    not VMS/UNIX
    
    might be worth going into alphabios - ultilities - run ecu and
    load the ECU floppy for VMS/UNIX just in case
    what version ECU are loading?
    
    i again tried to break our machine by loading WNT ECU and running
    vms and no opa2 errors??
    
    i cant get access to our machine right now again but will try 
    pulling s3 vga tommorrow morning
    
    might want to boot vms in min. conf see if it errors then
    b -fl 0,1 dka0
    sysboot>set startup_p1 "min"
    sysboot>cont
    vms should come up see of opa2 errors
    to set back to full vms boot 
    sysboot>set startup_p1 ""
    sysboot>cont
    
    if doesn't fail is there some software trying to use opa2??
    
    did system always do this? 
    do the errors start right away or wait awhile?
    
    it's possible that the saddle b3050-aa module or RIO module 54-24674-01
    have gone bad ?? 
    
    jim hutmacher mvhs colorado csc 800-354-9000 ext 25561
454.5KAOFS::M_NAKAGAWAThu Jan 30 1997 22:1045
    Jim,
    Thanks for the tips and your assistance, will pass it to our local
    engineer here.
    
       >>did system always do this?
       >>do the errors start right away or wait awhile?
    
    The engineer who installed this system did not notice it.
    He installed VMS by himself for UETP purpose and did not have any
    problems or at least did not notice problems with OPA2.
    (...but VGA card was still in the system that time)
    Then he had to reconfigure the PCI bus to add options, S3 VGA card
    was removed during PCI bus reconfiguration to create PCI space.
    (I suspect the problem started after this)
    He handed system to the customer and customer reinstalled VMS and
    noticed OPA2 errors.
    
       >> i cant get access to our machine right now again but will try
       >> pulling s3 vga tommorrow morning
    
    Greatly appreciated if you could try it for us.
    
    This is our system configuration just in case you wondered:
    
    $ mc sysman io show bus
    %SYSMAN-I-OUTPUT, command execution on node CDW023
    
    _Bus__________Node_TR#__Name____________Base CSR__________
    PCI           8    3    PCI/SCSI       FFFFFFFFEF59E000
    PCI           512  4    PCI/SCSI       FFFFFFFFEF5A2000
    PCI           24   3    PCI/FDDI       FFFFFFFFEF5A4000
    PCI           32   3    PCI/NI         FFFFFFFFEF5A6000
    PCI           40   3    PCI/NI         FFFFFFFFEF5A8000
    XBUS          0    7    System Board   FFFFFFFFEF5B6000
    XBUS          1    7    Floppy         FFFFFFFFEF5B6000
    XBUS          2    7    Parallel Port  FFFFFFFFEF5B6000
    XBUS          3    7    Serial Port    FFFFFFFFEF5B6000
    PCI           16   5    PCI/DSSI       FFFFFFFFEF7DC000
    PCI           40   5    PCI/CI         FFFFFFFFEF7DE000
    Unknown       1    2    Unknown device 0000000000000000 <-- ???
    
    Thanks again,
    Mitz
    
    
454.6opa2 errors on asrv4100 vms6.2-1h3CSC32::HUTMACHERFri Jan 31 1997 10:0246
    Hi Mitz
    
    was able to get time on our asrv4100 again here at colorado csc
    pulled the S3 vga card, >>>set console serial, pulled off the
    mouse/keyboard and booted vms 6.2-1h3
    
    no errors being generated on OPA2 keyboard port in normal use.
    
    so tried to create some errors by
    
    $reply/terminal=opa2 "hello this is test"/bell
    
    this command does create 1 error on every attempt
    
    could this customer have some kind of .com procedure or program
    poking the opa2 port?
    
    could he have peek/watch program thats spying on user key strokes
    on opa2 port with no keyboard attached?
    
    does   $sho dev opa2/full  or  $sho terminal opa2 show any process
    allocated to it?
    
    boot min might be good idea see if that kind of boot gets opa2 errors
        b -fl 0,1 dka0
        sysboot>set startup_p1 "min"
        sysboot>cont    vms should come up and see of opa2 errors occur
        to set back to a full vms boot
        sysboot>set startup_p1 ""
        sysboot>cont
                            
    if you do go with the hardware when replacing the B3050 sadlle module pci
    backplane than need to be real careful because it easy to damage it.
    Note 93.29 describes this issue.
    
    basically when you remove the RCM/RIO module it exposes two metal
    standoffs that that can contact the B3050 module while its being
    removed/installed. these killer standoffs usually destroy the etching 
    to two large asic chips located in the lower right hand corner of the
    b3050 module. it recommended that you lean a piece of cardboard or 
    a plastic Visa card with a real "High Credit Limit" against the
    standoffs to keep any contact from being fatal.
    
    jim hutmacher mvhs colorado csc 800-354-9000 ext 25561
                                                       
    
454.7OPCOM directed to OPA2 ???KAOFS::M_NAKAGAWAFri Jan 31 1997 15:0024
    Jim, thanks for your time and effort.
    
    I was kinda hoping that OPA2 and OPA3 to disappear if you remove the
    VGA card and set console to serial, something like forllowing:
    
    	   [With VGA]				[Without VGA]
    
    	VGA      = OPA0				COM1 = OPA0
        Keyboard = OPA2
        Mouse    = OPA3
    
    
    But its not the case I guess.
    As I entered in .0 base note, OPA2 is owned by system,
    
    OPA2                Unknown                 UCB address:  82586080
    Owner UIC [000001,000004] Operation count 25139 ORB address 8262AD80
          PID        0001000B Error count     25127 DDB address 8E724878
    
    The VT serial system console is not getting any OPCOM massages as per
    customer, is VMS sending all OPCOM messages to OPA2?????
    
    Mitz
    
454.8opa2 errors on vms 6.2-1h2CSC32::HUTMACHERFri Jan 31 1997 15:4315
    Mitz you could try this to make sure opa2 not getting opcom
    and opa0 will when vt console is logged out.
    
    on any terminal with privs
    
    $assign/user opa0: sys$command    this says next command for opa0 command
    $reply/enable                     enables opa0 opcom 
    $assign/user opa2: sys$command    this says next command for opa2 command
    $reply/disable                    disables opa2 opcom
    
    if this fixes it cant really explain how  we got into this. a reboot
    with window_system = 0 should bring it up where opa0 gets opcom
    by default not opa2
    
    jim hutmacher mvhs colorado csc 800-354-9000 ext 25561
454.9Someone changed startup command file??KAOFS::M_NAKAGAWAFri Jan 31 1997 15:5828
    Jim, 
    
    I just logged into customer's system to see what SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM
    has to say about OPA2:
    
    		Directory SYS$COMMON:[SYSMGR] 
    
    		SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM;7  17-JAN-1997 10:24:46.48
                                     ^^^^^^^^^^^
    
    $!      SYS$MANAGER:SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM
    $! 17-Jan-1996 GBU Added x25$startup,
    $!                 reply/enable to opa2
    				:
    				:
    $! OPA2: is one of the terminal devices.
    $!
    $      define sys$command opa2:
    $      reply/enable
    $      deassign sys$command
    
    
    Wouldn't this explain our problem!!!
    
    Mitz
    		
    
    
454.10opa2 errors on vms 6.2-1h3 asrv4100CSC32::HUTMACHERFri Jan 31 1997 16:1410
    yes i think so, you may want to try 454.8 procedure to shut it
    down see if errors stop
    
    if so will need to comment those out of startup so it does not
    trying using opa2 as terminal port
    
    looks like somebody installed x25 startup pointing to opa2?
    
    jim hutmacher mvhs colorado csc 800-354-9000 ext 25561
    
454.11Big T H A N K S to JimKAOFS::M_NAKAGAWAFri Jan 31 1997 16:4014
    Jim,
     
    .8 suggestion is done.  BINGO!    It worked. 
    
    OPA2 error count has stopped increasing. 
    I asked customer to check VT terminal to see whether OPCOM messages
    are showing up there.
    I hope this will clearup console being slow symptom as well.
    
    Thanks again,
    Mitz