Paul Berger via cctalk wrote:
Those code you highlighted are only a problem if it halts on that code
if it continues on then its ok, in fact it is finding something to
boot off of 299 means that it has loaded the bootable code from
somewhere, in your case likely the disk and has transferred control to
it. Do you know if this machine ever had a graphics card of some kind
installed? if so then it would likely have been defined as the
console, if not then it may be a matter of finding out which serial
ports where set up as TTYs. If the disk does in fact have AIX
installed on it you will only see activity on ports that have a getty
running on them. Do you have anything like diagnostic diskette or
original install media you could boot from? Either one of those
would check all the serial ports for a terminal. The RS/6000 is very
picky about the serial connections and does want to see certain
signals present before it will talk to a serial port. Search for the
manual "Adapters Devices and Cabling Information for Microchannel
Systems" near the back there is a section about cabling pay attention
to the device called printer/terminal interposer there is a wiring
diagram, it is effectively a null modem. Another potentially useful
manual is "Diagnostic Information for Microchannel Systems" There are
equivalent manuals for the early PCI systems as well substitute
"Multibus" for Microchannel"
Since it does not stop after the "290 IOCC POST error (irrecoverable)."
code, then perhaps there's hope. I made diagnostic diskettes from
images that I found on the net, and the system reads the diskette on
power up, but after a while it goes back to reading the HD instead.
When it reads the diskette it does not sound like it fails to seek or
read, but it is possible that the diskette was not written correctly.
As for the null modem cable, I actually tried several schemes in an
RS-232 break-out box, but none worked. Just silence, and most
important, no assertion of the DTR or RTS lines on the part of the 320H,
even when CTS, DCD and DSR are being asserted from my terminal.
I am pretty sure that this machine was always headless; it was used for
accounting and inventory in a small business and all it had was
terminals, a printer, and the tape drive.
If it seems like it can be revived, perhaps I will invest in a LAN card
for it.
My only experience with AIX was as a user in a big SP system at Cornell
in the 90's; I loved it, but it was only from a user's perspective, not
an admin.
Carlos.
