E9.2-1 Hardware that doesn't work/potentially incompatible. (and what failed)


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E9.2-1 Hardware that doesn't work/potentially incompatible. (and what failed)

Post by gdwnldsksc » Sat Apr 22, 2023 4:10 am

Starting a thread here for hardware that's been tried and hasn't worked for various reasons, if I can, I'll edit and add to the top post as people add on to this thread over time.

List of known failures here, down in the thread will be details and specifics of each:

Known failures:
Gigabyte X299 UD4 - E9.2-1, V9.2
Asus PRIME X299 UD4 - E9.2-1, V9.2
Supermicro X9DR3-LN4F+ - E9.2-1 (installed pre-sysgen/first boot image only, install DVD boot not tested)
HP Z240 - Successful boot to installation environment, onboard SATA non-functional/compatible.

Non-working HBAs:
LSI SAS-3041
LSI SAS-9212
Dell SAS 5/E (LSI 1068 - NOT the 1068E) with stock bios from Dell, unknown version. This is the PCI-X version of the 1068, with a PCIe to PCI-X bridge chip on the card.
Last edited by gdwnldsksc on Mon May 01, 2023 3:41 am, edited 12 times in total.


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Re: E9.2-1 Hardware that doesn't work/potentially incompatible. (and what failed)

Post by gdwnldsksc » Mon May 01, 2023 3:01 am

LSI SAS9212-4i4e no joy. Can't see/mount system disk after boot, probably same fault as above.


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Re: E9.2-1 Hardware that doesn't work/potentially incompatible. (and what failed)

Post by cyb2600 » Tue May 02, 2023 3:09 pm

I got an LSI SAS3082E-R card and reflashed it into IT mode. Now the installer sees the disk and it can install OpenVMS. However, when I reboot the computer to boot off the hard drive the first time, it gets stuck here:
------
%SYSINIT-I-TIME, setting the system time
%SYSINIT-I-SYSDISK, checking status of system disk


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Re: E9.2-1 Hardware that doesn't work/potentially incompatible. (and what failed)

Post by gdwnldsksc » Tue May 02, 2023 3:55 pm

cyb2600 wrote:
Tue May 02, 2023 3:09 pm
I got an LSI SAS3082E-R card and reflashed it into IT mode. Now the installer sees the disk and it can install OpenVMS. However, when I reboot the computer to boot off the hard drive the first time, it gets stuck here:
------
%SYSINIT-I-TIME, setting the system time
%SYSINIT-I-SYSDISK, checking status of system disk
Interesting, that's one I would think *should* work, as it's an LSI 1068E based card - and all VMS documentation that mentions LSI SAS talks only to the 1068/1068E based cards (For non-HP SMartArray cards anyway, which the VMS supported ones are RAID only, no HBA passthrough). That, looks like it can't find the disk after boot. Which is.... interesting, to say the least.


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Re: E9.2-1 Hardware that doesn't work/potentially incompatible. (and what failed)

Post by cyb2600 » Tue May 02, 2023 5:26 pm

I think I figured it out. The disk was plugged into cable 6 on the controller but the bootloader was identifying it as DKA400. The OpenVMS installer correctly identified it as DKA600 though. So maybe it was trying to check DKA400 instead of DKA600. I've plugged the disk into cable 4 so both the bootloader and OpenVMS see it as DKA400. I reinstalled and now I've gotten to the AUTOGEN phase. Hopefully it'll be smooth sailing from here on...


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Re: E9.2-1 Hardware that doesn't work/potentially incompatible. (and what failed)

Post by gdwnldsksc » Wed May 03, 2023 5:32 am

cyb2600 wrote:
Tue May 02, 2023 5:26 pm
I think I figured it out. The disk was plugged into cable 6 on the controller but the bootloader was identifying it as DKA400. The OpenVMS installer correctly identified it as DKA600 though. So maybe it was trying to check DKA400 instead of DKA600. I've plugged the disk into cable 4 so both the bootloader and OpenVMS see it as DKA400. I reinstalled and now I've gotten to the AUTOGEN phase. Hopefully it'll be smooth sailing from here on...
Next time you run into something like that, using the arrow keys until 'devices' is highlighted then you'll see a list of detected/available devices. It would have shown what devices are available, and issuing BOOT DKA600 in boot manager would have probably worked (and been updated to the correct one after AUTOGEN/reboot)


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Re: E9.2-1 Hardware that doesn't work/potentially incompatible. (and what failed)

Post by cyb2600 » Wed May 03, 2023 8:57 am

The Devices command in the bootloader only saw DKA400, no DKA600. The OpenVMS installer only saw DKA600, no DKA400. Moving the disk to the Unit 4 cable made both Devices in the bootloader and OpenVMS see it as DKA400 and that did the trick. Now I just need to find a compatible ethernet card..

I tried an HP NC364T which appears to be a rebranded Intel i340. The bootloader picks it up as "Intel: 82580 Gigabit Network Connection". People seem to have had success with the Intel PT1000 but that uses a 82571 chip.

I've also tried an AD221A ethernet/fiber card that works with my Itanium server. OpenVMS seems to see it and identify it as an EI device, but when I show devices I don't see it.

Code: Select all

------------
%READ_CONFIG-I-LOAD_DRIVER_ENTRY, entering ioc$x86_load_runtime_drivers()
%READ_CONFIG-I-FOUND_ENTRY, lookup id found ID (lo) 0x10A78086, (hi) 0x7042103C, bus adp type PCIE, for device EI (AD221A (combo Gigabit Ethernet)), at index 78
device          = "AD221A (combo Gigabit Ethernet)"
  name          = EI
  driver        = SYS$EI1000.EXE
  adapter       = PCIE
  id            = 0x10A78086, 0x7042103C
  boot_flags    = HW_CTRL_LTR, UNIT_0
  flags         = BOOT, NETWORK, EXTENDED_ID
end_device
%READ_CONFIG-I-FOUND_ENTRY, lookup id found ID (lo) 0xFE0010DF, (hi) 0x00000000, bus adp type PCIE, for device FG (Emulex LP11002 PCIe), at index 4
device          = "Emulex LP11002 PCIe"
  name          = FG
  driver        = SYS$FGEDRIVER.EXE
  adapter       = PCIE
  id            = 0xFE0010DF
  boot_class    = PG
  boot_flags    = HW_CTRL_LTR, UNIT_0
  flags         = PORT, BOOT, FIBRE
end_device

$ sho dev

Device                  Device           Error   Volume          Free  Trans Mnt
 Name                   Status           Count    Label         Blocks Count Cnt
HPX86$DMM0:             Offline              0
HPX86$DKA400:           Mounted              0 X86SYS        347378864   176   1
HPX86$LDM0:             Online               0
HPX86$LDM9879:          Mounted              0 MD23122F35FA        972    23   1

Device                  Device           Error
 Name                   Status           Count
OPA0:                   Online               0
FTA0:                   Offline              0

Device                  Device           Error
 Name                   Status           Count
PKA0:                   Online               0
SRA0:                   Online               0
MPA0:                   Online               0
SMA0:                   Online               0
WSA0:                   Offline              0
$
Last edited by cyb2600 on Thu May 04, 2023 9:09 am, edited 2 times in total.


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Re: E9.2-1 Hardware that doesn't work/potentially incompatible. (and what failed)

Post by cyb2600 » Tue May 09, 2023 12:56 pm

I've tried a Intel PRO/1000 PT and OpenVMS doesn't see that at all. Is there a particular NIC I need to be using here?

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