I have an Alphaserver 1000a 4/266 with the single-channel PCI version of the Mylex DAC960.
The short of my problem is this: A drive in my RAID array died, so I took the opportunity to replace the noisy and slow old 2.1gb drives with a couple 4.3gb models. Of course that required going into the RAID config utility through the ARC console.
Everything was fine up to this point, aside from the disk faults. It loaded SRM just fine... everything worked. Then things went wrong.
The "arc" command didn't work... it gave me messages that ARC firmware was loading, followed shortly thereafter by "ARC firmware loaded." Then nothing else happened; it never brought up the ARC menu. I left it for over an hour, and nothing changed on screen, nor was there any indication of activity from the machine itself.
Not to be deterred, I reset the machine and tried "set os_type nt" instead. I did not, as you may be able to guess, think that move through very well. ops:
So now the machine is set to load the ARC console at startup, but it still won't get all the way to the ARC menu; it says that the firmware has loaded, but seems to freeze at that point. I pulled both the RAID card and the network card, but that didn't change anything. To make sure, I tried directly hooking up a keyboard and monitor in place of the VT420, but I was greeted only by the blank blue screen and flashing cursor.
So what do I do now? I know there's a failsafe loader, but the documentation I have is a bit ambiguous on how to use it, and I'm not sure if I have the necessary disk to accompany it.
Please help... I'm new to this, so I'm way outta my league here.
malmberg August 04 2022 No more VAX hobbyist licenses.
Community licenses for Alpha/IA64/X86_64 VMS Software Inc.
Commercial VMS software licenses for VAX available from HPE.
ozboomer July 20 2022 Just re-visiting.. No more hobbyist licenses? Is that from vmssoftware.com, no 'community' licenses?
valdirfranco July 01 2022 No more hobbyist license...sad
mister_wavey February 12 2022 I recall that the disks failed on the public access VMS systems that included Fafner
parwezw January 03 2022 Anyone know what happened to FAFNER.DYNDS.ORG?
I had a hobbyist account here but can longer access the site.
gtackett October 27 2021 Make that DECdfs _2.1A_ for Vax
gtackett October 27 2021 I'm looking for DECdfs V2.4A kit for VAX.
Asking here just in case anyone is still listening.
MarkRLV September 17 2021 At one time, didn't this web site have a job board? I would love to use my legacy skills one last time in my career.
malmberg January 18 2021 New Hobbyist PAKs for VAX/VMS are no longer available according to reports. Only commercial licenses are reported to be for sale from HPE
dfilip January 16 2021 Can someone please point me to hobbyist license pak? I'm looking for VAX/VMS 7.1, DECnet Phase IV, and UCX/TCPIP ... have the 7.1 media, need the license paks ... thanks!