I'm not at home, so I can't check with the machines in my basement, so all
of this is from memory, and since the systems are very stable (despite
being 14+ years old), I don't have to mess with them much.

One comment before I start.  I have a dead 7914 in my basement.  It serves
as a weight to keep the 7974 tape drive from making the cabinet top heavy.
It WAS a 132 Mb disc when it worked.  It also ate electricity.  My personal
experience with the 7914 is summarized by the statement "make frequent and
good backups".  Enough said.

Okay, so how do you get the beast to boot up.

First make sure the key switch is in position 2.  That gives you access to
the maintenance commands.

Second, enter the command "HElp".  It will list the available commands.  I
think the one you are looking for is "TEst".  Assuming my memory is
correct, the TEst command will present you with a different prompt.  Enter
"IOMAP" at this prompt.  The system will slowly try to communicate with
each device - the 1985 version of "plug and play".  You should end up with
a listing of all the devices presently "seen" by the CPU.  I think the
output looks something like DRT, Unit, Device, Description, but like I
said, this is from memory and I haven't had to look at it for a couple of
years.

Check the listing of the devices.  Unless you have all the discs from a
working system, their HPIB addresses are the same, etc., you will need to
boot up from a tape, be it a 9144 (16 track cartridge tape), 9145 (32 track
cartridge tape), or 9 track (reel-to-reel) tape (7974, 7978, 7980).

I think "EX" will exit from the maintenance prompt.  Type "HElp" again and
watch for the syntax of the "LOAD" command.  You will most likely have to
specify the DRT and UNIT number of the tape drive in the LOAD command to
boot from tape.  You MUST have a SYSDUMP tape with the operating system and
at least the SYS account to boot up the system (unless you have all the
discs, with the same addresses as they had when last used, etc.).

Whether the discs are intact or not, and using the same addresses as when
they were last on a working system will determine where to go from here.
If they are not in the same configuration, you will have to do a reload.
If they are in the same configuration, you should be able to COLDstart,
answering "YES" to the "ANY CHANGES?" prompt, and reconfiguring the IO
section to incorporate the tape drive.  Make sure that any other
differences between the IOMAP listing and the IO configuration listing
COLDSTART's dialog shows are corrected.

Once again, I haven't had to do this for at least a couple of years, so all
the above is from memory, so the above directions may be lacking a bit in
accuracy.

Good luck!

John


At 9/28/99 06:09 AM , Aaron Christopher Finney wrote:
>Hi Mel,
>
>I really hate taking up so much of everyone's time with my hobby-related
>artifacts! But after so many fruitless hours searching for info on this
>thing, I'm pretty well stuck and could use any help I can get...
>
>On Tue, 28 Sep 1999, Melvin R Rees wrote:
>
>> >I have a pair of 7914p drives that I could really use some operational
>> >help with. I.e. what the toggle switches on the front panel do, what the
>> >LCD readout means, etc.
>>
>> I have manuals for the 791x drives also.  It has been awhile since I
>> have owned a drive however.  I'm not sure which flavor the "P" version
>> of the drive is.  I have a manual for the "A" and the "CT".  The drive
>> came in (I think) 3 flavors.  One was just a drive,  the second was a
>> drive and a cartridge tape drive, the third was a drive and a
>> reel-to-reel drive.  Their are no toggle switches that are on the
>> outside of the cabinent (according to my manuals) but maybe that was
>> changed.  There are switches inside the front cover that are used for
>> diagnostics and self-tests.  On the back you should have HP-IB address
>> (dip) switches.  If you have drives that are mounted with the
>> reel-to-reel tapes, I don't have a picture of that.
>
>These are _just_ drives, although they have the HPIB connector on the back
>for the tape device too. But definitely just the drive, with an empty
>space in the cabinet above where the disk drive is mounted (~8" high empty
>space). The switches I was referring to were indeed the ones inside the
>front cover...any info on how to use them would definitely be
>appreciated.
>
>Here's my ignorance showing through...I have 2 of these drives, one is set
>as HPIB device 2 and the other as HPIB device 3. Keep in mind that,
>supposedly, no one has touched them since they were pulled from
>production. Now, I have the I/O expansion cabinet on this system, and
>there is one HPIB interface on each cabinet. The cabinets have a short
>cable connecting these ports together. Not knowing anything else, and only
>having 2 cables at the moment, I plugged the first of my cables into the
>backside of the cable going into the _top_ cabinet. This cable goes
>straight to the "disk" HPIB port on the first 7914. I then plugged the 2nd
>cable into the back of the 1st cable where it connects to the first 7914
>and stuck it into the "disk" HPIB port on the back of the second drive. I
>do have a 9144 tape drive in the rack, but no cable at the moment to
>attach it.
>
>That all said, trying to do almost *anything* from the rom monitor gives
>me a "Watchdog Timer Interrupt" message and returns me to the prompt. Just
>to try to get anything, I've tried WARM, COOL, COLD, DISK, DUMP, PANEL;
>all gave me that Watchdog message and dumped me back at the prompt. I also
>get it in the TEST menu, when I run the IO test. Any ideas what might be
>causing this?
>
>> I'm in the Seattle area, so I'm not sure how convenient you are to us.
>> If you want to discuss what you have E-Mail me or call 425-391-9450
>> during normal business hours (or later if I'm around).  Be sure to
>> tell who ever answers the phone that you got an E-Mail from me or they
>> will never put you through.
>
>Thanks a bunch for already taking the time you have! I really appreciate
>it...
>
>
>Cheers,
>
>Aaron


--------------------------------------------------------------
John Korb                            email: [log in to unmask]
Innovative Software Solutions, Inc.

The thoughts, comments, and opinions expressed herein are mine
and do not reflect those of my employer(s), or anyone else.