[Simh] Re: VAX Autoboot Problem

[A.Bucher at alcatel.de]

> For the >64M question, I should use SET CPU EXTEND also, which is
> missing in the vax.ini. With that, it works.

Hmmm.... I thought we had made that unnecessary...  I was the one who
added the >64MB support to the KA655X.bin and Bob added the command
interfaces to the simulator.  I must admit I'm not running the
released version (mine is heavily customized), but I thought we had
either abandoned the SET CPU EXT or it only controlled the default
name of a boot rom image to load if one hadn't yet been loaded.

Oh well..

> Now I've encountered the next problem: On the WinXP boxes, the VAX
> can't access the ethernet - argh !

Things work fine on WinXP for me.  You may have to disable the
Windows Firewall to get things to work though.

> On a W2K, it works fine - but the PCs are in different network
> environments and use different network cards.
> I will see what I can find out.

Winpcap is pretty reliably independent of both the OS and network
cards.

Make sure you test with WinPcap V3.1Beta4.

- Mark

-------
Hi again !

okay, back to the autoboot problem (together with what you just said above
!):
here's what I tried:

I use this VAX.ini:
;
; Load CPU microcode
load -r ka655x.bin
; upon HALT, console firmware is in control (boot prompt mode)
set cpu conhalt
;
; upon HALT, simulator is in control (simulator command mode)
;set cpu simhalt
;
; Attach console to telnet a telnet port
echo set cons telnet=1030
echo Console:
set cons telnet=1030
;
; Attach non-volatile RAM to a file
attach nvr nvram.bin
;
; This virtual machine has 256M memory (cpu extend to enable mem >64M)
;set cpu extend
set cpu 256m
;
; Define disk drive types. (RAUSER=sizeMB is variable size)
set rq0 ra92
set rq1 ra92
set rq2 rauser=2000
set rq3 cdrom
;
; Attach defined drives to local files
attach rq0 d0.dsk
attach rq1 d1.dsk
attach rq2 d2.dsk
;
; Attach the CD-ROM to its file (read-only)
attach -r rq3 vms072.iso
;
; Disable unused devices. It's also possible to disable individual devices,
; using a construction like "set rq2 disable" if desired.
;
set rl disable
set ry disable
set ts disable
set vh disable
set tq1 disable
set tq2 disable
set tq3 disable
;
; Attach Ethernet to a network interface
set xq mac=08-00-2B-AA-BB-CC
attach xq eth1
;
; attach the DZ to a telnet port
echo attach DZ 1031
echo DZ:
attach DZ 1031
;
; deposit 80 to BDR to disable autoboot (same as setting the autoboot
switch to disable)
;dep bdr 80
; deposit 00 to BDR to enable autoboot (same as setting the autoboot switch
to enable)
dep bdr 0
;
; Now start the emulator
echo
echo close telnet console session to exit from emulator
boot cpu
;
;exit

please note that I commented out the SET CPU EXTEND (and the EXIT to stay
in simh).

I start the VAX.EXE and connect a telnet session as console (btw, is it
intended that simh exits after a few tries waiting for a telnet session and
none shows up ??), and the firmware executes the tests. Last message is
"Tests completed.", then it stays in the >>> prompt.
>>> SHO BOOT
DUA0

(if I type >>>B  it boots from DUA0)
(means that the NVRAM was loaded from the file and is correct)

^E in emulator window
sim> exa bdr
BDR:   00

Therefore, shouldn't it boot ?!

now the trick:
sim> set cpu extend
sim> boot cpu

and voila! now it auto-boots from DUA0 !
same goes if I uncomment the SET CPU EXTEND in the vax.ini

It seems that the EXTEND option alters the handling of the BDR contents ...
?

Besides that, if you changed the function of the SET CPU EXTEND, you should
maybe update the docu :-)
(OK, it says: "Extended memory is enabled by default", agreed. But there
must be some side effects with that option.)


Back to the network problem:
- I use WinPcap V3.1Beta4 on all PCs. It is relieable, yes, but I remember
somthing that not all NICs can be switched to promicous mode ?
- There is no Firewall enabled on the two XP systems (MS firewall is
disabled anyway, and on the Laptop: for McAfee Firewall, it makes no
difference if enabled or not. The desktop has no Firewall at all. From the
VAX side, it seems to look OK, TCPIP IVP is OK, I can ping localhost and my
own IP addr, but nothing else. From the PC, I can't ping the addr. of the
VAX.
I even reinstalled VMS, first enabled DECNET IV an then TCPIP - no change.

I want to state that I don't blame the emulator for that ... I am no relly
sure if the DECNET/TCPIP setup of VMS is correct, since I set up the 3
systems independently in different ways. So, for the moment, don't treat
this "problem" too serious.

I will continue investigating and report my findings.
regards,
Andreas