[Simh] Possibly a n00b configuration error

[Mark Pizzolato - Info Comm]

HI Mark,

On Saturday, September 20, 2014 at 4:00 AM, Mark Wickens wrote:
> A quick configuration question if I could be so bold. Ever since I can
> remember my startup script for the VAX 3900 has halted with an error:
> 
> msw at hpm:/usr/local/vax/bin$ sudo ./vax
> 
> VAX simulator V3.9-0
> NVR: buffering file in memory
> Eth: opened OS device eth3
> Listening on port 2023 (socket 9)
> 
> 
> KA655-B V5.3, VMB 2.7
> Performing normal system tests.
> 40..39..38..37..36..35..34..33..32..31..30..29..28..27..26..25..
> 24..23..22..21..20..19..18..17..16..15..14..13..12..11..10..09..
> 
> ?80 2 17 FF 00 0000
> 
> P1=00000100  P2=00000000  P3=FFFFFFFF  P4=00000088  P5=00000000
> P6=00000000  P7=00000000  P8=03FC0000  P9=303FFE00 P10=00001FFF
> r0=00000000  r1=20088000  r2=00000000  r3=30400000  r4=03FF4000
> r5=00000000  r6=04000000  r7=30000000  r8=80000000 ERF=80000000
> 
> 08..07..06..05..04..03..
> Normal operation not possible.
> 
>  >>>
> 
> 
> Is this expected behaviour, or a configuration issue? I'd like to have
> the SIMH instance to boot into VMS automatically on server start up if
> possible, as I'm always forgetting to go in there and continue the boot
> process.
> 
> My configuration file is as below. Thanks for the help!

If this always happens, then it might be "expected behavior", given the pieces you are working with. :-)

> ;add CPU microcode
> load -r /usr/local/vax/data/ka655.bin
                                                          ^^^^^^^^
This is slightly suspicious.

The remaining configuration file is fine.

Please explain:
1) What host system you're running on.
2) Where you got the "suspicious" boot rom image you are loading.

Alternatively:
1) Pick up the latest code from: https://github.com/simh/simh/archive/master.zip
2) Unzip it
3) make vax

Use the resulting BIN/vax simulator AND in your configuration, don't bother loading the "suspicious" ka655.bin.  The current simulator will provide the right ROM image and automatically load when you do the "boot CPU" to start execution.  This is only done if you haven't already loaded 'some', possibly "suspicious", ROM image, so you could still have the same problem even with the latest code.  

If this fixes your problem, please remove the "suspicious" ROM image from your host system and either let the automatically generated (and loaded) one be used or replace the "suspicious" ka655.bin on your system (and mentioned in the configuration) with the ka655x.bin provided in the current source.

Good Luck,

- Mark