I recently re-installed Digital Unix on an alphastation 600 that had been fully
configured and operational on the network before. I had not concerned
myself with the ethernet connection until, as I was configuring the network
on the newly installed sytem I couldn't get it to go active. This system
has a TULIP card with all 3 possible connections, AUI, BNC & twisted pair.
I had a live twisted pair connection throughout, but I came to find out
that at some time the computer switched to BNC. I only realized this when
I used uerf to see that it selected BNC.
On an alphaserver 2100 5/250 we have, with a TULIP card that only has AUI
& twisted pair, it will autosense the active connection. But this
alphastation 600 mysteriously changed it's mode to BNC, and did not
autosense. The hardware documentation that came with it (Alphastation 600
Series User Information, PN EK-AS800-UI.A01) is less than clear on how to
change it, leading me to believe that perhaps it was supposed to autosense.
After studying the console envirenment variables, I saw that ewa0_mode was
set to BNC, then the question was what is the appropriate character string
for twisted pair. Not documented, and
>>> help show ewa0_mode
doesn't get you anywhere, but I discovered if you type
>>> set ewa0_mode
it tells you that your command must have one of BNC, twisted-pair or AUI,
so if you're smart enough to type in a command that you're pretty sure is
incorrect syntax, it will reward you with the correct syntax.
My question is this: Is what I am seeing expected behaviour? Have others
seen a situation where the cable mode is switched for no apparent reason?
This isn't a biggie, although it stopped me cold in setting up the system and
forced me to shift gears for about a half hour to see what was going on.
TIA,
Stan Huhman
John Deere Engine Works
Received on Sun Aug 06 1995 - 20:15:27 NZST