Hi Managers,
Thanks go to all those who responded. The original mail
is included at the end.
Most replies agreed that there was a CMOS battery problem, either
dead or badly connected.
Bryan Lavelle (Bryan.Lavelle_at_digital.com) sent the following information...
===========================
Brian,
There is a flaw in the original motherboard which is the cause of early
battery failure in the Miata GL (600au) machine. The M/B needs to be
replaced with one of the following part numbers with the correct etch
revision. Note the final 2 numbers of the part number indicate minor
changes and are functionally the same as the other similar part numbers.
There
54-25222-01 E03 Etch revision D
54-25222-02 E03
54-25222-03 E03
54-25222-04 E03
54-25222-05 E03
54-25222-06 E03
54-25222-01 E01 Etch revision C
54-25222-02 E01
54-25222-03 E01
54-25222-04 E01
54-25222-05 E01
If the part number/etch rev is correct the battery part number is
12-41476-06. If the machine is less than 12 months then it should be under
warranty still and replacing the motherboard as indicated shouldn't be a
problem.
Bryan
======================================
We took the battery out and measured it at 0.2V (instead of 3.0V).
Compaq are currently organising a replacement board under warranty
for us.
A number of replies suggesting a warm boot after changing the CMOS
to Unix/SRM instead of poweroff/poweron. This worked - thanks guys -
so our machine is now up and running for the duration.
I'm impressed with getting an answer from Digital/Compaq - thanks Bryan!
Finally, noone commented on my xbill joke, so I guess I will
keep my day job...
Cheers,
Brian Desmond
----- Begin Included Message -----
>From brian Mon Jun 7 20:07:44 1999
To: tru64-unix-managers_at_sws1.ctd.ornl.gov
Subject: AAAaaarghhhhhhh! 600au trying to boot NT!
Content-Length: 1020
X-Lines: 35
Status: RO
Hi Managers,
I have a Personal WorkStation 600 au trying to boot NT since
powercycling it this afternoon.
I have tried going into the advanced CMOS setup and setting the
boot type type to Unix/SRM, F10, F10, esc, poweroff, wait 1 min
power on but it comes up trying to boot NT again.
I have tried this a number of times without any success.
The date/time in CMOS is also showing up as 00:00:00 Jan 1 1995 on each
boot.
This machine has been rebooted several times recently, but I can't
recall powercycling it since I installed a tape drive quite a few months
ago.
I am less familiar with DEC hardware than I am with SUN/Sparc
and Intel. However if this was Intel, my guess would be the battery
backup was gone. This machine is less than 12 months old though...
Does anyone care to confirm/disconfirm my suspicions?
With thanks in advance,
Brian Desmond
PS - Could this really be the nightmare I had after playing "xbill"
coming true? Arrrgggggghhhhhhh, back, back, swat (missed)......
GAME OVER.....
----- End Included Message -----
--
Brian Desmond
Department of Psychology
University of Melbourne
Parkville, Victoria 3052
Australia
Email: brian_at_psych.unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 9344 8156
Fax: +61 3 9347 6618
Received on Tue Jun 08 1999 - 05:35:31 NZST