• Re: ?3C NVR WRTERR from my VAXstation 4000/60

    From David Goodwin@21:1/5 to All on Sat Aug 10 12:17:49 2024
    In article <v9525k$njc3$1@dont-email.me>, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP says...

    On 2024-08-07, David Goodwin <david+usenet@zx.net.nz> wrote:
    In article <v90ta8$3dtak$1@dont-email.me>, ldo@nz.invalid says...

    On Wed, 7 Aug 2024 21:53:32 +1200, David Goodwin wrote:

    Now I've got it off the shelf and its sadly no longer working. On power >> > up, I just get "?3C NVR WRTERR" on the serial console.

    ?NVR? = ?Non-Volatile RAM??

    I assume so, which is why I replaced the DS1287A - the markings on the
    old one imply a manufacture date sometime in 1991 so its battery was
    sure to be flat.

    But a brand new one manuactured in 2023 from a reputable source doesn't seem to have solved the problem.

    Any signs of damaged circuit board traces or similar ?

    Aside from being a little dusty it all looks fine.

    After you replace a DS1287A, are there any initialisation steps which
    need to be performed ?

    I'd wondered this but I can't find anything documented anywhere.

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  • From Dave Froble@21:1/5 to David Goodwin on Fri Aug 9 22:01:31 2024
    On 8/9/2024 8:17 PM, David Goodwin wrote:
    In article <v9525k$njc3$1@dont-email.me>, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP says...

    On 2024-08-07, David Goodwin <david+usenet@zx.net.nz> wrote:
    In article <v90ta8$3dtak$1@dont-email.me>, ldo@nz.invalid says...

    On Wed, 7 Aug 2024 21:53:32 +1200, David Goodwin wrote:

    Now I've got it off the shelf and its sadly no longer working. On power >>>>> up, I just get "?3C NVR WRTERR" on the serial console.

    ?NVR? = ?Non-Volatile RAM??

    I assume so, which is why I replaced the DS1287A - the markings on the
    old one imply a manufacture date sometime in 1991 so its battery was
    sure to be flat.

    But a brand new one manuactured in 2023 from a reputable source doesn't
    seem to have solved the problem.

    Any signs of damaged circuit board traces or similar ?

    Aside from being a little dusty it all looks fine.

    After you replace a DS1287A, are there any initialisation steps which
    need to be performed ?

    I'd wondered this but I can't find anything documented anywhere.

    When I replaced a couple of the Dallas chips, I had no issues.

    Now, this is a guess, but perhaps the write to the dallas chip may not happen until one enters a valid date.

    Also, with a dead dallas chip, I found that the VAXstation 4000 systems would still pass startup self test.

    Perhaps dust off the system, I use compressed air, pull the memory SIMMs, look for a bad capacator, re-seat the memory and try again.


    --
    David Froble Tel: 724-529-0450
    Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc. E-Mail: davef@tsoft-inc.com
    DFE Ultralights, Inc.
    170 Grimplin Road
    Vanderbilt, PA 15486

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