• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Neeed help with a Vaxstation 4000/60

S

SGTSQUID

Experienced Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2012
Messages
266
Location
A secure undisclosed location in the Mojave Desert
I have a Vaxstation 4000/60 that has been sitting in storage for years and now I'm trying to get it running. I am using a VR241 monitor and LK201 keyboard with it. It appears to boot up and shows what looks the test screen shown in the manual, but with no sync to the monitor. I verified the monitor is working with a Rainbow, so the problem must be with the Vaxstation. I already reseated the video card and checked the cable. I tried switching the sync switch on the monitor back and forth as it says in the monitor manual, but no luck. Is there anything else I can try?
 
Someone more acquainted with DEC gear than I should weigh in, but are you sure that monitor is even compatible? The Rainbow is from 1982 and outputs a maximum of 800x240, while the 4000/60 is from 1991 and its framebuffer options have a minimum resolution of 1024x768 (and more commonly 1280x1024.) I'd be surprised if the Rainbow's monitor could handle that.
 
That could be my problem right there. I've seen discussions on line about getting vaxstation video to vga, but does any body have a suggestion on what would be the easiest? I have the standard RGB cable for it and some VGA cables I can cut up for parts.
 
SGTSQUID said:
That could be my problem right there. I've seen discussions on line about getting vaxstation video to vga, but does any body have a suggestion on what would be the easiest? I have the standard RGB cable for it and some VGA cables I can cut up for parts.
Click to expand...

If you have a cable that plugs into the VAXstation 4000 on one end and has BNC connectors for an RGB monitor on the other end and you want to connect it to a monitor with an HD15 VGA connector then maybe you could use an adapter cable like this one from Monoprice that is reasonably inexpensive:

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=562

I have used a BNC to HD15 VGA adapter cable like that in the past with good results connecting older systems to a multisync monitor that can sync on green since the H-sync and V-sync inputs are left unconnected with just RGB signal outputs from the system.

5621.jpg
 
Yeah, I use a 3w3-to-BNC and BNC-to-VGA snake-mating with my 4000/60. The main thing is finding a VGA monitor that's really, truly compatible with sync-on-green, not just one that can remove the sync from the green signal but actually needs separate sync signals to work (it's fiendish and evil, but they're out there.)
 
gslick said:
If you have a cable that plugs into the VAXstation 4000 on one end and has BNC connectors for an RGB monitor on the other end and you want to connect it to a monitor with an HD15 VGA connector then maybe you could use an adapter cable like this one from Monoprice that is reasonably inexpensive:

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=562

I have used a BNC to HD15 VGA adapter cable like that in the past with good results connecting older systems to a multisync monitor that can sync on green since the H-sync and V-sync inputs are left unconnected with just RGB signal outputs from the system.

View attachment 23031
Click to expand...

I just checked the specs on my LCD monitor and it does support RBG with sync on green,so I will try this.
 
Try one of the NEC MultisyncLCD monitors. All support SOG, as far as I know--and the older 4:3 monitors like the 20.1" 2010 feature 5-bnc input if you have separate or combined sync. They're pretty plentiful on the surplus market and where NECs high-end monitor line for a time.
 
You need to do a "conversational bootstrap". Look for "5.6 Emergency (Conversational) System Startup?" in the VMS FAQ. You might need additional system console info for your specific model. The FAQ I linked is for VMS 8.<mumble> but I'm pretty sure conversational booting hasn't changed for eons (I remember doing this on a 5.<something> system decades ago).
 
Last edited:
Uniballer said:
You need to do a "conversational bootstrap". Look for "5.6 Emergency (Conversational) System Startup?" in the VMS FAQ. You might need additional system console info for your specific model. The FAQ I linked is for VMS 8.<mumble> but I'm pretty sure conversational booting hasn't changed for eons (I remember doing this on a 5.<something> system decades ago).
Click to expand...

Will this get me access to the file system? There doesn't seem to be a system password set so what I'm looking for is a user account.
 
I tried a conversational boot following some instructions for getting around a lost password, and it didn't work. I expected some real security on this thing, so I'm looking for some kind of rescue disk so I can get to the file system to change the UAF and other boot parameters. It is also looking for a server and I don't know if it will log on without it.
 
I got a SCSI CD drive from an Apple PowerPC and got it to boot from a FreeBSD cd. Apparently the version I used (5.6) doesn't have VMS support so I couldn't mount the hard drive on the VAX. Does anyone know where I could find some kind of bootable CD image that I can use to mount a VMS partition? I could get a hobbyist OpenVMS license but I've heard it can be a hassle and I'm not sure that will even work for what I need. What I need is something I can use as a rescue disk.

On a related note, once I get to the VMS filesystem, does anyone know about the format for the user authentication files used by VMS? Would I even be able to change the account information to allow me to log on?
 
Getting a hobbyist VMS license is actually quite simple, and they'll give you a CD image for an installer CD that can boot into a limited VMS environment. I'm not sure whether that will suffice to get in and change the login on the current install, though; someone with a better working knowledge of VMS will have to answer that. To register for a hobbyist license, you'll need to sign up with DECUServe and then fill out the form at http://plato.ccsscorp.com/hobbyist_registration.php - you should hear from John Egolf, the HP guy in charge of this, within a couple days.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top