MattisLind
Veteran Member
Hello RQDX1 and RQDX2 experts!
I have a BA23 chassis with a 11/23 CPU some memory and then a choice of a RQDX1 and RQDX2 controller. I have a ST412/RD51 disk to go with it.
When starting off I didn't know neither of the RQDXn boards nor the drive or the cables were OK, so there were plenty of unknown variables.
Formatting the ST412/RD51 with the RQDX2 (Firmware seems to be 10.0D according to the labels on the EPROMs) resulted in the stepper motor going from track 0 to track 305 back and forth a couple of times then it just hung. The drive has been used in some DEC system but not necessarily with any of these controllers.
Then testing with the RQDX1 which gave a completely different result since after it finished going back and forth it wrote that it had ran out of revectoring tracks (or something similar message). The RQDX1 firmware is a bit fishy since the EPROMs are marked 23-238E4 and 23-239E4. But someone has removed the UV window cover at some point and put som ink there instead. They might have been reprogrammed. The number on the EPROMs would imply version 7 firmware according to this doc.
The same doc mentions that the RQDX1 and RQDX2 is essentially the same board:
Does this mean that it is possible to put a RQDX2 firmware on a RQDX1 board? As far as I understand the problem was that the RQDX1 has to be the last board since it wasn't handling NPG / Bus grant as it was supposed to.
How can one deduce the actual version of the firmware? Aside from the label on the EPROMs. Is there a version string somewhere to be retrieved?
To rule out hard disk and cabling problems I attached the drive to a AT style MFM controller and ran Speed Stor from a floppy (it must have been more than 25 years ago I did this last time). The drive was flawless! Not a single bad track after half an hour of surface analysis.
I then got back to the RQDX1 again which now didn't even started to format. It immediately complained, not even trying to format the drive.
On the other hand with the RQDX2, this time it didn't hang! It formatted it successfully this time. I then was able to initialize it under RT-11 and copy all RT-11 files and then boot of DU0!
But still the problems remain that the RQDX1 is not working. Of course this could be a faulty board but since it was working and moved back and forth the formatting process seemed to work.
So what is the experience with RQDX1 and RQDX2 boards? Is certain firmware better than others. How can I know what firmware is on the board? Is the RQDX1 and RQDX2 firmware interchangeable? Why was the RQDX2 able to format the drive after it has been low level formatted on an AT clone? What is the process the RQDXn does to figure out what drive is connected (this process seems to confuse the mfm emulator that David Gesswein has designed)?
I have a BA23 chassis with a 11/23 CPU some memory and then a choice of a RQDX1 and RQDX2 controller. I have a ST412/RD51 disk to go with it.
When starting off I didn't know neither of the RQDXn boards nor the drive or the cables were OK, so there were plenty of unknown variables.
Formatting the ST412/RD51 with the RQDX2 (Firmware seems to be 10.0D according to the labels on the EPROMs) resulted in the stepper motor going from track 0 to track 305 back and forth a couple of times then it just hung. The drive has been used in some DEC system but not necessarily with any of these controllers.
Then testing with the RQDX1 which gave a completely different result since after it finished going back and forth it wrote that it had ran out of revectoring tracks (or something similar message). The RQDX1 firmware is a bit fishy since the EPROMs are marked 23-238E4 and 23-239E4. But someone has removed the UV window cover at some point and put som ink there instead. They might have been reprogrammed. The number on the EPROMs would imply version 7 firmware according to this doc.
The same doc mentions that the RQDX1 and RQDX2 is essentially the same board:
The RQDX1 later underwent another ECO that allowed it to be resident in
any Q-bus slot after the CPU. This ECO involved changes in etch work,
micro-code and nomenclature. The controller name and module number
changed from the RQDX1 with module number M8639-YA stamped on the
handles, to the RQDX2 with module number M8639-YB stamped on the handle.
The firmware revision became known as version 9.4E, and was compatible
with the RX50 and RD5n (n = 1, 2, 3) series devices.
As mentioned above, the RQDX1 controller became the RQDX2 with an ECO to
the board itself and a change to the firmware allowing it to support the
latest mass storage devices on MicroPDP-11s and MicroVAX I's (RD52s).
The announcement day (MicroVAX II) ROMs (version 10.0D) were available
to be used with the RD53s, and have been upgraded once, to the version
10.0E micro-code. These two versions of the firmware will boot any of
the RD devices available for the MicroPDP-11s or the MicroVAXs.
Does this mean that it is possible to put a RQDX2 firmware on a RQDX1 board? As far as I understand the problem was that the RQDX1 has to be the last board since it wasn't handling NPG / Bus grant as it was supposed to.
How can one deduce the actual version of the firmware? Aside from the label on the EPROMs. Is there a version string somewhere to be retrieved?
To rule out hard disk and cabling problems I attached the drive to a AT style MFM controller and ran Speed Stor from a floppy (it must have been more than 25 years ago I did this last time). The drive was flawless! Not a single bad track after half an hour of surface analysis.
I then got back to the RQDX1 again which now didn't even started to format. It immediately complained, not even trying to format the drive.
On the other hand with the RQDX2, this time it didn't hang! It formatted it successfully this time. I then was able to initialize it under RT-11 and copy all RT-11 files and then boot of DU0!
But still the problems remain that the RQDX1 is not working. Of course this could be a faulty board but since it was working and moved back and forth the formatting process seemed to work.
So what is the experience with RQDX1 and RQDX2 boards? Is certain firmware better than others. How can I know what firmware is on the board? Is the RQDX1 and RQDX2 firmware interchangeable? Why was the RQDX2 able to format the drive after it has been low level formatted on an AT clone? What is the process the RQDXn does to figure out what drive is connected (this process seems to confuse the mfm emulator that David Gesswein has designed)?