3 questions about VaxStation 3100 model 38 (VS42A)

[jplr]

I wish everybody a happy new year!

I have a VaxStation 3100, and managed to make it boot.
Unfortunately I have no adapter for the video port so I am using the console port.
I connected a MMJ connector to a USB cable after some trials and errors.
It is used with a Linux computer and Minicom.
But it seems it can receive but not send characters.
* So here is my first question: Do you have any suggestions?

Another problem is that if the station was booting (the hard disk was making noises) when I received it last year, after some problems with the power unit it seems to not boot anymore.
The startup screen and LEDs are below and with documents online I interpret it as:
- '3_' and '2_' may be ignored (but I do not know what it means)
- '1?' means there is a problem with the Ethernet connection (the workstation is not connected to an Ethernet network)
* My second question is about 'E': Does it mean a problem with the system clock?
- 'C' means the serial line controller test failed. Maybe because I have no mouse and keyboard attached?
- '6' means no disk attached to the SCSI-B bus.
* So here is my third question: As '7' looks correct, does it mean the station sees a hard disk?
- '1' means AUI Ethernet port selected, and nothing attached to it.

Many thanks!

Jean-Pierre

 

[g4ugm]

I think "E" probably means your battery is flat. Not sure about the others.. It may be its not progressing to boot because of these.
Minicom defaults to hardware flow. Its showing offline because its not seeing a signal on one of the interface lines. you can disable as per here:-

How do I configure parameters for 3 wire serial?

I am trying to connect to a 3D printer board using 3 wire serial, that is no CTS and RTS. I had a Wemos wifi module on it previously so I know it works. Now I need to use my BanaPi M2 Zero to control it thorough the same port, the Wemos has been removed and not going back. I keep getting a failur...

forum.armbian.com

or make a cable that loops rts/cts (you might need dtr/dsr/dcd as well)

Null modem - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

as VAX normally uses software flow.....(I think)

 

[thephysicist]

AFAIK - if your battery is dead or if there are any new problems during initialization the boot will stop and you have to issue a boot command by hand to continue. Does your video output have 3 connectors? In that case you can easily build a cable and connect 4 lines to a VGA adapter (red, green, blue, ground). Only problem is you need a monitor with support for "sync on green". I've been using a "Benq BL912" with such a setup.

 

[g4ugm]

AFAIK - if your battery is dead or if there are any new problems during initialization the boot will stop and you have to issue a boot command by hand to continue. Does your video output have 3 connectors? In that case you can easily build a cable and connect 4 lines to a VGA adapter (red, green, blue, ground). Only problem is you need a monitor with support for "sync on green". I've been using a "Benq BL912" with such a setup.

I have been using a simple cable with several VGA flat panel displays on my 4000 VLC and non seems to have problems locking to sync on green, much to my surprise they all work reasonably well.