AIX - PS/2 Model 80 - Refdisk Fun

Anthony

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Nov 29, 2021, 12:21:11 AM11/29/21

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Hey All,

I am working on installing AIX 1.3 on a PS/2 Model 80 that I acquired a few years ago. Other than finicky floppies & floppy drives, I got through the base OS install after a few attempts (huzzah). However, I decided to boot from the reference disk post install and discovered that the system will now no longer boot from the hard drive. I did not make any changes, but I know the refdisk does touch the hard drive. When this happens, I can use install boot disk 1 to then boot from the hard drive without issue. The system just won't boot on its own. IT seems to lock up with both the hard drive activity LED and the floppy drive activity LED stuck illuminated.

I tried booting the maintenance disk and setting AIX to boot, but that did not work. The "sledgehammer" approach I have found is to LLF the hard drive and re-install.

I'm hoping there is a simpler fix to this?

Thanks!

Louis Ohland

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Nov 29, 2021, 11:34:32 AM11/29/21

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Not sure of the answer, but here's my experience:

https://ardent-tool.com/AIX_1-3/AIX_1-3_Installation.html

Call on one of your life lines, Rick Ekblaw.

Louis Ohland

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Nov 29, 2021, 11:37:09 AM11/29/21

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Oh, a forlorn hope, is there any AIX 1.3 usable application that we can use?

Anthony

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Nov 29, 2021, 12:25:45 PM11/29/21

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Heh, I've actually been referencing your AIX PS/2 material for this journey.

I've been hoping to find some utility that'll "fix boot" or whatever, but I haven't yet come across such a tool.

Is Rick on this list? Or should I reach out to him directly?

Also, I haven't yet installed any patches. Would running through PTF0024, specifically U436295, possibly magically fix this? For whatever it's worth, the system is booting from a 400 MB 0661 disk via the IBM PS/2 SCSI Adapter.

Thanks!

Louis Ohland

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Nov 29, 2021, 12:38:08 PM11/29/21

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Rick does frequent this newsgroup...

RickE

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Nov 30, 2021, 3:31:25 PM11/30/21

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On Monday, November 29, 2021 at 12:38:08 PM UTC-5, Louis Ohland wrote:
> Rick does frequent this newsgroup...
> On 11/29/2021 11:25, Anthony wrote:
> > Also, I haven't yet installed any patches. Would running through PTF0024, specifically U436295, possibly magically fix this? For whatever it's worth, the system is booting from a 400 MB 0661 disk via the IBM PS/2 SCSI Adapter.

Do not rouse the bear from his slumber, as he wakes up angry. I pop in here infrequently, usually to spout some nonsense and move on. You definitely want to install all of the patches, the resulting AIX 1.3 will still be buggy as all get-out, but it will "eat itself" less. A 400MB hard drive is rather small for AIX, it's enough for the base O/S and not much else. If you need a 1GB or larger SCSI drive for AIX 1.3 "playtime", I've still got some to spare, though I sold several a few months back to folks in the group. After fiddling with AIX 1.3 on a 9590 back in 2002, I haven't touched it since. It was amusing for a week or so, but if you want to run something "UNIX-ish", a good Linux distribution would be a wiser choice (I like Mint because I tend to install it on servers rather than laptops/desktops, Mint includes support for odd video adapters that tend to be found only in servers) -- or OpenBSD if you're more of a *ix purist.

Anthony

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Nov 30, 2021, 3:59:54 PM11/30/21

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I live in Linux daily as I use it both as a workstation and server OS both at home and work (mix of Debian and CentOS). I wanted to have the PS/2 Model 80 do something that isn't "yet another DOS box" in my small collection of x86 hardware. AIX, so far, is pretty interesting IMO. I ordered a WD8003ET/A to hopefully get the thing networked.

I've contemplated sourcing a larger hard drive for this adventure. I may be interested in a 1GB drive depending on what you have.

Noted regarding the patches. Silly question. Do I need to run through PTF0013 before PTF0024, or does PTF0024 include PTF0013 fixes?

RickE

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Nov 30, 2021, 4:59:36 PM11/30/21

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On Tuesday, November 30, 2021 at 3:59:54 PM UTC-5, Anthony wrote:
> Noted regarding the patches. Silly question. Do I need to run through PTF0013 before PTF0024, or does PTF0024 include PTF0013 fixes?

It's been too long since I did my AIX 1.3 diddling, but my fuzzy memory says that the PTF packages are *supposed to be* cumulative. However, I think that I installed PTF0013 on my install, then did PTF0024 afterwards, because I trust no one.

Grant Taylor

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Nov 30, 2021, 5:27:04 PM11/30/21

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On 11/30/21 1:59 PM, Anthony wrote:
> Silly question. Do I need to run through PTF0013 before PTF0024,
> or does PTF0024 include PTF0013 fixes?

Not so silly a question.

I don't know if you /strictly/ /need/ to install PF0013 before PTF0024
or not.

But my experience with IBM patches is that things tend to go smoother if
you install the patches in the order they were released. It may be more
work, but it makes the question become a non-issue.

--
Grant. . . .
unix || die

Anthony

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Nov 30, 2021, 8:24:39 PM11/30/21

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> It's been too long since I did my AIX 1.3 diddling, but my fuzzy memory says that the PTF packages are *supposed to be* cumulative. However, I think that I installed PTF0013 on my install, then did PTF0024 afterwards, because I trust no one.

Heh, fair enough!

Anthony

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Nov 30, 2021, 8:25:53 PM11/30/21

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> Not so silly a question.
>
> I don't know if you /strictly/ /need/ to install PF0013 before PTF0024
> or not.
>
> But my experience with IBM patches is that things tend to go smoother if
> you install the patches in the order they were released. It may be more
> work, but it makes the question become a non-issue.

Alright, given the feedback from both of you I will work through PTF0013 then PTF0024. :-D