HP OpenVMS Systems

What wrath hath SCSI wraith wroth?

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The Question is:

 
Got error message "%INIT-F-CTRLERR, fatal controller error" on an MKB500 tape
 drive
 
Wizard,
       I've been developing a program at work to run on a VAXStation 3100 m38,
 using VMS 5.5.  As a safety backup I thought I'd put my source code on my like
 machine at home, which runs a hobbyist OpenVMS 7.2.  I backed up onto a TK-50
 using an MKB500 tap
e drive, brought it home, unpluged my CD drive from the SCSI port, plugged the
 mkb500 into it and wasn't able to boot up.  In fact, a SH DEV at the chevron
 prompt failed to show my second hard drive; the one I added after buying my
 VAX, and put 7.2 on.  I
 plugged the CD drive back into the SCSI port and it still wouldn't boot.  I
 booted just fine with nothing plugged into the SCSI port, so I figured there
 must be a bent prong in my SCSI port.  When I brought the tape drive back to
 work, I wasn't able to u
se it because I got a fatal controller error when trying to init a tape on it;
 MV3138 was already booted with the mkb500 so I didn't have to reboot - it
 probably wouldn't have booted up with the tape drive, like my VAX at home.  My
 guess is that there's s
omething bent up in the SCSI connector on the mkb500 and that it bent up a
 prong on my VAX's SCSI port.  Maybe if I changed out the SCSI cable on the
 mkb500 it'll work, but before doing that Id' like to know if the message,
 "%INIT-F-CTRLERR, fatal control
ler error", implies more problems then a bad cable.  Also I'd like to know if
 there is some kind of damage I should be looking for on my VAX, besides a bent
 up prong.
 
            Thanks,  Dave Katelansky
 
 

The Answer is :

 
  Initial assumptions could involve the following: a failure to
  power down the system enclosure and all storage enclosures when
  making changes to the SCSI bus, a problem with duplicate SCSI
  bus addresses, a hardware fault (bent pin, static damage, broken
  wire, etc) that occured or was introduced during the peripheral
  shuffling, a duplicate SCSI address, failure to make the requisite
  sacrifices to the SCSI deities, or any number of other potential
  configuration- or hardware-related problems.
 
  Unfortunately, the OpenVMS Wizard has accidently left the
  hardware error divining rod at home this morning and thus
  cannot be certain about the cause of this particular fault.
  Please contact your hardware support organization directly.
 

  

     

     
answer written or last revised on ( 24-MAR-2000 )
     
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