ZXnet

This VAX started life at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research as "AKV" in auckland during the late 80s. It then moved to Hort+Research when DSIR was split up in the 90s. It remained in service at Hort+Research until at least the late 90s. It was not the original machine to be called "AKV" - it replaced a VAX-11/780 of the same name.

This was my first ever VAX which I purchased from someone in Auckland in May 2008. It remained in storage at my house from then until November 2008 when I finally had time to wire up the required serial port adapter cables. It started just fine the first time and I was able to install OpenVMS 7.3 on it the following day.

The machine was not in perfect condition when I got it. The battery backup unit had been leaking behind the CPU cover panel for some time and has made a bit of a mess of that area of the case. No damage appears to have been done by the battery and it was removed within a few weeks of getting the machine.

Aside from the TK70, the machine has no drives installed. It currently boots from external SCSI drives in a BA350-series storageworks enclosure. The machine was configured with the following boards when I got it. I have not changed any of this.

Slot numbers link to a photo of the board from that slot. Pictures of components installed in the case are also available.

>>>show bflg
00000000
>>>show boot
XQA0
>>>show device
UQSSP Disk Controller 0 (772150)

UQSSP Tape Controller 0 (774500)
-MUA0 (TK70)

Ethernet Adapter 0 (774440)
>>>show ethernet
Ethernet Adapter 0 (774440)
-XQA0 (08-00-2B-0E-29-9F)
>>>show language
English (United States/Canada)
>>>show memory /full
Memory 0: 00000000 to 00FFFFFF, 16MB, 0 bad pages
Memory 1: 01000000 to 01FFFFFF, 16MB, 0 bad pages

Total of 32MB, 0 bad pages, 112 reserved pages

Memory Bitmap
-01FF2000 to 01FF3FFF, 16 pages

Console Scratch Area
-01FF4000 to 01FF7FFF, 32 pages

Qbus Map
-01FF8000 to 01FFFFFF, 64 pages

Scan of Bad Pages
>>show qbus
Scan of Qbus I/O Space
-20000124 (760444) = 0000
-20000126 (760446) = 0B40
-20000140 (760500) = 0080 (300)
-20000142 (760502) = F081
-20000144 (760504) = DD18
-20000146 (760506) = 0000
-20000148 (760510) = 0000
-2000014A (760512) = 0000
-2000014C (760514) = 8000
-2000014E (760516) = 0000
-20000150 (760520) = 0080
-20000152 (760522) = F081
-20000154 (760524) = DD18
-20000156 (760526) = 0000
-20000158 (760530) = 0000
-2000015A (760532) = 0000
-2000015C (760534) = 8000
-2000015E (760536) = 0000
-20001468 (772150) = 0000 (154) RQDX3/KDA50/RRD50/RQC25/KFQSA-DISK
-2000146A (772152) = 0B00
-20001920 (774440) = FF08 (120) DELQA/DEQNA/DESQA
-20001922 (774442) = FF00
-20001924 (774444) = FF2B
-20001926 (774446) = FF0E
-20001928 (774450) = FF29
-2000192A (774452) = FF9F
-2000192C (774454) = 8000
-2000192E (774456) = 1030
-20001940 (774500) = 0000 (260) TQK50/TQK70/TU81E/RV20/KFQSA-TAPE
-20001942 (774502) = 0BC0
-20001F40 (777500) = 0020 (004) IPCR

Scan of Qbus Memory Space
>>>show rlv12
>>>show uqssp
UQSSP Disk Controller 0 (772150)

UQSSP Tape Controller 0 (774500)
-MUA0 (TK70)
>>>show version
KA655-A V5.3, VMB 2.7
              

To Do

• Try and find documentation for the installed cards: EK-DELQA-IN, CMD CQD-220, Webster Computer Corp. WQDHV/02
• Make a replacement battery backup unit
• check over PSU and replace any bad components
• check capacitors throughout the system

Images

Plenty of terrible images of the machine like the ones below are available here.

Documentation

• EK-306AA-MG.001 KA655 CPU System Maintenance (47MB, scan)
• EK-306AA-MG.001 KA655 CPU System Maintenance (missing pages, 11MB, scan)
• EK-KA655-TM.001 KA655 CPU Module Technical Manual (13MB, scan)
• EK-189AA-MG.001 BA213 Enclosure Maintenance Manual
• Console Help (output from the "help" command)