  Firmware failsafe loader? (AlphaStation 200) 
 The Question is:
 
Hi,
 
We have a Digital Alpha Station 200 4/100 which
is a triple boot system containing:
 
OpenVMS 6.1
OpenVMS 7.1
Digital Unix 4.0f
 
I recently upgraded the Digital Unix from 4.0d to 4.0f and during that process
 it recomended that I upgrade the firmware version, which I did. This all
 worked okay, but when I came to boot the OpenVMS 6.1 system it wouldn't boot
 anymore. It would just cra
sh and do a memory dump as follows:
 
&gt;&gt;&gt;boot dka100
(boot dka100.1.0.6.0)
block 0 of dka100.1.0.6.0 is a valid boot block
reading 1007 blocks from dka100.1.0.6.0
bootstrap code read in
base = 1f2000, image_start = 0, image_bytes = 7de00
initializing HWRPB at 2000
initializing page table at 1e4000
initializing machine state
setting affinity to the primary CPU
jumping to bootstrap code
 
 
    OpenVMS AXP (TM) Operating System, Version V6.1-1H2
 
 
Please enter date and time (DD-MMM-YYYY  HH:MM)  28-JUN-2000 12:00
$!  Copyright (c) 1994 Digital Equipment Corporation.  All rights reserved.
%STDRV-I-STARTUP, VMS startup begun at  28-JUN-2000 12:00:24.68
 
**** OpenVMS AXP (TM) Operating System V6.1-1H2 - BUGCHECK ****
** Code=000001CC: INVEXCEPTN, Exception while above ASTDEL
** Crash CPU: 00    Primary CPU: 00    Active CPUs: 00000001
** No current process defined in CPU database
** Image Name =
**** Starting Memory Dump.................................Complete ****
**** Global page table not in memory - no global pages dumped.
 
halted CPU 0
halt code = 5
halt instruction executed
PC = ffffffff8004d91c
 
CPU 0 booting
 
Then the process starts again and keeps going.
 
The OpenVMS 7.1 installation booted without any problems and so did the Digital
 Unix installation, so I figured it had to be the firmware version change that
 caused OpenVMS 6.1 not to boot.
 
So i proceeded to put the old version of the firmware back. This was all
 working okay until the machine crashed and rebooted during the reprogramming
 of the flash ram.
 
When it came back on all it did was beep at me.
 
Any idea how I can go about restoring the firmware to this machine ?
 
Thanks In Advance,
 
Ben
 
 
 The Answer is:
 
  Assuming this is a request for information on reloading the firmware
  when the on-board firmware has been corrupted...
 
  Activate the failsafe loader per the AlphaStation 200 documentation,
  and reload the firmware.
 
  Of the three jumpers located at the extreme opposite end of the
  AlphaStation 200 motherboard from the I/O connectors, the middle
  of the three jumpers (J2) controls the failsafe loader.  Selecting
  J2 pins 1-2 selects the failsafe loader and loads firmware from the
  floppy, while selecting J2 pins 2-3 is the normal position.  (The
  Alpha firmware website -- referenced in the FAQ -- describes how to
  create a floppy containing the firmware.)
 
  For additional information, please contact your hardware support
  organization.
