HP/DEC/Compaq

Hi guys

I'll be updating http://alphaserver2100.blogspot.co.uk/ with progress as I try and restore a neglected & mould-covered 2100 (with 1GB RAM and 2x EV5 CPUs).

Cheers,
Stuart

Welcome! I remember getting paid to install and configure Checkpoint Firewall-1 on an AS2100 in late '95 or early '96. Funny, I remember thinking it was enormous but the one on your blog doesn't seem very much bigger than an AS1000... Probably a mental thing, comparing them to the DEC 3000 series.

Reading over your blog... 3.5" floppy drives use their own 34 (?) pin connectors, not the larger IDE cables. Close inspection of the slots on the backplane would probably show if there were enough corrosion or foreign matter to bridge a connection from side to side. I've seen reference to using fine sandpaper wrapped around a credit card to try to clean contacts, but your board looks pretty clean in the photos. I wouldn't worry about it unless you ever noticed corrosion on the card edge fingers of boards when you were cleaning them.

Has anybody in #vms mentioned TOD batteries or NVRAM batteries? I don't recall whether or not such are even part of the AS2100, but worth checking - many machines will misbehave if such batteries are flat.

Thanks for the welcome and the pointers! I shall certainly check them out.

Welcome!

Wow, yours is pretty rusted up.

My 2100 (in storage) had a brother that got shopped up and sent to a fellow called Peter in the UK. I know he used the PSU but the other parts might be unused. If you like I could try to get you in touch with Peter. I'm also on #vms as pontus.

/P

The pedestal ones are almost twice the size. The rackmount 2100 is about the size of a pedestal 1000, but that's because it doesn't have any drives.

I had a 2100RM for a bit, got rid of it because it was slow, big, and unreliable (water damage? drop? Don't know what happened to it, but I was glad I didn't pay anything).

Those are beautiful systems. More like gigantic tower case on wheels, when the newer systems are just rack systems in pedestal chassis. I had one with maxed out processors/memory and other goodies, but had to get rid of it as it started to shutdown itself at startup.

Lost all computer storage when the company I worked was sold to another one and had to take all the systems to my small home, so had to give up on some systems. I still have AS4100 and Compaq ES40 as bigger systems, but those are nowdays rarely powered on.

I could have sent you some spares for the cost of postage, but unfortunately it is little late now for that.

I'd love it if you could put me in touch, thx! wavey at wavey.org

I sent a mail to Peter asking if it would be ok to share his address. Meanwhile, enjoy not one, not two but three AlphaServer 2100 in the back of a Volvo:

http://www.update.uu.se/~pontus/slask/alpha2100.jpg

yowsers!

Volvo... I remember hauling a VAX11/750 in a Volvo, back in the days.

FWIW I've played with two AS2100 myself, but those were 4/266 systems if I remember correct.

No Alphas or other silicon involved, but I once helped a buddy shoehorn a Chevy V8 into one of them early '60s Volvos that looks kinda like a '39 Ford (if you squint just right). Tight fit, but it really upped the processing power.

Updated the blog with images of the rust removal: http://alphaserver2100.blogspot.co.uk/2 ... -gone.html

@smj, I couldn't find any reference to TOD or NVRAM batteries for the AlphaServer series, but thanks for helping!

@theinonen I think they're very beautiful too. Hopefully this one will also get there!

Any offers/sale of parts gratefully accepted. CPU modules especially.

I'll be damned. Thanks man! I had a rodent problem in the garage when some of my systems were stored there, and the bloody mice peed in my Crimson and Onyx which created corrosion also . I was thinking of finding some accessory to the Dremel to undo this, but I'll have to give this a shot first.

thanks, I will look into it also. For some reason the VME I/O plate in Personal IRISes is especially subject to corrosion (some reaction with the adhesive on the plastic strip there)

PV544. The 122S/Amazon is even better - it's the one with tailfins (and, along with the 1800 series, the best looking Volvos ever made). 240/740/940 wagons are the best for hauling stuff, though.

Mouse... pee...? Ouch.

careful.. those are highly lethal also

I think you're referring to the poop there. Apparently you're not supposed to use a vacuum cleaner to remove it, because it will simply blow the fine particles everywhere, making things worse. I know that now. I didn't when I cleaned up the garage, but I'm not dead so I guess it wasn't my time yet

We keep things like potatoes and vegetables in the garage, and my wife likes to feed the birds in wintertime so there's no lack of seeds either. Big attraction to mice.

The old garage was demolished and the new garage should be mouse proof. We're also getting all-metal cupboards to store food related items. And last (but not least): my SGI's are no longer in the garage

So far I've caught 4 mice in the attic and crawl space under the house. None in the garage so far, hopefully the mice are staying out of there (or the cables in the computers are tastier than the cheese in the traps)

New post http://alphaserver2100.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/new-backplane-arrives.html describing the disappointing news that the new backplane board didn't affect anything, but more detail on the suggested battery fail...