System Industries MSCP disk controller problem

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, I wonder, is anyone here familiar with System Industries (SI) Q-bus MSCP controllers for ESDI disks? The VAX I'm working has one. It's quad-height board with connectors for 4 ESDI drives. I couldn't find a model number or anything like that, but there is a sticker on one of the chips that says "SYS IND" on it (that's how I deduced that it's SI). The problem I'm having is that I have no idea how to configure it. It has two DIP switch packs, one with 4 switches and one with 10. Originally it was configured to be the secondary disk MSCP controller at 160334. I want it to be the primary one at 172150. I tried every reasonable switch combination I could think of, but no luck. What's even worse is that I can't leave it as secondary either. For some reason its configuration makes the CPU (KA650) unhappy. When I pull it out, the CPU passes all power-up tests beautifully. When I put it in, I still get to the ">>>" prompt eventually, but first I get a load of error messages from the self-tests. Then when I try to boot from DUB0, it tells me "DEVASSIGN", suggesting that it doesn't recognize the second disk MSCP controller at all. All docs I have suggest that 160334 is the correct address for secondary disk MSCP. It's in the floating address range, though, so I suspected that it's the side effect of adding or removing other cards. I tried making the configuration as close to the original as I could. No luck still. The only card I had to pull out is the secondary TMSCP (Emulex QT13 9-track tape controller), because it appears totally toast (the CPU refuses to power up with that infamous 9 when this card is present). But then secondary TMSCP should be AFTER secondary disk MSCP in the floating address space, right? I tried some more investigation and by pure accident I discovered that the SI controller also responds somehow to 160400. What the hell is that address for? Could this be what makes the CPU unhappy? Does anyone have any clues? Is anyone here familiar with SI MSCP disk controllers? TIA for any help. Sincerely, Michael Sokolov Cellular phone: 216-217-2579 ARPA Internet SMTP mail: mxs46(a)k2.scl.cwru.edu Received: (from major@localhost) by minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au (8.9.1/8.9.1) id OAA12137 for pups-liszt; Tue, 1 Dec 1998 14:27:04 +1100 (EST) Received: from timaxp.trailing-edge.com (trailing-edge.wdn.com [198.232.144.27]) by minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au (8.9.1/8.9.1) with SMTP id OAA12127 for <PUPS(a)MINNIE.CS.adfa.edu.AU>AU>; Tue, 1 Dec 1998 14:26:35 +1100 (EST) Received: by timaxp.trailing-edge.com for PUPS(a)MINNIE.CS.adfa.edu.AU; Mon, 30 Nov 1998 22:24:21 -0500 Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 22:24:21 -0500 From: Tim Shoppa <SHOPPA(a)trailing-edge.com> To: PUPS(a)minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au Message-Id: <981130222421.2de00129(a)trailing-edge.com> Subject: Re: System Industries MSCP disk controller problem Sender: owner-pups(a)minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au Precedence: bulk This sounds a lot like the Webster WQESD, which was repackaged and sold by many different folks (Sigma, DSD, Qualogy, American Digital, etc.) If it is a repackaged WQESD, SW9 on the 10-switch pack was originally on, with SW10 and SW5-8 off, to put the CSR at 160334. To set it to be 172150, you put SW10 on, and SW5-9 off. Then again, it might not be a repackaged WQESD, but instead a Dilog or Emulex. Is there a 10-pin header on the card edge? Can you describe the positions and types of "big chips" on the board? It might be because you've enabled the on-board PDP-11 bootstrap, a very big no-no when used in a Microax system. (This bootstrap effectively tries to jam code by DMA into main memory, and can wreak all sorts of havoc on a Microvax.) Some other switches also set the interrupt priority, and this being off can also confuse some tests and OS's. As to your power-on self-test woes, you're going to have to tell us what's in the system and what slot it lives in, as well as what sort of backplane it's all in. Incidentally, I happen to use a Webster WQESD in my 4.3BSD-Reno machine, and am very happy with it there. -- Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/ 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927