DEQNA woes

[Dermot G. Harriss]

In article <7705 at pyr.gatech.EDU> don at pyr.gatech.edu (Don Deal) writes:
>recently begun spurting a rash of:
>	qerestart: restart qe0 <n>
>...
>I seem to vaguely remember this problem surfacing a year or so ago, but I
>don't remember any specifics.  Clues anyone?

That is due to a well known DEQNA hardware/firmware bug: it locks up
under load.  Check the revision number on the board.  Rev C1 boards
(of which we have all too many) have this problem, and perhaps one
or two later revs do as well.  I believe the current bug-fixed rev is `F'
(sorry - can't be sure without shutting down a machine :-), but DEC can
tell you.  A DEQNA that has had the `operation' to fix the problem and
bring it up to rev `F'(?) has a PAL in the spare position under the i8544,
like so:
                          +-------------------------+
                          |           8544          |
                          +-------------------------+
                          +-------+    .............
                          |  PAL  |    :  new PAL  :
                          +-------+    '''''''''''''
                          +------------+  +---------+
                          | N82S167AN  |  | 74LS08N |
                          +------------+  +---------+
There are a bunch of fly wires coming from the new PAL.
Another solution: buy a DELQA :-)
							-- Dermot