Title: Just got a N1000 — Boot question
Post by: Palo Alto NeXT on July 11, 2020, 07:17:01 PM
Post by: Palo Alto NeXT on July 11, 2020, 07:17:01 PM
Hi,
Last used a NeXT at work in 1990. Recently acquired a pristine computer that I'm told had been in storage for more than 30 years. Came with monitor, keyboard, mouse, and laser printer. Also came with 6 MO cartridges including 1 of v.9 of OS and one of v1 of OS. Serial #1509.
Plugged everything in and pressed power on the keyboard. Had a brief flash of the boot screen logo and then a drop into Monitor. I've attached a photo of the screen.
I have almost zero UNIX knowledge but I believe the message is pretty clear that there is a boot problem.
I'd be grateful for any references or suggestions on what to do at this point.
Thank you.
Last used a NeXT at work in 1990. Recently acquired a pristine computer that I'm told had been in storage for more than 30 years. Came with monitor, keyboard, mouse, and laser printer. Also came with 6 MO cartridges including 1 of v.9 of OS and one of v1 of OS. Serial #1509.
Plugged everything in and pressed power on the keyboard. Had a brief flash of the boot screen logo and then a drop into Monitor. I've attached a photo of the screen.
I have almost zero UNIX knowledge but I believe the message is pretty clear that there is a boot problem.
I'd be grateful for any references or suggestions on what to do at this point.
Thank you.
Title: Re: Just got a N1000 — Boot question
Post by: barcher174 on July 12, 2020, 12:14:01 AM
Post by: barcher174 on July 12, 2020, 12:14:01 AM
Sorry, not seeing your screenshot attachment. In general the first thing to check is the hard drive, especially if it's been sitting in storage that long.
Title: Re: Just got a N1000 — Boot question
Post by: bobo68 on July 12, 2020, 04:36:39 AM
Post by: bobo68 on July 12, 2020, 04:36:39 AM
If it has a hard drive at all. The early N1000s came with MO drives only. It would be little wonder if the MO is still working, wouldn't it?
Title: Re: Just got a N1000 — Boot question
Post by: bobo68 on July 12, 2020, 04:45:47 AM
Post by: bobo68 on July 12, 2020, 04:45:47 AM
Maybe you can get more info from the ROM monitor. Have a look here (http://n-1.nl/next/hardware/info/rom-monitor.html) and here (https://wiki.preterhuman.net/NeXT_ROM_Monitor_FAQ) for some commands. e.g. activate all tests and verbose mode.
Title: Re: Just got a N1000 — Boot question
Post by: Palo Alto NeXT on July 12, 2020, 09:50:54 AM
Post by: Palo Alto NeXT on July 12, 2020, 09:50:54 AM
Title: Re: Just got a N1000 — Boot question
Post by: Palo Alto NeXT on July 12, 2020, 10:16:31 AM
Post by: Palo Alto NeXT on July 12, 2020, 10:16:31 AM
Read through the links, thank you. One of the MO cartridges is labelled System Software 1.0. I inserted that into the MO drive.
Monitor gave me:
load failed
blk0 boot:
I typed in ej to eject the disk.
monitor replied with:
Bad device
load failed
blk0 boot:
I tried ej a few more times but nothing seemed to work and the cartridge is still in the drive. Eventually I shut power off from the outlet.
My guess is the MO drive failed and I will need to try and boot from SCSI. I'll research how to get that in process.
Appreciate any other advice.
Thanks
Monitor gave me:
load failed
blk0 boot:
I typed in ej to eject the disk.
monitor replied with:
Bad device
load failed
blk0 boot:
I tried ej a few more times but nothing seemed to work and the cartridge is still in the drive. Eventually I shut power off from the outlet.
My guess is the MO drive failed and I will need to try and boot from SCSI. I'll research how to get that in process.
Appreciate any other advice.
Thanks
Title: Re: Just got a N1000 — Boot question
Post by: bobo68 on July 12, 2020, 10:34:35 AM
Post by: bobo68 on July 12, 2020, 10:34:35 AM
The MO drive (also an SCSI drive) is probably bad. It might need a capacitor replacement - search this forum and the Interwebs for instructions.
I'd open the computer and have a look if it has a HDD. Some models had a small HDD for booting.
Eventually if you want to "use" this computer you will need something like SCSI2SD.
I'd open the computer and have a look if it has a HDD. Some models had a small HDD for booting.
Eventually if you want to "use" this computer you will need something like SCSI2SD.
Title: Re: Just got a N1000 — Boot question
Post by: Palo Alto NeXT on July 12, 2020, 10:40:42 AM
Post by: Palo Alto NeXT on July 12, 2020, 10:40:42 AM
Excellent. Thank you.
Title: Re: Just got a N1000 — Boot question
Post by: barcher174 on July 12, 2020, 12:31:18 PM
Post by: barcher174 on July 12, 2020, 12:31:18 PM
Your machine is set up to boot from a diagnostics kernel and not finding it. You should be booting a mach kernel. The MO drive is not a scsi device.
In ROM monitor (cmd + ~):
To disable the diagnostics boot:
"p"
Change the boot extended diagnostics to "no"
Alternatively:
To boot from default scsi:
"bsd"
To boot from MO (your drive is extremely unlikely to work. In fact I recommend you remove power to it immediately)
"bod"
In ROM monitor (cmd + ~):
To disable the diagnostics boot:
"p"
Change the boot extended diagnostics to "no"
Alternatively:
To boot from default scsi:
"bsd"
To boot from MO (your drive is extremely unlikely to work. In fact I recommend you remove power to it immediately)
"bod"
Title: Re: Just got a N1000 — Boot question
Post by: Palo Alto NeXT on July 12, 2020, 12:50:35 PM
Post by: Palo Alto NeXT on July 12, 2020, 12:50:35 PM
Thank you so much! That did it. Was able to "bsd". I now boot to the log in screen (in English). When I hit the power button to turn the machine off the dialog box is in Japanese. Looking forward to exploring the NeXT.