Title: system with NeXTdimension hangs on reboot
Post by: Galaxis on December 30, 2024, 02:03:55 PM
Post by: Galaxis on December 30, 2024, 02:03:55 PM
Hi everyone -
I recently got hold of a NeXTdimension board that turned out to be actually operable after a couple of failed attempts.
There seems to be absolutely no problem when the system is coming up from poweroff, but when rebooting out of a NEXTSTEP 3.3 session on this Cube (via GUI logoff or shutdown -r), it reproducibly hangs pretty early on after the "NBIC present" message (see attached screenshot). I haven't seen a problem when running the system without the card. Console is on the NeXTdimension when it's plugged in.
Is that something that happens frequently or is otherwise expected?
When the system boots, the card is reported as:
NeXTdimension Board in Slot 2:
ROM Version 43, Memory Controller step 1, i860 step C.1
32 MBytes of DRAM installed, PAL video configured
I recently got hold of a NeXTdimension board that turned out to be actually operable after a couple of failed attempts.
There seems to be absolutely no problem when the system is coming up from poweroff, but when rebooting out of a NEXTSTEP 3.3 session on this Cube (via GUI logoff or shutdown -r), it reproducibly hangs pretty early on after the "NBIC present" message (see attached screenshot). I haven't seen a problem when running the system without the card. Console is on the NeXTdimension when it's plugged in.
Is that something that happens frequently or is otherwise expected?
When the system boots, the card is reported as:
NeXTdimension Board in Slot 2:
ROM Version 43, Memory Controller step 1, i860 step C.1
32 MBytes of DRAM installed, PAL video configured
Title: Re: system with NeXTdimension hangs on reboot
Post by: barcher174 on December 30, 2024, 10:52:00 PM
Post by: barcher174 on December 30, 2024, 10:52:00 PM
Try putting the cube mother board on the right slot closest to the power supply and the dimension on the left slot closest to the power supply. If the nbic is in a socket you can also try reseating it. Have you recapped the system? I would suspect the card is not seeing the system reset properly. This could be either the system board or the dimension.
Title: Re: system with NeXTdimension hangs on reboot
Post by: Galaxis on December 31, 2024, 07:24:51 AM
Post by: Galaxis on December 31, 2024, 07:24:51 AM
I have only visually inspected the caps (on both boards and the power supply), in that regard everything looked fine. Mainboard and Dimension card are in the slots next to the PSU.
This system had been in storage for over 20 years (last poweron in 2001 according to the logs), so who knows... I had it running through a NEXTSTEP install (without the Dimension), and for a couple of hours installing updates and some software, with no problems except this reboot hang.
Where would I find the NBIC?
This system had been in storage for over 20 years (last poweron in 2001 according to the logs), so who knows... I had it running through a NEXTSTEP install (without the Dimension), and for a couple of hours installing updates and some software, with no problems except this reboot hang.
Where would I find the NBIC?
Title: Re: system with NeXTdimension hangs on reboot
Post by: barcher174 on December 31, 2024, 12:00:50 PM
Post by: barcher174 on December 31, 2024, 12:00:50 PM
The nbic chip is the one nearest the backplane connector. It is not always in a socket.