NeXT Computers

[EB5AGV]

Hi all,

I am trying to install NeXTSTEP 3.3 RISC on my HP 9000/735. My system configuration is a 9000/735 with 144MB RAM, a 420MB internal hard disk (I know this could be too small), an external SUN 411 SCSI box with a Sony CD-ROM on it, a HIL keyboard and mouse and a VGA monitor. So far, the unit powers up and passes self-tests, but there is not OS on the hard disk (it was probably wiped out by its former owner)

Well, I have downloaded the NeXTSTEP 3.3 RISC from the Vetusware page (http://vetusware.com/download/NextStep%203.3%20_RISC_%203.3%20_RISC_/?id=10872) and have burned a CD-ROM using ImgBurn 2.5.8.0 on my PC. I have configured the external CD-ROM as device 2 and, on power-ON, the system recognizes the CD-ROM as P1, scsi.2.0, SONY CD-ROM CDU-8012, but it generates an error when trying to boot from it. It says:

Failed to initialize scsi.2.0
ENTRY_INIT status = -4

And then it dumps some hex group of 8 digits.

Any hint regarding this problem?

Thanks and best regards,

JOSE

[barcher174]

Is there a jumper on the drive to change the block size? I think the drive needs to support 512K block size.

--
Brian

[barcher174]

From some quick googling it appears that the drive supports 512K block size, but there are user reports of problems getting this drive to work with anything but Sun hardware. HP and SGI are specifically mentioned as incompatible. So it appears likely you'll need to find another drive.

--
Brian

[EB5AGV]

Done !

I have finally taken an Apple CD 600i SCSI CD-ROM ('95 vintage, a 4x unit) from a parts-unit PowerPC 8500 to replace the SONY unit on the SUN external SCSI box, and it works!!!

The installation has needed some cycling to get it done properly. And I found that, if you don't activate the verbose option (-v), the system seems to be frozen at some point but it is waiting for some network thing which, pressing CONTROL-C, can be cancelled.

All in all, it has been an interesting experience!

Regards,

JOSE