Starting DECnet results in NCP-W-OPEFAI, operation failure

For the past two weeks I've been trying to restore a physical Alpha server on FreeAXP v307. I have made a lot of progress but am unable to start DECnet. The emulated system runs OpenVMS 6.2 with the virtual EWA0 (set as DE435). I have followed many guides online that say the system must be reconfigured for EWA0 and that DECnet must be started before TCPIP for it to work. Unfortunately I have not had much success.

The general steps I have taken are:

1) Disable both Decnet/TCPIP in systartup_vms.com
2) Reboot
3) Reconfigure DECnet to work with EWA0
4) Put DECnet back into systartup_vms.com
5) Reboot
6) Test DECnet
7) Follow steps 3-6 for TCPIP.

When I get to testing DECnet for EWA0, upon boot I get the following error:

---

DECnet starting
EW0, 10Base2/10Base5 Ethernet connection selected
NCP-W-OPEFAI, operation failure
SYSTEM-F-ABORT, abort
, unit is active
, fatal hardware error
NCP-W-UNRCMP, unrecognized component, circuit
circuit = EWA0

---

Next I tried configuring TCPIP. I was able to ping the FreeAXP from the Windows host's second NIC connected to the network. Each ping request flicked activity lights on the hub and both nics so I believe it is routing through the actual network. I did notice two things when TCPIP was started though:
1) It created 2 more EWA interfaces.
2) One line complained (which I don't have with me) about not being able to startup the interface SE0 (which I don't even see in show dev)

Anyway, after about a day and a half of troubleshooting I'm at a loss on what to do next. Any ideas on what I can do to solve the DECnet issue?<hr>

Take a look in NCP and see what is defined for CIRCUITS and LINES.

$ MCR SHOW KNOWN LINES
$ MCR SHOW KNOWN CIRCUITS

CLEAR and PURGE everything, then try recreating the DECnet configuration. If TCP/IP is shutdown, you should be able to use the DECnet configuration once NETCONFIG has finished, provided you answer Yes to executing the commands. Once you know it is working, put STARTNET back in startup, reboot, and work on TCP/IP.

The most common cause of the DECNET error that you stated is a duplicate DECNET Phase IV MAC address on the network. If you are using DECNET Phase IV (or Phase V in compatibility mode), make sure that this decnet address is unique on the connected network.

From your description, it sounds as though you may not have reconfigured the TCPIP software correctly if you are still seeing an SE0, which is the built-in ESA0 adapter common in Alpha workstations, limited-configuration Alphas, and PersonalAlpha.

It would help if you provided a bit more information about how the network connections are configured and what the network should look like.

Posting a log file of the DECNET/TCPIP reconfiguration runs would help too.

Note that if you are trying to cross-boot FreeAXP and PersonalAlpha, you will have to make sure that you boot into different roots AND that the DECNET and TCPIP configuration files reside in the root-specific areas, since the two emulators use different network card simulations.<hr>

Try FreeAXP 288.

Bruce I checked the downloads section and do not see version 288. Can you point me in the right direction?

I'm not sure what I could have missed when setting up TCPIP. I had both services disabled when reconfiguring them. All you have to do is answer yes to the "Do you want to configure EW0" and fill in all the correct network values right? Also, when I get the chance I'll try and post some logs. The computer isn't accesable at the moment.

< class='quote'>[b:]David Hittner wrote:[/b:]
The most common cause of the DECNET error that you stated is a duplicate DECNET Phase IV MAC address on the network. If you are using DECNET Phase IV (or Phase V in compatibility mode), make sure that this decnet address is unique on the connected network.

From your description, it sounds as though you may not have reconfigured the TCPIP software correctly if you are still seeing an SE0, which is the built-in ESA0 adapter common in Alpha workstations, limited-configuration Alphas, and PersonalAlpha.

It would help if you provided a bit more information about how the network connections are configured and what the network should look like.

Posting a log file of the DECNET/TCPIP reconfiguration runs would help too.

Note that if you are trying to cross-boot FreeAXP and PersonalAlpha, you will have to make sure that you boot into different roots AND that the DECNET and TCPIP configuration files reside in the root-specific areas, since the two emulators use different network card simulations.