MicroVAX Troubleshooting and Diagnostics

This document, titled "MicroVAX Troubleshooting and Diagnostics" (Order Number EK-019AA-SG-001) and published by Digital Equipment Corporation in July 1988, serves as a user guide for diagnosing and isolating problems in MicroVAX II and MicroVAX 3000-series systems.

The manual is divided into three main chapters and an appendix:

1. Troubleshooting During Power-On: This section addresses issues encountered when the system is powered on, including self-tests and autobooting processes. It provides detailed tables listing common power-on problems, their possible causes, and corrective actions, covering various boot devices like fixed disks, removable disks, and tape drives.
2. Troubleshooting During Normal Operation: This chapter focuses on problems that occur while the system is operating. Similar to Chapter 1, it includes tables outlining operational problems, their causes, and solutions for system power loss, unexpected halts, and issues with various disk and tape drives (RA-series, RD-series, RX-series diskettes, TK50/TK70 tape drives).
3. Running the MicroVAX Diagnostic Monitor (MDM): This core chapter introduces the MicroVAX Diagnostic Monitor (MDM) software, a tool designed to isolate faults, display system configuration, reformat disks, and test device interactions. It explains when to use MDM (e.g., before software installation, during errors, for periodic checks), its limitations (customer tests are read-only to prevent data loss, less thorough than service diagnostics, checks devices but not connections), and how to start it from RX50 diskettes or TK50/TK70 tape cartridges. It then details MDM's main menu options, which include testing the system, displaying configuration and devices, accessing system utilities (like formatting, with a warning about data destruction), and exiting MDM. Special instructions are provided for diskless/tapeless LAN systems and VAXserver 3602 configurations.

Appendix A provides diagrams to help users locate controls and indicators on different MicroVAX system models (e.g., 630QY, 630QZ, 630QB, 630QE, 3500, 3600), which are referenced throughout the troubleshooting procedures. The document emphasizes calling a DIGITAL service representative if the suggested actions do not resolve the problem.