AlphaServer 4000 System Drawer User's Guide

This document is the AlphaServer 4000 System Drawer User's Guide (Order Number: EK–4000A–UG. C01), primarily intended for individuals who manage, operate, or service the BA30B system drawer within a DIGITAL AlphaServer 4000 system.

The manual is structured into two main parts and several appendices, covering a wide range of topics:

Part 1: System Drawer

• Overview: Provides characteristics, architecture, and descriptions of the system drawer's components, including the system motherboard, CPU modules, memory, power control module, PCI bus bridge module, PCI motherboard, server control module, control panel, and power supply.
• Operation: Details procedures for powering up the system, booting various operating systems (DIGITAL UNIX, OpenVMS, and Windows NT), and updating system firmware. It also covers remote system operation via the Remote Console Monitor (RCM), including modem usage and RCM commands.
• Troubleshooting: Offers basic guidance for common issues such as the system drawer not powering up or control panel display errors.
• Component Installation: Provides instructions for adding and upgrading system components like CPU modules, memory pairs, PCI/EISA cards, and power supplies.

Part 2: User Interface

• SRM Console: Describes the command-line interface for DIGITAL UNIX and OpenVMS systems, detailing commands for displaying system configuration, booting the operating system, configuring DSSI and PCI NVRAM modules, testing the system, stopping/starting CPUs, updating firmware, forcing crash dumps, and managing environment variables.
• AlphaBIOS Console: Explains the graphical interface for Windows NT systems, including how to display system configuration, update firmware, set up hard disks (partitioning and formatting), perform general setup tasks, install Windows NT, and run utility programs.
• Utilities: Shows how to run EISA and RAID configuration utilities from both graphics monitors and serial terminals.

Appendices offer supplementary information on finding firmware updates, hard disk partitioning concepts for AlphaBIOS and Windows NT, differences between AlphaBIOS and ARC firmware, and acoustical data.