Sun ALM2 Problem (Ciprico Prob?)

[Ken Mandelberg]

We are running SunOS 4.0 on a Sun 4/280. We are having a serious
problem with our ALM2. After a few hours from boot the ALM2 goes into
what I call "history" mode. That means that when a new character is
received by the ALM2 it sends an old character to the CPU (maybe with a
20 character lag).  Each keystroke forces out one of the old waiting
characters.  From time to time it is also possible for the whole
machine to hang until a new character is sent to the ALM2.

Sun has some ALM2 patches for SunOS 4.0, but none of them fix our
problem, nor does our problem seem to match the abstracts of the known
problems.

My interpretation of the symptoms is that some of the ALM2 interrupts
are being lost.

The device worked properly under SunOS 3.2, so we don't think its
hardware. Since we went to SunOS 4.0, we also have added a Ciprico 3200
disk controller with NEC drives, to supplement an existing Xylogics 451
with Fujitsu drives.  The Ciprico is the only non-Sun hardware and of
course is a bit suspect.

Has anyone had a similar problem, or have any ideas? I would like
to hear from anyone else running a Sun 4 under SunOS 4.0 with a
Ciprico and ALM2.
-- 
Ken Mandelberg      |  {decvax,sun!sunatl,gatech}!emory!km  UUCP
Emory University    |  km at emory                             BITNET
Dept of Math and CS |  km at emory.ARPA                        ARPA,CSNET
Atlanta, GA 30322   |  Phone: (404) 727-7963