HP OpenVMS Version 8.3 Upgrade and Installation Manual > Appendix A Booting and Shutting Down Your OpenVMS Alpha System

Halt and Shutdown Operations

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The following sections describe halt and shutdown operations for Alpha computers.

Halting the System

During installation, upgrade, and related system operations, you might need to halt your system. The methods for halting Alpha computers differ slightly with certain models, as described in the next section.

The following table summarizes the ways you can halt specific Alpha computers:

Alpha ComputerHow to Halt

AlphaServer 300, 800, 1000, 1200, 2000, 2100 series

Do one of the following:

  • Press the Halt button.

  • Press Ctrl/P.

AlphaServer 8200, 8400 series

Press Ctrl/P.

AlphaStation 200, 400, 500, 600 series

Do one of the following:

  • Press the Halt button (if the graphics monitor is serving as the console).

  • Press Ctrl/P (if you are using the alternate console and port).

DEC 2000, 3000 series

Do one of the following:

  • Press the Halt button (if the graphics monitor is serving as the console).

  • Press Ctrl/P (if you are using the alternate console and port).

DEC 4000 series

Do one of the following:

  • Press the Halt button.

  • Press Break on the console (the default setting).

  • Press Ctrl/P, but only after using the console command SET TTA0_HALTSn to enable this key combination, where n can be 6 (enables the Break key and Ctrl/P) or 2 (enables Ctrl/P but disables the Break key).

DEC 7000, 10000 series

Press Ctrl/P.

Shutting Down the System

Before you shut down the operating system, decide if you want it to reboot automatically or if you want to enter console-mode commands after the shutdown completes.

You can perform the following three types of shutdown operations:

If you want the system to reboot automatically after the shutdown, see “Setting the System for Automatic Booting”.

Orderly Shutdown

The SHUTDOWN.COM procedure shuts down the system while performing maintenance functions such as disabling future logins, stopping the batch and printer queues, dismounting volumes, and stopping user processes. To use the SHUTDOWN.COM command procedure, log in to the SYSTEM account, enter the following command, and press Enter:

   $ @SYS$SYSTEM:SHUTDOWN

For more information about the SHUTDOWN.COM command procedure, see the HP OpenVMS System Manager's Manual, Volume 1: Essentials.

Emergency Shutdown with OPCCRASH.EXE

If you cannot perform an orderly shutdown with the SHUTDOWN.COM procedure, run the OPCCRASH.EXE emergency shutdown program. To run the OPCCRASH.EXE program, log in to the SYSTEM account, enter the following command, and press Enter:

   $ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:OPCCRASH

For more information about the OPCCRASH program, see the HP OpenVMS System Manager's Manual, Volume 1: Essentials.

Emergency Shutdown with Crash Commands

Use crash commands only if the system “hangs” (stops responding to any commands) and you cannot log in to the SYSTEM account to use the SHUTDOWN.COM procedure or the OPCCRASH.EXE program.

NOTE: The method described here works on all Alpha computers. However, on certain systems, you can force your processor to fail (crash) by entering a specific console command. See the hardware manuals that came with your computer for that information.

To force your processor to fail, do the following:

  1. Halt the system by pressing either Ctrl/P or the Halt button. (See “Halting the System” for more information about how to halt your Alpha computer.)

  2. To examine processor registers, enter the following commands and press Enter:

       >>> E -N F R0
    >>> E PS

    The system displays the contents of the registers. Write down these values if you want to save information about the state of the system.

  3. Enter the following commands and press Enter:

       >>> D PC FFFFFFFF00000000
    >>> D PS 1F00

    By depositing these values, you cause the system to write a memory dump to the system dump file on the disk.

  4. Enter the following command and press Enter:

       >>> CONTINUE

    This causes the system to perform a bugcheck.

  5. After the system reboots, log in to the SYSTEM account.

  6. To examine the dump file, enter the following commands and press Enter after each one:

       $ ANALYZE/CRASH SYS$SYSTEM:SYSDUMP.DMP
    SDA> SHOW CRASH

    For more information about the System Dump Analyzer (SDA) utility, see the HP OpenVMS System Analysis Tools Manual.