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Awww I love SCSI - NOT!

Chuck(G) said:
Well, yes and no. The usual SCSI BIOS is sometimes blind, but an ASPI driver can allow a test program to send an IDENTIFY command to each address to see if a device is responding at all.

That being said, you want to set J6 (floppy) on the 1742A removed, so it doesn't conflict with your CC IV.

Next, you really want to make sure that the STANDARD.HEX firmware is installed for compatibility with the 1540. It's just easier this way.

Note that the 1742A BIOS in standard mode looks only for SCSI ID 0 and 1, so the ASPI driver is the way to go.

Attached is a program to scan for devices using the ASPI driver interface.
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I'll try to test this out tonight or tomorrow Chuck. I have tried running the card in both enhanced and standard mode with no luck. I have the HDD set to ID 0 so it should be compatible w/ both modes.
 
Okay so I loaded up w/ an ASPI driver and ran TASPI. It correctly identified the card, the ID on the card , then it tried to look for devices and found nothing. Any other ideas?
 
How about removing the suspect terminators on the card and plugging a terminator into the external port?
 
Unfortunately, I don't have an external SCSI-2 terminator handy. I am thinking of pulling the resistors and just making sure they actually all are 150 ohm.
 
If it's any comfort (and it's probably not), I have the ISA (1540) and the VLB (2740) versions of this controller and they're both pretty easy to work with. I suspect that there's something obvious going on here that everyone's missing.

Have you tried any other SCSI devices (e.g. scanners, tape drives, other disk drives)?
 
Chuck,

I've also tried a Seagate/Conner CTS8000S tape drive instead of the HDD. No luck with that either. It is very frustrating. I have had headaches w/ SCSI before but I've managed and setup a number of systems using the 29160 and the 2940UW as well as some of the older ISA cards. I admit, it hardly ever went super smooth but after a few hours of tinkering usually everything was straightened out and there were no more issues after that. This one has me completely stumped. My money is still on a terminator issue. Since I have tried, both a HDD and Tape Drive on one end of the chain I think I can rule out that end. So the card maybe a problem, but it passes self dx so go figure!
 
Got an ISA SCSI card? Try that to see if it works. If so, it's probably one or more drivers on the EISA card that are bad (it can happen). I don't think that it would show up on a self-test.

Yes, a lot of SCSI is Voodoo but it isn't rocket science either.
 
No longer have ISA card. Sold it along w/ my 486 about 10 years ago. :(. Agreed it ain't rocket science but right now I am about to start making Adaptec dolls and sticking pins into them! I am tempted to just get another controller card but if it is something stupid I am missing then it'll end up not working as well.
 
If you need one, I can probably manage to send you a 16-bit SCSI card, although I suspect that they're still as common on the ground as cockroaches at a Waffle House.
 
Chuck(G) said:
If you need one, I can probably manage to send you a 16-bit SCSI card, although I suspect that they're still as common on the ground as cockroaches at a Waffle House.
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Indeed, I recently purchased an Adaptec 1522A and 1542CF for $1 + shipping off eBay. Actually, the 1542CF isn't that interesting to me -- I got the 1522A for its floppy controller (which is dead, go figure) so PM me if you're interested in it.
 
I think I have that EISA controller in one of my 486 EISA systems, probably have the manual for it will go look.
 
glitch said:
Indeed, I recently purchased an Adaptec 1522A and 1542CF for $1 + shipping off eBay. Actually, the 1542CF isn't that interesting to me -- I got the 1522A for its floppy controller (which is dead, go figure) so PM me if you're interested in it.
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Chuck(G) said:
If you need one, I can probably manage to send you a 16-bit SCSI card, although I suspect that they're still as common on the ground as cockroaches at a Waffle House.
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Thanks for the offer guys. But as you said the cards are all over and if I buy another card I will probably opt to "upgrade" to SCSI-3/Wide SCSI. Again my concern is that I am missing something stupid and that the problem is not solved by just getting another controller!
 
Well, gotta love voodoo. Just as I suspected it was bad resistors. I pulled the termination resistors and viola the HDD is recognized. I then added the tape drive in the chain and that was recognized as well. However, even though the drive is recognized it still errors out w/ "device not ready" and it is not available (i.e. can't access it). I am guessing this is due to the lack of resistors on the adapter (and before anyone asks the adapter now blinks rapidly indicating there is a termination issue).

Also Chuck(G) I ran TASPI and even though the drive is not available it does respond to the identify command and does return some info about itself.

I checked the resistors and I am getting weird readings of 6M ohm. They are Dale 3-151G SIL resistors w/ 8 pins. Interesting enough I have a few 1 pin Dale 1-151G SIL resistors and they respond perfectly at 150 ohm.

Now, the question is do I spend a couple of bucks to buy new resistors or spend a 10 spot and just get a wide controller. Getting a wide controller would mean another 10 spots for a Wide SCSI HDD (yes not necessary but it is pointless to have a wide controller and only use the narrow channel). Would the increased transfer rate (20MB/s vs. 10 MB/s) even make a difference in a 486-50 that is going to run dos 6.22 and WFW 3.11? Thanks for any advice!
 
Boy, that's just plain weird. SCSI terminators by the book are 220/330 for passive and 110 to 2.85V for active. Sounds like someone at Adaptec was playing fast and loose with their design.

As for wide SCSI vs. narrow, it depends on what you intend to do. If it's light disk usage, you may not notice much of a diffference.
 
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Chuck(G) said:
Boy, that's just plain weird. SCSI terminators by the book are 220/330 for passive and 110 to 2.85V for active. Sounds like someone at Adaptec was playing fast and loose with their design.

As for wide SCSI vs. narrow, it depends on what you intend to do. If it's light disk usage, you may not notice much of a diffference.
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Well per the manual:

The RN5, RN6 and RN7 terminators on the AHA-1740A/1742A are 150 ohm terminators. The RN2, RN4, and RN5 terminators on the AHA-1744 are 330 ohm terminators. If
Click to expand...

As for Narrow vs. Wide: I am not going to be running super intensive disk apps. Just old programs and when it comes down to it mostly games. However, if I am going to spend $3 + tax + gas to get three resistors would it be better just to get the wide controller for ~$10? I really don't think WFW 3.11 will load noticeably any faster ;)!
 
That's your call.

So Adaptec didn't read the standards that it pushed for ratification? Wow. They should have been politicians. Or maybe the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing.
 
Chuck(G) said:
That's your call.

So Adaptec didn't read the standards that it pushed for ratification? Wow. They should have been politicians. Or maybe the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing.
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Well, I picked up some resistors and will try them tomorrow. If it works great. If not, Wide SCSI it is!
 
Even more voodoo:

Picked up new resistors and the problems persist but some new things that have happened - Current config of chain is as follows

Adapter - HDD - Tape Drive

1. W/ this setup the HDD is recognized, but unavailable, if the terminator is set and termination power is active (yes even though it is in the middle of the chain). The tape drive is recognized and seems available.

2. If I remove the termination from the HDD it is not recognized anymore but the tape drive is fine.

3. If I take the HDD out of the chain then the tape drive is no longer recognized.

4. If I replace the HDD w/ another device, like another tape drive, both the new device and the tape drive are seen.

Changing the chain to Adapter - Tape Drive - HDD I get the same results.

It is pure voodoo and of course it still doesn't work.
 
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