*BSD News Article 4808


Return to BSD News archive

Xref: sserve comp.periphs.scsi:6958 comp.unix.bsd:4856
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi,comp.unix.bsd
Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!uunet!mcsun!chsun!hslrswi!aut!nbladt
From: nbladt@autelca.ascom.ch (Norbert Bladt)
Subject: [386BSD] doesn't find harddisk: 1542B vs. 1742A (standard mode) ?
Message-ID: <1992Sep10.063053.11775@autelca.ascom.ch>
Summary: see subject line
Keywords: 386BSD Adaptec 1542B 1742A
Organization: Ascom Autelca AG, Guemligen, Switzerland
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 06:30:53 GMT
Lines: 89

Hello SCSI and 386BSD experts !

I am posting this to the two groups comp.unix.bsd and comp.periphs.scsi
for several reasons.
Now the story:

I booted, installed and copied the bindist files (incl. installation)
to a Conner CP-3100 SCSI Harddisk. This was done on a no-name 486/25
ISA system with an Adaptec 1542B host adapter. There were no problems
whatsoever.

Now, my new system arrived this week (finally, but that's another story)
which is a 486/33 EISA system with the Adaptec 1742A host adapter running
in standard mode.
I simply disconnected the harddisk from the ISA system (1542B) and connected
it to the EISA (1742A) system. I expected, that no problems would occur
in booting 386BSD on the EISA system after doing this, because I booted
the dist.fs floppy before and it did find the 1742A.
However, 386BSD doesn't find the harddisk.

If I boot from floppy the screen output looks like (just the relevant parts):
....
AHA 1740 BIOS					[ this is from memory !
target 1 on C: (80h				  this, too, the rest is NOT ]
....
as0 at 0x330 irq 11 drq 5 on isa		[ is "isa" printed always ? ]
....
as0b: controller error 0x12 reading fsbn 0	[ I guess, it tried to read
						  FileSystem Block No. 0 ? ]
scsi sense: 0 .... 0
....
#						[ system prompt appears ]

If I type install, the famous question about the TV is asked ...
So, no harddisk is found by 386BSD !

If I try to boot from the harddisk, just one message appears on the screen,
that is:
cyl 0 0 hd 0 sect 0 dev 4 unit 0 off 51200	[ I guess, it tries to read
						  the first block, here, too ? ]
<now it hangs, Harddisk LED is off>

Now, I can't imagine that I am the only one with this problem. So, if
anybody knows a fix for this, I will be very happy.

I thought about a low-level format. Although I wouldn't like this very much,
but if it's the only way, I think I don't have a choice.
On the other hand, the drive is detected (including the name Conner CP-3100 ...)
by the BIOS, so I am not sure whether a loew-level format would help.

I have the following additional info (from ADL tool):

	ADL Firmware information:
	-------------------------
	Host adapter ID: AHA 1740 in STANDARD mode
	Firmware Type: Initial standard Production Level
	Firmware Revision: C
	Firmware checksum: 062Dh

If I select "low-level format" in the menu, the controller scans for drives
and displays SCSI-Id 1 and the name looks like what it should be, i.e.
	Conner CP-3100 ... 100..MB ..

The Adaptec manual which came with the 1742A says (in my words), that
	- the 1742A in STANDARD mode is backward compatible to the drivers
		for the 1542B to allow software using these drivers to
		be used with the new 1742A
	- there is no speed penalty for this mode, i.e. the 1742A will still
		use the enhanced EISA features like the 32-bit EISA DMA mode.
		But you can't use the new features added to the 1742A
		(and a list of it, I don't really understand)

So, what's the problem ?
I am stuck. I did change the CPU speed (switched to 8 Mhz), disabled the shadow
ROM feature for Video BIOS, etc. all to no avail.

Please help,

Norbert Bladt.

P.S.
I shouldn't forget to say:
Thank you very much for giving us the 386BSD environment. This goes to the
Jolitz's and all the other contributors (they are too many to name here,
I suppose).
-- 
Norbert Bladt, Ascom Autelca AG, Worbstr. 201, CH-3073 Guemligen, Switzerland
Phone: +41 31 999 65 52			FAX: +41 31 999 65 44
Mail: nbladt@autelca.ascom.ch   UUCP: ..!uunet!mcsun!chsun!hslrswi!aut!nbladt