Set up help for SCSI Hard drive

[teksport]

I do not know if this can be done but if any one has any suggestions please reply. I salvaged a 4.5GB SCSI Hard Drive from a DEC Server and an Adaptec SCSI PCI adapter and Seagate 1GB HD from a old Dell Dimension P120 and an old IOmega JAZ drive. The JAZ and IGB drive are connected to the SCSI card using the wide cable and the 4.5GB HD in connected using the narrow cable. I can get any combination of two of these devices to be recognized but can not get the SCSI card to recognize more than 2 devices.

I would also like to know if there is a way to make these devices boot devices. Can a device connected to a SCSI adapter be a boot drive? If so I would like to make the 4.5 GB SCSI drive by boot drive. How should the IDE CDROM be connected (Primary, Secondary, Master, Slave) so that I can Install Windows 2000 on the SCSI HD?

Thanks

 

[Bobg1]

The first thing you need to check is that you do not have the same id set on 2 of the devices, This could be what is preventing you from finding them all.
Yes you can set up the system to boot from a scsi device.

 

[Jontmke]

Read up on SCSI terminations. The newer cards and devices are automatic, but the older ones have jumpers on them. Check to see if two are set to be the same ID in the chain and that you have a final termination on the chain.

Jon

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. (Bertrand Russell)

 

[edfair]

Pull all the drives except the one that was with the controller to start with. Make sure it is ID=0 (no id jumpers) , terminated and load your OS on it. It will be bootable.
Then add your other devices one at a time changing their IDs as you go to get them recognized.

You might print out the Adaptec manual for your controller. they are on Adaptec's site as PDF.

After you know what you have and how it connects you can change the ID to match what you want and reload the OS.

Cd can go anywhere but i would normally use it secondary master.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Peahippo]

What allows your SCSI bus to have a boot drive is the BIOS on the SCSI adapter itself (in combination with later computer BIOSes, I'd imagine). You didn't tell us what model of Adaptec controller you have, but since it's PCI I'd bet it does have a BIOS chip on it. What's guaranteed NOT to allow SCSI booting is a controller card designed for connecting a scanner ... they are very simple, just SCSI interface cards, and definitely don't have a BIOS.

I believe Adaptec offers a utility called "EZSCSI" for working the settings on some of their controllers.

Other than these thoughts, Ed outlined you your troubleshooting path.

 

[CobolKid]

You will ultimately need to ;

1) Set unique device id's on each device. Usually the boot hd is set to id 0 and the adapter card is set to id 7, Beyond that, the remaining devices should be organized "fastest device == lowest priority id (== highest id#)” however there's no real requirement other than what works best.

2) Plug devices into the proper interface with the proper cable, i.e.; 25 pin "scsi 1", 50 pin wide, 68 pin low voltage differential (lvd) or high voltage differential (hvd), 68 pin single ended (se), scsi160 lvd or scsi320 lvd. be careful here, there is a potential to cause damage by mixing certain incompatible scsi types, like lvd & hvd or hvd & se, etc.

3) Properly configure termination on both the card and the devices according to the overall attachment scheme. As both ends of the bus must be properly terminated this can be tricky with cards like the aha2940uuw where the wide buss (50 pin connector) is actually the lower half of the ultra buss (68 pin connector). In general with the 2940uuw (not the pro), if you use one 68 pin connectors and the 50 pin connector, both devices at the end of the cables are terminated and the board "low off high on" termination is enabled. On some devices (usually hd's) both term power and terminate jumpers must be set properly. Scsi160 and 320 typically use "external" terminators that plug onto or are built onto the end of the cable. External terminators are available for all scsi buss types and are typically preferred in environments where devices are moved or changed often If you use external terminators, make sure they are of the "active" rather than "passive" type terminators.

4) Configure the Adaptec card. There are settings that will need to be configured correctly for the both the card and for each attached device. How depends on the card type. if you have an aha2940 or another "upper end" Adaptec card; during boot up, when the Adaptec message appears, press the "ctrl" and "a" keys together to enter the setup procs. Some older Adaptec pci cards require a software config utility to access the setup stuff, check out the details for your card in the Adaptec web page support section.

This is a rather simplistic overview; i've left out much. You should do some reading to understand the myriad of details. I highly recommend you visit the a.s.k. knowledge base and other technical resources on Adaptec’s web page, they're an excellent source for details of the "how's and why's" of the scsi interface and their products.

Steve