#Adaptec/HD/CD from Hell
7 messages in this thread
Hi. I need help configuring a system. I have a Dell 450 small footprint It
has an Adaptec 1542 card with a Maxtor Panther drive on it. We went to add a
Toshibia CD-ROM and ran into problems. I can run the drive fine or I can run
the CD-ROM fine, but I can't run the two together.
The problem seems to be that when the adapter looks at the drive, it assigns
ALL the SCSI addresses to the drive. I have spent HOURS!!! GRRRRRRRRR!!!!! on
hold with Adaptec only to be told that the card doesn't support the drive or
the CDROM, which I know is not true (particularly since I bought software to
drive the CDROM – FROM Adaptec – maybe I will call it Maladaptec from now
on.) I suspect that I have configured the card and or drive improperly. Any
ideas on this? Thanks, Kyrie
Hi Kyrie,
You can run with one or the other, but not both? The first thing that comes to
mind when I read that is that maybe you have both drives configured for the
same SCSI ID. Another idea is parity checking – make sure everyone on the bus
(including the host adapter) is doing the same thing here. Also, if either
drive has a jumper or switch to enable/disable disconnect, make sure that
disconnect is enabled. Good luck.
Chuck
I have seen a CDROM drive assigned all ids on a Future Domain card when the
device driver was using id 6 for the host and the drive was set to the same id.
I would start by trying each ID for the CD-ROM drive. SCSI gets strange when
termination is off or a hard drive and CD-ROM drive have loading problems on
the SCSI bus. Make sure the 1542 jumper for syncronus operation is set to
allow arbatration. Try diffent termm settings or cable lenghts if having the
items at both ends terminated doesn't work, turn off term on one or both, and
retry, or off at one end, and on, on the second device. Last, try a different
HD. I had strange problems on my Mac LC when it had a Sequest HD, but not with
a connor HD from the LC II. I had to use an extrac 6 feet of cable to get a a
couple of CD rom drives stable on a PAS 16. Data read, id problems, etc.
External term is needed some times. The cable lenght varies but short is best,
longer. SCSI term is like tring to adjust a TV rabbit ears for minium ghosts
without seeing the picture. Rots of Ruck.
Kyrie, In addition to the other fine reply, set the addresses for the drives
at 1 for the Maxtor and 2 or 3 for the CD-ROM. Also you might want to check
termination. Generally the drive which is physicaly last on the scsi bus is
terminated. Drives in the middle of the string are usually not terminated.
Lloyd (:}
I've just installed a Toshiba 3401 and am looking for an Adaptec driver for it
as well. I found that using aswcdtsh.sys and setting the SCSI ID to 7 on the
CD player it assigned all SCSI ids to the CD – this is incorrect since the SCIS
ID for the adapter is 7, but I was trying everything I could think of to get it
to work – and it may be the cause of your problem. By switching to the
ASWCDDAT.SYS driver (this is the Generic, data only driver), I got it to work,
but can't play music CDs. I posted a message on the Adaptec board to see if
they have any new drivers in the works or if their EZ-SCSI product will work…
When I get a reply I'll let you know; please let me know if you have any
success. – Shirl
I am using the EZ scsi adapater and it works fine as long as I pull the hard
drive out of the loop! Haven't tried audio on it, don't need it for this
application. I am waiting for a set of docs and a bios upgrade for the 1542.
Will try again when that comes in and see if I can make it all work. Kyrie
I got a response from Vernon at Adaptec.
I only needed to add /NORST to the toshiba driver line:
DEVICE=PATH\ASPICDTSH.SYS /D:ASPICD0 /NORST
This solved my problem, but I don't know if this will help you or not.
Good luck… Shirl