PC Hardware

Draco · Guest

Hi all, I've been trying to add some SCSI parts to my existing system
(I'm a glutton for punishment, apparently) and have run into some
difficulties. The parts involved are:
Siig AP-40 SCSI Pro internal SCSI adapter
Compaq BC01821938 LVD/SE Wide Ultra2 SCSI hard drive
Compaq MAE3043LP LVD/SE Wide Ultra2 SCSI hard drive
FoxConn 68 pin 'P' type ribbon cable of indeterminate part number
(it's not twisted pair, has 5 connectors, and a fixed terminator at
one end - not sure if its an active terminator or not)

All SCSI parts are second hand and supposedly in working order - I
have reason to believe they are, more on that momentarily. Manuals
were not included.

Other stuff:
ASUS A7V600 motherboard
AMD 2600+ processor
512 MB RAM
Windows XP SP1

The situation so far is this:
The adapter installed without difficulty. It has been recognized by
Windows, the driver is installed, no errors reported. Interesting
note, on boot up and in the 'PCI Master Ultra-SCSI Adapter Setup
Utility' (SCSI BIOS program, if I'm not mistaken) the card is listed
as having been assigned IRQ 9. Windows' Device Manager says it has
IRQ 18.

When connecting the drives, the computer would hang on boot up during
the SCSI device scan. The SCSI BIOS could be reached though, in there
what would happen is when I ask for a device scan it goes through the
possible ID numbers until it reaches the lower of the two numbers I
have assigned to the drives. I get the same problem when I attach
only one of the two drives, it hangs when it gets to the assigned ID
number.

The jumpers allow the MAE3043LP to be terminated on the drive; it
doesn't seem to help (the other drive does not have any termination
marked). It also has a jumper marked 'SINGLE/WIDE' which I assume
allows it to be forced to single-ended mode. This is also an option
on the other drive. Setting these jumpers has not seemed to help.
Both drives came with the 'Motor Start' jumper in place, I've tried
it with and without, no luck there.

I have tried the various (for the most part self-explanatory) settings
in the SCSI BIOS without luck, if anyone thinks specific information
on these settings will help, I'll be happy to provide details. Off
the top of my head, restricting which drives are scanned on boot
hasn't helped, I've tried the parity checking, device disconnection,
CD-ROM bootable and SCAM support settings without success.

Before I forget, why I think the parts work. At one point I got lazy
and switched the cable from one drive to the other (in preperation
for trying the current settings on the other device) without doing
all those things I should have, like shutting down and unplugging
things. No, I didn't electrocute myself. Yet. Anyway, this was after
the hang on device scan, and as soon as the cable was disconnected
from the drive, the scan continued, completed and reported the
correct device part number on the correct SCSI ID. Now, reconnecting
didn't make it work, it just hangs on the next try, but it does this
for either device, reporting correct part numbers and IDs. If I can
get it to do this without hanging, I'd call that a success. And heck,
it would be.

Other things, I've made sure not to give the drives the same ID
number, or the same number as the adapter. Cables securely connected,
check. Adapter seated securely in the PCI slot, yep.

Alright, thats where I am now. I'm not expecting a miracle (and as
long as this post is, I'm not expecting many will read it) but I
greatly appreciate any and all help and advice about my problem,
thanks in advance and so forth. Unless your advice is 'don't use
Windows'. I have enough Mac and Linux friends to tell me that
already.

Still desperately clinging to the obscure hope that this setup might
someday work,
Jim Pickering

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