SCSI Bus Hangs (was OSR5.0.2 Install Hangs)

SCSI Bus Hangs (was OSR5.0.2 Install Hangs)

Post by Lucky Leavel » Mon, 19 Aug 1996 04:00:00



We swapped a motherboard and one hard drive in an OSR5.0.0 system and
cannot get past a very basic problem.  I now have the system stripped down
to the following configuration:

        MB using INtel 430HX Chipset (supports ECC/parity memory)
                (Model R528)
        Pentium 120
        Award BIOS 4.51PG dated 6/13/96
                Model Byte FCH  SubModel 01H  Revision 0
        32MB parity memory (with single bit ECC turned on)
        Adaptec 1542B SCSI id 7 external terninators installed
                IRQ 5, DMA 11, Address 0x330
        Conner CFP1060S SCSI id 0, unterminated
        NEC 3xi CD-ROM SCSI id 5, terminated

I can boot a small DOS partition OK but when I use Adaptec's EZSCSI
utility and it goes out looking for attached devices, it hangs with the
LEDs on both the Adaptec and the Conner on solid. I've run diagnostics to
check for IRQ/DMA conflicts and none are detected.  I've removed the other
two SCSI hard drives and tape drive to test but it still hangs.  If I run
PC Cerify Pro, it can successfully detect and list both the hard drive and
the CD-ROM as can the Adaptec aspi4dos.sys driver.

The Adaptec and all SCSI devices are setup exactly as they were in the
old, functioning system.

The CMOS setting for all IRQs (except 15 used by the SMC EtherPower card)
and DMAs are all set to "Legacy ISA".  Power Management is disabled as are
all onboard IDE stuff (floppy & HD).

I guess I'm down to pulling non-SCSI cards.?.?

PS. The MB comes from a reputable supplier who also sells systems with SCO
installed; the MB is supposed to work fine with SCO.

[Obviously] NOT a hardware person,
[Not so] Lucky

Lucky Leavell                            Phone: (812) 945-6555
Relational Information Systems, Inc.       FAX: (812) 949-9233

New Albany, IN 47150-2013                       71534,2674 (CompuServe)
WWW Home Page:  http://www.iglou.com/ris   ftp://www.iglou.com/members/ris

 
 
 

SCSI Bus Hangs (was OSR5.0.2 Install Hangs)

Post by Lucky Leavel » Thu, 22 Aug 1996 04:00:00


On Tue, 20 Aug 1996, it was written:


> $I can boot a small DOS partition OK but when I use Adaptec's EZSCSI
> $utility and it goes out looking for attached devices, it hangs with the
> $LEDs on both the Adaptec and the Conner on solid.

>    I'm sure it's hardware.  Even if it boots, even if other diagnostics
> say it's OK, anything that hangs the bus with LEDs on smells very much
> like hardware.

Yes, it was hardware - a bad (or incompatible) motherboard.
Confirmed by the vendor who tested an ASUS MB with the same 430HX chipset
with a 1542B running SCO for 1/2 day before shipping it out to me.

Quote:>    You may already have done some of these, but a good list of
> things to try would include

> - swapping the positions of the HD and the CD on the cable (and
>   swapping termination, of course)

Did that.  Even had it down to one HD (the Seagate - couldn't find the
Conner's resistor packs!).  Then added back one device at a time.  It hung
when the Tandberg TDC-3820 tape drive was added back.   We had to put the
old no-name clone non-parity MB back to get the customer back up yesterday
and every thing worked fine as before.

 > - replacing the cable, even though it appears to be undamaged
Tried two other cables to no avail.

Quote:> - I think you said you had external termination on the Adaptec.
>   Replace with active terminator.  Or try using the on-board
>   terminators instead.  Just in case.

Didn't have one for the external port but did have active termination on
some of the HS's so used one of them at the end of the ribbon cable - no
luck though. WOuld it be a good idea to get active terminators for the
external port (removing the resistor packs?)? How about the internal
ribbon cable?

Finally, how many devices should supply terminator power (assuming they
are able to)? Can there be too many?

Quote:> - I doubt it's a DMA speed thing, but hey, crank it down a notch.
>   I don't trust the DMA test routine in the 154x BIOS, so rather
>   than risking problems, I find the highest speed at which the
>   card passes the test, and then set it one notch lower.  I've
>   never had a DMA problem this way - and I _have_ had DMA problems
>   at speeds that the self-test says work.

I'll remember that. I had it at 5MB but had bumped it up to 8MB/sec
thinking that might help it keep up with faster busses.  I'll use your tip
about finding the highest speed that tests OK and backing off one notch.
(Boy, it sure takes a long time to test!)

Quote:> - Disable sync negotiation on the SCSI card.

Will do! What about parity?
Quote:>    Good luck!

Thanks, I'll need it! Hardware and I definitely don'y get along too well.
Here I've had to eat two man-days (again!).  The only good thing about it
is I will swear off doing such bit twiddling ... at least for another
year!

Have you considered a troubleshooting list such as this in the FAQ? (or is
it already there <G>?)

I hate hardware,
Lucky

Lucky Leavell                            Phone: (812) 945-6555
Relational Information Systems, Inc.       FAX: (812) 949-9233

New Albany, IN 47150-2013                       71534,2674 (CompuServe)
WWW Home Page:  http://www.iglou.com/ris   ftp://www.iglou.com/members/ris

 
 
 

SCSI Bus Hangs (was OSR5.0.2 Install Hangs)

Post by Bill Vermilli » Tue, 27 Aug 1996 04:00:00



Quote:>We swapped a motherboard and one hard drive in an OSR5.0.0 system and
>cannot get past a very basic problem.  I now have the system stripped down
>to the following configuration:

>    MB using INtel 430HX Chipset (supports ECC/parity memory)
>            (Model R528)

From what I have heard the A1 stepping of the 430HX does not
support parity nor ECC.    You had to turn off parity whn using
parity ram.   Later version of the 430HX are supposed to have
fixed that.

That could be the problem.

--

 
 
 

1. OSR5.0.2 Install Hangs

We just upgraded the motherboard and one (failing) hard drive and decided
to go ahead and install 5.0.2; we were running 5.0.0 with net100, Rel.
SUpp D, and bunches of oss4??a SLS's.  It goes thru the load from the boot
floppy thru hwconfig and then displays the following messges:

        Starting Initial System Load from: Floppy Disk
        Reading from Install Source: 172 KB

The first time it stopped at 207 KB and the floppy drive light stays on.
All the IDE stuff on the MB has been disabled and we are using the FD
controller on the Adaptec 1542B.

Any ideas?

Thank you,
Lucky

Lucky Leavell                            Phone: (812) 945-6555
Relational Information Systems, Inc.       FAX: (812) 949-9233

New Albany, IN 47150-2013                       71534,2674 (CompuServe)
WWW Home Page:  http://www.iglou.com/ris   ftp://www.iglou.com/members/ris

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