Adaptec AHA-1540C User manual

AHA-1540C/1542C
High-Performance Bus Master
ISA to SCSI Host Adapter
User's Manual

AHA-1540C/1542C
High-Performance Bus Master
ISA to SCSI Host Adapter
User's Manual

Copyright
© Copyright 1992Adaptec, Inc. All rightsreserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means; electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior written consent of Adaptec, Inc., 691 South Milpitas Blvd., Milpitas, CA95035.
Trademarks
All product names mentionedbelow and in this manual are trademarks or regis-
tered trademarks of their respectiveowners.
ASPI is a trademark of Adaptec, Incorporated.
Banyan and Vmes are registered trademarks of Banyan Systems Incorporated.
Bus Master is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.
EISA is a registered trademark of BCPR Services, Inc.
ESIX is a registered trademark of Eve rexSystems, Inc.
IBM, OS/2, PC, AT,
and Micro Channel are registered trademarks ofInternational
Business Machines Corporation.
Iomega and Bernoulli are registered trademarks oflomega Corporation.
MS-DOS, MS, Wmdows, Xenix, and Microsoft are registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation.
Novell
and NetWare are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc.
QEMM is a trademark of QuarterdeckOffice Systems.
SCO, and seaUNIX are registered trademarks of the Santa Cruz Operation.
Sunsoft,and SunsoftInteractive UNIX are registered trademarks of Sunsoft, Inc.
Syquest is a registered trademark of SyquestTechnologies.
UNIXis a registered
trademark and USLisa trademark of UnixSystemsLaboratories.
Changes
The material in this manual is for informationonly and is subject to change without
notice. While reasonableefforts have been made in the preparation of this manual to
assure its accuracy, Adaptec, Inc. assumes no liabilityresultingfrom errors or omis-
sions
in this manual, or from the use of the infonnationcontainedherein.
Adaptecreserves
the right to make changBS in the productdesign without reserva-
tion
and withoutnotification to its users.
ii

FCC ComplianceStatement
NOTE: This equipment has been tested and found tooomply with the limitsfor a
Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are
designed to providereasonable protection against harmful interference in residential
installations.
This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency
energy,
and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause
hannful interference toradio communications. However, there is no guarantee that
interferencewill not occur in a particular installation.
If this equipment does cause interference to radio or television equipment reception,
which
can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is enoour-
aged to try tocorrect the interferencebyone or more of the following measures:
II Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna
• Move the equipment away from the receiver
0\11 Plug the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to
which the receiver is powered
'" If necessary, the user should consult the dealer or an experienced
radio/television technician for additional suggestions
CAUTION: Only equipment certified tooomply with Class B (computer input/output
devices, terminals, printers, etc.) should be attached to this equipment, and must
have shielded interfaci cables.
Finally,
any change or modifications to the equipment by the user not expressly
approved
by the grantee or manufacturer could void the user's authority to operate
such equipment.
Each AHA-154OC/1542C is equipped with an FCC oompliancelabel which shows
only
the FCC Identification number. The full text of the associatedlabel follows:
FCC ill: FGT 1542C
This device oomplies with part 15 of the FCC rules. Operation is subjectto the follow-
ing twooonditions: (1) this device may not cause hannful interference and (2) this
device must accept any interferencereceived, includinginterference that may cause
undesired operation.
iii

Table of Contents
Preface
Inside This Manual. ................................. xi
Conventions
....................................... xiii
o
Introduction
About This Chapter ................................ 1-1
The AHA-1540C/1542C Host Adapter .................. 1-3
SCSI Features ..................................... 1-3
High-performance
.............................. 1-3
High Capacity Drive Support ..................... 1-4
Disk Device Support ............................. 1-4
Multiple
Peripheral and Applications Support ....... 1-5
Easy Installation ................................... 1-6
Easy Configuration ............................. 1-6
Unpacking and Inspection ........................... 1-7
Kit Contents ................................... 1-7
Electrostatic Discharge .......................... 1-7
Adaptec Technical
Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-8
Getting Started
About This Chapter ................................ 2-1
Installation Basics ................................. 2-3
AHA-1540C/1542C Board Installation ................. 2-4
SCSI Bus Preparation .............................. 2-5
SCSI ID ....................................... 2-5
Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5
Host Adapter Port Address ....................... 2-7
Controlling Floppy Drives
........................ 2-7
Installing Peripherals ............................... 2-8
Internally Mounted SCSI Peripherals .............. 2-8
External SCSI Peripherals ....................... 2-8
Re-assembly
and Startup ............................ 2-9
Adaptec EZ-SCSI DOStWindows Drivers ............... 2-9
When to Install Adaptec EZ-SCSI. ................ 2-10
Adaptec EZ-SCSI Quick Installation .............. 2-10
v

AHA-1540C/1542C User's Manual
EJ
Stepping Through Installation
About This Chapter ................................ 3-1
Introduction ...................................... 3-3
The Host Adapter and the SCSI Bus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3
G-etting Ready. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4
Preparing YourSCSI Devices ........................ 3-5
SCSI IDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5
Synchronous
Transfer Negotiation
and Parity Checking .......................... 3-6
SCSI Bus Termination ........................... 3-7
Device
Prep Check List ......................... 3-10
Installation ...................................... 3-11
Installing the Host Adapter Board ................ 3-11
Installing Internal Devices ...................... 3-13
Connecting
External Devices ..................... 3-14
Pre-Boot Check List ............................ 3-15
System Startup ................................... 3-16
New SCSI Drives/No Existing Boot Drive .......... 3-16
New SCSI Drives/Existing Boot Drive ............. 3-16
Drive
Preparation ................................. 3-17
Low-Level
Format ............................. 3-17
Partitioning .................................. 3-18
High-Level (DOS)
Format ....................... 3-18
Using Drives ..................................... 3-19
Installing Multiple Host Adapters .................... 3-20
Using the Configuration Software
About This Chapter ................................ 4-1
Configuring
the Host Adapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-3
When to Use the Configuration Software ............ 4-3
Compatibility
with Earlier AHA-1540/1542
Host Adapters ................................ 4-4
Running the ConfigurationSoftware .................. 4-4
Starting from the Sign-on Banner .................. 4-4
Starting from DOS Debug ........................ 4-5
Selection Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5
Host Adapter Selection .............................. 4-6
vi

Table of Contents
Main Menu Options ................................ 4-7
ConfigureNiew Host Adapter Settings ................. 4-8
IRQ, DMA,
and SCSI ID ......................... 4-9
SCSI
Parity Checking .......................... 4-10
DMA Transfer Rate ............................ 4-10
Host Adapter SCSI Termination .................. 4-11
SCSI Device Configuration
and Advanced Configuration. 4-12
SCSI Device Configuration
...................... 4-13
Advanced Configuration Options
................. 4-16
SCSI
Disk Utilities ................................ 4-23
Format Disk .................................. 4-24
Verify Disk Media
............................. 4-25
Host Adapter Diagnostics ........................... 4-25
Error Handling ................................ 4-26
I/O Operating Environment Software
About This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1
Host Adapter Support ............................... 5-3
DOS/Windows
.................................. 5-3
Novell NetWare
................................ 5-4
OS/2 .......................................... 5-5
UNIX/XENIX
.................................. 5-5
APPENDICES
Specifications
About This Appendix .............................. A-1
Technical Information
..... " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. A-3
Switch Block Settings .............................. A-4
Troubleshooting
About This Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. B-1
SCSI Troubleshooting Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.. B-3
Cases and Solutions ............................... B-4
Conflicts
With Other Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. B-7
BIOS Messages ................................... B-7
vii

AHA-1540C/1542C User's Manual
Optimizing Performance
About This Appendix ............................. , C-l
Performance Tips ................................. C-3
Enabling Synchronous Negotiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. C-3
Disabling the Host Adapter BIOS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. C-3
Enabling Parity Checking ...................... , C-4
Setting the DMA Transfer Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. C-4
Setting Enable Disconnect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. C-5
Send Start Unit Command ...................... C-5
Glossary
Index
viii
About this Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Glossary-l
Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Glossary-3
............................................. Index-l

Table of Contents
List of Figures
Figure 2-1. AHA-1540C/1542C ....................... 2-4
Figure 3-1. The SCSI Bus ............................ 3-4
Figure 3-2. Internal and External Devices .............. 3-8
Figure 3-3. Internal Devices .......................... 3-9
Figure 3-4. External Devices ......................... 3-9
Figure 3-5. Alternate Adapter Brackets ............... 3-12
Figure 4-1. Adapter BIOS Sign-on Banner .............. 4-5
Figure 4-2. Host Adapter Port Address ................. 4-6
Figure 4-3. Main Menu .............................. 4-7
Figure 4-4. ConfigureNiew Host Adapter Settings ....... 4-8
Figure 4-5. Accessing SCSI Device Configuration ....... 4-12
Figure 4-6. SCSI Device Configuration ................ 4-13
Figure 4-7. Advanced Configuration Options ........... 4-16
Figure 4-8. Accessing SCSI Disk Utilities .............. 4-23
Figure 4-9. SCSI Disk Utilities Device Selection ........ 4-23
Figure 4-10. Utility Selection ........................ 4-24
Figure 4-11. Accessing Host Adapter Diagnostics ....... 4-25
Figure 4-12. Diagnostics Startup ..................... 4-26
List of Tables
Table 2-1. When to Enable Host Adapter Termination .... 2-6
Table A-1. Host Adapter Switch Block Settings ......... A-4
ix