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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!news.sgi.com!news.tamu.edu!news.utdallas.edu!news_1.cyrix.com!max!dietz From: dietz@max (Carl Dietz) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Problem with NCR 53c810 PCI SCSI Date: 22 Oct 1996 20:43:47 GMT Organization: Cyrix Corporation Lines: 60 Distribution: inet Message-ID: <54jbm3$19h@news_1.cyrix.com> References: <54g4g0$t45@nntp.hut.fi> NNTP-Posting-Host: max.eng.cyrix.com X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Kari T Jokiranta (kja2@cc.hut.fi) wrote: : Hi, : I have home an Asus 486 board with an NCR PCI SCSI-controller installed. : The controller works fine when I get the machine to boot with it... : Nine times of ten I get tons of error messages about not getting the size : of disks, (ncr0: 2: 0) command failed etc. (I'm writing this at school, so : I don't have the exact messages handy.) : It usually stops somewhere near (nrc0: 5: 0) <some error message> and : hangs until I either reboot or power off the SCSI disks, in which case : booting continues normally (it starts to probe devices on ISA bus). : Of course, in that case I cannot use the SCSI disks. : This happens between FreeBSD boot-prompt and "ncr0 waiting for scsi devices : to settle". When the machine boots normally, it really waits that 15 seconds : (I have options "SCSI_DELAY=15" in my kernel config-file). After that : it finds all my 3 SCSI disks and booting continues normally. : The problem exists also with the default GENERIC-kernel. : Previously I had an AHA-1542A, and it worked just fine with the same disks. : Some facts about my machine: : - FreeBSD version 2.1.5 : - sd0: IBM WDS-3200 SCSI-2 : - sd1: IBM MXT-540SL FAST SCSI-2 : - sd2: MICROP 1578-15 SCSI-1 : - two IDE drives, /kernel on wd0 : The SCSI disks are on a separate minitower, connected with an external : SCSI-2 cable to the controller. : So, where can I look for the error before I take the controller back : to the store where I bought it? The first place to look is to check your terminations. Only two devices on the SCSI bus should have terminating resistors, the first device and the last device. If you have both internal and external SCSI devices, be sure to remove the terminators from the controller card. The Adaptec 154X series cards were designed to work with cables and termination schemes that did NOT meet the spec. Thus, they have been solid as a rock even with bad termination. Most everyone else designs to the SCSI or SCSI-2 specs, which most cables don't meet, even if you get the termination right. Since your system works some of the time, I suspect a termination or cable problem that your old Adaptec was simply more forgiving with. Carl --------------------------------------------------------------- | Carl Dietz Cache Designer | | dietz@cyrix.com (214) 968-8249 | --------------------------------------------------------------- | SULU: "As advanced as you obviously are, you still play ?" | | KIRK: "Yes, Mr. Sulu, play. The more complex the mind, the | | greater the need for the simplicity of play." | | STTOS:"Shore Leave" | ---------------------------------------------------------------