ASUS SC875 User Manual

R

PCI-SC875

Ultra Fast & Wide SCSI Controller

USER’S MANUAL

USER'S NOTICE

No part of this product, including the product and software may be reproduced,
transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any lan­guage in any form by any means without the express written permission of ASUST eK
COMPUTER INC. (hereinafter referred to as ASUS) except documentation kept
by the purchaser for backup purposes.

ASUS provides this manual "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or
implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties or conditions of mer­chantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall ASUS be liable for
any loss or profits, loss of business, loss of use or data, interruption of business, or
for indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any kind, even if ASUS
has been advised of the possibility of such damages arising from any defect or error
in this manual or product. ASUS may revise this manual from time to time without
notice.

Products mentioned in this manual are mentioned for identification purposes only.
Product names appearing in this manual may or may not be registered trademarks
or copyrights of their respective companies.

The product name and revision number are both printed on the board itself. Manual
revisions are released for each board design represented by the digit before and
after the period of the manual revision number . Manual updates are represented by
the third digit in the manual revision number . For updated BIOS, drivers, or prod­uct release information you may visit ASUS' home page at: http://www .asus.com.tw/

© Copyright 1996 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. All rights reserved.

Product Name: ASUS PCI-SC875
Manual Revision: 1.00
Release Date: November 1996

II

ASUS PCI-SC875 User's Manual

ASUS CONTACT INFORMATION

ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.

Marketing Info:

Address: 150 Li-Te Road, Peitou, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Technical Support:

Fax: [phone]
BBS: 886-2-896-4667
Email: [e-mail]
WWW: http://www.asus.com.tw/
Gopher: gopher.asus.com.tw
FTP: ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS

ASUS COMPUTER INTERNATIONAL

Marketing Info:

Address: 721 Charcot Avenue, San Jose, CA 95131, USA
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Technical Support:

BBS: 1-408-474-0555
Email: [e-mail]

ASUS COMPUTER GmbH

Marketing Info:

Address: Harkort Str. 25, 40880 Ratingen, BRD, Germany
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Technical Support:

BBS: 49-2102-448690
Email: [e-mail]

ASUS PCI-SC875 User's Manual III

CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................ 1

How this manual is organized.......................................................... 1

Item Checklist .................................................................................. 1

Current Operating System Support ............................................ 1

II. FEATURES ..................................................................................... 2

Features of the ASUS SCSI Card .................................................... 2

Parts of the ASUS SCSI Card .......................................................... 2

III. INSTALLATION .......................................................................... 3

Inserting the Host Adapter in a PCI Slot.......................................... 3

Connecting SCSI Cables and Devices ............................................. 4

Choosing SCSI Cables ............................................................... 4

Maximum Cable Lengths ........................................................... 5

Connecting Internal SCSI Devices .................................................. 5

Connecting External SCSI Devices ........................................... 6

Connecting External 8-bit and 16-bit Devices ........................... 8

Terminating the SCSI Bus.......................................................... 8

SCSI IDs .......................................................................................... 9

SCSI ID Priority ......................................................................... 9

Setting SCSI IDs ........................................................................ 9

SCSI Bus Activity LED Connector............................................ 10

Completing Installation .............................................................. 10

IV. CONFIGURATION....................................................................... 11

Configuring Your Host Adapter ....................................................... 1 1

The Symbios Logic SCSI Configuration Utility.............................. 11

Main Menu....................................................................................... 12

Adapter Utilities Menu............................................................... 13

Adapter Setup Menu .................................................................. 13

Device Selections Menu............................................................. 13

Device Setup Menu .................................................................... 14

Quitting the SCSI Configuration Utility .................................... 14

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS........................................................ 15

Introduction...................................................................................... 15

When You Need to Load Drivers ............................................... 15

Automatic Installation of SDMS for DOS....................................... 15

ASPI8XX.SYS Driver Features ................................................. 16

Description ................................................................................. 16

Installing Your ASPI8XX.SYS Driver....................................... 17

Command Line Options ............................................................. 17

Troubleshooting ............................................................................... 21

SYMDISK.SYS Driver Features ..................................................... 22

IV

ASUS PCI-SC875 User's Manual

CONTENTS

Description ................................................................................. 22

Installing Your SYMDISK.SYS Driver ........................................... 23

Command Line Options ............................................................. 23

Troubleshooting ............................................................................... 26

SYMCD.SYS Driver Features ......................................................... 28

Description ................................................................................. 28

Installing Your SYMCD.SYS Driver............................................... 28

Command Line Options ............................................................. 29

Troubleshooting ......................................................................... 29

WIN8XX.386 Driver Features......................................................... 30

Description ................................................................................. 30

Installing Your WIN8XX.386 Driver .............................................. 30

Command Line Options ............................................................. 31

Troubleshooting ............................................................................... 34

Important Additional Information For Windows ............................. 35

Enabling 32-bit Disk and File Access in Windows .................... 35

Restrictions................................................................................. 35

Important Additional Information For DOS .................................... 35

Assignment of Drive Letters ...................................................... 35

Using the SDMS DOS Utilities ....................................................... 36

SCSI Low-level Format Utility .................................................. 36

Host Adapter Flash Utility ......................................................... 36

VI. WINDOWS 95 DRIVERS ............................................................ 37

SDMS DRIVER SYMC8XX.MPD V2.02.00 ................................. 37

Introduction for Windows 95 ........................................................... 37

Features ...................................................................................... 37

Description ................................................................................. 37

Installing Your SYMC8XX.MPD Driver ........................................ 38

Preparing a Symbios Driver Diskette......................................... 38

New System Installation ............................................................ 38

Existing System Installation....................................................... 39

Existing System Using ASPI8XX.SYS DOS ASPI Driver........ 40

Verifying Correct Driver Installation ......................................... 41

Command Line Options ............................................................. 41

Troubleshooting ......................................................................... 42

Important Additional Information.................................................... 43

Enabling/Disabling Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) Support ..................... 43

Multiple Symbios Logic Host Adapter Considerations ............. 44

Method 1............................................................................... 44

Method 2............................................................................... 44

ASUS PCI-SC875 User's Manual V

CONTENTS

VII.WINDOWS NT DRIVERS .......................................................... 45

SDMS DRIVER SYMC8XX.SYS V2.03.00 .................................. 45

Introduction for Window NT 3.5x/4.x ............................................. 45

Features ...................................................................................... 46

Description ................................................................................. 46

Installing Your SYMC8XX.SYS Driver.......................................... 47

Preparing a Symbios Driver Diskette......................................... 47

New System Installation ............................................................ 47

Existing System Installation....................................................... 48

Windows NT 3.5x................................................................. 48

Windows NT 4.x................................................................... 49

Command Line Options ............................................................. 49

Troubleshooting ......................................................................... 50

Important Additional Information.................................................... 51

Enabling/Disabling Support Options ......................................... 51

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS .............................................................. 52

Introduction...................................................................................... 52

Features ...................................................................................... 52

Description ................................................................................. 53

ASPI Support........................................................................ 53

Installing Your SDMS NetWare Drivers.......................................... 53

Existing Installation Of NetWare With SDMS Drivers ............. 53

For NetWare v3.12 New Installations ........................................ 54

For NetWare v4.xx New Installations ........................................ 55

For NetWare v4.1x SFT-III Installations.................................... 55

For NetWare v4.1x NWOS2 Installations.................................. 56

Command Line Options ............................................................. 56

The Power Management Utilities .................................................... 62

Installing the Power Management Utilities................................ 62

Manual Operation ................................................................. 65

Scheduled Operation ............................................................ 65

Unloading the PMSCHED.NLM Utility .............................. 65

Device Statistics ................................................................... 66

Important Additional Information.................................................... 66

For Information Pertaining to a Specific Driver ........................ 66

About Memory Allocation ......................................................... 66

Optimal Use of Command Line Options ................................... 67

Peripheral Device Dependent Optimizations ....................... 67

Flexibility ............................................................................. 67

Overall System Timing......................................................... 67

VI

ASUS PCI-SC875 User's Manual

CONTENTS

DOS Access Dependencies ........................................................ 67

Supported DOS Configurations ................................................. 68

When Using An SDMS 3.XX BIOS .......................................... 68

Supported DOS Drivers........................................................ 68

DOS Drivers Not Supported................................................. 69

When Using An SDMS 4.XX BIOS .......................................... 69

Default Configuration........................................................... 69

NVRAM ............................................................................... 69

Supported DOS Drivers........................................................ 69

When Using No SDMS BIOS.................................................... 69

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS .................................................................. 70

SDMS SCO UNIX DRIVER V3.06.00 ........................................... 70

Introduction...................................................................................... 70

Features ...................................................................................... 71

Description ................................................................................. 71

Procedure 1 ........................................................................... 72

Existing System Installation ................................................. 72

Procedure 2 ........................................................................... 72

New System Installation....................................................... 72

The Symbios Logic............................................................... 72

CAM3 SCSI Configuration Tool.......................................... 72

Installing Your SCO UNIX Driver .................................................. 73

Existing System Installation....................................................... 73

New System Installation ............................................................ 79

Troubleshooting ......................................................................... 80

Important Additional Information.................................................... 82

How to Remove a SCSI Disk Drive From SCO UNIX ............. 82

X. UNIXWARE DRIVERS ................................................................. 83

LOGIC SDMS UNIXWARE DRIVER V3.02 ................................ 83

Introduction...................................................................................... 83

Features ...................................................................................... 84

Description ................................................................................. 84

Installing Your SDMS UnixWare Driver ......................................... 84

Installing the Driver During UnixWare Installation................... 84

Updating UnixWare 2.xx with the C8xx Driver ........................ 85

Loading the Package............................................................. 86

Configure for Statically Linked Driver ................................ 86

Configure for Dynamically Loadable Driver ....................... 86

Loading Loadable Module ................................................... 87

Rebuild the UnixWare Kernel .............................................. 87

Troubleshooting ......................................................................... 87

ASUS PCI-SC875 User's Manual VII

FCC & DOC COMPLIANCE

Federal Communications Commission Statement

This device complies with FCC Rules Part 15. Operation is subject to the following
two conditions:

• This device may not cause harmful interference, and

• This device must accept any interference received, including interference that
may cause undesired operation.

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B
digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to
provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installa­tion. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if
not installed and used in accordance with manufacturer's instructions, may cause
harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that
interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause
harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by
turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the inter­ference by one or more of the following measures:

• Re-orient or relocate the receiving antenna.

• Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.

• Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which
the receiver is connected.

• Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

WARNING: The use of shielded cables for connection of the monitor to the graphics
card is required to assure compliance with FCC regulations. Changes or modifica­tions to this unit not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance
could void the user's authority to operate this equipment.

Canadian Department of Communications Statement

This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class B limits for radio noise emissions
from digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference Regulations of the Cana­dian Department of Communications.

VIII

ASUS PCI-SC875 User's Manual

I. INTRODUCTION

How this manual is organized

This manual is divided into the following sections:

I. Introduction: Manual information and checklist
II. Features: Information and specifications.
III. Installation: Instructions on setting up the ASUS PCI-SC875.
IV-IX. Driver Setup: SCSI driver and utility installation and usage.

Item Checklist

Please check that your package is complete. If you discover damaged or missing
items, please contact your retailer.

√ The ASUS PCI-SC875 Ultra-Fast & Ultra-Wide SCSI card
√ Support software on 4 diskettes:

1. DOS, BIOS, and Configuration Utilities

2. SDMS 4.0 PCI SCSI, Win95, WinNT, OS/2, Netware, Low Level Format

3. SCO Unix

4. Unixware 2.x

I. INTRODUCTION

(Sections/Checklist)

√ 50-Pin SCSI ribbon cable
√ This User’s Manual

Optional 68-Pin Wide-SCSI ribbon cable

Current Operating System Support

• DOS versions 5.0 and above

• Windows versions 3.0 and above

• Windows NT versions 3.1, 3.5x, 4.x

• Windows 95

• OS/2 versions 2.x and 3.x

• Netware 386 versions 3.x and 4.x

• SCO UNIX 3.2 version 4.0

• SCO Open Server Release 5

• Unixware 2.x

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 1

II. FEATURES

Features of the ASUS SCSI Card

The ASUS PCI-SC875 is carefully designed for the demanding PC user who wants
a high-end SCSI card for 8-bit and 16-bit SCSI devices. This SCSI card:

• 32-bit PCI: Has 32-bit PCI Local Bus interface

• Bus Master: Has PCI Bus Master Architecture

(Features/Parts)

II. FEATURES

• Upgradeable BIOS: Has built-in programmable SCSI BIOS EPROM

• Dual Speeds: Supports Ultra Fast and Wide-SCSI Transfer Rates

• Multiple-SCSI support: Supports a combination of (7) 8-bit devices with 50-

• 3 Connectors: Has 1 external Wide-SCSI connector, 1 internal Wide-SCSI

Parts of the ASUS SCSI Card

Pin connector and (15) 16-bit devices with 68-Pin connector (not to exceed a
total of 15 SCSI devices per card)

connector, and 1 Internal Fast-SCSI connector (only 2 connectors usable at
one time)

Internal 50-Pin Ultra Fast-SCSI

Internal 68-Pin Wide SCSI

Dual LED Leads

Programmable BIOS EPROM

External 68-Pin Wide SCSI

2 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

III. INSTALLATION

This section explains how to physically install the SCSI card in your computer and
connect SCSI devices to it. You may need to run your computer’s Setup program as
part of the installation process. After the host adapter is physically installed, you
can change its configuration with the SDMS SCSI utility

You can install multiple SCSI cards in your computer if enough PCI bus slots are
available. Each SCSI card has two separate SCSI channels. If you install multiple
SCSI cards in your computer, you can enable the onboard BIOS on just one SCSI
card or on more than one of the SCSI cards.

Inserting the Host Adapter in a PCI Slot

WARNING: Computer motheboards and components contain very delicate
Integrated Circuit (IC) chips. To protect the motherboard and other compo­nents against damage from static electricity, you should follow some precau­tions whenever you work on your computer.

1. Unplug your computer when working on the inside.

2. Hold components by the edges and try not to touch the IC chips, leads, or
circuitry.

3. Use a grounded wrist strap before handling computer components.

4. Place components on a grounded antistatic pad or on the bag that came with
the component whenever the components are separated from the system.

(Inserting Adapter)

III. INSTALLATION

1. Remove the cover from the computer case.

2. Carefully remove the host adapter from the antistatic bag. If you need to set the
adapter down, put it on top of the bag.

IMPORTANT: Keep the host adapter in its antistatic bag until you are ready
to install it. Before you pick up the adapter, ground yourself by touching an
unpainted surface on the computer chassis. Even a little static electricity can
destroy a host adapter component!

3. Find an unused 5volt PCI bus expansion slot that supports bus mastering. Make
sure this slot is unobstructed.

4. Remove the corresponding expansion slot cover from the computer chassis. The
slot cover is the metal strip in the back of the computer chassis that covers the
opening for the adapter’s external connector.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 3

5. Position the host adapter directly over the PCI slot and insert the end of the

III. INSTALLATION

(SCSI Cables)

III. INSTALLATION

board in the card guide. Carefully press the bus connector on the bottom of the
host adapter down into the slot. Be sure the metal contacts on the bottom of the
host adapter are securely seated in the slot.

6. Attach the host adapter bracket to the computer chassis with the screw from the
slot cover that you removed in step 4.

NOTE: Do not replace the computer cover or reconnect the power yet!

Connecting SCSI Cables and Devices

Choosing SCSI Cables

Always use high-quality SCSI cables to connect the host adapter to devices on the
SCSI bus. Poor-quality cables can cause data corruption, parity errors, and other
problems. High-quality cabling is especially critical if you use UltraSCSI or Fast
SCSI data transfer rates.

The round cables used for external SCSI devices vary widely in quality and electri­cal characteristics. Be sure external SCSI cables meet SCSI-2 standards (ask your
cable vendor). For UltraSCSI applications, SCSI cables must meet Fast-20 SCSI
standards. Here are some guidelines for external SCSI cables:

• SCSI-2: Use cables with a single-ended impedance range of 90 to 132ohms.

• UltraSCSI: Use cables with a single-ended impedance range of 90±10ohms. For
the req and ack signals the impedance should be 90±6ohms.

4 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

III. INSTALLATION

Maximum Cable Lengths

T o assure reliable operation, the total length of the SCSI bus, including both internal
and external cabling, should not exceed 6meters (19.7 feet) for synchronous or asyn­chronous data transfer rates, and 3meters (9.8 feet) for UltraSCSI data transfer rates.

WARNING: This SCSI controller support only single-ended SCSI devices.
Differential SCSI devices may be damaged if you connect them to the SCSI
bus. Read your SCSI device documentation if you are not sure whether a
device is single-ended or differential.

Connecting Internal SCSI Devices

Read the device documentation if you need to physically install a SCSI device in­side your computer before attaching the cables. To connect internal SCSI devices to
an ASUS PCI-SC875 host adapter, you need the following:

• A 50pin internal SCSI ribbon cable.

• A 68pin internal SCSI ribbon cable.

There must be more connectors in the middle of the cable if you are attaching more
than one internal device. Make sure your cable has enough connectors. To connect
three or more internal SCSI devices to a SCSI bus, make a SCSI ribbon cable that
has enough connectors for all the SCSI devices.

You can connect both 8bit and 16-bit SCSI devices to an ASUS PCI-SC875 host
adapter. To attach 8bit internal devices to a wide SCSI bus, use a 68pin-to-50pin
converter.

You can buy this internal 68pin-to-50pin converter from any cable vendor.

(Internal SCSI)

III. INSTALLATION

Do not use this converter at the end of the cable; the converter does not provide
termination for the high data byte. To terminate a SCSI bus properly, you must put a
16-bit device at the end of the cable. If a converter with an 8-bit device is at the end
of the cable, the bus does not terminate properly.

T o attach a converter, first plug the converter into the SCSI device and then connect
the converter to the internal Wide SCSI ribbon cable.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 5

The following illustrations show the 50pin internal connector used with the ASUS
PCI-SC875. 68-pin Wide-SCSI connectors may also be used with Wide-SCSI de­vices.

To connect internal SCSI devices, follow these steps:

1. Plug the SCSI connector at one end of the SCSI ribbon cable into one of the host

2. Plug the last connector on the ribbon cable into the SCSI connector on the inter-

III. INSTALLATION

(Internal SCSI)

III. INSTALLATION

adapter’s internal SCSI connectors. Line up the colored stripe on the ribbon
cable with the number 1 printed below the connector on the host adapter . This is
called maintaining pin-1 orientation. Maintain pin-1 orientation throughout the
SCSI bus, or the devices will not work properly.

nal SCSI device.

3. To connect a second internal SCSI device, plug the middle connector of the
SCSI ribbon cable into the SCSI connector on the second internal SCSI device.

4. To connect three or more internal SCSI devices to a SCSI bus, plug the remain­ing middle SCSI connectors into the other internal devices.

6 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

III. INSTALLATION

Connecting External SCSI Devices

You can daisy-chain up to seven SCSI devices to the internal 50-Pin connector. You
can daisy-chain up to fifteen SCSI devices to the internal or external 68-Pin connec­tor. There is a limiation of a total of 15 SCSI devices per ASUS PCI-SC875 card.
Daisy-chaining means connecting multiple devices with multiple cables. For ex­ample, a cable runs from the external SCSI connector to the first external device; a
second connector on the back of the external device allows another cable to connect
with the second device in the chain, and so forth.

External cable connectors can only be plugged in one way, so pin1 orientation is
automatic.

Follow these steps to connect external SCSI devices:

1. Attach one connector of the external SCSI cable to the external SCSI connector .

2. Attach the connector at the other end of the external cable to either one of the
SCSI connectors on the external SCSI device.

(External SCSI)

III. INSTALLATION

3. T o connect other external SCSI devices, daisy chain each device to the previous
device until all external SCSI devices have been connected.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 7

III. INSTALLATION

Connecting External 8-bit and 16-bit Devices

When daisy-chaining external 8-bit and 16-bit devices with standard SCSI-2 con­nectors to the ASUS PCI-SC875, use an external SCSI-2 male 68-pin to SCSI-2
female 50-pin converter. Follow these steps:

1. Daisy-chain all 16-bit devices together with external SCSI-2 Wide cables.

2. Daisy-chain all 8-bit devices together with external SCSI-2 Narrow cables.

3. Connect the first device in the 16-bit device daisy chain to the host adapter with
an appropriate external Wide cable.

4. Plug the converter into the last device in the 16-bit device daisy chain.

5. Use an external narrow cable to connect the first 8-bit device in the 8-bit device
daisy-chain to the other end of the converter.

III. INSTALLATION

(Termination)

Terminating the SCSI Bus

The ASUS PCI-SC875 has auto termination so no jumpers are necessary . Terminat­ing the devices on the ends of the SCSI Bus is necessary for SCSI devices to work
properly. Termination of the devices between the ends must be Disabled. Connect
SCSI devices to two of the three connectors in a linear “chain” for auto termination
of the ASUS PCI-SC875 to be effective. Other formations will cause your SCSI
devices to not mount properly . Y ou must use the end of the ribbon cable when using
the internal connector(s) to keep a linear path. The following shows three possible
chains for this SCSI card:

Termination

No Termination

7 Max

68Pin

15 Max

15 SCSI Devices Total per Card

50Pin

Termination

No Termination

7 Max

68Pin

15 Max

15 SCSI Devices Total per Card

Termination

No Termination

50Pin

Termination

No Termination

7 Max

68Pin

15 Max

15 SCSI Devices Total per Card

50Pin

8 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

III. INSTALLATION

SCSI IDs

Each device on the SCSI bus, including the host adapter, must have a unique SCSI
ID. The SCSI ID serves two purposes:

• It uniquely defines each SCSI device on the bus.

• It determines which device controls the bus when two or more devices try to use
it at the same time.

SCSI IDs on one channel do not interfere with the IDs on another channel. This
applies to two SCSI host adapters that implement different buses as well as dual
channels on a single host adapter.

SCSI ID Priority

On an 8bit SCSI bus, SCSI ID 7 has the highest priority, and SCSI ID 0 has the
lowest priority. From highest to lowest, the complete order is: 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

On a 16bit SCSI bus, the priority scheme goes from SCSI ID 7 (the highest priority)
to SCSI ID 0, and then from SCSI ID 15 to SCSI ID 8, so that SCSI ID 8 is the very
lowest priority . From highest to lowest, the complete order is: 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 15,
14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8.

Setting SCSI IDs

Setting SCSI IDs is a two-step process:

1. Determine the SCSI ID of each device on the SCSI bus.
The default SCSI ID for the host adapter is 7, the highest priority on the bus.

Y ou can change the SCSI ID of the host adapter using the Symbios SCSI Firmare
Setup (see section IV), if necessary , but it is recommended that you leave the ID
on 7. T o determine the SCSI IDs of SCSI devices, read the devices’ documenta­tion and examine their switch settings or jumper settings.

2. Set the SCSI IDs so that no IDs are duplicated on the same SCSI channel.

(SCSI IDs)

III. INSTALLATION

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 9

SCSI Bus Activity LED Connector

Most computers have an LED disk activity light on the front panel. If you discon­nect the cable from the motherboard and attach it to the LED connector on the host
adapter, the LED will light whenever there is activity on either SCSI channel.

Follow these steps to connect the LED cable to the host adapter:

1. Refer to your computer’s documentation to locate the LED cable and unplug it

2. Connect the LED cable to the SCSI activity LED connector on the host adapter .

III. INSTALLATION

(Activity LED)

III. INSTALLATION

from the connector on the motherboard.

+ - - +

1

Use a four pin connector if available or connect one LED to pins 1-2, and another to
pins 3-4 if needed. The two LED leads 1-2 & 3-4 are the same.

1

Completing Installation

Before you reassemble your computer, be sure that

• The devices on each SCSI channel are properly terminated

• Each SCSI device on each SCSI channel has a unique SCSI ID

• The host adapter is firmly seated and secured in a 5volt bus master PCI bus slot

• Internal SCSI devices have power plugs attached

• Internal SCSI devices are firmly connected to the host adapter and pin1 orienta-

tion is correct

• External SCSI devices are firmly connected to the host adapter

Complete these steps to finish the installation process:

1. Replace and secure the cover of the computer case.

2. Reconnect the power cords to all external SCSI devices and the computer.

3. Turn ON the power to all devices.

4. Boot the computer.

10 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

IV. CONFIGURATION

Configuring Your Host Adapter

In most cases you should not need to change the default configuration of your host
adapter. You may decide to alter these default values if there is a conflict between
device settings, or if you need to optimize system performance.

To perform the configuration described in this chapter you must have SDMS BIOS
version 4.xx.xx or higher, and it must include the Symbios Logic SCSI Configura­tion utility. You can see the version number of your SDMS BIOS in a banner dis­played on you computer monitor during bootup. If the utility is available, a message
appears on your computer monitor (for about 5 seconds) during bootup that looks
like this:

Press Ctrl-C to start Configuration Utility

The Symbios Logic SCSI Configuration Utility

The menu driven Symbios Logic SCSI Configuration Utility allows you to view and
change the default configuration settings for your host adapter.

NOTE: This utility is a powerful tool. If, while using it, you somehow disable
all your controllers or cannot enter the configuration utility, pressing “Ctrl-A”
after memory count during reboot allows you to recover and reconfigure.

The following tables list the configuration settings you can change. The global
settings affect your host adapter and all SCSI devices which are connected to it. The
device settings affect only individual SCSI devices.

Settings for the Host Adapter & All Devices Default Settings

SCAM Support On
Parity Checking Enabled
Host Adapter SCSI ID 7
Scan Order Low to High (0-Max)

Settings for Individual SCSI Devices Default Settings

Synchronous Transfer Rate (MS/Sec) 20
Data Width 16
Disconnect On
Read Write I/O Timeout (secs) 10
Scan for Devices at Boot Time Yes
Scan for SCSI LUNs Yes
Queue Tags Enabled

(Symbios Utility)

IV. CONFIGURATOIN

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 11

IV. CONFIGURATION

Main Menu

When you start the Symbios Logic Configuration Utility, your computer monitor
displays the Main menu. This menu is your entry to the utility.

The Main menu displays a list of up to four Symbios Logic PCI to SCSI host adapt­ers in you system, and information about each of them.

By using the arrow keys, an adapter is selected to view and/or change current set­tings for the adapter, and the SCSI devices attached to it. An adapter is selectable
only if the current status is “On”. Changes are possible only if NvRAM (non-vola­tile memory on your adapter) is present.

Following the list of host adapters on the Main menu display, you see the options
described below . If these settings are altered, the system reboots upon exit from the
configuration utility by the Quit option.

Adapter Boot Order - allows you to set the order in which host adapters boot when
you have more than one Symbios Logic host adapter in your system. When this
option is selected, the Boot Order menu is shown.

IV. CONFIGURATION

(Main Menu)

T o change an apapter’s boot order , select it and press Enter. You are then prompted
to enter the new boot sequence number. When the adapters are ordered properly,
press the Escape key to exit this menu.

Change Adapter Status - allows you to activate or deactivate a host adapter and all
SCSI devices attached to it. The change takes place after a reboot, which is auto­matic upon exit from the utility when this option is used to make a change. When
this option is selected the Change Status menu is displayed.

To change an adapter’s status, select it and press Enter. Then press the escape key
to exit this menu.

Display Mode - determines how much information about your host adapter(s) and
SCSI devices is displayed on your computer monitor during boot. For more com­plete information, choose the verbose setting. For a faster boot, choose the terse
setting.

Mono/Color - allows you to choose between a black and white or color display for
the SCSI Configuration utility. You might need to choose the mono setting to get a
more readable screen on a black and white monitor.

Help - brings up a help screen with information about the Main menu.
Quit - gets you out of the SCSI Configuration utility.

12 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

IV. CONFIGURATION

Adapter Utilities Menu

When you select a host adapter from the Main menu, you will see new screen. Choose
“A-Adapter Setup” to view and change the selected adapter settings. Choose
“D-Device Selections” to view and change settings for the devices attached to the
selected adapter.

You come back to this menu after making changes to the configuration of any host
adapter or connected SCSI device. Before you exit this menu, you are prompted to
save or cancel the changes.

Adapter Setup Menu

When you select “Adapter Setup” your computer monitor displays the Setup menu.
The settings in this menu are global settings that affect the selected host adapter and
all SCSI devices attached to it.

SCAM Support - The Symbios Logic BIOS version 4.x and above supports the
SCSI Plug and Play protocol called SCAM (SCSI Configured AutoMatically). You
may choose to turn this off.

Parity - Symbios Logic PCI to SCSI host adapters always generate parity , but some
SCSI devices do not. Therefore, you are offered the option of disabling parity check­ing.

NOTE: When disabling parity checking, you may have to disable disconnects
for certain devices as pairty checking for the reselection phase is not disabled.
If a device does not generate parity , and it disconnects, the I/O never completes
because the reselection never completes.

Host SCSI ID - In general, it is suggested that you not change your host apapter ID

from the default value of 7, as this gives it the highest priority on the SCSI bus.
However, if you have two adapters sharing the same SCSI devices, you should give
one of them a currently unassigned ID to avoid duplication of SCSI IDs.

Scan Order - This option allows you to tell the host adapter BIOS and you device
drivers to scan the SCSI bus from low to high (0 to max) SCSI ID, or from high to
low (max to 0) SCSI ID. If you have more than one device on the SCSI bus, chang­ing the scan order changes the order in which drive letters are assigned by the sys­tem.

IV. CONFIGURATION

(Utilities/Setup/Device)

Device Selections Menu

When you select “Device Setup”, your computer monitor displays a new menu.
This menu provides information about individual SCSI devices attached to the se­lected host adapter, and the adapter itself. To make changes to these settings, select
a device from the display and press Enter to bring up the individual Device Setup
menu.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 13

IV. CONFIGURATION

Device Setup Menu

When you select a specific device from the Device Selections menu, your computer
monitor displays a new menu. The settings in this menu affect individual SCSI
devices attached to the selected host adapter . Changes made from this menu do not
cause the sytem to reboot upon exit from the SCSI Configuration utility.

Sync Rate (Mega Bytes/sec) - The value set with this option defines the maximum
transfer rate the host adapter attempts to negotiate. The host adapter and a SCSI
device must agree to a rate they can both handle.

Width (bits) - The value set with this option defines the maximum data width the
host adapter attempts to negotiate. The host adapter and a SCSI device must agree
to a width they can both handle. Only host adapters that can do 16 bit data transfers
have this option enabled.

Disconnect - SCSI devices have the ability to disconnect from the bus during an I/O
transfer. This option tells the host adapter whether or not to allow a device to dis­connect. Some devices run faster with disconnects enabled (mostly newer devices),
while some run faster with disconnects disabled (mostly older devices).

Read Write I/O Timeout (secs) - This option sets the time the host adapter waits
for a read, write, verify , or seek command to complete before trying the I/O transfer

(Device Setup/Quiting)

IV. CONFIGURATION

again. Since this provides a safeguard allowing the sytem to recover if an I/O opera­tion fails, it is recommended that you always set the time-out to a value greater than
zero (no time-out).

Scan for Device at Boot Time - When there is a device you do not wish to make
available to the system, set this option to “No” for that device. Also, on a wide bus
(16 devices) with only a few devices attached, you can speed up boot time by chang­ing this setting to “No” for all unused SCSI IDs.

Scan for SCSI LUNs - (Logical Unit Number-0 to 7) You can set this option to
“No” if you have problems with a device that responds to all LUNs whether they are
occupied or not.

Queue Tags - If your device driver can issue queue tags, this option allows you to
enable or disable the issuing of queue tags during I/O requests.

Quitting the SCSI Configuration Utility

Since some changes only take affect after your system reboots, it is important that
you quit this Configuration utility properly. You should return to the Main Menu
and exit by the Quit option. If you reboot the system without properly quitting the
utility, some changes will not take be saved.

14 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Introduction

In SDMS 4.0, the SCSI BIOS for the Symbios Logic family of PCI SCSI chips is
capable of mapping SCSI hard disk drives behind any non-SCSI hard disk drives
(IDE, ESDI, etc.) within the same system. A driverless solution will allow connec­tion of up to 24 hard drives (SCSI and non-SCSI) under DOS 5.0 and above.

Full Virtual DMA Services (VDS), including features such as scatter-gather, are
also supported by the SCSI BIOS. Therefore, to gain maximum performance, you
should disable any double buffer option provided by disk caching software (such as
Microsoft’s SMARTDRV.EXE) for all drives handled through SDMS.

When You Need to Load Drivers

Connecting peripherals other than hard disk drives requires loading the appropriate
driver . Some of the drivers work together, and some are capable of direct communi­cation with a Symbios Logic PCI/SCSI controller.

ASPI8XX.SYS is an ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programming Interface) manager which
provides standard ASPI compatibility between your SCSI host adapter hardware
and ASPI compatible applications. SYMDISK.SYS is a device driver for SCSI disk
drives, and works through the ASPI manager. SYMCD.SYS is a device driver for
CDROM drives, and works through the ASPI manager.

The following sections list these drivers, their features, and their loading require­ments.

Automatic Installation of SDMS for DOS

Using the DOS Installation Utility

The Symbios Logic SDMS DOS installation utility provides a quick and easy method
for performing either an automatic or custom installation of the SCSI device drivers
in a DOS/Windows environment.

It works with any system using an SDMS supported Symbios Logic SCSI chip. The
installation utility identifies the system, scans the SCSI bus, and properly installs
the needed SCSI device drivers.

The SDMS Drivers diskette containing the DOS device drivers also holds the DOS
installation utility . To use the utility, insert disk 1 into your floppy drive while in the
DOS environment, and change to the A:\DOS directory, then type: INSTALL.
Follow the directions presented on the screens.

When performing a custom installation, an understanding of the information pre­sented in the following sections for manual installation may prove useful.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 15

(Introduction)

V. DOS/WINDOWS

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

ASPI8XX.SYS Driver Features

• Supports Advanced SCSI Programming Interface (ASPI) applications

• Supports single-threaded I/O

• Supports up to four host adapters

• Releases initialization code for smaller runtime size

• Performs synchronous negotiation (including Fast-20)

• Performs Wide SCSI negotiation

• Full VDS (Virtual DMA Services) support, including scatter-gather

• Allows Disconnect/Reselect

• Supports adapter exclusion

• Allows shared interrupts

Description

ASPI8XX.SYS is an ASPI manager which provides an interface to popular ASPI
applications. It is required when you want to use SYMDISK.SYS or SYMCD.SYS,
or whenever you want to run an ASPI application.

ASPI8XX.SYS replaces an SDMS BIOS (if present), and fully supports all devices
supported by the BIOS. If an SDMS BIOS is not present, only an ASPI interface is
provided.

V. DOS/WINDOWS

(Features)

16 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Installing Your ASPI8XX.SYS Driver

1. Use the COPY command to copy the ASPI8XX.SYS driver from the SDMS
SCSI Drivers disk to your boot disk.

2. Add this line to your system’s CONFIG.SYS file:

DEVICE=C:[path]ASPI8XX.SYS

This line must appear before any line loading other ASPI drivers (like SYMCD.SYS,
SYMDISK.SYS, or any other ASPI compliant driver/application).

Command Line Options

The ASPI8XX.SYS driver has several configurable features which are set via switches
on the command line in your CONFIG.SYS file.

In the following descriptions, ‘path’ refers to the adapter number (boot order desig­nation), and ‘id’ refers to the SCSI ID. The following conventions are also used:

[ ] items in brackets are optional
* means repeat item 0 or more times

IMPORTANT: No spaces are allowed in specifying these command line op­tions. Spaces are required between different command line options.

Using the /ASK Option

This option prompts you at system boot-up time whether to load the ASPI8XX.SYS
driver. Option Syntax: /ASK

For example, to activate this option, the line in your CONFIG.SYS file that loads
ASPI8XX.SYS should look like this: DEVICE=C:[PA TH]ASPI8XX.SYS /ASK

Using the /WIDTH (or /W) Option

The width parameter defines the maximum data width negotiated with a device. This
is used with host adapters capable of 16-bit data transfers. Valid settings are 8 or 16.

Option Syntax: /WIDTH=n<path[:id]>[,n<path[:id]>]*
For example, if your first host adapter (boot order designation = 0) is a 16-bit adapter,
and you wish to force 8-bit transfers to a device at SCSI ID 2, the line in your
CONFIG.SYS file that loads ASPI8XX.SYS should look like this:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]ASPI8XX.SYS /WIDTH=8<0:2>

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 17

(Installation)

V. DOS/WINDOWS

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Using the /DISCONNECT (or /DC) Option

SCSI devices have the ability to disconnect from the bus during an I/O transfer . This
option is used to allow a device to disconnect. If a particular host adapter has parity
checking disabled, all devices attached to it must have disconnects disabled, since
parity is required during the reselection phase. Valid options are ON (allow discon­nects) or OFF (do not allow disconnects). The default for all devices is ON.

Option Syntax: /DISCONNECT=n<path[:id]>[,n<path[:id]>]*
For example, to disable disconnects on the device attached to the first host adapter
(boot order designation = 0) at SCSI ID 2, the line in your CONFIG.SYS file that
loads ASPI8XX.SYS should look like this:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]ASPI8XX.SYS /DISCONNECT=OFF<0:2>

Using the /SYNCH_RATE (or /SR) Option

This option sets the maximum synchronous transfer rate (in mega transfers per sec­ond) to negotiate with a particular device. The allowable values are 0, 5, 10, and 20,
providing the host adapter is capable of the specified speed. T o turn of f synchronous
transfers for a particular device, you should specify 0. The default value is the fast­est rate supported by your host adapter.

Option Syntax: /SYNCH_RATE=n<path[:id]>[,n<path[:id]>]*

For example, to turn off synchronous transfers to the device attached to the first host
adapter (boot order designation = 0) at SCSI ID 3, the line in your CONFIG.SYS
file that loads ASPI8XX.SYS should look like this:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]ASPI8XX.SYS /SYNCH_RATE=0<0:3>

Using the /PARITY (or /P) Option

V. DOS/WINDOWS

(Command Lines)

This option tells your host adapter to disable the SCSI bus data integrity checking
feature known as parity. Some SCSI devices do not generate parity. Valid options
are ON (check parity) or OFF (do not check parity). The default for all devices is
ON.

WARNING: When disabling parity checking, it is necessary to disable dis­connects for that adapter since you cannot disable parity checking for r eselection.
If a device does not generate parity , and it disconnects, the I/O will never com­plete.

Option Syntax: /PARITY=n<path[,path]*>[,n<path[,path]*>]*

18 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

For example, to turn off parity checking on the first host adapter (boot order desig­nation = 0), the line in your CONFIG.SYS file that loads ASPI8XX.SYS should
look like this:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]ASPI8XX.SYS /PARITY=OFF<0>

Using the /EXCLUDE (or /X) Option

This option allows you to exclude support for an adapter that does not currently
have BIOS support. You may not exclude an adapter that is supported (included) by
the BIOS when you boot your system. This option has three required parameters:

a. PCI Device ID
b. PCI Bus Number
c. PCI Device/Function Number

These parameters identify the specific adapter you want to exclude. To obtain these
parameters, boot your system using the /VERBOSE command line option (explained
later in this section). The parameters for the adapter or path you wish to exclude will
display on your monitor. Option Syntax:

/EXCLUDE<a:b:c>[,<a;b;c>]*

For example, if you found the adapter you wish to exclude to have PCI Device ID 3,
PCI Bus Number 0, and PCI Device/Function Number 68, then the line in your
CONFIG.SYS file that loads ASPI8XX.SYS should look like this:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]ASPI8XX.SYS /EXCLUDE<3:0:68>

Using the /HOST_ID (or /ID) Option

This option lets you alter the SCSI ID for a host adapter. On an 8-bit adapter, the
SCSI IDs are 0-7. On a 16-bit adapter, the SCSI IDs are 0-15 (it is suggested that IDs
8-15 are not used for your adapter). This option will not allow you to select a SCSI
ID already in use.

NOTE: You are not allowed to change the SCSI ID of any adapter currently
supported by the BIOS.

Option Syntax: /HOST_ID=n<path>[,n<path>]*
For example, to change the SCSI ID of your second host adapter (path=1) to ID=6
(providing that adapter is not controlled by the BIOS), the line in your CONFIG.SYS
file that loads ASPI8XX.SYS should look like this:

(Command Lines)

V. DOS/WINDOWS

DEVICE=C:[PATH]ASPI8XX.SYS /HOST_ID=6<1>

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 19

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Using the /SCAM Option

This option allows you to disable support for the SCSI Plug and Play protocol
called SCAM (SCSI Configured AutoMatically). SCAM support is ON by default.
You may change the SCAM setting only if the path (adapter) specified is not con­trolled by the BIOS.

Option Syntax: /SCAM=n<path>[,n<path>]*
For example, to turn off SCAM support on the second host adapter (boot order

designation = 1), the line in your CONFIG.SYS file that loads ASPI8XX.SYS should
look like this: DEVICE=C:[PATH]ASPI8XX.SYS /SCAM=OFF<1>

Using the /TIMEOUT (or /T) Option

The ASPI8XX.SYS driver uses a time-out mechanism to detect certain errors. When
the driver issues a command to a SCSI device, a timer is started. If the timer expires
before the command completes, the driver assumes something has gone wrong, and
takes steps to recover . The default for this option is 10 seconds, if the device is BIOS
controlled.

If the device is not BIOS controled, the default is 0 seconds. Also, non-volatile
memory settings can alter these defaults.The maximum setting is 0, which is no
time-out. The range of allowable values is 0-65535 seconds.

Option Syntax: /TIMEOUT=n<path[:id]>[,n<path[:id]>]*
For example, you might have a particularly slow device (with SCSI ID 3) on the first

host adapter (boot order designation = 0). If you wish to extend the time-out for this
device to 60 seconds, the line in your CONFIG.SYS file that loads ASPI8XX.SYS
should look like this:

Using the /VERBOSE (or /V) Option

V. DOS/WINDOWS

(Command Lines)

This Option causes more detailed information to appear on your monitor, after the
ASPI8XX.SYS driver is initialized, during a system boot. This is useful if you have
multiple adapters in your system and need to know the PCI Device ID, the PCI Bus
number, and the PCI Device/Function number for each adapter. For example, this
information is required to use the /EXCLUDE option already described in this
section.

DEVICE=C:[PATH]ASPI8XX.SYS /TIMEOUT=60<0:3>

Option Syntax: /VERBOSE
For example, to see more detailed adapter information displayed when you boot, the

line in your CONFIG.SYS file that loads ASPI8XX.SYS should look like this:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]ASPI8XX.SYS /VERBOSE

20 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Troubleshooting

System Locks up during bootup

a. Check for conflicts with other ASPI managers.
b. Check for correct loading sequence in the CONFIG.SYS file.
c. Boot the system.

The device driver does not recognize one of the non-boot SCSI peripherals (sys­tem may lock up)

a. Make sure the drivers were installed in the correct sequence.
b. Make sure the drivers CONFIG.SYS line has the correct path to the drivers.
c. Power down all units in the system.
d. Make sure all SCSI devices have unique ID numbers.
e. Make sure both ends of the SCSI bus are terminated.
f. Check all cable and power connections.
g. Boot the system.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 21

(Troubleshooting)

V. DOS/WINDOWS

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

SYMDISK.SYS Driver Features

• Supports removable media devices

• Supports magneto optical devices

• Supports non-512-byte sectors (1024, 2048, 4096)

• Supports multiple logical unit number (LUN) support

• Supports multiple host adapters (with ASPI8XX.SYS)

• Can reserve drive letters for installed devices without media present in the
device (see /UNITS under Command Line Options)

• Can add drive letters

• Supports power management (to spin down drives)

Description

SYMDISK.SYS is needed when connecting drives with non-512-byte sectors, and
when connecting removable drives if the user wants to change the media. It is also
required to obtain drive letters for devices (adapters) that are not supported by a
BIOS. SYMDISK.SYS communicates through ASPI8XX.SYS. To use the
SYMDISK.SYS driver you must load ASPI8XX.SYS also.

V. DOS/WINDOWS

(Features)

22 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Installing Your SYMDISK.SYS Driver

1. Use the COPY command to copy the appropriate drivers from the SDMS SCSI
Drivers disk to your boot disk.

2. Add the lines shown below to your system’s CONFIG.SYS file.
The ASPI8XX.SYS driver is also required. List the drivers in this sequence:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]ASPI8XX.SYS
DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMDISK.SYS

Command Line Options

The SYMDISK.SYS device driver has several embedded functions which are ac­cessed via switches on the command line. These options are described below, and
use the following conventions:

[ ] items in brackets are optional
* items in brackets followed by an * means repeat 0 or more times
| choose one of the given items

IMPORTANT: No spaces are allowed in specifying these command line
options. Spaces are required between different command line options.

Using the /ASK Option

This option prompts the user at system boot-up whether to load SYMDISK.SYS or
not. To use this option, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads SYMDISK.SYS should
look like this: DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMDISK.SYS /ASK

Using the /UNITS= Option

NOTE: It is strongly suggested that you use this option when using remov-

able media with more than one partition.

SYMDISK.SYS allows the use of removable media, such as cartridge hard drives,
each of which might have a different number of partitions. If media with more than
one partition are used, set this option to the maximum number of partitions on any
one media. To use this option, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads SYMDISK.SYS
should look like this:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMDISK.SYS
/UNITS=path:id:lun:num_units
[,path:id:lun:num_units]*

(Installation)

V. DOS/WINDOWS

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 23

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

For example, if there is a removable media drive at the first host adapter set to SCSI
ID 2, and you need to reserve three partitions, the command line should look like
this: DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMDISK.SYS /UNITS=0:2:0:3

When SYMDISK.SYS initializes, it will default to either:

a. One drive letter for a removable media device with no media present.
b. The number of partitions found on the media in the removable media device.

NOTE: The full path, id, lun, and num_units values are required for this op­tion. Also, there is a limit of 24 devices.

Using the /EXCLUDE= Option

This option allows a user to exclude a ‘path:id:lun’ combination from being scanned
or controlled by SYMDISK.SYS. The path parameter is mandatory with all ids and
luns for that path excluded by default if just the path is specified. To use this option,
the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads SYMDISK.SYS should look like this:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMDISK.SYS /EXCLUDE=path[:id[:lun]]

As an example, for path 0, id 2, and lun 0 the command line should look like this:

NOTE: There is a limit of 24 ‘path:id:lun’ combinations allowed.

Using the /SSIZE= Option

SYMDISK.SYS will default to the largest sector size found during boot, handling
all different sector sizes found. In the case of removable media, SYMDISK.SYS
will assume a 512 byte sector size when no media is present. This option overcomes

V. DOS/WINDOWS

(Command Lines)

this limitation. T o use this option, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads SYMDISK.SYS
should look like this:

For example, if a removable media drive is used that has a sector size of 2048 bytes,
the command line should look like this:

[,path[:id[:lun]]]*

DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMDISK.SYS /EXCLUDE=0:2:0

DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMDISK.SYS /SSIZE=512|1024|2048|4096

DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMDISK.SYS /SSIZE=2048

NOTE: If SYMDISK.SYS comes across a sector size larger than the one speci­fied in this option, or if it finds a sector larger than the default, it will refuse to
read/write to that media. It will report an invalid media error to DOS.

24 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Using the /SPINDOWN= Option

This is a power management feature that can automatically spin down a disk when
the disk is not accessed for a specified amount of time. The default spindown time
is 15 minutes. You can specify a new spindown time in hours and minutes (hh:mm)
with a minimum time of 1 minute. To use this option, the line in CONFIG.SYS that
loads SYMDISK.SYS should look like this:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMDISK.SYS
/SPINDOWN=hh:mm<path[:id[:lun]]>
[,hh:mm<path[:id[:lun]]>]

For example, if you wish to spindown a device on path 0, id 2, and lun 0, after one
hour and five minutes of inactivity, the command line should look like this:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMDISK.SYS /SPINDOWN=1:5<0:2:0>

Or, if you wish to spindown all devices after the default time-out of 15 minutes, the
command line should look like this:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMDISK.SYS /SPINDOWN=<>

Remember, the <> are required when you specify a path:id:lun in this option.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 25

(Command Lines)

V. DOS/WINDOWS

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Troubleshooting

THE COMPUTER LOCKS UP AND WILL NOT COMPLETE BOOTING
FROM A NON-SCSI HARD DISK DRIVE

a. Refer to the drive manufacturer’s user manual.

THE COMPUTER LOCKS UP AND WILL NOT COMPLETE BOOTING
FROM A SCSI HARD DISK DRIVE

a. Is the SCSI BIOS seen during boot?

NOTE: If the SCSI BIOS is seen during boot, a banner similar to the follow­ing appears:

Symbios Logic SDMS(TM) v4.0 PCI SCSI BIOS, PCI Rev.2.0,2.1
Copyright 1995 Symbios Logic
PCI-4.xx.xx

V. DOS/WINDOWS

(Troubleshooting)

YES Go to b.
NO Power down all units in the system.

Remove all SCSI cables.
Boot system.
Is the SCSI BIOS seen during boot?
YES Power down all units in the system.

Reconnect and check all cable and power connections.
Boot system.

Go to a.
NO Power down all units in the system.
Reseat the host bus adapter.
Check CMOS setup.
Boot system.

Go to a.

26 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

b. Does the SCSI BIOS see the bootable SCSI drive?

NOTE: When the computer boots, SDMS scans the SCSI bus. Devices found
on the SCSI bus are identified as in the following lines:

HBA ID LUN VENDOR PRODUCT REV ....

0 2 0 SEAGATE ST31230N 0060 ....

0 7 0 Symbios SYM53C875 0003 ....

YES Go to c.
NO Power down all units in the system.

Make sure the hard drives have different ID numbers (boot drive
should have lowest ID).

Make sure both ends of the SCSI bus are terminated.
Check all cable and power connections.
Check CMOS setup.
Boot system.
Go to a.

c. If boot is still unsuccessful, go to the following item.

THE DEVICE DRIVER DOES NOT RECOGNIZE ONE OF THE NON-BOOT
SCSI PERIPHERALS (system may lock up)

a. Make sure the drivers were installed in the correct sequence.
b. Make sure the drivers’ CONFIG.SYS line has the correct path to the drivers.
c. Power down all units in the system.
d. Make sure the hard drives have different ID numbers (boot drive should have

lowest ID).
e. Make sure both ends of the SCSI bus are terminated.
f. Check all cable and power connections.
g. Boot the system.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 27

(Troubleshooting)

V. DOS/WINDOWS

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

SYMCD.SYS Driver Features

• Compatible with Microsoft’s CD-ROM Extension 2.21 and above

• Multi-session Photo CD support

• Support for reading CCDA disks

Description

SYMCD.SYS is needed whenever a CD-ROM device is connected on the SCSI bus.
Y ou must load it in conjunction with Microsoft’ s CD-ROM Extension 2.21 or above
(MSCDEX.EXE). SYMCD.SYS communicates through ASPI8XX.SYS, so you must
load ASPI8XX.SYS to use SYMCD.SYS.

Installing Your SYMCD.SYS Driver

1. Use the COPY command to copy the appropriate driver(s) from the SDMS
SCSI Drivers disk to your boot disk.

2. Add SYMCD.SYS to your CONFIG.SYS file. It goes in after ASPI8XX.SYS
and SYMDISK.SYS (if this driver is also being used), in this order:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]ASPI8XX.SYS
DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMDISK.SYS
DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMCD.SYS /D:NAME

NOTE: The /D: is not a drive letter designation; it indicates the name you wish
assigned to your CD-ROM. You must include the NAME, which can use any
combination of up to 8 characters.

V. DOS/WINDOWS

(Features)

3. To insure that sufficient drive letters are available to identify all devices con­nected to the SCSI bus, add the MS-DOS LASTDRIVE command to the
CONFIG.SYS file: LASTDRIVE=x with x specifying a drive letter in the
range C through Z. The letter assigned to LASTDRIVE represents the last
valid drive MS-DOS is able to recognize and also represents the maximum
number of drives available. For example, LASTDRIVE=K allows access to
eleven (11) logical drives. For further details about LASTDRIVE, consult your
MS-DOS manual.

4. Unless your CD-ROM access software specifies otherwise, Microsoft’s CD­ROM Extension (MSCDEX.EXE) should execute from the AUTOEXEC.BAT
file in order to access your drive. Add the following line to your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file: [PATH]MSCDEX /D:NAME
For example, if: DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMCD.SYS /D:MY_CD is in
CONFIG.SYS, then:[PATH]MSCDEX /D:MY_CD should exist in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

5. Check installation instructions for the CD-ROM drive itself for other param­eters necessary to include with MSCDEX.

6. When MSCDEX is loaded during the AUTOEXEC.BAT file execution, a mes­sage is returned assigning a drive letter to the CD-ROM drive. For example:

DRIVE E = DRIVER MY_CD UNIT 0

This informs you that the CD-ROM drive is recognized and ready for use.

28 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Command Line Options

The SYMCD.SYS device driver has several embedded functions available, which
are accessed via switches on the command line. An explanation of these options
follows. IMPORTANT: No spaces are allowed in specifying these command

line options. Spaces are required between different command line options.

Using the /ASK Option

This option prompts the user at initialization time whether to load SYMCD.SYS or
not. For example, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads SYMCD.SYS would look
like this: DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMCD.SYS /D:MY_CD /ASK

Using the /UPTOLUN= Option

This option is used to support multiple LUNs per Target ID on the SCSI bus. It is
needed to support CDROM changers that hold several CDs at one time, such as the
Pioneer DRM604x. For example, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads SYMCD.SYS
would look like this:DEVICE=C:[P A TH]SYMCD.SYS /D:MY_CD /UPTOLUN=x
where ‘x’ is in the range of 0 to 7. It uses LUN 0 through LUN x to assign a separate
drive letter for each of the x+1 CDs in the CD magazine. The SYMCD.SYS driver
defaults to supporting LUN 0 only.

Using the /NOBCD Option

This Option is used to support the Trantor Music Box CD audio application. Using
this option prevents the track numbers from being converted to BCD (Binary Coded
Decimal). If this option is used with CD audio applications such as Adaptec’s cdplayer ,
Corel’s cd-audio, or Future Domain’s cdaudio, track numbers >16 are not reported
correctly because these applications require binary track numbers. For example, the
line in CONFIG.SYS that loads SYMCD.SYS would look like this:

DEVICE=C:[PATH]SYMCD.SYS /NOBCD

Troubleshooting

THE CD-ROM DRIVE IS NOT SEEN AT BOOT TIME, OR THE SYSTEM
LOCKS UP

a. Make sure the required drivers are installed and in the correct sequence.
b. Make sure the driver’s CONFIG.SYS line has the correct path to the driver.
c. Make sure MSCDEX, in the AUTOEXEC.BAT, has the same drive name as

the CDROM driver in the CONFIG.SYS file.
d. Make sure there is no ID or drive letter designation conflict.
e. Power down all units in the system.
f. Check the cable and power connections.
g. Make sure the SCSI bus is properly terminated.
h. Make sure sufficient drive letters are specified (through the MS-DOS lastdrive=

command) to include your CD-ROM. A CD-ROM which uses multiple disks

requires a letter for each disk.

(Command Lines)

V. DOS/WINDOWS

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 29

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

WIN8XX.386 Driver Features

• Supports W indows Advanced SCSI Programming Interface (ASPI) applications

• Supports 32-bit Disk Access in Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups

3.11 via the FastDisk interface

• Processes all I/O requests, including ASPI requests, using 32-bit protected­mode code for the highest possible performance

Description

WIN8XX.386 is both a Windows FastDisk driver and an ASPI Manager for Win­dows which provides an interface to popular ASPI applications. It is required when
you want to use 32-bit Disk Access in Windows. Even though WIN8XX.386 con­trols all SCSI drives on your Symbios Logic host adapter, Windows allows 32-bit
Disk Access on the first two drives only.

Installing Your WIN8XX.386 Driver

1. Use the COPY command to copy the WIN8XX.386 driver from the SDMS SCSI

2. Add an entry in the [386Enh] section of your Windows SYSTEM.INI file, as

3. Add an entry in the [386Enh] section of your Windows SYSTEM.INI file, as

V. DOS/WINDOWS

(Features)

4. Add an entry in the [386Enh] section of your Windows SYSTEM.INI file, as

5. Remove an entry from the [386Enh] section of your Windows SYSTEM.INI

Drivers disk to your boot disk. For example, to copy the driver to your system’ s
Windows SYSTEM directory, use the command shown below:

copy a:\WIN8XX.386 c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM

shown below: device=WIN8XX.386
In the example shown above, the driver is in the Windows SYSTEM directory.
If you choose to place the driver in another location, simply specify the com­plete path along with the filename shown in the example.

shown below: device=*int13
This entry may or may not already exist in your SYSTEM.INI file, depending
on the hardware present when you installed Windows. Check to make sure
that it appears only once in your SYSTEM.INI file.

shown below: 32BitDiskAccess=off
This entry may or may not already exist in your SYSTEM.INI file, depending
on the hardware present when you installed W indows. Check to make sure that
it appears only once in your SYSTEM.INI file.

file, either by removing the line completely, or by placing a semicolon in col­umn one of the line so it is treated as a comment, as shown below:

;device=*wdctrl

30 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

This entry may or may not already exist in your SYSTEM.INI file, depending
on the hardware present when you installed Windows. This entry controls the
loading of the standard FastDisk driver that ships with W indows for the purpose
of providing 32-bit Disk Access to an IDE drive. This driver is not compatible
with vendor-supplied FastDisk drivers, such as WIN8XX.386.

6. Use the COPY command to copy the WIN8XX.DLL driver from the SDMS
SCSI Drivers disk to your boot disk. For example, to copy the driver to your
system’s Windows SYSTEM directory, use the command shown below:
copy a:\WIN8XX.DLL c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WINASPI.DLL

NOTE: In the above statement the file name is changed. This is important.

7. Add profile switches to your SYSTEM.INI file, as necessary. See below for a
detailed description.

Command Line Options

Profile settings are the Windows equivalent of DOS command line options. They
are entered into a particular section of your SYSTEM.INI file which resides in your
Windows directory. Edit SYSTEM.INI and add a section anywhere (except in the
middle of another section like [386Enh]) called [Win8xx]. For example, the section
might look like this:

[Win8xx]
Synchronous=on
Wide=off
Disconnect=on
SCAM=off
ParityChecking=on
Timeout=0<>
Verbose=OFF

In the following descriptions, ‘ha_num’ refers to the adapter number (boot order
designation). Please note that this version of the driver only supports one adapter,
so the host adapter number is always zero.

In the following descriptions ‘id’ refers to the SCSI device ID.
These conventions are also used:

[ ] items in brackets are optional
* means repeat 0 or more times

IMPORT ANT: No spaces are allowed in specifying any of these options. Spaces
are required between different options.

(Command Lines)

V. DOS/WINDOWS

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 31

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Using the SYNCHRONOUS Option

Synchronous=ON or OFF (Default = ON)

This option allows you to turn off SCSI synchronous transfers. By default they are
on, which is faster. However, if you are having problems with your system you
might want to try turning synchronous off.

Using the WIDE Option

Wide=ON or OFF (Default = ON)
This option allows you to turn off SCSI wide transfers. By default they are on,
which is faster if you have a wide disk drive. However, if you are having problems
with your system you might want to try turning wide off.

Using the DISCONNECT Option

Disconnect=ON or OFF (Default = ON)

This option allows you to turn off SCSI disconnects. By default they are on, which
is sometimes faster. However, if you are having problems with your system you
might want to try turning disconnects off.

Using the SCAM Option

SCAM=ON or OFF (Default = ON)

This option allows you to turn off SCAM (SCSI Configured Auto-Matically). By
default SCAM is on. If you have a SCAM capable SCSI peripheral, SCAM auto­matically assigns SCSI device ID’s to avoid conflicts. If you are having problems
with your system you might want to try turning SCAM off.

Using the PARITYCHECKING Option

ParityChecking=ON or OFF (Default = ON)

This option allows you to turn off SCSI parity checking. By default it is on. Parity
is a mandatory part of SCSI-2, however some old peripherals may not support par­ity. If you are having problems with your system you might want to try turning
parity checking off.

V. DOS/WINDOWS

(Command Lines)

Typically this is necessary only if you add a new peripheral that doesn’t support
parity. CD-ROM drives sometimes do not support parity.

Using the VERBOSE Option

Verbose=ON or OFF (Default = OFF)

This option allows you to turn on verbose mode for the driver. This displays a
message with the version of the driver each time the driver is loaded. This is a good
way to make sure the driver is loaded. Typically you want to set this ON once, then
turn it off until you need it again so the message is not displayed each time the driver
loads.

Using the FASTDISK Option

Fastdisk=ON or OFF (Default = ON)

32 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

This option allows you to turn off the FASTDISK portion of this driver. The
FASTDISK portion allows 32-Bit Disk Access on a SCSI drive at C: or D:. Since
Windows only allows 32-Bit Disk Access on one kind of drive at a time, you may
want to disable it for your SCSI drive so you can use it on an IDE drive you have in
your system. This allows the ASPI portion of the driver to continue to function,
while the FASTDISK (32-Bit Disk Access) portion is disabled.

Using the TIMEOUT Option

Timeout=n (Default = 0, which disables time-outs)

Option Syntax:

Timeout=n<ha_num[:id]>[,n<ha_num[:id]>]*

(n = time-out value in seconds for device, n=(0..65535), 0=infinite)
WIN8XX.386 uses a time-out mechanism to detect certain errors. When

WIN8XX.386 issues a command to a SCSI device, a timer is started. If the timer
expires before the command completes, WIN8XX.386 assumes that something has
gone wrong with the device, and takes steps to recover . The default value for this is
zero, which means time-outs are disabled by default.

It is recommended that you use time-out values of at least 10 minutes (600 seconds)
for SCSI tape devices, since they have many commands which take much longer to
complete. The SYMDISK.SYS and SYMCD.SYS drivers use time-outs of their
own (typically 10 to 30 seconds). A time-out value of up to 65535 seconds (over

18.2 hours) is possible.
For example, if you have a particularly slow device on your host adapter (ha_num=0)

at id=3, and you wish to extend the time-out on this device to 60 seconds, the line in
SYSTEM.INI should look like this:

[Win8xx] T imeout=60<0:3>

As another example, suppose you have a tape drive on your host adapter (ha_num=0)
at id=3, and you wish to set the time-out on this device to 600 seconds. Suppose you
also have a scanner on your host adapter (ha_num=0) at id=2, and you wish to set
the time-out on this device to 30 minutes (1800 seconds). The line in SYSTEM.INI
should look like this:

Timeout=1800<0:2>,60<0:3>

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 33

(Command Lines)

V. DOS/WINDOWS

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Troubleshooting

WINDOWS DISPLA YS THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE WHILE BOOTING:

The Microsoft Windows 32-bit disk driver (WDCTRL) cannot be loaded. There is
unrecognizable disk software installed on this computer.

a. Make sure the line controlling WDCTRL in your SYSTEM.INI is either re-

moved or commented out, as explained in the driver installation instructions.

b. Re-boot the system.

THE DRIVER DOES NOT RECOGNIZE ONE OF THE NON-BOOT SCSI
PERIPHERALS (system may lock up)

a. Make sure the driver is installed properly according to the driver installation

instructions.
b. Power down all devices in the system.
c. Make sure all SCSI devices have unique ID numbers.
d. Make sure the SCSI bus is properly terminated.
e. Check all cable and power connections.
f. Boot the system.

A MESSAGE SAYING ASPI8XX.SYS IS NOT LOADED IS DISPLAYED

a. Load ASPI8XX.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS.

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS DISPLAYED WHEN YOU TRY TO EN­TER THE VIR TUAL MEMORY SETTINGS IN THE 386 ENHANCED SEC­TION OF THE CONTROL PANEL

32-bit File Access was unable to run. This may be because you started the network
before starting W indows, because Windows could not find the IFSHLP.SYS driver,
or your hard disk(s) may be incompatible with 32-bit File Access.

a. Make sure IFSHLP.SYS is being loaded in your CONFIG.SYS. It should

V. DOS/WINDOWS

(Troubleshooting)

A WINDOWS ASPI APPLICATION SUCH AS COLORADO BACKUP FOR
WINDOWS SAYS IT CAN’T FIND AN ASPI MANAGER

a. Colorado Backup for Windows, and possibly other programs, leave a copy of

appear there when W indows For Workgroups 3.11 is installed, but sometimes

it does not.

WINASPI.DLL for another vendor’s host adapter in the directory in which it

is installed. When WINASPI.DLL is looked for, it is found in that directory

before looking in your Windows system directory. To fix the problem, delete

or rename WINASPI.DLL in the Colorado Backup For Windows directory.

WIN8XX.386 DISPLA YS THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE WHILE LOADING

Win8xx VxD Initialization Error:
FastDisk registration failed for drive 80h (C:) (or 81h (D:)).
Please check the settings in your SYSTEM.INI file.

a. In this case, check the [386Enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file to make

sure you have the line: device=*int13.

34 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Important Additional Information For Windows

Enabling 32-bit Disk and File Access in Windows

Only Windows for Workgroups 3.11 offers both 32-bit Disk and File access. To
enable these features, make sure your system is backed up, then do the following:

1. Select the Control Panel applet in the Main program group.

2. Select the 386 Enhanced icon.

3. Select the Virtual Memory settings.

4. Select the Change button.

5. Check the two boxes at the bottom of the screen to enable 32-Bit Disk Access
and 32-Bit File Access. Make sure the swapfile is set to permanent.

6. Click OK.

7. Click Restart Computer.

Restrictions

This version of the driver has the following restrictions: This version only supports
one host adapter. The NVRAM settings in the Configuration Utility for the SDMS

4.0 BIOS are not yet supported by this driver.

Important Additional Information For DOS

Assignment of Drive Letters

The MS-DOS operating system assigns drive letters to primary partitions first. Af­ter the primary partitions have been assigned drive letters the logical partitions are
assigned drive letters. Do not assume that the drive letter designations will follow
consecutively from device to device within a PC system. An Example:

A PC system is configured with an IDE hard disk as the boot drive, a SCSI hard disk,
and a CD-ROM drive. The IDE drive has three partitions: one primary and two
logical. The SCSI hard disk has two partitions: one primary and one logical. The
SCSI hard disk is assigned ID one, and the CD-ROM is ID four . The distribution of
the drive letters is:

A: 3 1/2" floppy drive
B: 5 1/4" floppy drive
C: IDE primary partition
D: SCSI primary partition
E: IDE first logical partition
F: IDE second logical partition
G: SCSI logical partition
H: CD-ROM

V. DOS/WINDOWS

(Additional Information)

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 35

V. DOS/WINDOWS DRIVERS

Using the SDMS DOS Utilities

SCSI Low-level Format Utility

This utility allows you to low-level format SCSI hard disk drives connected to
Symbios Logic PCI to SCSI host adapters. The utility is labeled SCSIFMT.EXE,
and is located on your Symbios Logic SDMS drivers diskette 2 at:
\FMT-UTIL\SCSIFMT.EXE

It is recommended that you place this utility on a DOS bootable diskette. You should
execute it from this diskette rather than from a hard disk drive. This minimizes the
possibility of interfering with your system.

When you run the format utility , it scans the SCSI bus for all hard disk drives. Then
it generates a display showing the devices found. You may select devices from this
display for the utility to format.

WARNING: Use extreme caution when selecting a drive for formatting. The
format process completely removes all information on a drive.

Host Adapter Flash Utility

This utility allows you to update the Symbios Logic PCI SCSI BIOS on a host
adapter based on a SYM53C815, SYM53C825, or SYM53C875 controller. New
versions of the PCI SCSI BIOS are released periodically. Your host adapter must
have a flash EEPROM onboard to use this utility.

The utility is labeled FLASH8X5.EXE, and is located on your Symbios Logic SDMS
drivers diskette 1 at:\BIOS\FLASH8X5.EXE It is necessary that you place this
utility on a DOS bootable diskette, and execute it from this diskette rather than from
a hard disk drive. Power down any hard disk drives attached to the host adapter you
are updating.

(Additional Information)

V. DOS/WINDOWS

36 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VI. WINDOWS 95 DRIVERS

SDMS DRIVER SYMC8XX.MPD V2.02.00
Introduction for Windows 95

Windows 95 is an operating system designed to run on Intel processors using cur­rent technology. It provides a graphical user interface environment incorporating
many high-level features (refer to the Microsoft Windows 95 documentation for
details). I/O requests in Windows 95 are handled by an I/O manager. To address a
SCSI peripheral, the I/O manager goes through the appropriate drivers. Class driv­ers for hard disk, floptical, CD-ROM, printer, and scanner peripherals are provided
in W indows 95. Other class drivers, provided by peripheral manufacturers, are added
to support new devices. Symbios Logic/Microsoft provides a miniport driver , called
SYMC8XX.MPD, to complete the path to a Symbios Logic controller or processor
with an optional SDMS SCSI BIOS. The following sections describe this driver and
its installation.

Features

• Synchronous negotiation (including Fast/Ultra SCSI)

• Wide negotiation

• Auto Request Sense

• Supports multiple host adapters

• Supports multiple Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs)

• Disconnect/Reselect

• Scatter-Gather

• Differential Support

• Supports SCSI pass-through functionality

• BUS device reset

• Scan order change (scans the bus from SCSI ID 0 to MAX SCSI ID [7 or 15])

• Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) Support (20 MB/s narrow, 40 MB/s wide)

• SCAM Support (SCSI Configured AutoMatically)

(SDMS )

VI. WINDOWS 95

Description

SYMC8XX.MPD is designed to Microsoft’ s specification for miniport drivers. This
driver allows connection of SCSI devices including disk drives, CD-ROMs, and
tape drives for PCI-based machines. T o support a new SCSI device the Windows 95
architecture requires that a class driver for that type device is present (usually sup­plied by Microsoft, or possibly by the peripheral manufacturer). No changes to
SYMC8XX.MPD are required. This driver is only supported under Windows 95.

SCSI commands are passed directly from a Windows application to the SCSI de­vices by using the SCSI pass-through facility (refer to the Microsoft Windows 95
documentation for details). This facility allows applications to directly control and
access SCSI devices by filling in a data structure and calling in to the port driver.

The SYMC8XX.MPD driver supports Ultra SCSI protocol, providing twice the raw
data transfer rate of Fast SCSI for disk drives and Symbios Logic host adapters that
support Ultra SCSI. However, Ultra SCSI requires more stringent SCSI bus cabling

setups than Fast SCSI.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 37

VI. WINDOWS 95 DRIVERS

VI. WINDOWS 95

(Installation)

Installing Your SYMC8XX.MPD Driver

Preparing a Symbios Driver Diskette

Copy the files listed below (supplied to you on diskette) to the root directory of a
clean floppy diskette, and use this Symbios Driver diskette during installation.

New System Installation

This procedure installs the SYMC8XX.MPD driver onto a W indows 95 system. Use
this procedure when initially upgrading to W indows 95. Windows 95 automatically
adds the driver to the registry and copies the driver to the appropriate directories.

NOTE: Some Symbios Logic PCI SCSI host adapters are supported by a driver
bundled in Windows 95. For these adapters, the bundled driver is automati­cally installed during Windows 95 Setup. To change to the SYMC8XX.MPD
driver, follow the instructions for Existing System Installation after Windows
95 installation is completed.

1. Initiate Windows 95 Setup according to the Microsoft instructions.

2. Setup enters the hardware detection phase after a system reboot. (“Setting up

3. If the host adapter is not supported by the bundled driver, Setup displays a

4. Insert the Symbios Driver diskette into drive A: and select the A:\WIN95 di-

5. Windows 95 automatically copies the appropriate driver files and rebuilds its

6. A “System Settings Change” dialog box is displayed. Remove the flex disk

SYMC8XX.MPD
SYMC8XX.INF

Hardware” message box is displayed.) If the message “NCR PCI SCSI Host
Adapter” is displayed, then the host adapter is supported by the bundled driver,
and it is installed automatically . After W indows 95 installation completes, you
can install the SYMC8XX.MPD driver according to the “Existing System In­stallation” instructions.

New Hardware Found - PCI SCSI Bus Controller dialog box. Select “Driver
from disk provided by hardware manufacturer” and click OK.
NOTE: If ASPI8XX.SYS (the Symbios Logic SDMS 4.0 DOS ASPI driver)
is loaded when beginning the W indows 95 installation, no messages about PCI
SCSI Bus Controllers is displayed. The installation completes, but real-mode
disk drivers are used. See Verifying Correct Driver Installation below. To
install the SYMC8XX.MPD driver (which disables loading of the
ASPI8XX.SYS driver under Windows 95), see Existing System Using
ASPI8XX.SYS DOS ASPI Driver below.

rectory , then click OK. (If using drive B:, you must select it from the pick list.)
driver database.
from the drive and click Yes to restart the computer.

At this point, Windows 95 Setup completes and the new driver is operational.
To verify this, see the section “Verifying Correct Driver Installation”

NOTE: At driver installation, the Symbios Logic PCI (53C8XX) Miniport driver
defaults to Ultra SCSI support turned OFF. T o enable Ultra SCSI support, see
Enabling/Disabling Ultra SCSI Support below.

38 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VI. WINDOWS 95 DRIVERS

Existing System Installation

This procedure installs the SYMC8XX.MPD driver onto an existing Windows 95
system.

1. Boot Windows 95.

2. Click Start. Move to Settings, Control Panel, and click.

3. Double-click on the System icon.

4. Click on the Device Manager tab.
NOTE: If the SCSI controllers entry , or the PCI NCR C8xx SCSI Host Adapter

entry do not exist, the system is probably using the ASPI8XX.SYS DOS ASPI
driver . See the section Existing System Using ASPI8XX.SYS DOS ASPI Driver
below .

5. Either double-click on the SCSI controllers entry, or click once on the plus
sign to the left of it.

(Installation)

VI. WINDOWS 95

6.

Select the PCI NCR C8xx SCSI Host Adapter entry . Click the Properties button.

7. Click the Driver button. The version of the currently active driver should
display in the File details section.

8. Click the Change Driver... button.

9. Even though you may have previously installed the SYMC8XX.MPD driver,
click the Have Disk... button to install a newer version.

10. Insert the Symbios Driver diskette in drive A: and select A:\WIN95 directory,
then click OK. (If using drive B:, you must select it from the pick list.)

11. The Select Device dialog box should display “Symbios Logic 8xxxx PCI SCSI
Host Adapter”, where 8xxxx matches the installed adapter. Click OK.

12. The Driver tab is updated to display the new driver files.
To install these driver files, click OK. [Do NOT click the Change Driver...

button.] The driver files are copied and a new driver database is built.

13. A “System Settings Change” dialog box is displayed. Remove the flex disk
from the drive and click Yes to restart the computer.

At this point, the new driver is operational. To verify this, see the section
“Verifying Correct Driver Installation”

NOTE: At driver installation, the Symbios Logic PCI (53C8XX) Miniport driver
defaults to Ultra SCSI support turned OFF. T o enable Ultra SCSI support, see
Enabling/Disabling Ultra SCSI Support below.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 39

VI. WINDOWS 95 DRIVERS

VI. WINDOWS 95

(Installation)

Existing System Using ASPI8XX.SYS DOS ASPI Driver

This procedure installs the SYMC8XX.MPD driver onto an existing Windows 95
system which is using the ASPI8XX.SYS DOS ASPI driver. You can check this by
using the Verifying Correct Driver Installation instructions below.

1. Boot Windows 95.

2. Click Start. Move to Settings, Control Panel, and click.

3. Double-click on the System icon.

4. Click on the Device Manager tab.

5. Either double-click on the Other entry , or click once on the plus sign to the left

6. Select the PCI SCSI Bus Controller entry. Click the Properties button.

7. Click the Driver button. A message should state that no drivers are installed

8. Click the Change Driver... button.

9. In the Select Hardware Type dialog box, select SCSI Controllers.

of it.

for this device.

10. In the Select Device dialog box, click the Have Disk button.

11. Insert the Symbios Driver diskette into drive A: and select the A:\WIN95 di­rectory , then click OK. (If using drive B:, you must select it from the pick list.)

12. The Select Device dialog box should display “Symbios Logic 8xxxx PCI SCSI
Host Adapter”, where 8xxxx matches the installed adapter. Click OK.

13. The Driver tab is updated to display the new driver files. T o install these driver
files, click OK. [Do NOT click the Change Driver... button.] The driver files
is copied and a new driver database is built.

14. A “System Settings Change” dialog box is displayed. Ignore the message
saying to turn off your conputer and change hardware settings. Remove the
flex disk from the drive and click Yes to shut down the computer. Press Ctrl­Alt-Delete or the system reset button to restart the system.

At this point, the new driver is operational. To verify this, see the section
“Verifying Correct Driver Installation”

NOTE: At driver installation, the Symbios Logic PCI (53C8XX) Miniport driver
defaults to Ultra SCSI support turned OFF. T o enable Ultra SCSI support, see
Enabling/Disabling Ultra SCSI Support below.

40 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VI. WINDOWS 95 DRIVERS

Verifying Correct Driver Installation

After installing/updating with the SYMC8XX.MPD driver, you should verify proper
operation of the driver.

1. Check that all devices on the SCSI bus are available via My Computer. Double­click on the My Computer icon. Check that all logical SCSI hard drives and
CD-ROM drives are shown.

2. Click the Start button, move to Settings, Control Panel, and click. Double­click on the System icon. Click the Device Manager tab. Check that no host
adapter is displayed with a yellow or red symbol under the SCSI controllers
entry . If there is, continue with the steps below to help determine the problem.

3. Either double-click on the SCSI controllers entry, or click once on the plus
sign to the left of it. One entry for each host adapter installed in the system is
displayed. Select an entry , then click the Properties button. The Device Status
message should read “This device is working properly .” If any other messages
appear, continue with the steps below to get more information on the problem.

(Installation)

VI. WINDOWS 95

4. Click the Driver tab. Two entries should appear, one for SYMC8XX.INF and
one for SYMC8XX.MPD. The INF file does not contain embedded version
information, so the File Details are all Not Available. Select the
SYMC8XX.MPD file. The file version of the driver is displayed.

5. Click Cancel to leave the Host Adapter Properties dialog box. Click on the
Performance tab. A list of performance attributes is displayed. Below the list,
you should see the message “Your system is configured for optimal perfor­mance.” If any other messages appear , select each message and click the De­tails button. This provides more information on why the system is not per­forming optimally and methods to correct the problem. If no problems are
encountered in the above steps, the new driver is operating properly. Other­wise, consult the section on Troubleshooting for additional information.

Command Line Options

There are no command line options with the Windows 95 device driver.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 41

VI. WINDOWS 95

(Troubleshooting)

Troubleshooting

DURING INSTALLATION, NO SCSI DEVICES ARE FOUND

a. Insure that all devices are powered on and terminated correctly.
b. Check that no devices have duplicate SCSI IDs.
c. Make sure INT A is assigned for the PCI slot(s) where your SCSI host adapter(s)

SYSTEM CRASHES DURING INSTALLATION WITH A MESSAGE INDI­CATING INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE

a. This error is usually associated with an IRQ, DMA channel, I/O (chip) ad-

PROBLEMS WITH UL TRA SCSI DEVICES USING ULTRA SCSI PROT OCOL

a. If the system is configured with a Symbios Logic host adapter that supports

b. If the system is bootable, disable Ultra SCSI support using the procedure de­c. If the system is not bootable to Windows 95, hold down F8 when Starting

d. If the system operates properly without Ultra SCSI enabled, it is highly likely

VI. WINDOWS 95 DRIVERS

are installed.

dress, or BIOS address conflict. Set the SCSI host bus adapter board to use a
different interrupt.

Ultra SCSI, an Ultra SCSI device is on the SCSI bus, and Ultra SCSI support
by the SYMC8XX.MPD driver is enabled, intermittent problems and possible
system crashes can occur if the SCSI bus cable and terminators do not con­form to the Ultra SCSI specification.

scribed above.
Windows 95... is displayed. At the menu, select Safe Mode. Once the system

is booted, disable Ultra SCSI support using the procedure described below.
that the SCSI bus cable and terminators are not configured correctly for Ultra

SCSI. See the Symbios Logic host adapter hardware manual for information
on Ultra SCSI cabling requirements.

42 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VI. WINDOWS 95 DRIVERS

Important Additional Information

Enabling/Disabling Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) Support

Once the SYMC8XX.MPD driver is installed, support for Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) is
enabled or disabled using the Device Manager . Ultra SCSI is enabled/disabled on a
per adapter basis. Use this procedure for enabling/disabling Ultra SCSI Support:

1. Click the Start button, move to Settings, Control Panel, and click.
Double-click on the System icon. Click the Device Manager tab.

2. Either double-click on the SCSI controllers entry, or click once on the plus
sign to the left of it. One entry for each host adapter installed in the system is
displayed. Select the adapter desired, then click the Properties button. Click
the Settings tab.

3. The Adapter settings entry will display “Fast20_Support=x;”, where x is 0 or

1. Do not change anything but the number just to the right of the equal sign.
Set this number to:

1 for Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) enabled
0 for Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) disabled

4. Click OK to exit the Settings tab.

5. Click OK again. If the entry was changed, the “System Settings Change”
dialog box is displayed. Click Yes to restart the computer. After the system
reboots, the new setting for Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) is in effect.

VI. WINDOWS 95

(Additional Information)

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 43

VI. WINDOWS 95 DRIVERS

(Additional Information)

VI. WINDOWS 95

Multiple Symbios Logic Host Adapter Considerations

If multiple Symbios Logic PCI SCSI host adapters are installed in the system, spe­cial actions are sometimes required to install or change drivers. This is due to the
fact that some Symbios Logic host adapters are supported by the bundled driver, and
also that one Symbios driver supports all Symbios host adapters installed in the
system.

With multiple Symbios adapters, it is possible to have a situation where one adapter
is assigned to one driver, and another is assigned to a different driver. This can
cause conflicts which may cause the system to switch to real-mode drivers, affect­ing performance and access to CD-ROM or tape drives.

There are two methods for ensuring that all Symbios Logic host adapters are con­trolled by only one driver (when installing additional boards or updating drivers).

Method 1

Using the Device Manager, change the driver for a particular host adapter to the
desired driver, but when asked to reboot the system for the new settings to take
effect, click No. Change drivers for all Symbios Logic host adapters in the system to
the new driver, and reply No to rebooting until the final adapter is changed. If
booting from a SCSI device, check that the adapter controlling this device is the last
one changed.

Method 2

Determine which driver file is active for all adapters through the Properties tab in
Device Manager. Go to the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS directory and re­name the driver file to an extension other than MPD. Reboot the system. While
booting, the system may ask to load the bundled driver file from the Windows 95
installation disk. Click OK, then when the system says it can’t find the file, click
Skip File. Do this for all adapter messages while booting. After the system is booted,
use the Device Manager to change the driver for each adapter to the desired driver.
Do not reply Yes to reboot the system until the final adapter has been changed.

44 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VII.WINDOWS NT DRIVERS

SDMS DRIVER SYMC8XX.SYS V2.03.00

This file describes the features and use of the Symbios Logic SDMS device driver
for the Windows NT 3.5x/4.x operating system environment. It is divided into the
following sections:

Introduction for Windows NT 3.5x/4.x
Features
Description
Installing Your SYMC8XX.SYS Driver
Preparing a Symbios Driver Diskette
New System Installation
Existing System Installation
Command Line Options
Troubleshooting
Important Additional Information
Enabling/Disabling Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) Support

(Introduction)

VII. WINDOWS NT

Introduction for Window NT 3.5x/4.x

Windows NT 3.5x/4.x is an operating system designed to run on processors using
current technology . It provides a graphical user interface environment incorporating
many high-level features (refer to the Microsoft Windows NT 3.5x/4.x documenta­tion for details). I/O requests in Windows NT 3.5x/4.x are handled by an I/O man­ager. To address a SCSI peripheral, the I/O manager goes through the appropriate
drivers. Class drivers for hard disk, floptical, CD-ROM, printer, and scanner periph­erals are provided in Windows NT 3.5x/4.x. You may add other class drivers, pro­vided by peripheral manufacturers, to support new devices. Tape device support is
built into the operating system itself and does not require a class driver. Symbios
Logic/Microsoft provides a miniport driver, called SYMC8XX.SYS, to complete
the path to a Symbios Logic controller or processor with an optional SDMS SCSI
BIOS. The following sections describe this driver and its installation.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 45

Features

• Synchronous negotiation (including Fast/Ultra SCSI)

• Wide negotiation

• Tagged command queuing

• Supports multiple host adapters

• Supports multiple Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs)

• Disconnect/Reselect

VII. WINDOWS NT

(Features)

• Scatter-gather

• Differential support

• Supports SCSI pass-through functionality

• BUS device reset

• Scan order change (scans the bus from SCSI ID 0 to MAX SCSI ID [7 or 15])

• Supports disk array configurations with no LUN 0

• Supports disk array configurations with non-contiguous LUNs

• Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) support (20 MB/s narrow, 40 MB/s wide)

• User selectable enabling/disabling of 8xx chip’s scripts prefetch option

• User selectable enabling/disabling of PCI Cache Line support for thePCI com-

VII. WINDOWS NT DRIVERS

mands Read Line, Read Multiple and Write-and -Invalidate.

Description

SYMC8XX.SYS is designed to Microsoft’s specification for miniport drivers. This
driver allows connection of SCSI devices including disk drives, CD-ROMs, and tape
drives for PCI-based machines. T o support a new SCSI device the W indows NT 3.5x/

4.x architecture requires that a class driver for that type device is present (usually
supplied by Microsoft, or possibly by the peripheral manufacturer). No changes to
SYMC8XX.SYS are required. This driver is only supported under Windows NT 3.5
and later versions (including NT 4.0). It does not run under earlier versions of NT.

SCSI commands are passed directly from a Windows application to the SCSI de­vices by using the SCSI pass-through facility (refer to the Microsoft Windows NT

3.5x/4.x documentation for details). This facility allows applications to directly control
and access SCSI devices by filling in a data structure and calling in to the port driver .

The SYMC8XX.SYS driver supports Ultra SCSI protocol, providing twice the raw
data transfer rate of Fast SCSI for disk drives and Symbios Logic host adapters that
support Ultra SCSI. However, Ultra SCSI requires more stringent SCSI bus cabling
setups than Fast SCSI.

46 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VII. WINDOWS NT DRIVERS

Installing Your SYMC8XX.SYS Driver

Preparing a Symbios Driver Diskette

Copy the files listed below (supplied to you on diskette) to the root directory of a
clean floppy diskette, and use this Symbios Driver diskette during installation:

SYMC8XX.SYS
SYMC8XX.TAG
OEMSETUP.INF
TXTSETUP.OEM

New System Installation

This procedure installs the SYMC8XX.SYS driver onto a W indows NT system. Use
this procedure when installing NT onto an unused SCSI drive. NT automatically
adds the driver to the registry and copies the driver to the appropriate directories.

1. Start the NT installation by booting off the Microsoft Setup floppy disk.

2. Press Enter when the Welcome to Setup screen appears.

3. On the Setup Method screen, choose Custom Setup by pressing C. (If Express
Setup is chosen, the installation program scans for SCSI adapters and finds the
Symbios Logic PCI (53C810) driver NCRC810.SYS, which is an older ver­sion of the SYMC8XX.SYS driver. Let installation continue. When installa­tion completes, change the driver. To change the driver, see the “Existing
System Installation” section.)

4. Press S to skip mass storage device detection.
(If Enter is pressed, the installation program scans for SCSI adapters and finds
the Symbios Logic PCI (53C810) driver NCRC810.SYS, which is an older
version of the SYMC8XX.SYS driver . Let installation continue. When instal­lation completes, change the driver. To change the driver, see the “Existing
System Installation” section.)

5. When a screen displays the SCSI adapters found, choose S to configure addi­tional SCSI adapters.

6. Move the highlight bar to Other and press Enter.

7. When prompted for Manufacturer-supplied hardware support disk, insert your
Symbios Driver diskette and press Enter.

8. The Symbios Logic PCI (53C8XX) Miniport driver, Symbios Logic PCI
<53c8XX>, is shown highlighted. Press Enter to proceed.

9. NT should now recognize the Miniport driver and the SCSI hardware. Press
Enter to continue.

At this point, simply follow the Microsoft Windows NT installation procedure.

(Installation)

VII. WINDOWS NT

NOTE: For a new system installation, the Symbios Logic PCI (53C8XX)
Miniport driver defaults to Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) support, PCI Cache Line
support, and Prefetch support turned OFF. To enable these options, see En­abling/Disabling Support Options below.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 47

VII. WINDOWS NT DRIVERS

Existing System Installation

This procedure installs the SYMC8XX.SYS driver onto an existing Windows NT
system.

NOTE: Windows NT 4.x uses the Windows 95 user interface, resulting in mi­nor changes to the procedure for updating SCSI drivers. Procedures for both
NT 3.5x and NT 4.x are listed.

VII. WINDOWS NT

(Installation)

Windows NT 3.5x

1. Boot NT and log on as Administrator.

2. Open the Main window in the Program Manager.

3. Double-click on Windows NT Setup.

4. Choose Options, then choose Add/Remove SCSI Adapters.... If

NCRSDMS.SYS, NCRC810.SYS, NCRC8XX.SYS, or SYMC8XX.SYS driv­ers are listed, select the driver(s) and choose Remove before adding the new
driver . Select OK when the Setup Message prompts, “Are you sure you want
to remove the selected SCSI Adapter?”

5. Then choose Add, and select OK when the Setup Message prompts, “Are you
sure you want to add a SCSI Adapter?”

6. On the SCSI Adapter list, go to the bottom and choose Other.

7. When prompted, insert your Symbios Driver diskette. For the path to the files,
leave a:\ and select OK.

8. On the Select OEM Option menu, the Miniport driver, Symbios Logic PCI
(53c8XX), is shown highlighted. If it is not highlighted, select it. Choose OK.

9. On the Select SCSI Adapter Option menu, choose Install with the SYMBIOS
LOGIC Inc. PCI (53c8XX) driver highlighted.
At this point, the following message may occur:
“The driver(s) for this SCSI Adapter are already on the system. Do you want
to use the currently installed driver(s) or install new one(s)?” Selecting Cur­rent uses the driver already on the system, and selecting New uses the driver
on the floppy disk. Unless you want to use the older version already on the
system, choose New. If you chose Current, go to step 11.

10. For the path to the OEM SCSI Adapter files, leave a:\ and select Continue.

11. A series of Setup Messages are displayed giving you the option of enabling
the Ultra SCSI (Fast 20), the PCI Cache Line, and the Prefetch support op­tions. To enable any of these options, choose OK in the particular Setup
Message window. To leave a particular one disabled, choose Cancel.

12. On the SCSI Adapter Setup menu, choose Close.

13. Rebooting loads your new Miniport driver.

48 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VII. WINDOWS NT DRIVERS

Windows NT 4.x

1. Boot NT and log on as Administrator.

2. Click the Start button, move to Settings, then to Control Panel, and click.

3. Double-click on SCSI Adapters.

4. Click the Drivers tab. If NCRSDMS.SYS, NCRC810.SYS, NCRC8XX.SYS,
or SYMC8XX.SYS drivers are listed, select the driver(s) and choose Remove
before adding the new driver. Select OK when the Remove Driver message
prompts, “Are you sure you want to remove this driver ?” Another message
may display saying “The SCSI Adapter has been marked as a boot device ...”.
Click OK.

5. Click Add. A list of installed adapters is displayed.

6. Click the Have Disk button.

7. When prompted, insert your Symbios Driver diskette. For the path to the files,
leave a:\ and select OK.

8. On the Select Manufacturer Driver menu, the Miniport driver, Symbios Logic
PCI (53c8XX), is shown highlighted. If it is not highlighted, select it. Choose
OK.
At this point, the following message may occur:
“The driver(s) for this SCSI Adapter are already on the system. Do you want to
use the currently installed driver(s) or install new one(s)?” Selecting Current
uses the driver already on the system, and selecting New uses the driver on the
floppy disk. Unless you want to use the older version already on the system,
choose New. If you chose Current, go to step 11.

9. For the path to the OEM SCSI Adapter files, leave a:\ and select Continue.

10. A series of Setup Messages are displayed giving you the option of enabling
the Ultra SCSI (Fast 20), the PCI Cache Line, and the Prefetch support op­tions. To enable any of these options, choose OK in the particular Setup Mes­sage window. To leave a particular one disabled, choose Cancel.

11. A System Settings Change message displays “You must restart your computer
before the new settings take effect. Do you want to restart your computer
now?” Choose OK to restart and reboot NT . If you choose Cancel, remember
that you must restart before the new driver is loaded.

12. Rebooting loads your new Miniport driver.

(Installation)

VII. WINDOWS NT

Command Line Options

There are no command line options with the Windows NT 3.5x device driver.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 49

Troubleshooting

DURING INSTALLATION, NO SCSI DEVICES ARE FOUND

a. Insure that the custom setup is chosen on the Setup Method screen.
b. Insure that all devices are powered on and terminated correctly.
c. Check that no devices have duplicate SCSI IDs.
d. Make sure INT A is assigned for the PCI slot(s) where your SCSI host adapter(s)

VII. WINDOWS NT

(Troubleshooting)

SYSTEM CRASHES DURING INSTALLATION WITH A MESSAGE INDI­CATING INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE

a. This error is usually associated with an IRQ, DMA channel, I/O (chip) ad-

b. This error is sometimes caused by a virus infecting the Master Boot Record of

VII. WINDOWS NT DRIVERS

are installed.

dress, or BIOS address conflict. Set the SCSI host bus adapter board to use a
different interrupt.

the boot device. Use a write-protected DOS bootable flex containing virus
scannning and cleaning software to check for any viruses on the boot device,
and remove if any are found.

A DISK DRIVE IS RECOGNIZED AS SEVEN DIFFERENT DEVICES WHEN
ONLY ONE IS PHYSICALLY CONNECTED TO THE SCSI BUS.

a. This error is usually caused by older SCSI devices incorrectly indicating to NT

that they support multiple LUNs. Contact the device manufacturer for a firm­ware upgrade.

PROBLEMS WITH ULTRA SCSI (F AST 20) DEVICES USING UL TRA SCSI
PROTOCOL

a. If the system is configured with a Symbios Logic host adapter that supports

Ultra SCSI, an Ultra SCSI device is on the SCSI bus, and Ultra SCSI support
by the SYMC8XX.SYS driver is enabled, intermittent problems and possible
system crashes can occur if the SCSI bus cable and terminators do not con­form to the Ultra SCSI specification.

b. If the system is bootable, disable Ultra SCSI support using the procedure de-

scribed above or below.

c. If the system is not bootable, use the Emergency Repair Disk to restore the

system to a previously working configuration (with Ultra SCSI disabled).

d. If the system operates properly without Ultra SCSI enabled, it is highly likely

that the SCSI bus cable and terminators are not configured correctly for Ultra
SCSI. See the Symbios Logic host adapter User’s Guide for information on
Ultra SCSI cabling requirements.

50 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VII. WINDOWS NT DRIVERS

Important Additional Information

Enabling/Disabling Support Options

Once the SYMC8XX.SYS driver is installed, support for Ultra SCSI, PCI Cache
Line, and Prefetch Option are enabled or disabled using the Registry Editor.

CAUTION: Incorrect modifications to the registry can disable the system
Before making any changes to the registry, insure that you have an Emergency
Repair Disk available. An Emergency Repair Disk is created either during
Windows NT installation, or by running the RDISK program.

Use this procedure for enabling/disabling all support options:

1. Run the REGEDT32.EXE program (using either File, Run or through File
Manager).

2. Select the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE window.

3. Open the following folder tree: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services.

4. From this tree, open the Symc8XX folder, then the Device folder.

5. In the right-hand window, double-click on the Driver Parameter entry.

6. In the String Editor dialog box, do not change anything but the number just to
the right of the equal sign(s). The entry(s) should appear as follows:
FAST20_Support=1 for Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) enabled
FAST20_Support=0 for Ultra SCSI (Fast 20) disabled
Cache_Line_Support=1 for PCI Cache Line support enabled
Cache_Line_Support=0 for PCI Cache Line support disabled
Prefetch_Support=1 for Scripts Prefetch Option enabled
Prefetch_Support=0 for Scripts Prefetch Option disabled
NOTE: Enabled options only apply when the installed adapter can support
them.

7. Click OK.

8. Exit the Registry Editor program. Any change in this registry entry does not
take effect until the system is rebooted.

VII. WINDOWS NT

(Additional Information)

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 51

Introduction

The Symbios Logic SDMS drivers for the Novell Netware operating system allow
you to utilize a Symbios Logic SCSI controller or processor, controlled by a Symbios
Logic SCSI BIOS, with NetWare. The SDMS software, coupled with a Symbios
Logic SCSI controller or processor, provides a SCSI solution within the NetWare
environment.

Separate drivers are provided for Novell NetW are v3.12, and Novell NetW are v4.xx.
The following information explains how to install and use the SDMS SCSI drivers
for NetWare.

Features

VIII. NETWARE

(Introduction)

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

• Supports the ASPI interface

• Provides synchronous negotiation including Fast and Ultra (Fast-20) SCSI

• Supports multiple host adapters

• Supports multiple logical unit numbers (LUN)

• Large LUN support (larger than 7.844 GBytes) for devices with dedicated
NetWare partitions and volumes

• Supports Disconnect/Reselect

• Supports scatter-gather

• Supports tagged command queuing

• Supports ordered queue tags

• Allows shared interrupts

• Supports Wide SCSI (single-ended and differential)

• Supports device exclusion

• Supports NWOS2

• Supports NW4.10 SFT-III

• Supports target initiated negotiation (wide and synchronous)

• Displays SCSI Additional Sense Code & Qualifier bytes

• Support for removable media devices including CD-ROM, Magneto Optical,
and Bernoulli devices

• Supports retries on non-sequential access devices

• Extensive error reporting and handling for multi-LUN RAID support

• Supports 3.XX BIOS

• Supports 4.XX BIOS and ASPI drivers

• Power management supported via PMSCHED (a power management utility)

52 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

Description

There is a separate SDMS device driver and ASPI manager for each of two major
releases of NetWare. For NetWare v3.12, the SDMS device driver is
SDMSNET3.DSK, and the file NETASPI3.NLM is loaded if support for the ASPI
interface is desired (this is required for devices such as tape drives). For NetWare
v4.xx, the SDMS device driver is SDMSNET4.DSK, and the file NETASPI4.NLM
is loaded if support for the ASPI interface is desired.

ASPI Support

The Symbios Logic ASPI interface is provided by the NETASPIx.NLM drivers.
NetWare, or third party applications, may use this interface to communicate with
any SCSI-2 device attached to a Symbios Logic controller, including SCSI-2 tape
devices.

Installing Your SDMS NetWare Drivers

Install NetWare as described in the Novell NetWare Installation Manual. The fol­lowing information is provided to assist in the installation.

You can load these drivers only once. If changes are required (to reconfigure the
driver options), you must remove the drivers and reload them with the new option
settings. If these changes are permanent, and the drivers load automatically at server
boot time, you must specify these options in the startup.ncf or autoexec.ncf file.

Existing Installation Of NetWare With SDMS Drivers

If your current SDMS NetWare drivers are version 3.05.00 or older , they are named
NCRSDMSx.DSK and ASPICAMx.NLM. Replace the NCRSDMSx.DSK and
ASPICAMx.NLM drivers with the ones supplied on the new Symbios Logic device
drivers diskette.

If you intend the driver to auto load on NetWare boot, it is necessary to edit the
startup.ncf or autoexec.ncf file and replace the line:

LOAD NCRSDMSx.DSK <options>

with

LOAD SDMSNETx.DSK <options>

where x is the version of NetWare you are using, and <options> are the command
line options (if any) you intend to use.

(Installation)

VIII. NETWARE

If your current SDMS NetW are drivers are version 3.06.00 or newer , they are named
SDMSNETx.DSK and NETASPIx.NLM. Replace the SDMSNETx.DSK and
NETASPIx.NLM drivers with the ones supplied on the new Symbios Logic device
drivers diskette.

No other actions are required to use these new drivers. You may want to review the
command line options to insure you are using the best options for your configuration.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 53

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

For NetWare v3.12 New Installations

NOTE: The SDMSNET3.DSK driver should work on a NetWare 3.11 server.
However, this compatibility is neither tested nor supported.

1. Create a directory in which to install the NetWare file server. Change to that
directory and copy all the files from the NetWare system disks into that direc­tory.

2. Copy the file SDMSNET3.DSK from the Symbios Logic device drivers dis­kette into this directory . If ASPI support is desired, also copy NET ASPI3.NLM.

3. To start NetWare and continue the installation, type:

SERVER

4. When prompted, enter the name of the file server and network (IPX) number.
See the chapter on file server installation in the NetWare Installation Manual
for restrictions and further information.

VIII. NETWARE

(Installation)

5. At the NetWare prompt, type:

LOAD SDMSNET3 <options>

This command loads the main driver . Without this command, NetWare is un­able to access the hard disk drive. If ASPI support is desired, also type:

LOAD NETASPI3

6. To bring up the Installation menu, at the NetWare prompt type:

LOAD INSTALL

Continue with the installation according to the file server installation chapter
in the Novell NetWare Installation Manual.

7. At the Available System Options menu, select the EDIT STARTUP.NCF op­tion and check to see that the line LOAD SDMSNET3 is in the file. If not, add
this line to the file. This eliminates the need to load drivers by hand every time
the system is powered up. If the line appears more than once, remove the du­plicate statements and all references to “port=xxxx”, “slot=xxxx” and/or
“mem=xxxx”.

8. In addition, if ASPI support is required, add the line: load NETASPI3.NLM
to the file after the line: load SDMSNET3.DSK

54 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

For NetWare v4.xx New Installations

1. Begin the file server installation as per the instructions in the file server instal­lation chapter in the Novell NetWare Installation Manual.

2. When the NetW are installation procedure prompts you for a disk driver, insert
the Symbios Logic device drivers diskette into drive a: or b:. Then use the INS
key to select an unlisted driver . A dialog box appears. If you are installing the
driver from the a: drive, press Enter to continue. If you are installing the driver
from the b: drive, press F3 (to specify the path to search for the driver), and
enter the drive letter: B:
The SDMSNET4.DSK driver should appear as a selection. Select the driver.

3. Next you are prompted with the available command line options to load the
driver. A description of each option appears in the box at the bottom of the
installation screen. A more detailed description is also given later in this docu­ment, in the section titled Command Line Options. Select any options needed
for your particular installation.

4. When asked to edit the ST ARTUP .NCF file, make sure SDMSNET4 is loaded
only once. If present, remove the “port=xxxx slot=xxxx mem=xxxx” options
from the command line.

5. After the installation is complete, if ASPI support is also desired, down the
server and copy the NETASPI4.NLM file to the appropriate server directory.
For NetW are 4.0x systems this directory is SER VER.40 by default. For NetW are

4.1x systems this directory is NWSERVER by default.
Edit the startup.ncf file and add the line: load NETASPI4.NLM
to the file after the line: load SDMSNET4.DSK

(Installation)

VIII. NETWARE

For NetWare v4.1x SFT-III Installations

1. Install your primary server following procedures for native 4.1x installations.

2. Begin the SFT -III installation as instructed by NetW are installation procedures.

3. While installing the secondary server, you have the option of copying the
SDMSNET4.DSK driver from the primary server. Press F10 to accept.

4. If ASPI support is required for the secondary server, down the system after
completing the SFT-III installation.
Copy the NETASPI4.NLM file from the device drivers diskette to the
NWSERVER directory on the secondary server.
Edit the IOSTART.NCF file on both servers by adding the line:
load NETASPI4.NLM
to the files after the line:
load SDMSNET4.DSK

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 55

For NetWare v4.1x NWOS2 Installations

This is not a supported configuration.

Command Line Options

The SDMSNET3.DSK and SDMSNET4.DSK drivers have many tuning param­eters. Following is a list of tuning parameters available, including the default option
and a list of valid options. Following each parameter is a description of when to use
a parameter, and any impact its use/disuse might incur.

If an option is specified but the assignment is not valid, then the default value is
used. The SDMSNET3.DSK and SDMSNET4.DSK drivers are referred to in the
remainder of this section as SDMSNETx.DSK, where x refers to the appropriate
NetWare operating system version.

The options described below are used by placing the specified characters on the load

(Command Lines)

VIII. NETWARE

command line for the SDMS driver. For example, if the Verbose Mode command
line option is desired in NetW are 3.1X, the load command line should look like this:

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

load SDMSNET3 -v

IMPORTANT: No spaces are allowed in specifying these command line op­tions. Spaces are required between different command line options.

Using the Verbose Mode Option

Command line option: -v
Function: Display the current settings of all driver options.
This option shows all the command line option settings for this load of the driver.

Using the Help Mode Option

Command line option: -? or -h
Function: Display the options available in the driver.
Possible Impact: The driver will not load with -? or -h specified.

This option is specified on the command line for a brief description of each of the
options available in the driver, as well as valid values for each option. If the -? or -h
option is specified along with other options, the help screen is invoked, the other
options are ignored, and the driver is not loaded.

Using the Tagged Queuing Option

Command line option: qtags=<option>
Default value: enable
Valid options: enable, disable
Function: Enable/disable tagged queuing for the devices
Possible Impact: Tagged queuing may result in improved I/O throughput in

devices that support such an option.

56 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

Enabling this option results in the driver issuing tagged IO requests to the devices
that support tagged queuing. Devices that do not support tagged queuing are not
issued tagged requests. Depending on the drive controller, throughput of the device
is increased by the use of queue tags. However, the optimal number of queue tags is
based on the specific device type.

Using the Depth of Queue Tags Option

Command line option: qdepth=<option>
Default value: 10
Valid options: 0-128
Function: Set the depth of the queue for tagged queuing. This value

designates the depth of the queue per LUN (I_T_L nexus).
That is, this value designates the depth of the queue per
device, or per LUN, if a device has multiple LUNs.

Possible Impact: Used to optimize the performance of tagged queuing.
This option is valid only when tagged queuing (qtags) is enabled, which it is by

default. Values possible for this parameter range from 0 to 128. 0 is equivalent to
qtags=disable. While the actual depth of the queue depends on the specific drive
controller. For single drives, values of about 10-30 are typically optimal.

Sometimes a greater number is optimal for peripherals such as disk arrays. You
should experiment with various qdepth values to determine the optimal performance
for their particular setup. The optimal qdepth value is based on different aspects of
the system, including but not limited to: the processor, the available memory, the
disk drives, and other peripherals.

NOTE: The driver supports a maximum of 128 qtags per controller at a given
time. The driver may allocate fewer qtags per device if this limit is being reached.

Using the Queue Tag Type Option

Command line option: qtag_type=<option>
Default value: simple
Valid options: simple, ordered
Function: Specify the type of tagged commands the device is issued.
Possible Impact: Ordered type is required for certain devices to avoid IO

starvation.

VIII. NETWARE

(Command Lines)

This option is valid only when tagged queuing (qtags) is enabled, which it is by
default. Simple qtags are typically the preferred tag type. It is sometimes necessary
to use ordered tags on certain devices to avoid IO starvation under extremely heavy
IO loads such as a NetWare remirror process.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 57

Using the Base Time-Out Option

Command line option: timeout=<option>
Default value: 30
Valid options: Any integer value 30 to 999999999
Function: Specify the minimum value (in seconds) for command

Possible Impact: Insure system integrity when using a slow device.
If a device is slow, you should increase this value to insure the device has adequate

time to respond to a command issued to it before the command times out.

Using the Sorting of Read Requests Option

Command line option: sort=<option>
Default value: enable
Valid options: enable, disable
Function: Enable/disable sorting of read commands to be issued to

(Command Lines)

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Possible Impact: Enabling normally yields increased performance based on

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

time-out.

devices.
the target device controller.

If the devices connected to a host adapter are of a non-buffered architecture, such as
the Symbios Logic 6298 disk array, then sorting of reads may result in a perfor­mance degradation, since the absence of cache provides no benefit for sorted re­quests. In this instance you should disable the sort option. On most disk drives, an
on-board cache allows for reading ahead of data, and by sorting read requests, the
probabilities of achieving a cache hit are greatly increased, thus increasing the over­all performance of the driver.

Using the Shared Interrupts Option

Command line option: shared_int=<option>
Default value: disable
Valid options: enable, disable
Function: Support shared interrupts.
Possible Impact: Enabling may cause a performance degradation.

You should enable the shared interrupt option any time a PCI card other than a
Symbios Logic controller is added to a system which assigns all PCI cards the same
interrupt value. The added card must support shared interrupts. The driver automati­cally handles the case of more than one Symbios Logic host adapter sharing an
interrupt.

Using the Wide SCSI Option

Command line option: wide=<option>
Default value: enable
Valid options: enable, disable
Function: Enable/Disable support of wide SCSI.
Possible Impact: No wide SCSI support available.

58 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

This option allows the user to disable support of wide SCSI when using a wide SCSI
controller. Set this option to “disable” if a wide SCSI device is present on the sys­tem, but a narrow SCSI cable is connected somewhere on the bus between the wide
SCSI host adapter and the wide device, thus prohibiting the transfer of wide data. If
this option is set to “disable”, the wide device still works, but all data transferred to/
from the device is narrow (8 bit). The driver does not initiate a wide SCSI transfer
request negotiation.

Using the Number of Error Recovery Retries Option

Command line option: max_retry=<option>
Default value: 5
Valid options: 0-50
Function: Set the maximum limit on the number of times to retry an IO

on a non-sequential access device in the event of a SCSI
error condition.

Possible Impact: Setting this to 0 prevents the driver from retrying an IO in

the event of an error.

If SCSI error conditions occur on a non-sequential access device, the driver retries
an IO operation the set number of times before giving up and returning the IO to the
caller with a failed status. Possible callers are NetWare or an application via the
CAM or ASPI interface. If this option is set to 0, IOs are not retried in the event of
an error condition.

NOTE: Some SCSI error conditions (such as DATA PROTECT or ILLEGAL
REQUEST) do not warrant a retry. Such conditions are reported but not re­tried, even for positive values of max_retry.

Using the Logging of SCSI Errors Option

Command line option: Log_ScsiErrors=<option>
Default value: Both
Valid options: Off/Console/Syslog/Both
Function: Specify where to log serious SCSI errors.
Possible Impact: Changing this option may result in loss of this information.

If SCSI error conditions occur, the driver normally attempts to log a SCSI Error
Report describing the event to both the console and the system log file
SYS:SYSTEM\SYS$LOG.ERR. This information is valuable in determining when
a device is having problems. It can indicate when a device is beginning to fail,
providing an opportunity to replace the device before complete failure.

VIII. NETWARE

(Command Lines)

With this option you can choose to specify where these messages are logged: Con­sole - the server console only; Syslog - the system error log; Both - both the server
console and the system error log; or Off - the error messages are not logged any­where.

NOTE: This option affects the logging of serious SCSI errors only. Non-SCSI
errors are still logged to both the console and system error log.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 59

Using the Exclusion of Devices Option

Command line option: xcl=<device>[:device ...]
Default value: All devices recognized by the driver, i.e. no devices are

Valid options: p,i,l (You may specify multiple devices with a colon

Examples: xcl=1,2,3 to exclude LUN 3 of the device at SCSI ID 2 on

(Command Lines)

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Function: Allows for specifying that the driver not recognize certain

Possible Impact: Cannot directly access devices via the SDMSNETx.DSK

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

excluded.

separator) where p is the Path designator, and is in the range
0 -7, i is the SCSI ID designator, and is in the range 0 -31, l
is the LUN designator, and in the range 0 -7. The LUN
parameter is optional. You may exclude multiple devices so
long as the string does not exceed 35 characters in length
and devices are separated by colons.

Path 1.
xcl=1,2,3:2,5 to exclude LUN 3 of the device at SCSI ID 2 on
Path 1, and all LUNs on the device at SCSI ID 5 on Path 2.

devices.

driver.

This option is available to exclude recognition and direct access of specific devices
by the SDMSNETx.DSK drivers. These excluded devices are not registered with
the operating system for use by the driver. Other applications/drivers can then take
over the control of such devices. This option is available for support of third party
vendors who write their own SCSI control applications. You may exclude a maxi­mum of five devices.

Using the Maximum Block Size for Concatenation Option

Command line option: max_kb=<option>
Default value: 32767
Valid options: 0-32767
Function: Set the maximum number of KB written to disk at one time.

Possible Impact: A high number may result in more data transferred in a single

data phase.

Specify the maximum size block in Kilobytes which is written to disk in one data
transfer phase. This ensures that when requests are concatenated, the maximum size
of the concatenated request does not exceed the specified value. If individual re­quests are greater than this specified value, no action is taken.

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VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

NOTE: The following three options affect the amount of memory used by the
driver. For information on how memory is allocated by the driver, and to get
an approximate feel for the amount of memory which is saved by invoking
these parameters, refer to Memory Allocation under Important Additional In-
formation at the end of this section.

If the product of max_hbas * max_id * max_lun is small (less than 100), system
performance may suffer . These values determine the number of IO buf fers allocated
by the driver. Allocation of too few may degrade performance.

Using the Maximum Host Adapters Option

Command line option: max_hbas=<option>
Default value: 8
Valid options: 1-8
Function: Specify the maximum number of host adapters to support.
Possible Impact: If number is reduced, it may allow for reduction in the
memory used by the driver. Reduction may also result in performance degradation.
This parameter is used to optimize the use of dynamically allocated memory by the
driver. If your system has less than 8 Symbios Logic based PCI host adapters, in­cluding any Symbios PCI-SCSI controllers designed into the mainboard, this pa­rameter allows you to reduce the total memory used for the driver.

VIII. NETWARE

(Command Lines)

Using the Maximum SCSI IDs Option

Command line option: max_id=<option>
Default value: 32
Valid options: 8-32
Function: Specify the maximum number of SCSI IDs each host adapter

board should support.

Possible Impact: If number is reduced, may allow for reduction in memory

used by the driver . Reduction may also result in performance
degradation.

This parameter is used to optimize the use of dynamically allocated memory by the
driver . If all the host adapters, including any SCSI controllers on the mainboard are
connected to less than 31 devices, you can reduce the size of the dynamically allo­cated memory by setting this value to the maximum number of devices on any of the

SCSI controllers.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 61

Using the Maximum LUNs Option

Command line option: max_lun=<option>
Default value: 4
Valid options: 1-8
Function: Specify the maximum number of LUNs each host adapter

Possible Impact: If number is reduced, may allow for reduction in memory

Use this parameter to optimize the use of dynamically allocated memory by the
driver . If less than 8 LUNs are used per Symbios Logic based PCI host adapter SCSI
id, this parameter allows a reduction in the total memory used for the driver.

The Power Management Utilities

(Power Manage)

VIII. NETWARE

Power management support for NetW are is provided by two NLMs, PMMAKE.NLM
and PMSCHED.NLM. Use one or both of these NLMs to activate power
management of disk devices registered with the Netware operating system through
the SDMSNETx.DSK driver.

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

board should support per SCSI id.
used by the driver . Reduction may also result in performance

degradation.

PMSCHED.NLM allows manual control of power management to individual
devices, while PMMAKE.NLM allows creation of a schedule for power
management. You must not load these two utilities at the same time. If you plan to
use power management regularly, you can have PMSCHED.NLM load from the
AUTOEXEC.NCF file.

SDMS power management is supported only on disk devices. Some disk devices do
not support power management. If such a device is detected, PMSCHED indicates
the device is not power manageable.

Command line options for the PMMAKE.NLM and PMSCHED.NLM utilities are
described in this document.

NOTE: Power management of disk devices connected to Symbios Logic 8XX
controllers and handled by SDMSNETx.DSK is NOT supported in the NetW are

4.10 SFT-III environment.

Installing the Power Management Utilities

Follow these steps to install the Power Management Utilities.

1. Copy PMMAKE.NLM and PMSCHED.NLM to the SYS:\SYSTEM
directory of the NetWare server.

2. Create a subdirectory called SYS:\PM. This is the directory in which the
schedule text and configuration files should reside.

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VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

Using the PMMAKE.NLM Utility

The PMMAKE.NLM utility is used to compile a power management schedule file
from a standard text file, which you can create using the NetWare EDIT utility, or
some other editor. Place the text file in the SYS:\PM directory on the server. The
format for this text file is given below.

The syntax for the line that loads the PMMAKE utility is:

load PMMAKE <input filename> [<output filename>]

where
<input filename> is the full path name of the text file containing the power

management scheduling directives. If the path is not specified, the NetWare search
path is used.

<output filename> is the full path name of the output configuration (CFG) file
produced. If the output file name is not specified, the output file produced is named
PM.CFG, located in the SYS:\PM directory.

The format for the PMMAKE input (text) file is:

!<DAY INDICATOR>
BEGIN, <START TIME>, <DELAY TIME>, <DEVICE LIST>
END, <STOP TIME>, <DELAY TIME>, <DEVICE LIST>

where

DAY INDICATOR = SUN,MON,TUE,WED,THR,FRI,SAT
START TIME = 24 hour time format: 00:00 - 23:59
STOP TIME = 24 hour time format: 00:00 - 23:59
DELAY TIME = Time to wait during no activity on a
device before spinning it down, in seconds 1 - 3600
DEVICE LIST = ALL or <DEVICE ID>[, <DEVICE ID> ...]
DEVICE ID = BXXIXXLXX

BXX identifies the bus
IXX identifies the SCSI ID
LXX identifies the LUN (if zero you can omit)

You may omit bus identifiers after the first one. It is assumed that multiple
sequential directives are on the same day until another day is specified. It is
assumed that future devices are on the same bus until a new bus id is specified.

VIII. NETWARE

(PMMAKE Utility)

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 63

For example:

specifies

Here is a PMMAKE sample input file:

(PMMAKE Utility)

VIII. NETWARE

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

B00I01L01, I02, I03, I04, B01I00, I01,I02

Devices ID 01 LUN 01, ID 2, ID 3, ID 4 on Bus 0
Devices ID 0, ID1, ID 2 on Bus 1

!SUN
BEGIN, 00:00, 10, ALL
END, 23:59, 10, ALL
!MON
BEGIN, 00:00, 10, ALL
END, 06:00, 10, B00I00
END, 06:30, 10, B00I01
BEGIN, 18:00, 10, ALL
END, 23:59, 10, ALL
!FRI
BEGIN, 00:00, 10, ALL
END, 06:00, 10, B00I00
END, 06:30, 10, B00I01
BEGIN, 17:30, 10, B00I01
BEGIN, 18:00, 10, B00I00
END, 23:59, 10, ALL
!SAT
BEGIN, 00:00, 10, ALL
END, 23:59, 10, ALL

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VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

Using the PMSCHED.NLM Utility

You must load the PMSCHED.NLM utility to activate power management for
devices controlled by the SDMSNETx.DSK driver.

The syntax for the line that loads the PMMAKE utility is:

load PMSCHED [<schedule file>]

where
<schedule file> is the name of the power management configuration file to use. If

no file is specified, PMSCHED looks for SYS:\PM\PM.CFG. If PM.CFG is not
found, PMSCHED loads for manual operation of power management.

Manual Operation

In manual operation, power management is initially off on all devices, and gather/
displaying of device statistics is on.

PMSCHED.NLM allows manual enabling and disabling of power management on
individual drives. You can also enable and disable statistics gathering, and clear
statistics.

To toggle power management on and off for a device, highlight the device under
PMSCHED.NLM and press the F3 key. A menu appears with these selections:

1. Toggle Power Management

2. Toggle Statistics

3. Reset Statistics

Highlight Toggle Power Management and press Enter. Toggling Power Manage­ment has no effect on the device statistics.

Scheduled Operation

Automatic scheduling of power management cycles is possible only when PMSCHED
remains loaded. For scheduled operation, PMSCHED.NLM requires either:

• The file SYS:\PM\PM.CFG, created by PMMAKE.NLM, or

• The name of the schedule file, created by PMMAKE.NLM, loaded with
PMSCHED as a command line parameter

Unloading the PMSCHED.NLM Utility

Unloading PMSCHED.NLM does not turn power management off. The state of
power management on each device is maintained until the server is downed or
PMSCHED.NLM is reloaded.

VIII. NETWARE

(PMSCHED Utility)

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 65

Device Statistics

Device statistics are gathered on all devices registered by SDMSNETx.DSK with
the NetWare operating system. These statistics record the number of reads and
writes performed on a device and, if the device is power manageable by the SDMS
driver, the number of times the device is spun up and spun down. Statistics are
viewed, toggled on and off, or reset from the power management utility
PMSCHED.NLM.

Important Additional Information

For Information Pertaining to a Specific Driver

This document addresses options available on the Symbios Logic SDMS NetWare

(Additional Information)

VIII. NETWARE

drivers, version 3.06.00. For information pertaining to a specific driver, please do
one of the following:

• For NetWare version 4.XX, consult the SDMSNET4.DDI file for options
available for SDMSNET4.DSK. This is accessed via the NetWare install
utility.

• For versions of the driver 3.05.00 and later, use the -? option on the
command line of the SDMSNETx.DSK driver

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

About Memory Allocation

The driver allocates memory for certain structures based upon the maximum
number of SCSI IDs (max_id), LUNs (max_lun), and paths (max_hbas) that are
used in the system. The amount of memory allocated is based on the following
formula:

414 bytes of memory are allocated for the structure, so
Memory Allocated = 414 * max_hbas * max_lun * max_id.
So for default allocations, the amount of memory allocated is:
Memory Allocated = 414 * 8 * 4 * 32 = 423,936 bytes (414 KB).

For example, if

• only one host adapter is installed (or when using a Symbios Logic based PCI
SCSI embedded controller and no add-in host adapters),

• only one LUN per device is used, and

• the bus is narrow (up to 8 SCSI IDs), then by setting the appropriate command
line options, the amount of memory allocated is:

Memory Allocated = 414 * 1 * 1 * 8 = 3,312 bytes (3.4 KB).

66 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

Optimal Use of Command Line Options

Peripheral Device Dependent Optimizations

Some devices support SCSI tagged queue commands very efficiently, while others
show a significant loss of performance when the number of queued requests exceed
a certain value. (qtags, qdepth, qtag_type)

Most disk drives have an onboard read cache that is used by the drive controller to
read ahead data. The driver may take advantage of this cache by maximizing the
cache hits and ensuring a higher data transfer rate. However, there are devices that
do not have an on board cache, and implementation of the sorting algorithm results
in greater processing overhead and loss of overall performance. (sort)

Devices differ in their response times to requests. T o ensure that the driver can handle
devices with various response times, an option to tune the time-out value is avail­able. (timeout)

Flexibility

In order to allow flexibility in controlling devices in a system, an option is provided
to determine which devices the driver needs to exclude from taking over control.
This allows independent software vendors to provide value added applications to
directly control certain devices through the ASPI or CAM interface. (xcl)

Serious SCSI errors are logged to both the console and system error log by default.
If a device is going bad, these errors may provide forewarning to replace the device
before complete failure. However, you may turn off the logging of these errors to
either or both of these locations. (Log_ScsiErrors)

For embedded systems, or other systems with fixed configurations, you can limit
the amount of dynamically allocated memory by choosing to set maximum limits on
the number of host adapters, devices, and logical units to support. The number of
allocated buffers for processing IOs is reduced, which could adversely affect perfor ­mance (max_hbas, max_id, max_lun).

Overall System Timing

A driver designed for a networked file server environment has to optimize perfor­mance in tandem with the other components of the system. To avoid monopoly on
the I/O bus, you can configure the size of the blocks for transfer across the SCSI bus.
This ensures that other components get fair access to the I/O bus. (max_kb)

DOS Access Dependencies

NetWare sometimes requires access to the DOS partition (perhaps to load a file, or
to down the system). The SDMSNETx.DSK driver supports several SDMS DOS
configurations.

VIII. NETWARE

(Command Lines)

SDMSNETx.DSK detects whether an SDMS 3.XX or 4.XX BIOS is present on the
system in addition to the Symbios Logic ASPI8XX.SYS driver.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 67

(Additional Information)

VIII. NETWARE

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

68 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

VIII. NETWARE DRIVERS

DOS Drivers Not Supported

The following SDMS DOS drivers are not supported in the NetWare Environment.

• ASPICAM.SYS • SCSIDISK.SYS

• SYMDISK.SYS • DOSCAM.SYS

• MINICAM.SYS • CDROM.SYS

When Using An SDMS 4.XX BIOS

The SDMS 4.XX BIOS supports two different configurations - default Boot
configuration and NVRAM configuration. Both configurations are supported.

Default Configuration

In default boot configuration, the 4.XX BIOS supports up to two Symbios Logic
8XX controllers. Disk devices are supported by the BIOS. Other SCSI devices are
not supported without additional DOS drivers.

NVRAM

If NVRAM is present on a controller with a 4.XX BIOS, the SDMSNETx.DSK
NetWare drivers use the on-board parameters to configure the Symbios Logic 8XX
controllers.

Supported DOS Drivers

Currently only the ASPI8XX.SYS driver is supported in a NetWare configuration
utilizing a 4.XX BIOS.

When Using No SDMS BIOS

The SDMSNETx.DSK driver operates properly on a system when no SDMS BIOS
is present. In this case, DOS must reside on a device which is not connected to a
Symbios Logic controller based host adapter . As an example, DOS could reside on
an IDE drive.

VIII. NETWARE

(Additional Information)

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 69

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

SDMS SCO UNIX DRIVER V3.06.00

This file discribes the features and use of the Symbios Logic SDMS device driver
for the SCO UNIX 3.2v4x and OpenServer operating system environments. It is
divided into the following sections:

Introduction
Features
Description
Installing Your SCO UNIX Driver
Procedure 1, Existing System Installation
Procedure 2, New System Installation
Troubleshooting
Important Additional Information

Introduction

SCO UNIX is the first UNIX operating system licensed for IBM-compatible micro­computers. The integrated communications, file system, international application
support, and documentation create an ideal platform for those requiring a full-fea­tured, UNIX-based operating system. SCO UNIX takes full advantage of the capa­bilities of the 80386 and above microprocessors.

To connect SCSI devices to one or more host adapters, you must place the proper

IX. SCO UNIX

(Introduction)

host adapter drivers in the SCO UNIX kernel. Your Symbios Logic Boot Time
Loadable Driver (BTLD) diskette contains three packages:

You must link-edit the proper driver into the SCO UNIX kernel. The kernel must
reside on the boot drive: either an internal, non-SCSI hard drive (IDE, ESDI, or
ST506), or a SCSI hard drive attached to host adapter 0 with SCSI ID 0 and LUN 0.
The BTLD permits an easy installation of UNIX with the software provided by
SCO. The CAM3 SCSI configuration tool simplifies adding SCSI peripheral device
support into the operating system.

• bhba is the driver for SCO UNIX 3.2v4x

• slha is the driver for SCO UNIX OpenServer

• CAM3 is the SCSI configuration tool

SCO UNIX 3.2v4x provides installation diskettes labeled N1, N2, and M1. Addi­tional software is provided on CD-ROM, tape cartridge, or diskettes. These media,
along with the Symbios Logic BTLD diskette, are needed to perform a new installa­tion of your bhba driver onto a boot drive.

70 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

SCO OpenServer provides only one installation diskette, labeled Boot Disk. This
diskette, along with your Symbios Logic BTLD diskette (containing your slha driver),
and other software media, are used during a SCO OpenServer installation.

The following sections provide instruction on configuring the SCO UNIX kernel
with your Symbios Logic driver, installing SCO UNIX onto a hard drive, and add­ing SCSI peripheral devices. These instructions assume you are familiar with UNIX
system administration.

Features

• Provides easy UNIX installation on a hard disk with the Symbios Logic Boot
Time Loadable Driver (BTLD) diskette

• Provides easy SCSI device support installation with the Symbios Logic CAM3
SCSI configuration tool

• Multiple processor support (with SCO Symmetrical Multiprocessing Support
package installed)

• Supports synchronous negotiation (including fast SCSI)

• Supports wide SCSI (single-ended and differential)

• Supports Disconnect/Reselect

• Supports scatter/gather

• Allows tagged command queuing

• Provides dynamic interrupt mapping

• Supports target initiated negotiation

• Allows shared interrupts

• Supports Multiple LUNs

• Allows automatic drive spin up

• Supports RAID up to 1024 byte block sizes

(Features)

IX. SCO UNIX

Description

UNIX installation on a SCSI system requires creation of a SCO UNIX kernel that
contains the SCSI driver to support SCSI devices. There are two possible installa­tion procedures:

1 Loading or updating the proper Symbios Logic driver on a boot drive.
2 Installing UNIX and the proper Symbios Logic driver for the first time on a

SCSI boot drive.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 71

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

Procedure 1
Existing System Installation

If you plan to attach SCSI devices to a Symbios Logic host adapter while using a
non-SCSI hard drive (IDE, ESDI, ST506) as the boot hard drive already containing
a SCO UNIX system, execution of procedure 1 is all that is necessary . This installs
the Symbios Logic driver on the non-SCSI boot drive. Some of the SCSI devices
supported include tape drives, CD-ROM drives, and SCSI hard disk drives used as
secondary storage. This procedure is also followed to replace a previously installed
Symbios Logic driver on a SCSI or non-SCSI boot drive.

Procedure 2
New System Installation

If you plan to perform a new SCO UNIX installation that includes the proper Symbios
Logic driver, then follow procedure 2. Procedure 2 uses a Boot Time Loadable
Driver (BTLD) to provide a user friendly method for installing SCO UNIX onto a
hard disk drive.

IX. SCO UNIX

(Installation)

Each of these procedures is described in detail below . Symbios Logic recommends
that you complete the entire installation in one session. You should have sufficient
time (possibly over an hour) available to complete this without interruption.

The Symbios Logic
CAM3 SCSI Configuration Tool

Both installation procedures may use the Symbios Logic CAM3 SCSI configuration
tool to load your Symbios Logic SCSI driver into the SCO UNIX kernel. This
utility is provided on the Symbios Logic BTLD diskette for SCO UNIX. The CAM3
main menu presents the following options:

The CAM3 Main Menu Options

1 Configure the Symbios Logic SCSI Device Driver
2 Add or Remove Specific Devices
3 Relink Unix
4 Remove All SCSI Devices
5 Show Current SCSI Configuration

Some of these options are referred to in the following procedures. After completion
of either installation procedure, you may invoke CAM3 again from the UNIX prompt
by typing:

mkdev cam3

In this way, you may use CAM3 to make subsequent changes to the system
configuration.

72 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

Installing Your SCO UNIX Driver

Existing System Installation

This procedure assumes SCO UNIX is already installed on a hard disk drive. This
installation is necessary to build a new UNIX kernel which includes the proper
Symbios Logic host adapter driver. The basic steps for accomplishing this are out­lined below . For more details on UNIX installation, refer to the SCO UNIX System
Administrator’s Reference manual.

1 Symbios Logic recommends creating a second copy of the UNIX kernel.

Log in as root and issue the command:

cp /unix /unix.good

This creates a second copy of the UNIX kernel under the name /unix.good.
NOTE: If any problems arise with the new UNIX kernel being built, this proce­dure ensures that a valid copy of the UNIX kernel will be available. To access
this valid UNIX kernel, type at the colon after the boot message:

unix.good

2 Install your Symbios Logic driver.

a. Insert the Symbios Logic BTLD diskette in the drive and type:

installpkg

Press the Enter key to continue.

b. A prompt appears to insert the requested diskette. Since the Symbios

Logic diskette is already inserted, press the Enter key to continue.

c. A prompt now asks for the name of the package. Type: bhba if your

SCO UNIX is release 3.2v4x, or slha if your SCO UNIX is
OpenServer. Press the Enter key to continue.

d. If a driver is already present from a previous installation, a prompt

inquires about replacing it. Replace it if there is reason to believe it is
corrupted, or if you are installing a newer version.

e. To execute CAM3, remove the Symbios Logic diskette from the drive

(since CAM3 is now installed on the hard drive), then type:
mkdev cam3 Press the Enter key to continue.

f. The CAM3 main menu is displayed. To check what SCSI devices are

installed, type 5 and press Enter to show the current SCSI configuration.
If you are only updating the Symbios Logic driver, skip to step 6 to
rebuild the kernel.

(Installation)

IX. SCO UNIX

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 73

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

g. From the CAM3 main menu, select option 1 to configure your Symbios

Logic driver. Three options are displayed:

1. Configure Symbios Logic Host Adapter Software

2. Remove Symbios Logic Host Adapter Software from System
Configuration

3. Return to Main Menu

h. T o configure your Symbios Logic host adapter software select 1 from this

menu.

i. A prompt is displayed to set the interrupt line to be used by the host adapter .

The Symbios Logic driver performs dynamic interrupt mapping.
Therefore, type 0 (zero) and press Enter. To exit this process, press

Enter, or type q and press Enter.
NOTE: If the system indicates that the proper interrupt lines for the SCSI

host adapter are not available, review the section under Troubleshooting
concerning possible kernel rebuild problems and edit the sdevice entries
to eliminate the conflict.

IX. SCO UNIX

(Installation)

3 Adding a SCSI Disk Drive.

NOTE: If you are not adding a SCSI disk drive to this system, go to step 4.

a. Select option 5 from the CAM3 main menu to show the SCSI configura

tion. Note each host adapter number assigned to a Symbios Logic host
adapter. You need these throughout this installation procedure.

b. From the CAM3 main menu, select option 2 to add or remove specific

devices. A list appears showing the current configuration followed by a
menu of these options:

Add or Remove Specific Devices Menu Options

1 Reconfigure Sdsk (Disk Drive)
2 Reconfigure Stp (Tape Drive)
3 Reconfigure Srom (CD-ROM)
4 Invoke the SCO low level SCSI Configuration script
5 Return to the previous menu
To add a SCSI disk drive, select option 1 to reconfigure Sdsk, and press
Enter.

c. Read the explanatory text that appears and follow the prompts. Press

Enter at the next two prompts to scroll through the explanatory text. A
prompt appears to add another SCSI disk. T ype y and press Enter. Select
option 2 to add a drive to the Symbios Logic host adapter and press Enter.

74 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

d. The system prompts for the identifier of the host adapter that supports this

device. If the default is correct, press Enter. If the default is not correct,
type: bhba if your SCO UNIX is release 3.2v4x, or slha if your SCO
UNIX is OpenServer. Press Enter.

e. The system prompts for which host adapter supports the disk drive. Type

the correct host adapter number and press Enter.
If this is the first Symbios Logic host adapter added to the SCO UNIX
kernel, the system prompts if you want to update the link-kit (add another
host adapter). Type y and press Enter. If you entered the host adapter
number incorrectly, type n, and press Enter. The system prompts for the
host adapter identifier of the preceding step.

f. With SCO OpenServer, the system prompts for the bus number of the

disk drive. Since Symbios Logic host adapters support one bus per adapter,
press Enter to get the default of zero, or type 0 (zero) and press Enter.
With SCO 3.2v4x, this prompt does not appear. Proceed to the next step.

g. The system prompts for the T ar get ID of the disk drive. Type the SCSI ID

number of the disk drive and press Enter. If the ID entered is in the range
8-15, a prompt requests verification that the device you are adding is a
wide (16-bit) device, as only wide devices may have IDs greater than 7.
Type y and press Enter if the device is wide. Type n and press Enter if an
ID greater than 7 is incorrectly entered for a narrow (8-bit) device. The
Target ID prompt is then re-issued so you can enter the correct Target ID.

h. The system prompts for the LUN (Logical Unit Number) of the disk drive.

Type the desired LUN and press Enter, or press Enter for the default
value of zero.

i. The system prompts to update the SCSI Configuration file. Type y and

press Enter if the displayed values are correct. Type n if the values are
incorrect, and retry from step 3d.

j. A prompt appears to create a new kernel. T ype n (as this is done later) and

press Enter.

(Installation)

IX. SCO UNIX

4. Adding a SCSI Tape Drive.

NOTE: If you are not adding a SCSI tape drive to this system, go to step 5.
a. Select option 5 from the CAM3 main menu to show the SCSI

configuration. Note the host adapter number of each Symbios Logic host
adapter. You need these throughout this installation procedure.

b. From the CAM3 main menu, select option 2 to add or remove specific

devices. A list appears showing the current configuration followed by a
menu of choices. To add a SCSI tape drive, select option 2 and press

Enter.

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IX. SCO UNIX

(Installation)

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

c. Instructions on using a SCSI tape drive are displayed. Press Enter at the

next three prompts to scroll through the explanatory text and start the mkdev
tape utility for installing a tape drive.

d. The Tape Drive Configuration Program menu appears. Select option 1 to

install a tape drive, and press Enter.

e. The Tape Drive Installation Menu appears. Select option 4 to install a

SCSI tape drive, and press Enter. From the next list select the type of
SCSI tape drive to install, and press Enter.

f. The system prompts to configure the tape drive. Type y and press Enter.
g. The system prompts for the identifier of the host adapter that supports this

device. If the default is correct, press Enter. If the default is not correct,
type: bhba if your SCO UNIX is release 3.2v4x, or slha if your SCO
UNIX is OpenServer . Press Enter.

h. The system prompts for which host adapter supports the tape drive. Type

the correct host adapter number and press Enter.
If this is the first Symbios Logic host adapter added to the SCO UNIX
kernel, the system prompts if you want to update the link-kit (add another
host adapter). Type y and press Enter. If you entered the host adapter
number incorrectly , type n, and press Enter. The system prompts for the
host adapter identifier of the preceding step.

i. With SCO OpenServer , the system prompts for the bus number of the tape

drive. Since Symbios Logic host adapters support only one bus per adapter,
press Enter to get the default of zero, or type 0 (zero) and press Enter.
With SCO 3.2v4x, this prompt does not appear. Proceed to the next step.

j. The system prompts for the SCSI ID of the tape drive. Type the SCSI ID

number of the tape drive and press Enter.

k. The system prompts for the LUN (Logical Unit Number) of the tape drive.

Type 0 (zero) and press Enter. The system then prompts to update the
SCSI configuration file. Type y and press Enter.

l. A list is displayed showing the special devices created. Press Enter , and

a list is displayed showing the links to the installed tape drive. When
prompted for a boot string, type q and press Enter to return to the Tape
Drive Configuration Program menu. T ype q and press Enter to terminate
the Tape Drive Configuration Program menu.

m. A prompt appears to create a new kernel. T ype n (as this is done later) and

press Enter to return to the CAM3 main menu.

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IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

5 Adding a SCSI CD-ROM Drive.

NOTE: If you are not adding a SCSI CD-ROM drive to this system, go to Step 6.

a. Select option 5 from the CAM3 main menu to show the SCSI

configuration. Note the host adapter number of each Symbios Logic
host adapter. You need these throughout this installation procedure.

b. From the CAM3 main menu, select option 2 to add or remove specific

devices. A list appears showing the current configuration followed by a
menu of choices. To add a CD-ROM drive, select option 3 and press
Enter.

c. Instructions on using a CD-ROM drive are displayed. Press Enter two

more times at the prompts to scroll through the explanatory text and start
the mkdev cdrom utility for installing a CD-ROM drive.

d. The CD-ROM Configuration Program menu appears. Select option 1 to

install a CD-ROM drive and press Enter.

e. The system prompts to configure the CD-ROM Drive. Type y and press

Enter.

f. The system prompts for the identifier of the host adapter that supports this

device. If the default is correct, press Enter. If the default is not correct,
type: bhba if your SCO UNIX is release 3.2v4x, or slha if your SCO
UNIX is OpenServer. Press Enter.

g. The system prompts for which host adapter supports the CD-ROM drive.

Type the correct host adapter number and press Enter.
If this is the first Symbios Logic host adapter added to the SCO UNIX

kernel, the system prompts if you want to update the link-kit (add another
host adapter). Type y and press Enter. If you entered the host adapter
number incorrectly, type n, and press Enter. The system prompts for the
host adapter identifier of the preceding step.

h. With SCO OpenServer , the system prompts for the bus number of the CD-

ROM. Since Symbios Logic host adapters support only one bus per adapter,
press Enter to get the default of zero, or type 0 (zero) and press Enter.

(Installation)

IX. SCO UNIX

With SCO 3.2v4x, this prompt does not appear. Proceed to the next step.

i. The system prompts for the SCSI ID of the CD-ROM Drive. Type the

SCSI ID number and press Enter.

j. The system prompts for the LUN (Logical Unit Number) of the CD-ROM

drive. Type 0 (zero) and press Enter.

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 77

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

k. The system prompts to update the SCSI configuration file. Type y and

press Enter. A prompt appears to configure a CD-ROM/TAPE
installation device. Unless this is desired, type n and press Enter. A
prompt appears to add a high-sierra file system. Type y and press Enter.
The system displays the High Sierra/ISO9600 file system Configuration
Program menu. Select option 1 to add high-sierra and press Enter. The
system updates the SCSI configuration file and returns to the CD-ROM
Configuration Program menu. Type q and press Enter to terminate the
CD-ROM Configuration Program menu.

l. A prompt appears to create a new kernel. T ype n (as this is done later) and

press Enter.

6 Rebuilding the Kernel.

a. The system now returns to the CAM3 main menu. Select option 3 to

relink UNIX and press Enter.

IX. SCO UNIX

(Installation)

b. A prompt appears asking to rebuild the kernel. Type y and press Enter.

The kernel is now linked, which takes a few minutes. Messages appear
while the kernel is linking.

c. When the kernel is rebuilt, the system prompts as to whether this kernel is

to boot by default. Type y and press Enter.

d. The system prompts whether to rebuild the kernel environment. Type y

and press Enter. When the CAM3 main menu appears, type q and press
Enter.

e. To activate the new kernel the you must reboot the system. Type the

command: reboot
Press Enter.

f. Press Enter at the Boot: prompt and the new kernel loads.
g. Log in as usual.

78 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

New System Installation

This procedure installs SCO UNIX onto a hard disk drive. This installation is nec­essary to build a new UNIX kernel that includes your Symbios Logic driver. For
more details on UNIX installation refer to the SCO UNIX System Administrator’s

Reference manual.

1 Link the Symbios Logic BTLD into the UNIX kernel during installation.

a. Insert the SCO UNIX installation diskette and reboot the system. For

SCO 3.4v4x this diskette is labeled N1, for SCO OpenServer this diskette
is labeled Boot Disk.

b. At the Boot: prompt type: link

Press Enter.

c. At the next prompt type: bhba if your SCO UNIX is release 3.2v4x, or

slha if your SCO UNIX is OpenServer.
Do not remove the diskette. Press Enter.

d. When prompted, replace the diskette with the Symbios Logic BTLD dis

kette, and press Enter.
When using the BTLD to install SCO UNIX, the CAM3 configuration
tool is automatically installed.

e. Continue from this point as a normal installation according to the SCO

UNIX documentation.

NOTE: For SCO 3.4v4x, you must include the Extended Utilities package
during the installation. For SCO OpenServer, this is done automatically.

f. Symbios Logic recommends creating a second copy of the UNIX kernel.

Log in as root and issue the command: cp /unix /unix.good
This creates a second copy of the UNIX kernel under the name /unix.good.

NOTE: If any problems arise with building the new UNIX kernel, this proce­dure ensures that a valid copy of the UNIX kernel is still available.

To access this valid UNIX kernel, type at the colon after the boot
message: unix.good

2 Install SCSI device support.

a. After rebooting the system, type: mkdev cam3

Press Enter to continue.

b. Continue from Procedure 1, step 2f.

(Installation)

IX. SCO UNIX

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 79

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

Troubleshooting

The following conditions should exist after a successful installation:

1. The directory etc/conf/sdevice.d should contain a file named bhba or slha, de­pending on your SCO UNIX version. This file contains the sdevice entries.

2. The directory etc/conf/cf.d contains files sdevice, mdevice, and mscsi. Files
sdev.hdr and mdev.hdr describe the values of the possible field entries in the
files sdevice and mdevice, respectively.
a. The sdevice file should contain a bhba or slha entry for each Symbios

Logic host adapter configured in the system.
b. The second field in the sdevice file should read ‘Y’.
c. A bhba or slha entry should appear in the mdevice file.
d. A bhba or slha entry for each configured SCSI device should appear in the

mscsi file.

3. Directory etc/conf/pack.d/bhha or directory etc/conf/pack.d/slha should exist and
contain the files Driver.o and space.c.

The following are some problems and their suggested solutions:

AN INTERRUPT CONFLICT MESSAGE APPEARS

a In the sdevice file, check the fifth field of the bhba or slha entry for a conflict

(Troubleshooting)

IX. SCO UNIX

A SCSI DEVICE IS NOT FOUND

a Reboot to observe the system configuration table when it appears.
b Look for bhba or slha entries for each SCSI device connected to a Symbios

c Check to see that the desired value for each field exists.

UNIX SYSTEM BEHAVES UNRELIABLY AFTER A CONFIGURATION
CHANGE.

a Whenever the hardware or software configuration is altered, you must rebuild

with that of any competing driver.

Logic host adapter.

the kernel. Use the Relink UNIX option of the CAM3configuration tool, or
change to the directory /etc/conf/cf.d and type: ./link_unix
to rebuild the kernel.

80 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

DURING KERNEL REBUILD, AN ERROR MESSAGE INDICATES THE
CHARACTER DEVICE NUMBER OF DEVICE cn CONFLICTS WITH THE
CHARACTER DEVICE NUMBER OF bhba OR slha

a Reinstall the proper Symbios Logic driver using the installpkg utility. Re-

member to relink the kernel.

b Reboot the system.

DURING INSTALLATION, THE ROOT DISK IS NOT FOUND, OR THE
PARTITIONING OF THE DISK FAILS

a If your boot drive is a SCSI disk, check that it is assigned SCSI ID 0 (zero),

and is configured to host adapter 0 (zero), LUN 0 (zero).

b If a SCSI tape drive is used in the initial installation:

Check that the tape drive is assigned SCSI ID 2, and that it is configured to
host adapter 0 (zero), LUN 0 (zero).
Check that the ID of the tape drive does not conflict with any other SCSI
device ID.

c If a SCSI CD-ROM drive is used in the initial installation:

Check that the CD-ROM drive SCSI ID is set to 5, and that it is configured to
host adapter 0 (zero), LUN 0 (zero).
Check that the ID of the CD-ROM drive does not conflict with any other SCSI
device ID.

d During installation, you are given the option of retaining current partitions on

the root hard disk. For instance, you could have a DOS partition or a user
UNIX partition already established on the drive. Usually, these partitions are
desired. However, the root and swap partitions are established during installa­tion. If problems exist with these partitions, you may need to execute the DOS
FDISK procedure to delete these partitions before installation.

IX. SCO UNIX

(Troubleshooting)

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 81

Important Additional Information

How to Remove a SCSI Disk Drive From SCO UNIX

1 From the CAM3 main menu, select the option to add or remove specific de-

vices. A list appears showing the current configuration followed by a menu of
choices. To remove a SCSI disk drive, select option 4 and press Enter.

2 A user prompt to review SCSI ID information is displayed. After responding

to the prompt, press Enter to start the mkdev .scsi utility for removing a SCSI
disk drive.

3 The .scsi utility program menu appears. Select option 2 to remove a disk drive

and press Enter.

4 The system prompts to remove a SCSI device. Select option 1 to remove a

disk drive and press Enter.

5 The system prompts for the identifier of the host adapter that supports this

device. If the default is correct, press Enter. If the default is not correct, type
bhba if your SCO UNIX is release 3.2v4x, or slha if your SCO UNIX is
OpenServer . Press Enter.

6 The system prompts for which SCSI host adapter supports the disk drive. Re-

spond with the correct host adapter number, and press Enter.
If this is the first Symbios Logic host adapter added to the SCO UNIX kernel,
the system prompts if you want to update the link-kit (add another host adapter).

(Additional Information)

IX. SCO UNIX

Type y and press Enter. If you entered the host adapter number incorrectly,
type n, and press Enter. The system prompts for the host adapter identifier of
the preceding step.

7 With SCO OpenServer, the system prompts for the bus number of the disk

drive. Since Symbios Logic host adapters support one SCSI bus per host adapter,
press Enter to get the default value of zero.
With SCO 3.2v4x, this prompt does not appear. Proceed with the next step.

8 The system prompts for the SCSI ID of the disk drive. Type the SCSI ID

number and press Enter.

9 The system prompts for the LUN (Logical Unit Number) of the drive. Type

the correct LUN and press Enter, or press Enter for the default value of 0
(zero).

10 The system prompts to update the SCSI configuration file. Type y and press

Enter. The system updates the SCSI configuration file and returns to the Main
CAM3 Program menu.

11 A prompt appears to create a new kernel to effect the system configuration

change. Type n (as this is done later) and press Enter.
After all unwanted SCSI disk drives are removed, go to step 6, Rebuilding the
Kernel, in Procedure 1.

IX. SCO UNIX DRIVERS

82 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

X. UNIXWARE DRIVERS

LOGIC SDMS UNIXWARE DRIVER V3.02

This file describes the features and use of the Symbios Logic SDMS Device Drivers
for the Novell UnixWare 2.0x and the more recent SCO UnixWare 2.xx operating
system environments. It is divided into the following sections:

Introduction
Features
Description
How to Install Your SDMS UnixWare Driver
Installing the Driver During UnixWare Installation
Updating UnixWare 2.xx with the C8xx Driver
Troubleshooting

Introduction

UnixW are 2.xx extends the UNIX SVR4.2 operating system, allowing tight integra­tion with NetWare in an easy to use graphical form. UnixWare features include a
graphical user interface, NetW are networking, application compatibility , multitasking
capability, and multi-user capability. In addition UnixWare 2.xx provides multipro­cessor support.

The storage device drivers for UnixWare are based on thePortable Device Interface
(PDI) architecture. PDI logically breaks down a driver into a controller specific
portion (C8xx host adapter driver) and a device specific portion (the target driver).
The third component is SDI (the SCSI Device Interface), a kernel resident driver
that interfaces with both the target driver and host adapters.

The Symbios Logic SDMS C8xx driver allows Novell UnixW are and SCO UnixW are
operating systems to interface with SCSI devices connected to a Symbios Logic
53C8xx chipset and/or Symbios Logic 8xxxx host adapter cards. The driver can be
statically linked (integrated) or dynamically linked (loadable) with the kernel. If the
driver is integrated with the kernel, then the rebuilt kernel must reside on the boot
drive. The following sections describe the procedures to install the driver during a
first time installation of UnixWare, and to update already installed UnixWare with
the Symbios Logic SDMS C8xx driver.

(Introduction)

X. UNIXWARE

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 83

X. UNIXWARE DRIVERS

Features

• Allows easy installation using PDI - ID tools

• Provides synchronous negotiation including Fast SCSI and Ultra SCSI (Fast-

20)

• Supports multiple host adapters

• Supports Disconnect/Reselect

• Allows multiple and non-contiguous LUN support

• Supports dynamic interrupt mapping

• Supports scatter/gather

• Wide device support

• Supports SCSI pass-through functionality

• Supports tagged command queuing

• Supports request concatenation

• Multiprocessor support

X. UNIXWARE

(Features)

Description

The Symbios Logic SDMS C8xx driver for Novell UnixWare and SCO UnixWare
operating systems is available on a 3.5 inch floppy diskette labeled SDMS PCI
UnixWare (2.x). Use this diskette to load the driver during the installation of the
operating system, or to access the devices on the SCSI bus after a UnixWare instal­lation. The following sections describe these procedures.

In addition, for SCO UnixWare 2.1 and later , the Host Adapter diskette contains the
C8xx driver for use during initial installation of SCO UnixWare. If you have both
the c8xx driver directly from Symbios Logic and also the driver bundled with the
UnixWare Operating System, use the latest release of the c8xx driver.

Installing Your SDMS UnixWare Driver

Installing the Driver During UnixWare Installation

When performing UnixWare installation, if the computer is set up to boot from the
SCSI bus through a Symbios Logic 53C8xx chipset, the driver is automatically linked
statically with the kernel to suit the setup. You must follow the instructions in the
UnixWare Installation Handbook before installing the driver.

1. Boot the computer using the Install diskette delivered with the UnixWare Op­erating System distribution package.

2. Follow the instructions on the screen.

84 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

X. UNIXWARE DRIVERS

3. Insert the SDMS PCI UnixWare driver diskette when prompted to insert the

Host Adapter diskette and press Enter.
When the driver is loaded, a message “C8xx driver isloaded” appears on the
screen. If you want to install other host adapter drivers, then insert the IHV
HBA diskette provided with the UnixW are distribution package and press Enter.

4. Follow instructions on the screen or refer to the UnixWare Installation Hand-
book to complete installation.
NOTE: During the installation, if the driver does not find a hard disk on which
to install the operating system, it aborts the process.

5. At the end of the installation you might see a prompt to reinsert the driver
diskette. Insert the SDMS PCI UnixW are driver diskette and press Enter. The
kernel is rebuilt and the system gets ready to boot from the SCSI disk drive.

6. Remove the driver diskette when prompted to do so and reboot the system.

Updating UnixWare 2.xx with the C8xx Driver

You may install the C8xx driver on a system currently running UnixWare by using
one of three different procedures. The method to use depends on the setup of your
system and on whether you want the system to remain running during this process.
By reviewing the following questions, you can determine which procedure to fol­low.

Q: Is your Boot disk a SCSI hard disk on the SCSI bus connected to a Symbios Logic
53C8xx chipset?

If the answer is yes, then you MUST statically link the kernel and reboot the system.
Follow the instructions in sections:

Loading the Package
Configure for Statically Linked driver
Rebuild the UnixWare Kernel

Q: Do you need or desire to install the driver without halting the system?

If the answer is yes then you want to install the driver as a dynamically loadable
driver. Follow instructions in sections:

Loading the Package
Configure for Dynamically Loadable driver
Loading Loadable module.
If the answer is no to the above questions then follow instructions in sections:

(Installation)

X. UNIXWARE

Loading the Package
Rebuild the UnixWare Kernel

ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual 85

X. UNIXWARE DRIVERS

Loading the Package

Before you install the C8xx driver, make a backup copy of the existing kernel by:

1. Log on as root.

2. At the shell prompt type cp /stand/unix /stand/unix.good

Use this copy of the old kernel to reboot the system if the driver installation fails.
Refer to the later section titled Troubleshooting for more information.

3. Once the old kernel is saved, insert the SDMS PCI UnixWare driver diskette.

4. Load the driver using the pkgadd command as follows:

pkgadd -d diskette1

5. Select C8xx and press Enter. The C8xx driver gets loaded on the system.

6. The system reprompts you to load the driver even if loading was successful.

Type q (quit) and Enter.

7. Verify that the driver is now listed and loaded successfully by typing:

pkginfo c8xx

X. UNIXWARE

(Installation)

8. The package information should look like this:

system c8xx Symbios Logic IHV HBA

Configure for Statically Linked Driver

1. Make a backup copy of the c8xx system configuration file as follows:

cd /etc/conf/sdevice.d
cp c8xx /tmp/c8xx.sys

2. Check if System file configured is static. If the file contains the line “$static”
it is configured for static link.
To look at this file type the following command: cat c8xx

3. If the System file does not contain the text “$static” on the line immediately
following the “$version” line, add it using a text editor. Do not include the
double quotes.

Configure for Dynamically Loadable Driver

1. Make a backup copy of the c8xx system configuration file as follows:

cd /etc/conf/sdevice.d
cp c8xx /tmp/c8xx.sys

2. Remove the “$static” line from the c8xx file using a text editor, or by typing
the following commands:

grep -v ‘$static’ c8xx > /tmp/c8xx.tmp
mv /tmp/c8xx.tmp c8xx

3. Configure the loadable driver into the system as follows:

/etc/conf/bin/idbuild -M c8xx

86 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual

X. UNIXWARE DRIVERS

Loading Loadable Module

1. Once the loadable driver is configured into the system, your driver is ready to
load into the running system using the modadmin command as follows:

modadmin -l c8xx

NOTE: When the driver is loaded, it scans the SCSI bus and displays the

devices found on it. An integer module-id used to identify the C8xx driver is
displayed on the screen when loading completes.

2. To access the devices on the SCSI bus, create the entries into the device table
using pdi commands as follows:

cd /etc/scsi
./pdimkdev -ifS
./pdimkdtab -ifS

The system is now ready to use.

Rebuild the UnixWare Kernel

1. Reboot the system. When the c8xx package is loaded it sets a system flag to
automatically rebuild the kernel upon the next system boot. To reboot, type
the following commands:

cd / init 6

During the boot process the driver scans the SCSI bus and lists the devices found on
it. If the kernel panics during boot, then reboot the system with the saved copy of the
old kernel. Booting from the saved copy of the kernel is described in the following
section titled Troubleshooting.

If the reboot is successful, the system is ready to use.

Troubleshooting

DRIVER INSTALLATION FAILS

a. Replace the system UNIX with the backup copy you created before attempting

to install the C8xx host adapter driver . To perform this task, reboot the system.

b. Wait for the “Booting UnixWare ...” prompt and the subsequent beep, then

press the space bar key to begin an interactive boot session.

c. When the [boot#] prompt is displayed, type:

KERNEL=unix.good
go

d. The Operating System logo and “Booting UnixWare...” reappears. Then the

system starts booting from the unix kernel you specified in the previous step.

X. UNIXWARE

(Troubleshooting)

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88 ASUS PCI-SC875 User’s Manual