Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 17:18:50 -0800 From: Dave Hayes <dave@jetcafe.org> To: "Justin T. Gibbs" <gibbs@scsiguy.com> Cc: freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Adaptec 29160 and 4.1/4.1.1 Message-ID: <200012010118.RAA18534@hokkshideh.jetcafe.org>
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Justin T Gibbs <gibbs@scsiguy.com> wrote a while back:
> It really sounds like there is some kind of BIOS incompatibility with
> that card, your motherboard, and FreeBSD. As soon as I get back
> to work, I'll forward your problem to Adaptec's functional test
> lab and see if we can find out what is going wrong.
It's been a while, and I have more data, but no solution to my original
problem (included below my .signature).
So, I went on this presumption. I've tested three motherboards, with
different BIOS, from different manufacturers.
Asus P3V4X (Via Apollo chipset)
FIC FB11 (BX440 chipset)
Spacewalker AV61 (Via Apollo chipset)
All three show the same problems with an Adaptec 29160, namely hanging
right at bootmgr. I installed each time from a 4.1 CDROM, using just
the minimal installation. It appeared to install cleanly each time.
Each time I reinstalled, it was interesting to note that the "set
bootable" flag in the partition editor was never actually set, but all
the rest of the partition information was found just fine.
I am using Adaptec BIOS version 2.57.2. There is no upgrade to that
BIOS listed on the adaptec website. The card was taken from a running
system and put back into a running system, so the card works. These
motherboards booted cleanly with an adaptec 2940UW, so the
motherboards are not the issue.
At the moment, there are resources in place that could be of
assistance in debugging this problem. Unfortunately I have no clue how
to begin, since I know very little of low-level details and drivers.
Is it possible you have found a fix yet, or know of a fix, or
understand what is going on better than I do so that you can suggest a
fix? Since adaptec is discontinuing 2940s, I feel it imperative to get
this working or at least find out why it does not work. I am even
quite willing to entertain that this may be user error, even though I
have been installing FreeBSD since the 2.0 days, am fairly familiar
with the install process, and can easily claim over 100 boxes out
there which have been installed by my hand.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
------
Dave Hayes - Consultant - Altadena CA, USA - dave@jetcafe.org
>>> The opinions expressed above are entirely my own <<<
A wise man listens to the words unsaid.
---Original plea for help follows---
I have spent a fair amount of time trying to use this card. I am still
experiencing problems and I thought I would relay my experiences in
the possible hope of getting someone more knowledgable than me to tell
me how to proceed with this card.
The motherboard I used was a ASUS P3V4X (using the VIA APOLLO 133 4X
chipset I believe). On the adaptec 29160 was a 9GB 10K IBM LVD drive.
I tried to initially boot using 4.1.1 floppies. Everything appeared
to install ok, but when I tried to boot off the freshly installed disk
it came back with:
F1 FreeBSD
Default: F1
and then proceeded to beep everytime I hit <enter> (or if it times out
to boot anyway).
I rebooted using floppy and checked the FDISK screen. The slice was
tagged as bootable even though I had tagged it this way earlier upon
initial install. I retagged it as bootable and attempted to
reboot. Same result as above.
Next, I tried the install process from the 4.1 CD. Same result as
above. I popped in a trusty old adaptec 2940UW, and retried the
install. This time it worked flawlessly. So, armed with a bootable
SCSI disk, I then placed the drive on a 29160 and tried to boot
it. This did not work, same symptoms as before.
I scanned the archives for some time reading up on what others had
experienced. I tried:
-Every sensical combination of configuration options on the card
-Turning off the BIOS of the 29160
-Using the slower SCSI bus
-Slowing down the disk transfer rate.
None of these worked.
Does anyone here recognize any of these symptoms and know of a fix or
something else to try? I really hate being told "29160s are the best
you can get and they don't make 2940s anymore" and then not being able
to get it to work with my favorite OS.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
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