Adaptec AHA-2920 PCI-to-Fast SCSI Host Adapter Installation Guide

Below you will find brief information for PCI-to-Fast SCSI Host Adapter AHA-2920. This document provides step-by-step instructions for installing and configuring your new Adaptec AHA-2920 PCI-to-Fast SCSI host adapter, allowing you to connect up to seven high-performance SCSI peripherals to your Pentium PC. The guide covers installation steps, connecting to internal and external SCSI devices, and troubleshooting common problems. It also provides helpful hints for using your host adapter effectively.

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AHA-2920

PCI-to-Fast SCSI Host Adapter

Adaptec, Inc.

691 South Milpitas Blvd.

Milpitas, CA 95035

Copyright © 1995, 1996, Adaptec, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of Adaptec, Inc., 691 South Milpitas Blvd.,

Milpitas, CA 95035.

Adaptec, the Adaptec logo, AHA, and EZ-SCSI are trademarks of Adaptec, Inc. which may be registered in some jurisdictions.

Windows and Windows 95 are registered trademarks of

Microsoft Corporation used under license. All other trademarks used are owned by their respective owners.

The material in this document is for information only and is subject to change without notice. While reasonable efforts have been made in the preparation of this document to assure its accuracy, Adaptec, Inc. assumes no liability resulting from errors or omissions in this document, or from the use of the information contained herein.

Adaptec reserves the right to make changes in the product design without reservation and without notification to its users.

Printed in Singapore.

Stock No.: 510926-00, Rev. C RQ 2/96

Fast SCSI Connection for

High-Performance SCSI

Peripherals for Pentium PCs

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Introduction

This installation guide provides the instructions needed to install and use your new SCSI host adapter. Once you have performed the simple installation steps listed on pages 2 through 6, your host adapter and

SCSI devices are ready for operation.

We recommend that you keep this installation guide with your important computer documents. One of the benefits of SCSI is that you can connect as many as seven peripherals to your host adapter. If you are not connecting the full complement of seven peripherals during your initial installation, when the time comes to add another peripheral, this guide will help with that installation.

Internal SCSI-2 Connector

Uses a 50-pin internal SCSI ribbon cable to connect up to seven internal

SCSI devices.

Host Adapter BIOS

Provides booting capabilities from up to seven SCSI hard disk drives

(under DOS 5.0 and above).

LED Connector

Connects to the computer's

LED cable to display activity on the SCSI bus.

Installation and Setup

Installation Steps . . . . . . . 2 - 6

Helpful Hints

Using Your Host Adapter . 6

Modifying PCI Parameters 7

Connecting to the LED

Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Need Assistance?

Troubleshooting Checklist . 8

Common Problems and

Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

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External SCSI-2 Connector

Uses 50-pin high-density external SCSI cables to daisy-chain up to seven external devices.

AHA-2920 Host Adapter

Installation and Setup

Step 2:

Locate an unused PCI bus expansion slot

(this slot is typically white or ivory); unscrew and remove the expansion slot cover that covers the card-slot opening.

WARNING:

Turn OFF power to the computer and disconnect the power cord.

Step 1:

Remove the cover from the computer case.

(If necessary, refer to the instructions in your computer documentation.)

Expansion Slot

Cover Screw

Expansion Slot Cover

Back of

Your Computer

16-bit ISA Expansion Slot

(typically black)

PCI Expansion Slots

(typically white or ivory)

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Step 6:

Plug one end of the internal SCSI cable into the host adapter’s internal SCSI connector.

■

If you purchased your host adapter in an Adaptec kit, an internal SCSI cable that allows you to connect up to two internal SCSI devices is included. If you are connecting more than two internal SCSI devices, you must obtain a 50-pin internal SCSI cable with enough connectors to accommodate all of your devices.

■

Make sure the colored stripe on one side of the cable is aligned with pin-1 of the host adapter’s connector.

Pin-1 of the connector is usually designated by a small triangle (▲), or a “1” on the connector.

Step 8:

Plug the remaining connectors on the cable into any remaining internal devices (these devices must not be terminated; see Step 4).

Colored

Stripe

50-pin SCSI

Ribbon Cable

Pin 1

Internal SCSI

Connector

Step 7:

Plug the other end of the cable into the last internal device (this device must be terminated; see

Step 4).

Step 9:

Connect an available DC power cable

(from your computer’s power supply) to the power input connector on the SCSI device.

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Step 10:

Prepare each external SCSI device for installation. If you are not installing external SCSI devices, skip to Step 13.

■

Make sure all SCSI devices (external and internal) are assigned a unique SCSI ID from 0 to 6. Refer to the device’s documentation for instructions on setting the SCSI ID.

■

If you plan to boot your computer from a SCSI hard disk drive, assign SCSI ID 6 to this drive.

Install (or enable) terminators on the external device you are attaching at the end of the SCSI chain.

Remove (or disable) terminators on all devices that lie between the end of the SCSI chain and the host adapter. On most external SCSI devices, termination is controlled by installing or removing a terminating plug (see Step 11). Refer to the device’s documentation to determine how to enable or disable termination on your particular device.

Step 11:

Plug one end of the external SCSI cable into the host adapter’s external SCSI connector and plug the other end of the cable into either one of the

SCSI connectors on the external SCSI device. (If you are installing only one external device, attach a terminating plug to the device)

Termination

Enabled

Termination

Disabled

Termination

Disabled

Step 12:

Connect other external SCSI devices by daisy-chaining each device to the previous device until all external SCSI devices have been connected.

(The device at the end of the chain must have a terminating plug installed.)

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Step 13:

Reinstall your computer cover and connect all power cables; turn on your computer.

Step 14:

Install the appropriate device driver for your operating system.

■

DOS and Windows

3.x:

Drivers for DOS and Windows 3.x must be loaded from the Adaptec EZ-SCSI

software (use EZ-SCSI 4.x and above only). If you purchased your host adapter in an Adaptec kit, EZ-SCSI is included in the kit. Run EZ-SCSI to install the drivers automatically (see the EZ-SCSI User’s Guide). If you need to purchase EZ-SCSI, contact Adaptec.

■

EZ-SCSI also contains applications, such as a Photo CD

Viewer and SCSI tape backup program. See Adaptec

EZ-SCSI for requirements and installation procedures.

Windows

95:

Windows 95 has embedded driver support for your host adapter and lists it as a Future

Domain TMC-3260. When you start Windows 95, the host adapter is detected in your system and the embedded driver is automatically installed.

Other Operating Systems:

The host adapter supports

OS/2, Windows NT, SCO UNIX, and Novell NetWare and UnixWare operating systems. Note the following table to obtain the drivers for your host adapter.

OS/2 Warp 3.0

NetWare v3.12—4.1

Windows NT v3.1

Windows NT v3.5—3.51

SCO UNIX

R3.2 v4.2, v5.0

UnixWare v2.02 and above

Driver Location

On the 3600 Manager

Set diskette

On the 3600 Manager

Set diskette

On the 3600 Manager

Embedded in OS

Access driver on

Adaptec BBS

Adapter Name/Selection

Adaptec AHA-2905/2920

Future Domain TMC-3260

Adaptec AHA-2905/2920

Future Domain TMC-3260

Embedded in OS

Read the readme.txt file in the particular subdirectory on the 3600 Manager Set diskette for installation instructions.

If you need to purchase the 3600 Manager Set, contact

Adaptec.

Congratulations!

Installation of your host adapter is complete. For useful information on using your host adapter, refer to Helpful Hints on this page. If you need further help, refer to Need

Assistance? on page 8.

Helpful Hints

Using Your Host Adapter

Once your host adapter is installed, you can refer to this section for useful information on using your host adapter.

■

Except for SCSI hard disk and CD-ROM drives, many

SCSI devices require you to install the manufacturer’s proprietary driver for operation. (See your device’s documentation.)

■

For all SCSI devices connected to the host adapter, make sure to use high-quality SCSI cables to ensure reliable data transfer.

■

When one or more Fast SCSI devices are connected to the host adapter, the combined length of all cables

(internal and external) must not exceed 3 meters (9.8 ft.) to ensure reliable operation. If no Fast SCSI devices are connected, the combined length of all cables must not exceed 6 meters (19.7 ft). See your device’s documentation to determine if it is a Fast

SCSI device.

Hard Disk Drives

■

Every hard disk must be physically low-level formatted, partitioned, and logically formatted before it can be used to store data. SCSI hard disks are physically formatted at the factory and do not need to be physically formatted again.

■

If you connected a new hard disk drive to your host adapter, you must partition and logically format the drive. For DOS, Windows (3.x and 95), use the DOS

Fdisk and Format commands (see your computer and

DOS documentation). For other operating systems, see your operating system documentation.

If you are booting from a SCSI hard disk drive, make sure the Hard Disk (or Drives) setting in your computer’s CMOS setup program is set to None or No

Drives Installed

, as is required for SCSI hard disk drives. (See your computer documentation.)

If both SCSI and non-SCSI (e.g., IDE) disk drives are installed, then the non-SCSI disk drive is always the boot device.

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Multiple Host Adapters

■

Multiple SCSI host adapters can be installed in your computer; you are limited only by available system resources (e.g., I/O port and BIOS addresses).

■

Each host adapter you install forms a separate SCSI bus with a different set of SCSI devices. SCSI IDs can be reused as long as the ID is assigned to a device on a different host adapter (e.g., each host adapter can have a device with SCSI ID 0).

Modifying PCI Parameters

You may need to change the PCI configuration parameters in the computer’s setup program if

■ your system CMOS setup requires you to enable PCI parameters.

■

■ your computer does not recognize the host adapter after you install it.

you cannot access any of the devices.

Usually you start the setup program by pressing a specified key like Delete or F1 when your computer boots (refer to your computer documentation). Listed below are some things you may need to change in the setup program.

Some configuration options apply to a specific PCI bus slot. Therefore, if you change these options, be sure you are applying them to the slot in which the host adapter is installed. Read your computer documentation if you are not sure which slot corresponds to each number.

■

If there is an Interrupt Type or Interrupt Line option in the setup program, be sure to select Int-A or

Interrupt Type = A

. Depending on your computer, you may also be required to change a motherboard jumper setting.

If there is a Triggering Interrupt option, be sure to select Level.

If there is an option to enable or disable individual

PCI slots, be sure to enable the slot in which the host adapter is installed.

■

If your computer has a combination of ISA (or EISA) boards and PCI boards, you may need to mark the

IRQs used by ISA/EISA boards as Used so the computer BIOS will not try to assign these IRQs to other

PCI boards.

■

In some computers the BIOS reserves a set of available IRQs for PCI boards, and you have to assign these IRQs manually.

Connecting to the LED Connector

(Optional) Most computers have an LED disk activity light on the front panel. If you want the LED to light whenever there is activity on the SCSI bus, then disconnect the cable from the LED connector on the motherboard and connect it to the LED connector on the host adapter (the LED will no longer indicate non-SCSI, i.e., IDE, activity). On computers with a two-position LED cable, connect the LED cable to pins 1 and 2 of the LED connector.

LED Cable

LED Connector

Pin 1

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Need Assistance?

Troubleshooting Checklist

Most problems that occur with your host adapter result from errors in preparing and connecting devices on the

SCSI bus. If you have problems when using your host adapter, check these items first.

■

Are all SCSI devices powered?

Are all SCSI bus cables and power cables properly connected?

■

Is the host adapter firmly seated and secured in a PCI expansion slot?

Is pin-1 orientation maintained throughout the SCSI bus? (See Step 6 on page 4.)

Do the host adapter and all devices on the SCSI bus have unique SCSI IDs? (See Step 4 on page 3, and

Step 10 on page 5.)

Are all devices on the SCSI bus terminated properly?

(See Step 4 on page 3, and Step 10 on page 5.)

■

Does your system CMOS setup require you to enable

PCI bus parameters? If so, see your computer’s documentation. Check that IRQ channel assignment, board, and BIOS settings have been made.

If you still have problems after checking the above items, continue with the following section.

Common Problems and Solutions

I installed the host adapter and my SCSI disk drive, but my computer will not boot from the SCSI disk drive.

If both SCSI and non-SCSI (e.g., IDE) disk drives are installed, then the non-SCSI disk drive is always the boot device. If your system has only SCSI disk drives:

■

Make sure the Hard Disk (or Drives) setting in your computer’s setup program is set to None or No

Drives Installed

, as is required for SCSI hard disk drives.

Make sure the SCSI boot drive is set to SCSI ID 6.

■

If you have an ISA-based SCSI host adapter installed with a connected SCSI hard drive, this SCSI hard drive will be your boot device, since ISA host adapters have higher priority in the system than PCI host adapters.

I receive the No SCSI devices found. Check cables and power error message.

An unexpected time-out occurred.

■

Check that the terminator is securely attached to the

SCSI connector on the hard drive. Check that the SCSI cable is securely connected to the SCSI connectors on both host adapter and the SCSI device. Then reboot the computer.

■

If the above step does not work, turn OFF the computer, disconnect the SCSI cable from the host adapter and then restart the computer. If the computer successfully restarts, the SCSI cable, terminator, or hard drive may be defective.

When the Adaptec BIOS header message appears, it hangs my system.

Make sure the SCSI hard drives are properly terminated.

One of the SCSI devices on my computer does not allow me to disable termination. How can I install it on the SCSI bus?

If it is an external SCSI device, install the device as the last device of the external daisy chain. If it is an internal

SCSI device, install the device at the end of the internal

SCSI cable.

The system works erratically. It hangs or the host adapter sometimes cannot find the drives.

Check cable length and integrity. If one or more Fast SCSI devices are installed, the total length of all cables (internal and external) connected to the host adapter should not exceed 3 meters (9.8 ft.). If no Fast SCSI devices are connected, the total length of all cables should not exceed

6 meters (19.7 ft.).

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FCC Compliance Statement

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 residential installations. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy, and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation.

If this equipment does cause interference to radio or television equipment reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna

• Move the equipment away from the receiver

• Plug the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is powered

• If necessary, the user should consult the dealer or an experienced radio/television technician for additional suggestions

CAUTION: Only equipment certified to comply with Class B (computer input/output devices, terminals, printers, etc.) should be attached to this equipment, and must have shielded interface cables.

Finally, any changes or modifications to the equipment by the user not expressly approved by the grantee or manufacturer could void the user's authority to operate such equipment.

Each host adapter is equipped with an FCC compliance label which shows only the FCC Identification number. The full text of the associated label follows:

This device complies with part 15 of the FCC rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.

European Community Mark

CE mark is rated for the adapter as follows:

• CISPR 22 Radiated Emissions (EN 550022)

• EN50082-1 Generic immunity standard for the following:

– 801-2 ESD Immunity

– 801-3 Radiated Immunity

– 801-4 Fast Burst Immunity

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AHA-2920

PCI-to-Fast SCSI Host Adapter

Adaptec, Inc.

691 South Milpitas Blvd.

Milpitas, CA 95035

Milpitas, CA 95035.

Adaptec, the Adaptec logo, AHA, and EZ-SCSI are trademarks of Adaptec, Inc. which may be registered in some jurisdictions.

Windows and Windows 95 are registered trademarks of

Microsoft Corporation used under license. All other trademarks used are owned by their respective owners.

Adaptec reserves the right to make changes in the product design without reservation and without notification to its users.

Printed in Singapore.

Stock No.: 510926-00, Rev. C RQ 2/96

Fast SCSI Connection for

High-Performance SCSI

Peripherals for Pentium PCs

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Key features

Fast SCSI connection for high-performance SCSI peripherals.
Supports up to seven SCSI devices.
Provides booting capabilities from up to seven SCSI hard drives.
Includes internal and external SCSI connectors.
Built-in LED connector for activity indication.
Supports various operating systems (DOS, Windows, OS/2, Windows NT, SCO UNIX, Novell NetWare, and UnixWare).
Includes Adaptec EZ-SCSI software for driver installation and additional applications.

Frequently asked questions

Connect your internal SCSI devices using the 50-pin internal SCSI ribbon cable. For external devices, use 50-pin high-density external SCSI cables and daisy-chain them together. Ensure proper termination and unique SCSI IDs for each device.

For Fast SCSI devices, the total cable length (internal and external) should not exceed 3 meters (9.8 ft.). If no Fast SCSI devices are connected, the maximum length is 6 meters (19.7 ft.).

Assign SCSI ID 6 to the boot drive and configure your system CMOS setup to recognize the SCSI hard disk drive. Ensure the Hard Disk setting is set to None or No Drives Installed.

For DOS and Windows 3.x, use the Adaptec EZ-SCSI software to install the drivers. Windows 95 has embedded driver support, and the host adapter will be detected automatically. For other operating systems, refer to the appropriate Adaptec driver documentation.

Check cable length and integrity. Make sure proper termination is set for all devices. If you have a combination of ISA and PCI boards, ensure IRQ settings are appropriate.

PCI-to-Fast SCSI Host Adapter

Fast SCSI Connection for

High-Performance SCSI

Peripherals for Pentium PCs

Introduction

Contents

Installation and Setup

Helpful Hints

Need Assistance?

AHA-2920 Host Adapter

Installation and Setup

Step 2:

Step 1:

Step 6:

Step 8:

Step 7:

Step 9:

Step 10:

Step 11:

Step 12:

Step 13:

Step 14:

Congratulations!

Helpful Hints

Using Your Host Adapter

Hard Disk Drives

Multiple Host Adapters

Modifying PCI Parameters

Connecting to the LED Connector

Need Assistance?

Troubleshooting Checklist

Common Problems and Solutions

PCI-to-Fast SCSI Host Adapter

Fast SCSI Connection for

High-Performance SCSI

Peripherals for Pentium PCs

How do I connect my SCSI peripherals to the host adapter?

What are the limitations on cable length?

How do I boot from a SCSI hard disk drive?

How do I install the drivers for my operating system?

What should I do if my system hangs or the host adapter cannot find the drives?

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