Software and Driver Common Questions and Answers Q. My system works great with the adapter, but when I load the drivers the system hangs. A. Run with the minimum CONFIG.SYS to verify that there is no conflict with another driver or TSR. Run the driver as the first device driver in CONFIG.SYS. Make sure you are running the latest driver for the adapter. Most drivers can be upgraded via the BBS. Q. What does it mean when MSCDEX.EXE loads and I receive the error message "Incorrect DOS Version." A. DOS 6 contains its own version of MSCDEX.EXE, which is located in the DOS directory. The solution is to change the path in the AUTOEXEC.BAT to the DOS directory. Q. My CD-ROM will play audio in the DOS based CD player program, but will not run the Windows version. The message "NO CD!" appears in the track line. How can I get it to work? A. Windows requires the addition of the CD Audio driver. Follow these steps: 1. In Windows, open the MAIN group 2. Double-click on CONTROL PANEL 3. Double-click on DRIVERS 4. Click on the ADD button 5. From the list, select the driver [MCI] CD Audio 6. Click on OK The system should respond with a statement asking for a Windows diskette. Once the driver is read off the diskettes, another message will be displaye,d stating that one CD-ROM drive was found. You will be able to run your Audio CD player after restarting Windows. Q. What are Adaptec's ASPI Managers used for? A. Loading the manager allows you to use a wide assortment of SCSI devices that have the appropriate ASPI complaint device drivers for them. ASPI4DOS.SYS also gives you Virtual DMA Services (VDS) support and enhances the performance of your system. Q. How can I download the ASPI device drivers and managers from your BBS? A. Since these items are product offerings by Adaptec with an associated cost, they are not found on the BBS. They are available through your dealer, as part of an Adaptec Kit or through our Software Hotline (800-442-7274). If you already have an older version, you can download a file from the Upgrade library in the BBS, and then expand it. It will replace the older drivers with up-to-date software. Q. My DOS ASPI Manager does not install, but my Adaptec board initializes and installs okay. How can I fix this? A. The usual reason for this behavior is incorrect jumper settings on the Adaptec host adapter. Check the jumpers for I/O port address, IRQ, and DMA channel conflicts with other boards. Also check for correct termination on the board and other devices. Make sure that there is also enough memory to load the driver. Q. Why am I unable to load any of my device drivers high without hanging my computer? A. You must have the ASPI Manager loaded for bus mastering boards in the CONFIG.SYS file before the memory management device drivers can be loaded. Q. Why can't I get my Windows 3.1 to run in Enhanced Mode? It seems to run just fine in Standard Mode? A. Be sure to load ASPI4DOS.SYS, which will supply Virtual DMA Services (VDS) support to the application. This applies to any protected mode application. With the ASPI Manager loaded, remove the double buffering from the CONFIG.SYS file. Look for a line which reads: device=smartdrv.exe /double_buffer and remove it. This only applies to the AHA-1540/42B, AHA-1640 and AHA-1740 in Standard Mode. Q. Why is my floppy drive taking so long to do a back-up using SCSI devices? A. You need to make an adjustment on the ASPI Manager device line in the CONFIG.SYS file. Add the following switches to the ASPI Manager statement: /n04/f11. Q. What drivers do I need to run Windows NT under SCSI? A. No special software will be required for the released version of this product. All the required drivers will be embedded inside the operating system or available through the BBS. Q. After installing my Bernoulli box using Adaptec's host adapter, I am no longer able to read any of my old disks. Is there any software missing? A. Unfortunately, Bernoulli disks formatted with another vendor's card are not readable using our host adapter. Formatting the disks using our host adapter will allow reading and writing with your older Bernoulli card. Q. I am using a high-performance video adapter with the S3 accelerator chip. Do I need to exclude any memory ranges from use by a memory manager? A. Some experimentation is needed here. Two areas to try are: A000-C7FF or B000-B7FF Q. Do I need a double buffer statement on my SMARTDRV entry if I am loading ASPIXDOS.SYS in my config.sys? A. No, the ASPI manager supplies the double buffering. Q. What does the message that reads "BIOS not intended to run with this card" mean? A. This can happen when the BIOS or ASPIXDOS.SYS loads. This message indicates a conflict between our host adapter I/O port address and another card in the system, change our port address to one of the alternate settings or change the other card that is conflicting. Q. When should I disable the BIOS on the adapter? A. The BIOS should be disabled when the adapter is not to be used to operate a SCSI hard disk drive. Q. When ASPIDISK.SYS loads, I get an error "too many block devices", why? A. The error indicates that there are not enough drive letters available. Increase the LASTDRIVE statement in CONFIG.SYS. Q. Can ASPIDISK.SYS be revised to assign logical drive letters? A. No. Q. I am running a Pinnacle Micro optical drive with the ASPIDISK.SYS driver. When I change the media, I receive an error "Lost Allocation Table". A. APSIDISK.SYS v3.03 is the cause of this problem. Upgrade our software to get ASPIDISK v3.32. Q. Where can I get the following drivers? - ASPI2DOS.SYS - ASPI4DOS.SYS - ASPIEDOS.SYS - ASPI7DOS.SYS - ASPIDISK.SYS - ASPICD.SYS - VASPID.386 - WINASPI.DLL A. All of these drivers are in the software package from Adaptec called EZ-SCSI. EZ-SCSI is not on the BBS. You can order this software directly from Adaptec by calling: (800) 442-7274 In the US and Canada (408) 957-7274 International Q. I have EZ-SCSI v2.0 and I want to upgrade to EZ-SCSI v3.0. How do I do that? A. On the BBS is a file called UPGRADE.EXE which will upgrade the following files for people who have EZ-SCSI v2.0 or later: Filename Version ======================= ASPI2DOS.SYS 3.5 ASPI4DOS.SYS 3.31 ASPIEDOS.SYS 1.31 ASPI7DOS.SYS 1.32 ASPIDISK.SYS 3.32 ASPI8DOS.SYS 1.01 ASPICD.SYS 3.12 VASPID.386 1.1 For user's of EZ-SCSI v1.0, only the ASPI Managers will be updates. The ASPICD.SYS will not be updated for users of EZ-SCSI v1.0. To order a full copy of EZ-SCSI as an Upgrade please call: (800) 442-7274 In the US and Canada (408) 957-7274 International Q. What devices does EZ-SCSI support? A. For a complete compatibility list of peripheral devices compatible with EZ-SCSI please download EZLIST.TXT from the DOS/Windows library area of the Adaptec BBS at (408)-945-7727. The list can also be accessed on Adaptec's Interactive Fax System at (408)-957-7150. Q. What is EZ-SCSI 3.0? A. EZ-SCSI 3.0 is a software package which provides broad support both for SCSI peripherals and for I/O application software in a manner that makes installation of SCSI devices easy by automatically installing drivers and modifying system files containing the latest ASPI Managers for DOS and Windows. In addition to the already extensive support for SCSI disks, audio, data, photo CD-ROM's, and Magneto-Optical Drives, EZ-SCSI ver. 3.0 adds even more SCSI peripherals. Also included are two utilities: a tape back-up and a photo CD-viewer. The long list of supported devices now includes SCSI tape drives, Floptical drives, and HP scanners. Q. What is EZ-SCSI lite? A. EZ-SCSI Lite is specifically created for the Adaptec Altra line. It is a software package which provides broad support both for SCSI peripherals and for I/O application software in a manner that makes installation of SCSI devices easy by automatically installing drivers and modifying system files containing the latest ASPI Managers for DOS and Windows. EZ-SCSI Lite supports Photo CD-ROM's, Magneto-Optical Drives (including 1024 bytes/sector), Floptical drives, and HP scanners. It does not include the photo CD-viewer nor the backup utility included in EZ-SCSI 3.0 Q. I am trying to install EZ-SCSI and I don't know what to install first. A. If you have Windows installed on your system, then follow the instructions for installing EZ-SCSI for Windows. If you have a DOS system only and are not running Windows, then just follow the instructions for installing EZ-SCSI for DOS. Q. Does SCSIWorks! work with my IBM PS/2 SCSI Host Adapter? A. No. You need the CD-295 software driver for the PS/2 95 using ABIOS (Advanced BIOS). This software is not ASPI compatible. Q. Can you use SCSIWorks! with Adaptec AHA-Series Host Adapters? A. No. You can only use EZ-SCSI drivers with Adaptec AHA-series host adapters. Q. Do You have an upgrade for the Sony laser Library? CDU-535 or CDU-7205? A. We did, but that offer has ended and is no longer available from Trantor. You will need to contact Sony directly for any further assistance with that product. The number to Sony's Technical Support is (408)-894-0555. Q. Is there a driver to back up removable devices in Tapemate? A. Select the DOS disk driver in the Tapemate Configuration Table. Q. During the TFORMAT process the drive reports a "CMD failure ##" message. Why? A. The TFORMAT program may have a conflict with a TSR or MEMORY Resident program. Create a boot floppy with the correct ASPI manager in the CONFIG.SYS. For example: "device=ma13b.sys". Copy the manager and TFORMAT program to the floppy. Reboot the computer from the floppy and run TFORMAT. Answer Y to make the drive bootable even if you are not booting from the drive. Once completed reboot from the normal C: drive. IF this doesn't work, also try TFORMAT/S60. Q. If you are running under Novell 3.11 (or earlier revisions), what drivers do you need? A. If you are using the AHA-1520/22, or AHA-1520A/1522A host adapter, you will need the ASW-1240 ver. 1.5 or earlier revisions. If you have an AHA-1540B/42B, AHA-1540C/42C, AHA-1540CF/42CF, AHA-1640, or a AHA-1740A/42A host adapter, you will need the ASW-1440 ver. 3.5. If you have the AHA-274x series, you will need the ASW-7700 Manager Set. Q. When running NetWare with drives that are greater than 1 gigabyte, do I enable the Extended BIOS Option? A: No. You do not enable that option when running under NetWare for any of our cards. You also need to ensure that on the AHA-154xC and AHA-154xCF the Dynamic Scan of the SCSI Bus is disabled. Press for default settings in the SCSI Select utility. If greater than 1gigabyte is enabled upon installation, download the latest Netware dirvers from the Netware directory on the BBS. Q. What versions of Novell do we support? A: We support NetWare Versions 2.15 SFT, Advance 3.10 and 3.11. Drivers are embedded in NetWare v3.12, v4.0, v4.01, v4.02 and UnixWare. Q. I added a CD-ROM drive to my NetWare v3.11 server and the BIOS sees the drive. Why can't I access the drive on the network? A: You need a third party device driver package, such as COREL SCSI, SCSI Express by Micro Design International, OptiNet by Optisys, or CDNET by Meridian Data. Q. When loading AIC7770.DSK, NetWare reports "Unable to find loader $ public symbol." A: Ensure appropriate driver is loading for supported versions of NetWare. NetWare v2.x and v3.10 are not supported. Novell v3.11 requires AIC7770.DSK version 1.0x. Novell v4.0 requires AIC7770.DSK ver 2.0x. Q. How do you prevent de-activation under Novell on extended Hard Drives? A. Get a quality cable, (SCSI-2 spec) for any kind of Adaptec card. Q. What does the message 'ASPITRAN loaded re-entrantly' mean? A. This message means that ASPITRAN has already been loaded, and does not need to be loaded again. This is a normal message. When a module is loaded re-entrantly, it means the data specific to the new instance is retained, but the code is discarded. The code from the first load will be used. Q. Does Adaptec provide a driver for ESDI controllers running under NetWare? A. The driver required is ISADISK.OBJ, and is shipped with Novell NetWare. This driver is not available directly from Adaptec. Q. I have the AHA-1542B or the AHA-1742A with the greater than a gigabyte BIOS and my system doesn't see the hard drive or just hangs there when I run Novell's SERVER program. What is the problem? A. The greater than a gigabyte BIOS is a DOS solution and should not be used with NetWare 386, since greater than a gigabyte support is built in. If you have a AHA-1542B, remove the jumper at J6, position 2. If you have an AHA-1742A, disable greater than a gigabyte support with the EISA Configuration Utility. Q. Why does NetWare report volume sizes larger than the drive's capacity? A. This is due to extraneous bytes in the FAT area of the disk drive. The problem is easily resolved by performing a low-level format of the drive. Use ADL.EXE for the AHA-1740 series adapters or SCSIFRMT.EXE from the Adaptec BBS. The format utility in the BIOS of all the adapters except the AHA-1740 can also be used. Use DOS DEBUG, and type g=dc00:6. This assumes the card is configured for the default BIOS address. Q. I would like to duplex my drives on two host adapters under Novell, but the BIOS makes C the mirrored drive and D the primary drive. A. Set the primary drive to a lower BIOS address or disable the BIOS on the second card. Refer to your Adaptec host adapter manual. Q. How many CD-ROMs can I install on my AHA-274xT using Netware? A. ASPICD.DSK only supports seven (7) CD-ROMs. CDNASPI.DSK supports up to fourteen (14) CDROMs. Q. How do I get the latest Novell driver? A. Download NW31X.EXE for Novell v3.1x and NW40X.EXE for v4.0x from under the Netware directory on the Adaptec BBS to upgrade your driver to the latest version. Q. I want to get the latest OS/2 v2.x device driver. How is it different than what is shipped with IBM OS/2 v2.x? A. The latest OS/2 v2.x device drivers. known as ADDs are available on the Adaptec BBS. Included with the driver is a text file explaining the enhancements. The file name on the BBS are AHA154X.EXE, AHA164X.EXE, AHA174X.EXE and AHA152X.EXE, AIC7700.EXE and AIC7800.EXE. Q. Do you need the OS/2 v2.x driver to run an Adaptec controller? A. The OS/2 ver 2.x drivers are embedded in the operating system. Under OS/2 v2.0, the drivers are compressed on disk #8 and under 2.1 they are on disk #3. The drivers can be uncompressed by using the following OS/2 UNPACK command: UNPACK A:DASDDRVS\OS2 /N:xxxxxxx.ADD (insert disk #8 for OS/2 v2.0) UNPACK A:\SCSIADDS C:\OS2 (insert disk #3 for OS/2 v2.1) This will extract all ADD drivers and copy them to the OS2 directory. The system must be running OS/2 in order to run the above UNPACK command. The latest drivers are also listed on our BBS as AHA152X.EXE, AHA154X.EXE, AHA164X.EXE, AHA174X.EXE AIC7770.EXE, & AIC7870.EXE. The AHA-2742/ AHA-2842 drivers are not included with the IBM disk. We provide the driver with our KIT or it can be downloaded from our BBS as AIC7770.EXE and AIC7870.EXE. Q. Which operating systems have embedded support? A. SCO UNIX, OS/2, Windows NT, and Novell v3.12 and v4.0 have embedded support for most of our host adapters. For a complete listing, request the Software Peripheral Matrix from our Interactive Fax System at (408)-957-7150. Q. How do I get OS/2 or Windows NT drivers for Trantor cards? A. These drivers are shipped with your Trantor product. You can also download them from our BBS, (408)-945-7727 or from CompuServe ("GO Trantor"). Q. Can I use ASPI4DOS.SYS, ASPI2DOS.SYS, or ASPIEDOS.SYS under OS/2? A. No, these ASPI drivers are only for DOS operating systems. Instead we have OS2ASPI.DMD that can be used in CONFIG.SYS file to handle ASPI calls. We also have a beta version of virtual DOS ASPI on the BBS. Q. Which CD-ROMS are supported by OS/2 2.11 A. The following CD-ROMs are supported by OS/2 2.11: Hitachi: CDR-1650S, 1750S, 3650, 3750 IBM: CD-ROM I, CD-ROM II Chinon: 431, 435, 535 Mitsumi: CRMC-Lu005, FX001, FX001D NEC: CDR-25, 36, 37, 38, 72, 73, 74, 82, 83, 84, 3Xe, 3Xi, 3xp Panasonic: CR-501, LK-MC501S, 501B, 521, 522, 523, 562, 563 Pioneer: DRM-600, 604X Sony: CDU-541, 561, 6111, 6211, 7211, 31A, 7305 Texel: DM-3021, 3024, 5021, 5024, 3028, 5028 Toshiba: XM-3201, 3301, 3401 If your CD-ROM is not on the above list, please contact the drive manufacturer, or IBM. Q. What is the function of /I parameter with the ADD driver under OS/2? A. Under OS/2 v2.1, if there are two controllers in a system, you can disable the ADD driver access to a certain controller by using /I parameter. BASEDEV=AHA174X.ADD /A:1 /I The above will prevent the ADD drive from accessing the second controller. With this parameter the ADD driver does not know of the second controller. BASEDEV=AHA174X.ADD /A:1 /!DM /!SM The above will only disable the ADD driver from accessing the DASD manager and SCSI manager, but the ADD driver will still be controlling the second controller. The above switch could also be used for the AHA-1540 family controller. For additional parameters used with ADD driver, download the required driver from our BBS. The Axxxxxx.EXE is a compressed file which contains the ADD driver and a README file. The README file describes different parameters. Q. Do I need to enable extended BIOS translation in AHA-1542, AHA-1742, and AHA-2742 cards under OS/2? A. There has been a slight change in the way OS/2 behaves since the release of OS/2 2.1. If you format a partition using FAT, it must be within the first 1024 cylinders of the drive. This is intended to insure compatibility with DOS. OS/2 2.0 and the beta releases of 2.1 did not check the cylinder location before formatting a partition. If you want to partition a drive that is greater than 1 gigabyte you should enable extended BIOS translation to allow maximum flexibility. Q. Does OS/2 v1.3 require software? A. Microsoft OS/2 v1.31.0 has an embedded driver, whereas IBM requires the ASW-1420/1220 or ASW-1400 package. Q. Does OS/2 v1.3 require ASPI drivers? A. No, it has LADDR I/O architecture. It uses a BID file in conjunction with VSD and TSD files. Any software which supports an ASPI manager will not work under this version. Q. Does OS/2 1.3 support CD-ROMs? A. Only the Denon DRD 253, Sony CDU-541 and Toshiba TXM3301al are supported. For other CD-ROM information please consult IBM or Microsoft. Q. Does OS/2 1.3 support tape drives? A. Any tape drive software that uses LADDR support will work. Sytos 1.35 is recommended. Q. Does removable drive (MO, Bernoulli) work under OS/2? A. The removable drive provided with VSD and TSD drivers will work. Q. How do I add an Adaptec controller on a pre-existing installation of OS/2? A. Do not re-install the operating system, download IBMOS213.HLP from our BBS and follow the instructions described in the text. Q. How do I know the version of the ADSA driver in my system? A. You should see the version of the ADDS driver right after the UnixWare logo. The other way to check is viewing the top page of the space.c file in the following path: /etc/conf/pack.d/adsa/space.c. Q. What other Adaptec host adapter drivers come with the IHV HBA diskette that is shipping with the UnixWare 1.1? What is the set up for the IRQ? A. Following is the host adapter driver name and IRQ should be set on the host adapter: Host Adapter Model IRQ Driver Prefix =================================================== AHA-274X(T) 15 adsa AHA-284X-VL 15 adsa AHA-294X 10 adsl AIC-7870 10 adsl AIC-7770 15 adsa AHA-174X 9 adse AHA-154X 11 adsc AHA-152X 10 adss AIC-6360, AIC-6260 10 adss AHA-1510 (not for primary) 10 adss Q. I am installing SCO UNIX on a SCSI hard disk that is more than one gigabyte. Should I enable the extended translation for the greater than 1 gigabyte feature? A. No. This feature is for MSDOS 5.0 or above, Microsoft Windows, or OS/2 v2.X only. SCO UNIX uses 10-byte SCSI commands for supporting drives larger than 1 GB. The UNIX root file system must be in the first 1024 cylinders. Q. How do I install MS-DOS and SCO UNIX on the same drive? A. Create the DOS partition first. For MS-DOS v3.3, the size of the partition must be 32 megabytes or less. For MS-DOS v4.0 and newer, there is no such limitation. After installing DOS the SCO UNIX can be installed from the N1 floppy diskette. Q. Do I need a driver for SCO XENIX to work with the AHA-154x, AHA-1640, and AHA-174x? A. SCO XENIX v2.2.4 and v2.3.2GT and above have built in driver support. However, the Enhanced Mode of the AHA-174x is not supported. There is an upgrade to the embedded driver available directly from SCO called XNX252. Q. Do I need drivers to use a tape drive or CD-ROM drive under SCO UNIX v3.2.4? How do I know if the device is compatible? How do I know if it is installed successfully? A. A driver is required, and it is embedded in the UNIX kernel. Invoke the mkdev cdrom command with the correct options to install the devices (consult your UNIX user's manual). The supported devices are listed in the hardware compatibility handbook and release notes. Some devices might work though not listed. If the device you are trying to install is not supported, an error message will be displayed. If the device was successfully installed, it will be shown during the boot-up process for USL UNIX. With SCO UNIX, check the etc/conf/cf.d/mscsi subdirectory for all the configured devices, or run hwconfig -h Q. Where can I get the driver for the AHA-174x Enhanced Mode for SCO UNIX v3.2.4 or ODT v2.0? A. All host adapter drivers are embedded for SCO UNIX v3.2.4, ODT v2.0, and ODT v3.0. Both Standard and Enhanced Modes of the AHA-174x are fully supported. Q. When do I need to install the ASW-1450? A. You need to install the ASW-1450 when using SCO UNIX v3.2.2 or ODT 1.1 and you need to support multiple host adapters, need to use the AHA-174x in Enhanced Mode, or need to enable the scatter/gather feature for enhanced performance on the AHA-1540, AHA-1640 and AHA-1740 series host adapters. The code in the ASW-1450 has been incorporated into SCO UNIX v3.2.4 and ODT v2.0. Therefore, the ASW-1450 is not required and should not be used with these operating systems. Q. Which software is required for AHA-274x, AHA-284x, and AHA-2940 under SCO Unix and UnixWare? A. The 7700 Manager Set v2.02 is required for the AHA-274x and AHA-284x when running under SCO Unix or Novell UnixWare. The 7800 Manager Set v1.02 is needed for the AHA-2940 host adapter. File revised 9/2/94