doggammit
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Cant see SCSI Hdd in XP Pro
I have recently aquired a Adaptec AHA-2940U2W SCSI PCI Host card and 2 Seagate ST39103LC harddrives. I installed the SCSI Host card and fired up XP. Sure enough, XP detected and installed the drivers needed. No trouble there.
I proceeded to power down the system and installed the 2 harddrives. I used a 2 port 50pin cable connecting to 2 SCA-to-50pin converters (one for each drive). I've earlier set the harddisk ID jumpers to 0 and 1 respectively.
SCSI Bios detected the 2 harddrives fine but XP doesnt show any additional storage areas. Checking the device manager, I found two entries under "Disk Drives" named "S". Device is stated to be "working properly".
Question is, what gives? I've tested the drives before this on a system with native SCSI support (same exact setup as above) and they worked like a charm.
Any form of help is much appreciated.
I proceeded to power down the system and installed the 2 harddrives. I used a 2 port 50pin cable connecting to 2 SCA-to-50pin converters (one for each drive). I've earlier set the harddisk ID jumpers to 0 and 1 respectively.
SCSI Bios detected the 2 harddrives fine but XP doesnt show any additional storage areas. Checking the device manager, I found two entries under "Disk Drives" named "S". Device is stated to be "working properly".
Question is, what gives? I've tested the drives before this on a system with native SCSI support (same exact setup as above) and they worked like a charm.
Any form of help is much appreciated.
go to control panel, admin tools, computer management, disk manager, and partition and format the drives
ASKER
stevenlewis
thanks for the tip. I've tried that but it isnt listed there. The drives are already formatted (NTFS) on another system.
thanks for the tip. I've tried that but it isnt listed there. The drives are already formatted (NTFS) on another system.
If you boot using a DOS Bootdisk, does fdisk find the drives?
As far as I know, the host adapter has a 50-pin connector itself. You should try to find out if the system still behaves that strange with that configuration.
As far as I know, the host adapter has a 50-pin connector itself. You should try to find out if the system still behaves that strange with that configuration.
ASKER
zzconsumer
thanks for your comment.
I've not tried the fdisk (I should though) but I thought the following is similar.
I tried installing XP direct to the SCSI drives. I disconnected all IDE devices and autoboot-ed from a SCSI DVD ROM drive. It shows that there are two storage devices but states that it "not read/write able" (something to that effect, I dont remember the exact message). Also, it states that the drives are 0MB in size.
I've tried adjusting the SCSI Bios to no workable outcome.
Oh yes, the drives are connected to the 50pin connector on the card.
thanks for your comment.
I've not tried the fdisk (I should though) but I thought the following is similar.
I tried installing XP direct to the SCSI drives. I disconnected all IDE devices and autoboot-ed from a SCSI DVD ROM drive. It shows that there are two storage devices but states that it "not read/write able" (something to that effect, I dont remember the exact message). Also, it states that the drives are 0MB in size.
I've tried adjusting the SCSI Bios to no workable outcome.
Oh yes, the drives are connected to the 50pin connector on the card.
ASKER
Update
After much frustration, I tried removing the harddrives from the SCA connector in realtime (i.e after XP boots up). Interesting point is that when I reinserted them in realtime, XP detects it and everything seems to be working!
I've a set of new queries relating to this.
1) I don't understand whats wrong....any one with any experience on this care to enlighten ?
2) If I boot-up without the harddisk in place (just the convertors connected to the 50pin ribbon cable) will there be issues with termination?
3) Is there a way that I can make the drives as fixed disks (and not removable disks)? I've set the SCSI IDs to the drives to be Non-removalbe in the SCSI Bios, still no go.
After much frustration, I tried removing the harddrives from the SCA connector in realtime (i.e after XP boots up). Interesting point is that when I reinserted them in realtime, XP detects it and everything seems to be working!
I've a set of new queries relating to this.
1) I don't understand whats wrong....any one with any experience on this care to enlighten ?
2) If I boot-up without the harddisk in place (just the convertors connected to the 50pin ribbon cable) will there be issues with termination?
3) Is there a way that I can make the drives as fixed disks (and not removable disks)? I've set the SCSI IDs to the drives to be Non-removalbe in the SCSI Bios, still no go.
Is the cable you have self terminating? Are either of the drives set to terminate the SCSI bus? I have seen many detection problems due to improper termination of a cable/bus.
Any other devices besides the two HDDs and the card on that bus? IE a SCSI CDrom? Whats its ID? Is the last device on the bus the one that its terminated?
I have also seen problems when ID 1 is put on a cable before ID 0, and 0 is the terminator. Not sure if this is a requirement but my habits have always been to put the lowest IDs closest to the card and terminate the highest ID if the cable itself does not have a built on terminator. (Dont double terminate by the way, cable and device thats caused problems for people in the past as well.)
Any other devices besides the two HDDs and the card on that bus? IE a SCSI CDrom? Whats its ID? Is the last device on the bus the one that its terminated?
I have also seen problems when ID 1 is put on a cable before ID 0, and 0 is the terminator. Not sure if this is a requirement but my habits have always been to put the lowest IDs closest to the card and terminate the highest ID if the cable itself does not have a built on terminator. (Dont double terminate by the way, cable and device thats caused problems for people in the past as well.)
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Dear zzconsumer and CowboyJeeper
Appreciate your comments.
I have tried a few of your recommendations.
Following the mentioned tips, the setup now is as such : 1 Seagate Harddrive (ID 0) and 1 SCSI DVDROM drive (ID 1) connected to the SCSI bus. The DVDROM has termination turned on.
I kept the settings to as per before and tested it. Same observation, no hdd detected, DVDROM works.
I've tried zz's recommendation of turning off the SCSI bios. It worked to some extent but after a few restarts, the same problem arises. Again, no problems with DVD drive.
As the ribbon cable is only 2 port, is an external active terminator still be needed? I dont see where it could be connected with two devices already on the cable. Yes, very amaturish question but just wanted to be sure. :)
Appreciate your comments.
I have tried a few of your recommendations.
Following the mentioned tips, the setup now is as such : 1 Seagate Harddrive (ID 0) and 1 SCSI DVDROM drive (ID 1) connected to the SCSI bus. The DVDROM has termination turned on.
I kept the settings to as per before and tested it. Same observation, no hdd detected, DVDROM works.
I've tried zz's recommendation of turning off the SCSI bios. It worked to some extent but after a few restarts, the same problem arises. Again, no problems with DVD drive.
As the ribbon cable is only 2 port, is an external active terminator still be needed? I dont see where it could be connected with two devices already on the cable. Yes, very amaturish question but just wanted to be sure. :)
An active terminator is always a good, maybe the most sufficient way of terminating a SCSI bus. As an additional "device", the terminator of course needs its own port. The termination, independently from the way you terminate the bus, MUST be the last device on both ends of the bus (one end in most cases is the controller itself). So you need a cable with at least one more port.
By the way, what are your termination settings in the controller's BIOS?
By the way, what are your termination settings in the controller's BIOS?
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I will leave a recommendation in the Cleanup topic area that this question is:
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Please leave any comments here within the next seven days.
PLEASE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS COMMENT AS AN ANSWER!
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