Tekram Technology Network Card DC 820B User Manual

EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
DC-820B  
Mirroring + Caching  
EISA Fast SCSI Host Adapter  
Acknowledgements of the following trademarks:  
Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.  
Adaptec, ASPI, and AHA 1540/1542 are registered trademarks of Adaptec.  
Novell and NetWare are trademarks of Novell, Inc.  
Sytos Plus is a registered trademark of Sytron Corporation.  
ARCserve/Solo are registered trademarks of Cheyenne Corporation.  
MS-DOS, Xenix, Windows, and Microsoft are registered trademarks of Microsoft  
Corporation.  
SCO Unix and SCO Xenix are registered trademarks of Santa Cruz Operation Inc.  
ISC is a registered trademark of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc.  
USL is a registered trademark of Interative Systems Corporation.  
Unix is a registered trademark of America Telephone and Telegraph Company Bell  
Laboratories.  
OS/2 is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.  
NCR is a registered trademark of National Cash Register Corporation.  
Mylex is a registered trademark of Mylex Corporation.  
Music Box is a trademark and Trantor a registered trademark of Trantor Systems, Ltd.  
(other trademarks shown are the property of their respective owners)  
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QuickInstallationGuide  
. Install the cache DRAM - Sec 1.4  
. Set your SCSI HDD's ID to 0 and 1 (if avail-  
able)  
. Plug the adapter onto your system & Cabling  
. Power on the SCSI device(s) & then the system  
Enter the mainboard's CMOS setup & set  
the Drive C:/D: to Non-installed for SCSI  
HDDs.  
(Shadow Adapter's ROM BIOS for  
optimal performance)  
CONFIG the  
Yes  
system for the  
first time or Set  
Adapter/Device  
Options?  
. ECU - Sec 1.6  
No  
. DOS - Sec 0.1:  
A:> INSTALL  
Yes  
Install  
. NetWare - Chap 3  
. UNIX - Chap 4  
Driver?  
No  
Re-boot the system  
YY  
&
Play!!!  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Table of Contents  
Chapter0INTRODUCTION .......................................................  
6
0.1EasyDOSDriverInstallationSoftware(INSTALL.EXE) ............................... 7  
Chapter1HARDWARESETUP ............................................... 12  
1.1BoardLayoutandJumperSetting ......................................................... 12  
1.2CheckingtheTerminatorsontheSCSIBus ............................................ 13  
1.3CableConnection(CN1,CN2,&CN3) .................................................... 14  
1.4CacheDRAMInstallation ...................................................................... 14  
1.5PoweringUpandEnteringtheSystemCMOSBIOSSetup ....................... 14  
1.6RunningtheECU. ............................................................................... 15  
1.6.1 DC-820B Adapter Hardware Options ................................ ...................................................17  
1.6.2 DC-820B Adapter Firmware Options ............................... ....................................................19  
1.6.3 DC-820B SCSI Device Options ................................. ............................................................23  
1.7TOOLBME.EXEUtility&DiskMirroringInitialization ................................ 26  
Chapter2ASPIDRIVERFORDOS .......................................... 32  
2.1InstallingtheASPIDriver ...................................................................... 33  
2.2InstallingtheDISKDRV.SYSDriver ........................................................ 33  
2.3DiskPartitionUtility ............................................................................. 36  
2.4CHKDRIVE.EXEUtility .......................................................................... 37  
2.5InstallingtheCD-ROMDriver ................................................................ 38  
2.6InstallingTapeStreamer(DAT) ............................................................. 38  
Chapter 3 NetWare Drivers ..................................................... 40  
3.1ASPIDriversforNetWare ..................................................................... 41  
3.2DuplexingUtility .................................................................................. 44  
Chapter4UNIXLOCK/UNLOCKDriverPackages .................... 46  
4.1SCOUNIXV3.2.2 ................................................................................. 46  
4.2ISCUNIXV3.2 ..................................................................................... 47  
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AppendixA. TechnicalSpecification ....................................... 50  
Appendix B. Product Support Form........................................ 52  
AppendixC. GeneralTroubleshootingTips............................. 54  
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Chapter 0  
Introduction  
The DC-820B is an intelligent multi-tasking SCSI (Small Computer System  
Interface) bus to EISA bus host adapter. Up to six DC-820B adapters can  
be installed in one system with each adapter supporting up to seven SCSI  
devices. In addition, the DC-820B offers hardware-based disk mirroring  
under all operating systems in order to further safeguard your valuable data.  
Another feature, the Disconnect/Reconnect, minimizes the performance down-  
grade during multi-tasking operations.  
The DC-820B effectively reduces disk access times by way of its on-board  
co-processor which handles most of the disk access chores to relieve the  
burden of the mainboard’s CPU. Through its multi-tasking support, the DC-  
820B manages the SCSI sub-system efficiently and smoothly. The on-board  
cache facilitates increased DTR (Data Transfer Rate) and markedly reduces  
direct read/write accesses to the storage subsystem, thus prolonging the  
lifetime of your drives. This feature applies to fixed disks or removable  
media devices, such as removable cartridge, MO (Magneto-Optical) and  
Floptical drives.  
The DC-820B is both I/O register and command compatible with the AHA  
1540/1542 series, and able to run with built-in Adaptec drivers. The follow-  
ing are the operating systems that allow you to do so:  
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
MS-DOS (through BIOS INT 13H) n Windows 3.X/NT  
OS/2 1.31/2.X  
n SCO UNIX V3.2.X  
n SCO XENIX V2.3.X  
n AT&T UNIX SVR4.X  
n Sunsoft NextStep V3.1  
n QNX V2.15  
SCO ODT V1.X/2.0  
ISC UNIX V3.2  
USL UNIX SVR 4.2  
Solaris OS V2.1  
PICK 5.2.4  
n Banyan VINES(R) 5.00  
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All versions of MS-DOS support two hard disk drives without adding device  
drivers. If MS-DOS 5.0 is used, the DC-820B BIOS can handle up to eight  
devices, including fixed disk and removable media, by enabling the DOS 5  
Support enable/disable option during the ECU (EISA Configuration Utility)  
setup process.  
The driver diskettes shipped along with your DC-820B include ASPI (Ad-  
vanced SCSI Programming Interface) drivers for DOS, NetWare drivers,  
and UNIX LOCK/UNLOCK utility for removable media devices. Also, the  
DC-820B comes with a utility program (TOOLBME.EXE) which provides  
low-level format, mirroring initialization, and disk image copy/compare  
functions. By implementing the ASPI drivers for DOS, the DC-820B recog-  
nizes devices formatted by other adapters, such as Adaptec and Mylex, or  
formats devices that will be recognized by other makers’ host adapters.  
A software program, INSTALL.EXE, is included in the driver diskette to  
ease the DOS driver installation. Further details can be found in the next  
section.  
0.1 Easy DOS Driver Installation Software (INSTALL.EXE)  
The DOS driver diskette provides an INSTALL.EXE file to ease the driver  
installation for your SCSI devices. The driver installation will be neces-  
sary if: 1. more than two HDDs installed and without DOS 5 Support  
enabled (sec.1.6.2) or 2. SCSI device(s) other than HDD installed. This  
software program provides you the information about the adapter and your  
SCSI devices. After choosing the device(s) which you want to install with the  
driver(s), this program will update the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT  
files. Further information about drivers and step-by-step installation proce-  
dures can be found in the Chapter 2 ASPI DRIVER FOR DOS.  
The following screens display the procedures of this software:  
1). Firstly, this screen shows the information about adapter number (HA#0),  
I/O port address (Base 330H), DMA channel (DMA 5), interrupt level (IRQ  
11), and SCSI ID (ID 7). In this case, there is only one adapter available. If  
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more than one adapter co-existing in the system, then you must select which  
adapter you want to work with.  
The System has the following Host Adapter(s)  
1 DC-820B HA#0 Base 330H DMA 5 IRQ 11 ID 7  
2). This screen provides the information of the SCSI devices controlled by  
the chosen adapter (HA#0).  
After selecting, more detailed information about each device can also be  
found. For example, we select the Fujitsu drive:  
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3) The following screen provides you the information about how many SCSI  
devices installed in the system and requires you to answer if to install the  
driver(s) or not:  
The next following screen requires you to specify the directory pathname for  
the device drivers:  
If your system has CD-ROM device(s) and want to install the driver, another  
screen will pop up and require you to assign the pathname for MSCDEX.EXE.  
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And then you go on to assign the first drive letter for the CD-ROM drive(s)  
used by the MSCDEX.EXE. In this case, Drive: F is reserved to the first  
CD-ROM drive.  
4). After confirmation, this installation program will modify both the  
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files.  
5). After all these are done, re-boot the system and the driver(s) will then be  
auto-loaded.  
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Chapter 1  
HARDWARE SETUP  
Before plugging the DC-820B into your system, make sure all jumpers on the  
card are correctly set according to instructions outlined in section 1.1. Also  
take care that the SCSI ID number (0-6) of each SCSI device is set properly  
for the host adapter (ID 7) (if necessary, check the user manuals for the  
respective devices). Correct cable connections and termination are also nec-  
essary for the adapters to function flawlessly. Refer to the following section,  
Board Layout and Jumper Setting, for the exact location and setting of  
jumpers.  
1.1 Board Layout and Jumper Setting  
The following figure illustrates the jumper and connector locations for the  
DC-820B.  
TO SCSI DISK DRIVE  
LED TO SPKER  
JP1 TO  
1
TO FLOPPY DISK DRIVE  
JP2  
Active  
Terminator  
1
CN3  
CN2  
1
1
Active  
Terminator  
Floppy Enable  
1
FDC  
JP3  
Fast  
CN1  
CPU  
SCSI-II  
Chip  
External  
SCSI  
FIRMWARE.1  
FIRMWARE.2  
DC-820B  
Connector  
A
S
I
C
82355  
BMIC  
BIOS  
DC-820B  
SCSI Device Activity LED Indicator (JP1)  
JP1 is used to indicate the activity of SCSI devices controlled by the DC-  
820B and should be connected to the cable leading to HDD LED on the front  
panel of your system case. This LED also flashes some diagnostics codes  
right after power-up. Refer to Appendix C for more details.  
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Warning: Do not power-down the system while this LED is still  
active. Doing so may result in loss of data as the contents of the  
cache buffer have not been completely written to the disk.  
Mirroring Beeper (JP2)  
JP2 is used to issue the warning beep through a speaker when an error occurs  
during the process of disk mirroring. It can be connected to the SPEAKER in  
the front panel of your system or to another speaker complying with the same  
specification of the system’s SPEAKER.  
Floppy Enable/Disable (JP3)  
JP3 is shorted to enable the floppy controller of the DC-820B. Note that only  
one floppy controller can be enabled in the system. If another floppy control-  
ler in the system cannot be disabled, then JP3 should be left open (floppy  
controller disabled).  
1.2 Checking the Terminators on the SCSI Bus  
In order to stabilize the SCSI bus only two sets of resistor array terminators  
should be installed — one at each end. Since DC-820B equips with Active  
Terminators on board and can be selected to Enable or Disable by entering  
the ECU utility of your mainboard, you don't need to open your cabinet to do  
the adjustment (refer to Sec. 1.6.2 for Controller Terminator option). The  
following explains the terminators installation:  
1. Only internal devices are connected to the DC-820B: Leave terminators  
mounted on both the host adapter (i.e., Enable) and the last device connected  
to the internal SCSI cable. Remove the terminators on all devices connected  
in between.  
2. Only external devices are connected to the DC-820B: Leave terminators  
mounted on both the host adapter (i.e., Enable) and the last device connected  
to the external SCSI cable. Remove the terminators on all devices connected  
in between.  
3. Both internal and external devices are connected to the DC-820B: Re-  
move terminators on the host adapter (i.e., Disable) and leave the other sets  
of terminators mounted on the last devices connected to the internal and  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
external cables, respectively. As in the above case, remove the terminators  
from all devices connected in between.  
Store the terminators in a safe place for future use, if necessary.  
1.3 Cable Connection (CN1, CN2, & CN3)  
There are three connectors on your DC-820B: CN1, CN2, and CN3.  
External SCSI drive(s) connector (CN1): This 50-pin high density SCSI-2  
connector is for connecting external SCSI devices.  
Internal SCSI drive(s) connector (CN2): The 50-pin flat cable should connect  
to CN2 with its colored stripe, normally red, aligning with Pin 1 of CN2.  
Floppy interface connector (CN3): The 34-pin flat cable should be connected  
to CN3 with its colored edge, normally red, aligning with Pin 1 of CN3.  
Note that improper cable connections may damage both the drives and host  
adapter.  
1.4 Cache DRAM Installation  
The DC-820B features four SIMM sockets, arranged as one single memory  
bank. 256KB/1MB/4MB fast page mode SIMMs are required, with a mini-  
mum access time of 80ns or faster. All four SIMM sockets must be installed  
with SIMMs of same size, thus three cache sizes are available: 1MB, 4MB,  
and 16MB. Also, you are allowed to leave all the SIMM banks empty, i.e.,  
Not-Installed or 0MB, if you don't intend to add any Cache DRAM for the  
time being.  
1.5 Powering Up and Entering the System CMOS BIOS Setup  
When the DC-820B is inserted in an available EISA bus master slot and the  
jumpers and cables are properly set, first turn on the power of your external  
SCSI devices and then the main system power.  
When installing a SCSI drive as drive C: (or D:), set the CMOS HDD drive  
type as not-installed. Note that IDE (Intelligent Drive Electronics)/ST506/  
ESDI (Enhanced Small Device Interface) drives always take precedence over  
SCSI drives. That means if one IDE/ST506/ESDI drive has already been  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
installed, you can only install the SCSI drive with SCSI ID 0 as drive D:. If  
two IDE/ST506/ESDI drives already exist, no SCSI drives can be installed  
as C: or D:. When no IDE/ST506/ESDI drive exists, two SCSI drives with  
SCSI ID’s 0 and 1 can be installed as drives C: and D:, respectively. When  
in the DOS environment with the DOS 5 Support enable/disable option  
enabled, the above limitations do not apply. Refer to the next section for  
further details on this feature.  
For the best performance, enable the Advanced CMOS ROM shadowing  
option in order to speed up the DC-820B’s operation. This can be done in  
most system BIOSes by enabling the shadowing of the adapter ROM loca-  
tion in upper memory (between C8000h and DFFFh) corresponding to the  
DC-820B’s BIOS ROM address. If more than one DC-820B is installed in  
the system, only one of them needs to be enabled and shadowed as each host  
adapter’s ROM commands are identical. Any of the installed adapters’  
addresses may be selected — which offers some flexibility when optimizing  
utilization of UMBs (Upper Memory Blocks) with DOS 5 or third party  
memory managers. When finished, save the setup information and re-boot the  
system.  
1.6 Running the ECU  
The DC-820B requires you to run the EISA Configuration Utility (ECU) for  
setting the proper Interrupt level, Adapter BIOS address, I/O port address,  
Direct Memory Access (DMA) channel, and other firmware options. It also  
supports the DOS 5.0 option to handle up to eight drives. SCSI device  
options, such as Cacheable, Parity Checking, Synchronous Negotiation, Dis-  
connect/Reconnect, Mirroring, and maximum transfer rate, can also be set in  
this utility. Before running this program, copy !TRM0820B.CFG and  
TRM0820B.OVL (or ACF20SU.EXE, in case of AMI ECU) from the  
diskette shipped along with your DC-820B to the ECU diskette provided  
with the mainboard. Also, make sure that the interrupt levels and addresses  
of every I/O adapter in your system are different from each other.  
For optimum compatibility with the AHA 1540/1542 series, the following  
guidelines are recommended. In this way, you can use the Adaptec device  
drivers that are built into the operating systems:  
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1. Set I/O port address as 330H.  
2. Set the SCSI ID as 0 and 1 for fixed disk drives.  
3. Device drivers are needed for other SCSI devices, such as removable  
cartridge, re-writable optical disk (MO), tape streamer, DAT, and CD-  
ROM.  
4. If the DC-820B coexists with an AHA 1540/1542 adapter, you must set  
the I/O port address as 330H for Adaptec’s adapter and choose an I/O  
port other than 330H for this DC-820B. More information can be refer-  
enced in the following sections.  
For DOS3.3/4.0/5.0/6.0 environments, the DOS 5 support enable/disable  
option provides you an opportunity to enhance some functions:  
1. The limitations for both the I/O port 330H and SCSI ID starting from 0  
no longer exist.  
2. As for DOS 5.0/6.0, the DC-820B can control up to 8 devices through  
DC-820B’s BIOS, such as fixed disk and removable media devices.  
To run the MCS ECU, type CF. Choose the DC-820B EISA SCSI Host  
Adapter to select the desired options. There are three fields providing as-  
sorted options for Hardware, Firmware, and SCSI devices. As for the AMI  
ECU, type CFG to set the options for Hardware and Firmware , and then run  
the utility ACF20SU.EXE for SCSI device option setting, if necessary.  
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1.6.1 DC-820B Adapter Hardware Options  
This field allows you to select the Interrupt level, Adapter BIOS address, I/O  
port address, and DMA channel. Since most options in this category are  
Adaptec-compatible, some enhanced options will be pointed out specifically.  
Interrupt level selection: IRQ 11 - default. This option selects the host  
adapter interrupt channel. Note that no other adapters may use the same  
level. When you run out of available interrupts, you may enable the DOS 5  
support enable/disable option (refer to next subsection) and choose the  
Interrupt level selection as Disabled. This Disabled option is only valid for  
DOS environments and all the SCSI devices have to be directly controlled by  
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BIOS INT 13H. Device drivers have no effect if this Disabled option is  
chosen.  
* WARNING (if coexists with IDE HDD) *  
IRQ14 is used by the Primary IDE IRQ Channel &  
IRQ15 is used by the Secondary IDE IRQ Channel  
Host Adapter BIOS ADDRESS: DC000H - default. This option selects the  
starting address of the 16KB memory block for DC-820B’s BIOS. Each  
location can only be assigned to one individual adapter. If you install more  
than one DC-820B in the system, you only need to select one BIOS address  
for one of the DC-820Bs and leave the option Disabled for the other DC-  
820Bs. This is because the host adapter BIOS will also service the other DC-  
820Bs that select Disabled as the option. By doing this, you are able to save  
16KB memory (for EMM386 or QEMM386) for each DC-820B that selects  
the Disabled option. When your DC-820B co-exists with an intelligent  
IDE adapter that has on-board BIOS, you have to choose an address  
higher than that of the IDE adapter, in which case you should reset the  
IDE adapter’s BIOS to a lower address.  
I/O port definition: 330H - default. This option selects the starting address  
of the block of four I/O ports employed by the DC-820B. Also, be sure that  
no other adapters use the same I/O port. For UNIX systems, you have to  
choose 330H for the host adapter that controls the bootable drive with the  
SCSI ID as 0. This is also true for DOS3.3/4.0/5.0 systems without enabling  
the DOS 5 support enable/disable option.  
The Slot specific I/O XC00H option is for the condition of no other avail-  
able I/O ports. The X of XC00H stands for the I/O slot number and can be  
referenced in the ECU. For instance, if your DC-820B is at slot 5 and  
chooses the Slot specific I/O XC00H option, it will employ 5C00H as its  
starting I/O port address. Also, the DC-820B’s drivers need to be added for  
assorted operating systems other than DOS. As for DOS systems, you have  
to enable the DOS 5 support enable/disable option and let BIOS INT 13H  
handle your SCSI devices.  
Since up to six DC-820Bs can be installed in the system, the scanning  
priority depends on their I/O port addresses, i.e., from I/O port 330H ->  
334H -> 230H -> 234H -> 130H -> 134H -> Slot specific I/O XC00H. Also,  
the scanning sequence within the DC-820B would be from SCSI ID 0 to  
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SCSI ID 7. These scanning rules apply to an environment with multiple  
adapters or devices.  
DMA Channel Definition: DMA 5 - default. This option is a pseudo-  
function for Adaptec compatibility. Since some software packages do require  
a DMA channel, there are four channels available: DMA 5/6/7/0. If you need  
to choose the DMA channel be sure that there is no conflict with other  
adapters.  
1.6.2 DC-820B Adapter Firmware Options  
This field allows you to select the Cache line size, Cache DRAM test, Host  
Adapter SCSI ID, DOS 5 Support, and Power ON delay for SCSI devices.  
Cache line size: 16KB/8KB/4KB. This option allows you to change the size,  
in kilobytes, of cache lines. Depending on total cache memory size installed,  
you may wish to experiment with the different values to obtain optimum  
performance. The table below provides some suggested cache line sizes for  
different operating systems and installed cache memory sizes.  
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Cache Size  
1MB  
4MB  
16MB  
DOS/Windows  
NetWare  
4KB/line  
4KB/line  
4KB/line  
16KB/line  
16KB/line  
8KB/line  
16KB/line  
16KB/line  
16KB/line  
UNIX  
Cache DRAM test: Suppressed/Simplified/Full test. Suppressed test is the  
default option and would just skip the test on cache DRAM to save time for  
system boot-up. Full test on cache DRAM includes regular pattern, random  
pattern, and address pattern tests. Choosing the Simplified test option would  
only activate the regular pattern test.  
Host Adapter SCSI ID: 0-7. The default ID of DC-820B is 7. Each device,  
including the DC-820B, must have its own individual SCSI ID. If any  
conflict occurs, check the device menu for proper ID setting.  
DOS 5 Support enable / disable: Under DOS environments, the devices  
connected to the DC-820B can be controlled through BIOS INT 13H or  
device drivers. There are some limitations for devices serviced by BIOS INT  
13H, such as the I/O port has to be set as 330H and the SCSI ID must start  
from 0. This option enables you to overcome the above limitations. Two  
options available are as follows:  
1). Disabled (default)  
When this option is chosen, you can only handle two drives through BIOS  
INT 13H. Be sure that the SCSI IDs of these two drives must start from 0  
and make sure to set 330H as your I/O port address. All other SCSI  
devices, such as fixed disk (more than two), removable cartridge, re-writable  
optical disk (MO), tape streamer, DAT, and CD-ROM, should be controlled  
by device drivers.  
When devices are under the control of BIOS INT 13H, IDE drives always  
have higher priorities over SCSI drives. The following is an example describ-  
ing all the combinations:  
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Device  
Case 0  
Case 1  
Case 2  
none  
drive C:  
drive C:  
IDE HDD 0  
none  
none  
drive D:  
(*)  
IDE HDD 1  
drive C:  
drive D:  
SCSI device 0 (SCSI  
ID = 0)  
drive D:  
(*)  
(*)  
SCSI device 1 (SCSI  
ID = 1)  
*: Not recognized by BIOS INT 13H, if existing. Can only be  
controlled by device driver.  
Case0: No IDE drive exists. You must set the SCSI ID as 0 for bootable  
drive and 1 for the other.  
Case1: The IDE drive is recognized as drive C:. And you must set the SCSI  
ID as 0 for this SCSI drive (D:).  
Case2: No more SCSI device can be controlled by BIOS INT 13H.  
2) Enabled  
This option can only be enabled for MS-DOS 3.3/4.0/5.0 and NetWare  
duplexing environments. Do not activate it under other operating systems.  
Under DOS 5.0, you are able to control up to eight devices controlled by  
BIOS INT 13H, such as IDE/ESDI/ST506/SCSI fixed disk, removable car-  
tridge, and re-writable optical disk (MO). As for the DOS 3.3/4.0, you can  
only control up to two drives. This option occupies 1KB of conventional  
memory space as the scratch-pad memory, i.e., 639KB-640KB. Also, this  
option may cause some virus-protection software or hardware to issue a  
false alarm.  
To set this option as Enabled you are able to coexist with an Adaptec SCSI  
adapter, but you have to leave 330H for Adaptec’s adapter and switch the  
DC-820B’s I/O port to some other address. Aside from this, you have to add  
the necessary device driver(s).  
The following is an example under MS-DOS 5.0 with the option enabled:  
To simplify the example, each device is defined as having only one DOS  
partition, i.e., two devices for drives C:/D:, four devices for drives C:/D:/E:/  
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F:, and so on. The following demonstrates the case of one IDE adapter with  
two IDE HDD drives and two DC-820Bs with seven SCSI drives. Also, refer  
to the I/O port definition for more scanning details.  
IDE  
DC-820B  
DC-820B  
(I/O port 330H)  
(I/O port 230H)  
=================================================  
C:  
D:  
E: (SCSI ID 1)  
F: (SCSI ID 4)  
G: (SCSI ID 2)  
H: (SCSI ID 3)  
I: (SCSI ID 4)  
J: (SCSI ID 5)  
* (SCSI ID 6)  
*: Unrecognized. This is the last device in the scanning sequence and  
is beyond the maximum of eight devices. Need device driver.  
If any device(s) among E: through J: is a removable medium, you still have a  
chance to access the unrecognized drive, which is over the limit of the  
maximum eight devices. Let’s say that drive F: is an MO device. You can  
then set the BIOS INT 13H device option as HD (refer to the next subsection  
for more details). In this way, the DC-820B’s BIOS INT 13H won’t sense  
its existence and the new eight devices’ scanning sequence would be re-  
arranged as follows:  
IDE  
DC-820B  
DC-820B  
(I/O port 330h)  
(I/O port 230h)  
=================================================  
C:  
D:  
E: (SCSI ID 1)  
* (SCSI ID 4)  
F: (SCSI ID 2)  
G: (SCSI ID 3)  
H: (SCSI ID 4)  
I: (SCSI ID 5)  
J: (SCSI ID 6)  
*: This Unrecognized device can be accessed if controlled through a  
device driver.  
It is required to enable this option in order to work with drive capacity  
over 1GB under DOS environment. Refer to MAX DOS disk Capacity in  
the next sub-section.  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Power ON delay for SCSI devices: 30 - 120 seconds. The 30 seconds  
power-on delay default is applicable to most drives. Since some slower  
drives may fail to respond within the default power-on delay duration,  
you may extend this time duration in order to give sufficient time for  
start-up.  
Controller Terminator: There are two SCSI active terminators mounted on  
the top right-hand conner of the board. They can be selected to either In-  
stalled or Removed by setting this option to Enable or Disable.  
1.6.3 DC-820B SCSI Device Options  
This field allows you to select the Cacheable device, Parity Checking, Syn-  
chronous Negotiation, Disconnect/Reconnect, Max DOS disk capacity, Mir-  
rored to SCSI ID, DOS device type, and Max Synchronous transfer rate.  
Also, the lower screen displays the device information related to each SCSI  
ID. If you are using the AMI ECU, you have to run the ACF20SU.EXE  
utility located on the driver diskette after completing the ECU setup.  
23  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Cacheable device: Yes/No. This option is only valid for fixed disk, remov-  
able cartridge, re-writable optical disk (MO) and Floptical. The removable  
media device with Yes option must insert the media before the system boot-  
up for caching algorithm to work properly. When the No option is chosen,  
both the data transfer requests and commands are passed directly to the drive  
itself.  
Parity Checking: Yes/No. This option defaults to enabled, i.e., Yes. If set as  
No, the DC-820B won't perform the parity checking on the SCSI bus. For  
some devices that do not implement the parity function, you have to disable  
this option.  
Synchronous Negotiation: AT/PA/NO. AT is for Active Synchronous nego-  
tiation, in this mode DC-820B will initiate SCSI synchronous negotiation  
when the system boots up. If the PA, Passive Synchronous Negotiation, mode  
is chosen, another SCSI device instead of DC-820B must initiate the negotia-  
tion. NO (default), Asynchronous Negotiation mode, is for the transfer to be  
done asynchronously, which is normally at a lower rate and not related to the  
timing constraints of SCSI devices.  
Disconnect/Reconnect: Yes/No. Yes is the default option and allows the  
SCSI device to be off-line by freeing the SCSI bus when performing multi-  
tasking operation. In this way, the DC-820B can simultaneously process  
multiple operations on the SCSI bus and thus improve the SCSI bus’ effi-  
ciency in the multiple device environment.  
Max DOS disk capacity: 1G/1.5G/2G/3G/4.5G. 1G is the default option  
and compatible with AHA 1540/1542 series, that means you can directly  
port the drive with AHA 1540/1542 series format to the DC-820B. For  
operating systems other than DOS and NetWare, you must choose the 1G  
option. Also, to activate options other than 1G, i.e., 1.5G/2G/3G/4.5G,  
you have to enable the DOS 5 Support enable/disable in the Adapter  
Firmware Options first. The following is the parameter translation informa-  
tion corresponding to each option (512B/sector):  
1G = 64 heads and 32 sectors, maximum 1GB  
1.5G = 64 heads and 48 sectors, maximum 1.5GB  
2G = 128 heads and 32 sectors, maximum 2GB  
3G = 128 heads and 48 sectors, maximum 3GB  
4.5G = 192 heads and 48 sectors, maximum 4.5GB  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Mirrored to SCSI ID: NO/1-7. This disk mirroring function is implemented  
by the DC-820B’s firmware and works for all operating systems. This  
option needs two and only two drives and is selected from the slave drive’s  
point of view. The SCSI ID number you choose stands for the master drive  
that you want to mirror to. The NO option may stand for two meanings:  
either this drive (master) mirrors to another drive or no mirroring operation is  
on this drive at all. So, from the example shown on the setup screen, we can  
tell that the fixed drive with SCSI ID 1 (slave) is mirrored to another fixed  
drive with SCSI 0 (master). The MO with SCSI ID 2 has NO as its option  
and is not involved in any mirroring activity.  
When the mirror function is enabled, the mirror-pair related to this operation  
would be seen as one. That means a WRITE operation would be performed  
on both the master and slave drives. On the other hand, a read operation  
would only access the data from the master drive and not the slave. Since a  
duplicate copy of the master drive would reside on the slave drive, data  
security is ensured in case one of the pair is damaged. One condition of this  
option is that the slave drive must have at least the same storage capacity as  
the master drive. Besides setting this option properly, you still have to run a  
utility program (TOOLBME.EXE) to set up the mirroring initialization.  
Refer to the next section for more details about TOOLBME.EXE.  
BIOS INT 13H device: HD/HDRM/No. HD (default) option is for fixed  
disk drives controlled by BIOS INT 13H and will be ignored if no device is  
installed. HDRM option is for fixed disk and removable disk drives con-  
trolled by BIOS INT 13H. The No option is for drives controlled by the DC-  
820B’s device driver instead of INT 13H. Note that removable disk drives  
with the HDRM option selected can only function as fixed disks and are not  
allowed to change media. Also, if you set the option as HD for a removable  
media device, it can only be recognized by adding a device driver instead of  
being controlled through BIOS INT 13H.  
MAX Sync Xfer rate: 10.0 - 2.00 MB/sec. DC-820B supports the 10.00  
MB/sec as its highest data transfer rate to work with SCSI devices comply-  
ing with Fast SCSI protocol. The DC-820B will negotiate an optimum speed  
depending on the transfer rate of each device under your chosen option.  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
1.7 TOOLBME.EXE Utility & Disk Mirroring Initialization  
TOOLBME.EXE is a utility program performing the functions of Low-Level  
Format, Disk Copy, Disk Compare, and Mirroring Initialization. Since it is a  
DOS-formatted utility, you have to execute it either under DOS or from a  
bootable DOS diskette for Non-DOS environments.  
View all SCSI devices: This module enables access to the information about  
how many host adapters (HA) and SCSI devices (No.) are in the whole SCSI  
subsystem. Also, it provides each SCSI device with information about its  
SCSI ID (ID), Capacity, device type (Dev-Type), and Device-Name. The  
Mirror field indicates the mirror pair status for each drive. The ? signifies  
that no mirroring activity is associated. The mirroring pair devices are marked  
to the same alphabetical character.  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
This screen gives us the information about the adapter-0 has five SCSI  
devices (ID ranging from 0 to 4) and the FUJITSU M2614S/MAXTOR  
LXT-200S joined as a mirror pair.  
Low level format utility: Since most of the SCSI drives are already pre-  
formatted when shipped from their manufacturers, you can skip this section  
except in the following situations:  
n
Disk drive is damaged  
n
Disk drive has not been formatted with 512B/block  
After selecting the desired device with confirmation, the low-level-format  
will proceed then. Under normal circumstances, it is both unnecessary and  
inadvisable to do low-level formatting. Also, executing this utility will erase  
all information and data on the drive.  
Mirror pair initialization: The pair of mirroring drives are defined in the  
Mirrored to SCSI ID option of the DC-820B SCSI Device Option when  
executing the ECU. This module helps you prepare the necessary procedures  
before performing disk mirroring and restore the data once one of the mirror-  
pair drives is in trouble. By executing this initialization utility, you are able  
to make an exact duplicate of the master drive. Note that this initialization  
27  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
always duplicates the Master Disk to the Backup Disk (slave). If one of the  
Mirror-Pair drives is malfunctioning, you can try to adjust the proper Mas-  
ter-Backup relation by selecting the Mirrored to SCSI ID in the ECU and  
then execute this module to put things in order.  
Followed by the Mirrored to SCSI ID setting in the previous sub-section, you  
still need to properly set the mirror initialization options:  
Firstof all, you have to set the mirror-pair drives, one to Master Disk and the  
other to Backup Disk, by pressing the <Space Bar>. The menu will then  
require you to choose one of the two options: to delete the data in just the  
Backup Disk or both of them for initialization.  
If the data in the Master Disk drive is useful, then you should let the option  
be N. The initialization will then just delete the data in the Backup Disk drive  
and leave the Master Disk intact.  
After selecting N, the screen will look like this:  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
If both the Master and Backup Disk drives are new or contain useless data,  
you may key in Y instead to proceed the initialization:  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Disk image copy utility: This module copies the data from the Source Disk  
to the Target Disk on a drive-to-drive basis. Still, you have to set the copy-  
pair drives, one to Source Disk and the other to Target Disk, by pressing the  
<Space Bar>.  
Disk image compare utility: This module compares the data of the Source  
Disk with that of the Target Disk on a drive-to-drive basis. Still, you have to  
set the compare-pair drives, one to Source Disk and the other to Target  
Disk, by pressing the <Space Bar>.  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Adapter Error Log utility: This module provides the I/O error log informa-  
tion for the devices controlled by the DC-820B(s). When this module is  
selected, the screen will display the information of I/O port address corre-  
sponding to each adapter, which is an Adaptec adapter or its compatible.  
You may then further go through the specific adapter for viewing the Read/  
Write error log information for all devices attached to it. This error log  
information screen will show the times of error logged during the whole  
device access history. Note that only the DC-820B and its series are able to  
record the times of error.  
There is a count limit of 31 for both read and write error logs. If one of them  
exceeds 31, the DC-820B will issue a warning message through the beeper  
connected to it by keeping beeping. This also implies some defects, such as  
bad sector(s), may reside in the device, and you should do something about  
it. Also, you need to reset the counter by choosing Yes to clear all log data  
and resume the logging function. Note that the log data is stored in the  
EEPROM of the DC-820B and not able to be erased by turning the power  
off. Since this log utility cannot sense the SCSI ID change among your  
devices, you have to take care of the SCSI ID consistency regarding to each  
device for correct logging.  
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Chapter 2  
ASPI Driver for DOS  
This chapter describes the ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programming Interface)  
driver installation for DOS and some other useful utility programs under this  
ASPI environment:  
1. The ASPI driver, ASPIBME.SYS, provides the basic communication  
interface for the host adapter device driver and DOS operating system. It  
supports up to six coexisting host adapters, and the ASPI interface for  
Sytos (Plus), ARCserve/Solo tape subsystems, fixed disk, removable  
cartridge, MO, Floptical, CD-ROM, CD-Changer and scanner.  
2. The DISKDRV.SYS is for installing valid DOS partitions as logical  
drives with those SCSI devices not controlled by BIOS INT 13H. It  
supports Fixed disk, Removable Cartridge, Re-writable Optical Disk  
(MO) and Floptical. It also enables you to recognize data formats used  
by other adapter manufacturers.  
3. TFDISK.EXE is a DOS compatible disk partition utility program. It  
allows you to choose several popular translation modes to port your DC-  
820B partition to other manufacturers’ adapters. This provides you  
great flexibility for drive portability to other adapters.  
4. CHKDRIVE.EXE is a utility for checking the physical drive and its  
logical status.  
5. ASPICD.EXE is the device driver for CD-ROM and CD-Changer  
devices.  
DOS uses the ASPI driver as a software interface to communicate with SCSI  
devices. The peripheral driver will talk to ASPI interface instead of host  
adapter hardware. Under this architecture, multiple devices can share the  
host adapter without conflict. The ASPI driver is typically installed under the  
following situations:  
n
n
n
n
Multiple adapters coexist (up to six)  
SCSI devices not controlled by BIOS INT 13H  
install removable media  
interface to Tape, CD-ROM and other SCSI devices  
32  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
2.1 Installing the ASPI Driver  
With ASPI driver, ASPIBME.SYS, installed, you are able to run or install  
the following drivers and utilities:  
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
TFDISK.EXE: Disk partition utility in this diskette  
DISKDRV.SYS: Disk driver in this diskette  
AFDISK.EXE: Disk partition utility from Adaptec  
ASPIDISK.SYS: Disk driver from Adaptec  
ASPICD.SYS: CD-ROM and CD-Changer driver  
SYTOS PLUS: Tape backup program from SYTRON CORP.  
SYTOS V3.x: Tape backup program from SYTRON CORP.  
ARCserve/Solo: Tape backup program from Cheyenne CORP.  
Other utilities/drivers conforming to the ASPI standard may also be used.  
Before installing, copy the drivers and utilities into a proper directory, e.g.,  
C:\ASPI.  
Install the DC-820B properly and add a line in CONFIG.SYS:  
device=c:\aspi\aspibme.sys  
The DC-820B is able to coexist with other host adapter in the same system.  
When it co-exists with Adaptec’s adapter, you must set the I/O port address  
as 330H for Adaptec’s adapter to ensure proper operation. Of course, you  
should not set the I/O address as 330H for your DC-820B under this circum-  
stance.  
2.2 Installing the DISKDRV.SYS Driver  
DISKDRV.SYS is the driver for creating valid DOS partitions as logical  
drives with those disk drives not controlled by BIOS INT 13H.  
DISKDRV.SYS controls up to eight SCSI devices, such as fixed disk,  
removable cartridge, re-writable optical disk and Floptical.  
Since DISKDRV.SYS scans the parameters from the master boot record of  
your drives automatically, it is possible to install drives previously used with  
other SCSI adapters without any inconsistency.  
Using the /d option, you are able to reserve up to 9 logical drives for each  
SCSI device. Also, you have to keep the number of total partitions (logical  
33  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
drives) reserved with the driver within 16. This option is important for  
removable media devices. If you do not reserve enough logical drives for  
your removable media, it may cause some of the logical drives to go unrecog-  
nized. To install, add a line after ASPI driver in the CONFIG.SYS:  
device=c:\aspi\aspibme.sys  
—> device=c:\aspi\diskdrv.sys /d n1 n2 n3 ... n8  
n1 logical drives are reserved for 1st physical drive  
n2 logical drives are reserved for 2nd physical drive  
n3 logical drives are reserved for 3rd physical drive  
....  
n nx: x = 1 .. 8 and the value of nx ranges from 0 to 9  
n nx=0: DC-820B scans the number of logical drives automatically  
n the ordering of physical drives starts from primary to secondary and  
SCSI ID from 0 to 7  
It is recommended that DOS 4.x or DOS 5.0 be used. For DOS 3.x, logical  
drive capacity is limited to 32M bytes or less.  
Logical drive scanning sequence  
The scanning sequence of SCSI devices that DISKDRV.SYS follows is  
starting from adapter #0, SCSI ID = 0, primary partition, and then extended  
partition. Also refer to the I/O port definition for more scanning details.  
The following is an example of the scanning sequence with two DC-820Bs.  
The first one (adapter 0) controls two floppy drives, two BIOS INT 13H  
controlled SCSI HDDs, one MO device with three logical partitions (drives),  
and one SCSI HDD. The second one (adapter 1) controls one SCSI HDD  
with one logical partition, that also is the primary partition. The commands  
in the CONFIG.SYS would be like this:  
device=c:\aspi\aspibme.sys  
-> device=c:\aspi\diskdrv.sys /d 3 0 0  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Drive A:  
Drive B:  
Drive C:  
Floppy drive  
Floppy drive  
Adapter 0, SCSI ID 0 (BIOS INT 13H controlled  
HDD)  
Drive D:  
Drive E:  
Drive F:  
Drive G:  
Drive H:  
Drive I:  
Adapter 0, SCSI ID 1 (BIOS INT 13H controlled  
HDD)  
Adapter 0, SCSI ID 4, Primary DOS (MO)  
Adapter 0, SCSI ID 4, Extended DOS logical drive  
(MO)  
Adapter 0, SCSI ID 4, Extended DOS logical drive  
(MO)  
Adapter 0, SCSI ID 5, Primary DOS (HDD)  
Adapter 1, SCSI ID 2, Primary DOS (HDD)  
Note: If you enable the DOS 5 support in ECU, you will be able to install up  
to eight drives without installing device drivers. Of course, your DOS version  
must be 5.0 or above.  
The CHKDRIVE.EXE utility can be used to check the logical drives con-  
trolled by DISKDRV.SYS. Refer to CHKDRIVE.EXE section.  
LOCK/UNLOCK of removable media  
LOCK/UNLOCK functions are crucial for data integrity and need to be  
supported by drivers. To prevent the data from being destroyed by improper  
operation of your devices, it is recommended to use the DOS 4.x or DOS 5.0  
SHARE utility for automatic LOCK/UNLOCK. This can be done by adding  
“share.exe” to your “AUTOEXEC.BAT” file. After adding the “share.exe”  
file, the system will LOCK your medium when opening a file and UNLOCK  
it when closing the file.  
For removable media, the cartridge can be retrieved at any time if no file is  
opened. Cartridge change is transparent to the user. DOS logical drive  
information will be updated automatically every time you change the car-  
tridge.  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
2.3 Disk Partition Utility  
TFDISK.EXE is a DOS-compatible disk partition program for modifying or  
creating a partition table. Valid DOS partitions can be created by DOS  
FDISK for drives controlled by BIOS INT 13H or TFDISK.EXE for drives  
controlled by device driver.  
To run this program, you have to install ASPI drivers first, i.e., add two lines  
in CONFIG.SYS file:  
device=c:\aspi\aspibme.sys  
device=c:\aspi\diskdrv.sys  
It enables you to transfer the DC-820B drives to other adapters by selecting  
a proper parameter translation method. For instance, if you choose the  
Adaptec translation mode, then the drives partitioned by the DC-820B can be  
transferred to other Adaptec host adapters. The flexibility of different trans-  
lation modes is convenient when porting your drives to other manufacturers’  
adapters.  
Partitioning can be done by simply typing TFDISK.EXE at the DOS prompt.  
Its four options are shown below:  
Automatic translation method (default)  
This method reads parameters from the master boot records of drives previ-  
ously used with other adapters and uses these parameters as DC-820B’s  
parameters. In this way, you are able to do the right translation for installing  
other drives used with other SCSI adapters before without any inconsistency.  
If no parameters exist in the master boot record or in the case of a new drive,  
the Adaptec translation method will be employed.  
Adaptec translation method  
This method partitions the drive to work with other Adaptec adapters.  
Heads  
Sectors  
= 64  
= 32  
Cylinders = xxx depends on drive’s capacity  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Special translation method  
This method partitions the drive to work with other Tekram adapters.  
Heads = 8/16/32/48  
Sectors = 26/32/48/63/64/128/192  
Cylinders = xxx depends on drive’s capacity  
(The head # and Sector # will be calculated automatically, and can not be  
modified manually.)  
Mylex translation method  
This method partitions the drive to work with Mylex or Ultrastor adapters.  
Heads  
= 16  
Sectors = 63  
Cylinders = xxx depends on drive’s capacity  
After partitioning the disk, it is necessary to reboot the system for proper  
operation. For removable devices, you can use /d parameter with  
DISKDRV.DSK to reserve logical drives. After partitioning the disk by  
executing TFDISK.EXE, just make a disk change (i.e., retrieve the cartridge  
and then insert again) to DOS. You can use CHKDRIVE.EXE to verify that  
the partition has been changed.  
2.4 CHKDRIVE.EXE Utility  
This utility can be used to check the physical drive and its logical status  
under Device-driver mode. It provides information about the drive’s SCSI  
ID, manufacturer, model number, capacity, and drive status. This utility is  
quite useful for checking if the functions of removable media are as expected,  
such as media change movement.  
Drive status can be reserved, unformatted, or usable:  
Reserved: Stands for the logical drive(s) reserved by DISKDRV.SYS’s /d  
option which do not exist. For example, if (nx) for this specific device is  
three and only two logical partitions do exist, then the last one logical  
partition reserved by /d option would be marked as “reserved”.  
Unformatted: Means this drive still needs to be formatted by the DOS  
FORMAT utility to become a usable one.  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Usable: Means this drive is all right to work with.  
2.5 Installing the CD-ROM Driver  
ASPICD.EXE is a driver for CD-ROM and CD-Changer devices. Besides  
that, you still need one more execution file, mscdex.exe, which can be  
acquired from Microsoft. The following shows the driver installation:  
n Add a line after ASPI driver,  
device= c:\aspi\aspibme.sys  
-> device= c:\aspi\aspicd.exe /d:cdrom0  
Note 1: if for Trantor's Music Box, you have to add one more option as  
follows: device= c:\aspi\aspicd.exe /d:cdrom0 /mb  
Note 2: if your CD-ROM is compatible with other manufacturer and not  
recognized, you have to add one more option /t:XXX, XXX: short for  
compatible manufacturer name. For example: if your DEC CD-ROM  
CDU-541 is compatible with SONY CDU-541 and not recognized by the  
previous command, you can try add one more option as follows: device=  
c:\aspi\aspicd.exe /d:cdrom0 /t:SON  
n Add a line in AUTOEXEC.BAT file:  
-> c:mscdex.exe /d:cdrom0 /m:12  
2.6 Installing Tape Streamer (DAT)  
After installing the ASPIBME.SYS driver, your DC-820B is able to support  
the following tape backup subsystems.  
n SYTOS PLUS  
n SYTOS V3.x  
n ARCserve/Solo  
Tape backup program from SYTRON CORP.  
Tape backup program from SYTRON CORP.  
Tape backup program from Cheyenne CORP.  
Note that your ASPI driver only provides the interface for tape systems, and  
you must purchase the desired tape backup software program separately.  
38  
 
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39  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Chapter 3  
NetWare Drivers  
The DC-820B supports drivers for NetWare V3.10/3.11/3.12/SFT-III/4.00/  
4.01 under separate directories to support fixed disks, removable media, and  
tape subsystems.  
<NetWare.40X>  
This directory supports drivers for NetWare V4.00/4.01:  
n NV40XBME.DSK supports SCSI devices, such as Fixed drive, Remov-  
able Cartridge, and Re-writable Optical Disk (MO), and provides inter-  
face to ASPITRAN.DSK module  
n NV40XBME.DDI is the installation configuration file  
n ASPITRAN.DSK is the ASPI interface for devices other than disk, like  
tape, DAT or CD-ROM, to work under NetWare  
<NetWare.31X>  
This directory supports drivers for NetWare V3.11/3.12/SFT-III:  
n NV31XBME.DSK supports SCSI devices, such as Fixed drive, Remov-  
able Cartridge, and Re-writable Optical Disk (MO), and provides inter-  
face to ASPITRAN.DSK module  
n ASPITRAN.DSK is the ASPI interface for devices other than disk, like  
tape, DAT or CD-ROM, to work under NetWare  
<NetWare.310>  
This directory supports driver for NetWare V3.10:  
n NV310BME.DSK supports SCSI devices, such as Fixed drive, Removable  
Cartridge, and Re-writable Optical Disk (MO), and provides interface to  
ASPITRAN.DSK module  
n ASPITRAN.DSK is the ASPI interface for devices other than disk, like  
tape, DAT or CD-ROM, to work under NetWare  
40  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
n BELOW16.DSK is the memory allocator routine for buffer below 16  
megabyte under NetWare V3.10. This file will be auto-loaded during  
installation. The similar function is default supported under NetWare  
V3.11.  
3.1 ASPI drivers for NetWare  
A). This sub-section explains major installation procedures for V4.00/4.01:  
After seeing a message block showing "Scanning for available drivers ..."  
during the installation, you'll find a list of default supported drivers.  
Press <Ins> key to install the driver, NV40XBME.DSK, from drive A:.  
Press <F3> key to specify the path: >A:\NETWARE.40X. Select the  
NV40XBME.DSK and press the <Enter> for loading this driver.  
Press another <Return> key to proceed the setting for I/O port address and  
IRQ.  
B). This second sub-section introduces how to install driver modules,  
NV31XBME.DSK and ASPITRAN.DSK, and also the supports for both  
tape streamer and removable media devices. The ASPI driver installation  
procedures for V3.11/3.12/SFT-III and V3.10 are the same, except the  
command "load nv31xbme" is replaced by "load nv310bme" for NetWare  
V3.10. The following part of the section takes the NetWare V3.11 as the  
example for introduction.  
Installing the DC-820B drivers  
First copy the two files, NV311BME.DSK and ASPITRAN.DSK, from the  
NetWare driver diskette that comes with your DC-820B to the directory  
where the server program resides.  
After booting up the NetWare operating system, load the DC-820B driver by  
typing at the prompt  
:load nv311bme <Return>  
ASPITRAN.DSK will be automatically loaded first, as shown on the console.  
The system then prompts you to select the I/O slot number of your DC-820B.  
If you forget this number, you can access it by entering the ECU. After  
41  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
choosing the I/O slot number, the screen will display information about the  
configuration of the adapter selected:  
Host Adapter  
= DC820B  
= 330 (Hex)  
= 11  
= 7  
= 5  
I/O Port Address  
Interrupt Level  
Adapter SCSI ID  
Slot Number  
In case that two or more DC-820Bs are present, you have to load the same  
driver by typing “load nv311bme” as many times as the number of DC-820B  
adapters installed. To simplify the booting procedure thereafter, you may  
want to edit STARTUP.NCF file by adding the line:  
load nv311bme slot=X  
Replace the ‘X’ with an appropriate number. Refer to the NetWare manual  
for the procedure to edit this STARTUP.NCF file.  
Server-based backup/restore support  
The server-based back-up/restore utility comes with the NetWare system  
itself. Through the DC-820B’s ASPI drivers, you are able to use this utility  
with the tape sub-system. To run this utility, at the NetWare prompt type:  
:load tsa <Return>  
:load sbackup <Return>  
The Sbackup screen will appear. Input user name as requested and then  
select the device driver. Be sure to select the item HP DIBI-2 Tape Driver  
regardless of which type of tape drives you are using. Refer to the NetWare  
manual regarding Server Backup for detailed backup/restore procedures.  
Removable media support  
Removable media devices, including Magneto-Optical (MO), differ from  
fixed hard disks in that the media can be changed dynamically. Due to the  
caching capability of the NetWare operating system, it is hazardous if a file  
system (thus a disk) in operation is abruptly changed without the operating  
system being notified. Should this happen the file system will inevitably be  
corrupted. Another problem arises if a new disk (file system) is inserted.  
42  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Somehow the operating system must be informed of the change and new disk  
geometry be passed on in order that the new file system is recognized. For  
proper installation, be sure to follow the procedure below when using  
removable media devices.  
[Mountingafilesystem]  
To mount a file system on removable media, insert the medium and wait for  
the drive to spin up. At the NetWare prompt, type  
:load monitor <Return>  
1. Select Disk Information  
2. Select the corresponding drive with removable media  
3. Move the inverted cursor bar to the item Removable Drive Mount Status:  
and press <Return> to mount the device  
Note: If the status is mounted already, then dismount and mount it again  
by pressing 4 consecutive <Return> to make sure the operating system  
gets the correct disk geometry.  
4. Exit monitor  
5. The message shown on the console informing you of the new media  
geometry looks like this:  
*** (DC820B#3/ID#5) Removable media: hds=64 sec=32 cyls=120 ***  
(This indicates that your DC-820B is installed in slot 3 and your device  
has a capacity 120MB with SCSI ID 5.)  
6. At the NetWare prompt, type:  
:mount volume_name_as_desired  
Then the file system is mounted and the device is locked. Any attempt to eject  
the media while the file system is mounted produces no effect. If the volume  
name of the new medium is unknown, you are able to check it by selecting  
the item Volume Options after typing the following command at the NetWare  
prompt,  
:load install <Return>.  
[Dismountingafilesystem]  
To dismount a file system on removable media, at the NetWare prompt, type:  
:dismount volume_name_as_desired <Return>  
:load monitor <Return>  
43  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
1. Select Disk Information  
2. Select the corresponding drive with removable media  
3. Move the inverted cursor bar to the item Removable Drive Mount  
Status: and choose dismount to dismount the device  
4. Media ejection is now possible.  
3.2 Duplexing  
Both Mirroring and Duplexing are referred to as mirroring in the NetWare  
operating system. Duplexing involves two drives on two separate host adapt-  
ers, while Mirroring is associated with two drives but on the same single  
adapter. Before enabling the duplexing function, be sure to load the driver  
NV311BME.DSK two times. Since hardware mirroring of your DC-820B  
takes effect under all operating systems, it makes no sense to enable both the  
NetWare’s mirroring and the adapter’s hardware mirroring at the same  
time. However, to avoid possible adapter failure, the duplexing function is a  
feasible solution. Refer to Mirrored to SCSI ID in Chapter 1 for more details  
about hardware mirroring.  
Further information about this subject can be found in the NetWare manual.  
44  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
45  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Chapter 4  
UNIX LOCK/UNLOCK Driver Packages  
This chapter introduces the installation procedures of UNIX LOCK/UNLOCK  
support for removable media devices. It is especially important for removable  
media devices that employ the caching capability supported by the DC-820B.  
4.1. SCO UNIX V.3.2.2  
This SCO UNIX driver is in the SCO/ISC UNIX drivers’ diskette. Since its  
driver diskette is UNIX-formatted and cannot be read from DOS, you may  
refer to the latest information in the README.TXT file on the DOS/NetWare  
driver diskette, if necessary. A similar function is default supported in the  
SCO UNIX V3.2.4. Also refer to the README.TXT file for installation  
procedures, if your driver diskette is a 3"1/2 (720KB) one.  
Driver installation  
To install the driver, insert a working copy of the UNIX driver diskette in  
drive A:  
1. To prepare the installation for 360KB driver diskette, you must type:  
cd /dev  
mv dsk/f0 dsk/f0.org ; mknod dsk/f0 b 2 132  
mv rdsk/f0 rdsk/f0.org ; mknod rdsk/f0 c 2 132  
2. At the prompt, type:  
installpkg  
3. Press <Enter> to install from floppy driver 0  
4. Press <Enter> to install the driver  
5. Press <Enter> to confirm that SCO UNIX is being installed  
6. To have the newly built UNIX take effect, reboot the system  
7. To restore the status changed in step 0, you have to type:  
cd /dev  
mv dsk/f0.org dsk/f0  
mv rdsk/f0.org rdsk/f0  
Driver removal  
46  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
The procedure is the same as ISC UNIX V3.2 (refer to Sec 4.2).  
Removable media support  
This driver supports removable media like the Magneto-Optical drive. Upon  
successful installation, two utility files rmount and rumount will be found  
under /etc to replace original “mount” and “umount” commands. These two  
files lock/unlock the medium before/after the file system is mounted/un-  
mounted, preventing accidental replacement of the medium.  
4.2 ISC UNIX V 3.2  
The ISC UNIX driver is on the SCO/ISC UNIX drivers’ diskette. As stated  
in the SCO section, refer to the latest information in the README.TXT file  
of DOS/NetWare driver diskette.  
Driver Installation  
To install the driver, insert a working copy of the UNIX driver diskette in  
drive A:  
1. At the prompt, type:  
sysadm <Enter>  
2. Enter SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION and choose the softwaremgmt  
option by typing:  
5 <Enter>  
3. Enter softwaremgmt and choose installpkg option by typing:  
1 <Enter>  
4. Enter the density of the diskettes you are installing from and choose the  
360 KB (5"1/4 double density) option by typing:  
2 <Enter>  
5. Press <Enter> to install the driver  
6. Press <Enter> to confirm that ISC UNIX is being installed  
7. Press <Enter> to reboot the system  
To ensure that the driver is properly installed, type the following command to  
check the driver listing:  
displaypkg <Return>  
47  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Driver Removal  
To remove the driver, follow these procedures:  
1. At the prompt, type  
removepkg  
2. Type the corresponding number of:  
“EISASC Lock/Unlock Driver Package”  
3. Press <Enter> to remove the driver  
4. Press <Enter> to reboot  
Removable Media Support  
This driver supports removable media like Magneto-Optical drives. Upon  
successful installation, two utility files rmount and rumount will be found  
under /etc to replace original “mount” and “umount” commands. These two  
files lock/unlock the medium before/after the file system is mounted/un-  
mounted, preventing accidental replacement of medium.  
48  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
49  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Appendix A:  
Technical Specifications  
Performance  
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
Cache DRAM sizes: Not-Installed/1MB/4MB/16MB  
Hardware Disk mirroring support  
High speed 32-bit bus master, burst data transfer up to 33 MB/sec  
Fully support SCSI-I and Fast SCSI-II protocols  
AHA 1540/1542 series compatible  
Compatible with major operating systems  
Software porgrammable Active Terminators for easiest adjustment w/o  
opening the cabinet  
n
n
n
n
Coexists with other SCSI, ESDI, or IDE adapters  
Support up to eight drives for DOS 5.0 without adding drivers  
Support maximum DOS disk capacity of 4.5GB  
Cacheable devices: Fixed disk, removable cartridge, re-writable optical  
disk (MO) and Floptical devices  
Technical  
n
n
n
Microprocessor:  
EISA bus master protocol chip:  
Maximum EISA bus data transfer rate:  
80C186-16  
Intel BMIC 82355  
33MB/sec bus master with  
burst mode  
n
Maximum Fast SCSI II bus data Xfer rate: 10MB/sec (synchronous)  
5MB/sec (asynchronous)  
n
n
Maximum SCSI devices installable: 42 SCSI devices  
Maximum floppy drives supported:  
2 (360K, 720K, 1.2M,  
1.44M, and 2.88M)  
6
n
Selectable I/O port & Interrupt:  
50  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Functional  
n
Enhanced SCSI I/O protocol: Multi-threaded & Multi-tasking support,  
Enhanced mailbox structure breaking 16MB bus master addressing limit,  
and Scatter/Gather data transfer support  
n
n
EISA Auto-configuration support  
Easy DOS driver installation software (INSTALL.EXE) helps you in-  
stall the needed driver(s) by updating the CONFIG.SYS and  
AUTOEXEC.BAT automatically  
51  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Appendix B:  
Product Support Form  
The following information should be provided to your supplier in writing to  
obtain technical support assistance:  
0. Ever try General Troubleshooting Tips in Appendix C and without suc-  
cess?  
Yes? ____  
No? ____  
1. DC-820B Information  
n Serial #  
: ________________________  
: ________________________  
n Purchase Date  
n Firmware Version # : ________________________  
n BIOS Version #  
n Driver Installed  
: ________________________  
: ________________________  
2. System Hardware Configuration (please list the manufacturer/model/chip  
and SCSI ID of each device)  
n Motherboard Speed  
: _____________________  
n Motherboard DRAM/SRAM : _____________________  
n Video card  
n Hard disk/Floppy card  
: _____________________  
: 1. _____________________  
2. _____________________  
: _____________________  
: 1. _____________________  
2. _____________________  
3. _____________________  
4. _____________________  
: 1. _____________________  
2. _____________________  
: 1. _____________________  
2. _____________________  
3. _____________________  
4. _____________________  
n Network card  
n Hard disk drive(s)  
(SCSI)  
n Floppy drive(s)  
n Other devices  
(IDE/ESDI)  
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EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
n Other SCSI device(s)  
: 1. _____________________  
2. _____________________  
3. _____________________  
4. _____________________  
3. System Software Configuration (please list the version)  
n Operating System : _____________________  
n Application Program : _____________________  
4. Detailed description of error messages and symptoms:  
5. Provide information of CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, and ECU op-  
tions  
53  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
Appendix C:  
General Troubleshooting Tips  
Most controller errors are traceable to external factors, such as conflicts with  
other installed cards, bad or incorrectly configured drives, loose cables, or  
other installation errors. A device list concerning the limitations, such as  
cannot work with 10MB/sec SCSI synchronous transfer rate, or prob-  
lems caused by the devices themselves can be found in the DEVICE.LST  
file.  
Please also note the DOS 5 support feature in your DC-820B. Your system  
is able to control up to eight drives through BIOS INT 13H without adding  
device drivers. If more than two SCSI drives (and not running under DOS  
5.0), more than one adapter, or other SCSI devices need to be installed, such  
as removable media, tape, or CD-ROM, you should install the device drivers.  
When trouble occurs in your system, you can always try to verify the  
possible causes by changing various components in your system, such as I/O  
card, DRAM SIMM, CPU, or motherboard. Also I/O port conflicts happen  
frequently when multiple I/O cards are installed. The following are general  
guidelines for some specific error conditions:  
0. The LED connected to JP1 flashes some diagnostics signals after power  
up. The following shows the flash frequency of each fatal error condi-  
tion:  
n One short flash: DC-820B’s CPU error  
n Two short flashes: SCSI chip error  
n Three short flashes: BMIC (82355) error  
n Four short flashes: DC-820B’s SRAM error  
n Five short flashes: DC-820B’s EPROM checksum error  
1. Under BIOS INT 13H (not more than two hard disk drives installed for  
Non-DOS 5 support environment):  
n if the SCSI ID set properly (ID=0 for the first drive and ID=1 for the  
second drive) and the I/O port set to 330H  
54  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
2. No BIOS message from DC-820B appears on the screen:  
n ROM address conflicting with other I/O card(s) -> check the ROM  
addresses of all the I/O cards and make sure none are conflicting  
n VGA card with “Fast Address Decode” option enabled -> this may  
cause all I/O cards that employ 8-bit ROM BIOS, DC-820B in-  
cluded, not to be recognized. Please disable this option, if possible.  
3. Missing operating system (normally happens in drives previously used  
with other adapters):  
n Under BIOS (INT 13H) -> please refer to guideline 1. If correct, then  
go on to perform partitioning by using the DOS FDISK command  
4. FDC error:  
n Could be more than one FDC enabled -> make sure only one FDC is  
enabled  
5. Devices not recognized:  
n Check if the cabling and terminators are properly installed  
n Some specific drives, such as Hitachi's, need more power-on delay  
time. Try to set the Power ON Delay for SCSI Devices option to a  
longer dealy.  
6. Cannot access your adapter when executing the ECU:  
n Could be installed in a slot not supporting the bus master -> refer to  
the mainboard menu and install your adapter into a bus-master sup-  
porting slot  
7. Possible incompatibility problems when enabling the DOS 5 support  
option in ECU:  
n Due to the condition of occupying the 1KB (639KB-640KB) memory  
space, some software programs, such as virus-protection programs,  
may issue false alarms.  
8. Surprisingly fast "FORMAT" means not completed ?:  
n The "FORMAT" is actually done. Due to that the time-consuming  
command (READ VERIFY) is ignored to improve the performance,  
your drive will respond to the FORMAT command very quickly.  
55  
 
EISAFastSCSICachingAdapter  
This is also a common measure used by other caching adapters, such  
as Mylex, to improve the performance. Of course, if you turn the  
cache off, i.e., set the "Cacheable device" option to "No", and you'll  
find things are back to they used to be.  
9. Wait for about 30 seconds during power up of the system if the medium  
not inserted in the removable media device:  
n This is correct. To shorten the waiting time you can either insert the  
medium or set the "Cacheable device" to "No" in the ECU diskette or  
ACF20SU.EXE before powering up the system.  
10. Hang very soon after the ECU setup:  
n For some specific drives, such as NEC 384, Seagate ST3283N, &  
Alps DR312D, you need to setup the Max Sync Xfer Rate option to  
5MB/sec instead of 10MB/sec (default).  
56  
 

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