A8V/Adaptec 39320 PROBLEMS !!

[babentx]

I recieved an Asus A8V FX-53 system yesterday. Fantastic, until I installed my Adaptec 39320-R adapter;
it's just not recognized; no CTRL A, no nothing, and the adapter seems to be getting way to warm.
MB has 1GB compatible memory (Kingston), FX-53 2400, Nvidia 128 AGP.... the SCSI setup I have was working fine in a P4P800 board a couple of days ago.
Just to see what would happen, I tried a 39320-D adapter, with the same results; not recognized, getting way to warm !!
The adapters are in a slot with no shared interrupts, and everything looks good. I can find nothing in the BIOS [rev 1007] that will gives me a clue as to where I might be having problems.
I did install a 2940UW adapter, and it came up just fine, with the CTRL A, and I was able to access that BIOS.
I'm at a total loss here; I'm completely new to 64-bit, and I don't have a clue as to what's going on here.
I've checked voltage levels and they all look within proper ranges. I don't know where to go from here.
I did submit a support question to Adaptec, but that'll be several days from now receiving a response.
If anyone has a clue, I'd really appreciate any comments or help.
TIA>

 

[Peter]

You need to check whether there is enough room in the so called "UMB" (upper memory blocks), which is where the PC architecture puts its expansion ROMs. Space there is very limited, only a total of 128 KBytes. Today's VGA ROMs are up to 64 KBytes, which means if your mainboard has another integrated expansion ROM (RAID, bootable LAN, etc.), then there might not be enough room to put the SCSI card's BIOS into. The old 2940UW has a much smaller ROM than the current ones - that would explain why it worked while the others didn't.

The cure is to disable all onboard suspects' boot ROMs, and see whether the Adaptec BIOS shows up then.

 

[babentx]

Thanks Peter, I'll check that out. However, I did have everything but the audio and onboard lan disabled in the BIOS. I'll disable those and see
if there's any change. JFYI, the Adaptec card is a PCI-Express, but that's just more info; it worked fine before on a 32-bit PCI slot, should work
on this one.

 

[Steve]

If it worked in a standard PCI slot, then it would have to be a PCI-X (PCI eXtended) card, not a PCI-E (PCI Express) card.

 

[babentx]

Okay, thanks for the correction; it's a PCI-X 133. Still have the same problem though. I'm still not sure what's going on here, but I can't believe no one's had this problem before. Is it possible [I guess anything is]
there's something wrong with this board ? It was a "bundle", and was tested before shipping, but I'm sure it wasn't tested with a SCSI adapter. I'll work on it, let you all know if I come up with anything, and see what Adaptec has to say about the situation.
Thanks.

 

[Peter]

Next check: Does the system see the SCSI chip as a PCI instance (check the system configuration summary screen right before OS boot)? If not, then you've indeed run into an electrical problem. Which shouldn't happen - provided Adaptec keyed their card edge correctly, it shouldn't fit into a standard (5V signalling) PCI slot if it's a 3.3V-only card.

 

[Peter]

Besides, what the heck are you doing with a dual channel Ultra-320 SCSI card in a 32-bit 33 MHz PCI slot? 640 MB/s of SCSI bandwidth on a 133 MB/s bus?

 

[babentx]

Yes, I disabled "fast boot" and the SCSI adapter slot number & interrupts are there [along with the Promise controller, USB.., etc...] ; seems the BIOS "sees" the card, 'just doesn't know what to do with it.
Regarding the PCI-X 133, I had hopes of getting a board latter that would fully support the adapter for maximum performance, actually a dual processor, as that's what my version of XP is for, dual processors.
Thanks for the reply Peter.

 

[Peter]

OK, so the chip is present as a PCI device, but its BIOS doesn't get started. This could be a size problem, or yet again Adaptec's weird SCSI BIOS that pulls a few tricks it shouldn't, and doesn't work on all boards.

My advice, if you can still do that, return the Adaptec and get an LSI or Tekram adapter instead. E.g. the Tekram 390U4W would be rather excellent, and has a much better track record on BIOS compatibility.

 

[babentx]

I'll check it out Peter, but as I'm sure you know very well, they don't exactly give those things away. If my SCSI setup doesn't work period, I'm out more for an adapter and drives than the MB & processor cost.
But, I will check it out. I've always gone with Adaptec, but I'm not married to 'em......

 

[babentx]

Another thing of note Peter: this is a Ultra320 adapter with U320 drives; LSI is the only card I see that would work. I don't see a Tekram card
that will do, only a couple @ U160.

 

[Peter]

I gave you the model number - 390U4W (dual channel, one U320 and one UW/U). There's a single-channel 390U4B too. LSI have three models, single- and dual-channel, and a dual with integrated mirroring and striping (done by the SCSI controller, not the host operating system, for much better performance especially on slow PCI busses).

http://www.tekram.com/ProductS...?Product=DC-390U4B_U4W

http://www.lsilogic.com/produc...us_adapters/index.html

 

[babentx]

Okay, thanks, I just did a quick Google search and was delivered like a sheep to some vendors site, one who
apparently didn't stock all models. Thanks for the heads up, but those things still cost a lot !!
By the way, I assume you prefer the Tekram; way back when I was looking at adapters, I seriously considered the LSI. 'Hopefully, I'll not have to purchase anything !!!!
And what am I going to do with this MB if the Adaptec is incompatible; the return policy is only an exchange policy, and I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with this MB. However, in all honesty, there was hardly a disclaimer stating "DO NOT USE SCSI ADAPTERS WITH THIS BOARD"......
I'll see what shakes out, and hopefully this situation will get resolved.
Thanks again for your time and advice.

 

[Peter]

I prefer the Tekram cards for price - their retail packs are amazing, everything but the girl for less money than Adaptec charges for the bulk naked adapter. In the U3 and U4 series, they're not only using LSI's chips, but also the LSI reference SCSI BIOS and driver package.

Your problem might be a BIOS bug in the mainboard, a silly move in the SCSI card's BIOS, or the whole thing simply hitting a legacy limitation inherited from the original 1981 IBM PC. Staying compatible for over 20 years does have its drawbacks and pitfalls.

 

[babentx]

I may look into the Tekram card anyway, regardless of how this situation is resolved. It looks like a lot of tech
for a lot less green than competing adapters.
BTW, I spoke with a tech from Adaptec for over an hour this morning, and we tried several things, but of course, nothing worked. He stated it was a MB BIOS issue, and said that quite often, Asus would come out with a new BIOS update if they were aware of a problem like this. My problem is that the Asus website and servers stay so busy that everytime I fill out all the info for a tech request and send it, I get a "server error, try back again later".....I can't sit here and try all day and night.
On current issues, I spoke with the vendor who sold the Asus bundle, and it was no problem, just send it back, plus I included my Adaptec card and 1MB DDR. I wanted them to see the board under as near the same circumstances that I did. They're going to check it out, and let me know what they find; I may possibly be offered an Abit AV8 board if the Asus just won't work, I'm not sure, but I haven't had an Abit board for quite some time, I guess they're okay.....
I sent the bundle back Fedex this afternoon, so I'll let you know how it goes.
Thanks again for you expertise and help.

 

[eagle101]

Originally posted by: babentx
I recieved an Asus A8V FX-53 system yesterday. Fantastic, until I installed my Adaptec 39320-R adapter;
it's just not recognized; no CTRL A, no nothing, and the adapter seems to be getting way to warm.
MB has 1GB compatible memory (Kingston), FX-53 2400, Nvidia 128 AGP.... the SCSI setup I have was working fine in a P4P800 board a couple of days ago.
Just to see what would happen, I tried a 39320-D adapter, with the same results; not recognized, getting way to warm !!
The adapters are in a slot with no shared interrupts, and everything looks good. I can find nothing in the BIOS [rev 1007] that will gives me a clue as to where I might be having problems.
I did install a 2940UW adapter, and it came up just fine, with the CTRL A, and I was able to access that BIOS.
I'm at a total loss here; I'm completely new to 64-bit, and I don't have a clue as to what's going on here.
I've checked voltage levels and they all look within proper ranges. I don't know where to go from here.
I did submit a support question to Adaptec, but that'll be several days from now receiving a response.
If anyone has a clue, I'd really appreciate any comments or help.
TIA>

babentx....we have almost the same set up adaptec is more than a pain to deal with email wize,in your 39 320 what is 39 mine is ultra just so i know.....im looking at my system reading all the posts......good luck pal!
are you running 64 bit os?

 

[babentx]

Thanks Eagle. Regarding the Adaptec controller, I'm not sure I understood what you said; my adapter is a
39320R, which is 2 internal connectors and 1 external conntector, and supports RAID. I also have a 39320D which is a single internal connector with 2 external connectors and does not support RAID. There are several
other 39xxx adapters, and 29xxx that support ultra320. And, I was using Seagate Cheetah drives, but I had so much trouble with 'em that I finally RMA'd 'em, 'just got a couple back yesterday, which must be a speed
record from what I've heard of RMA's with Seagate, I don't know, but I do know that Seagate spent a lot of time with me before we RMA'd these drives, probably over 3 hours total, making sure I had the latest firmware for the drives, etc.....Adaptec has done the same thing as far as giving great phone support.
I finally went with Maxtor 320's a while back though, and when I finally have 'something' back up, I'll be running 4 drives, with dual boot XP & Linux.
Oh, I just saw something else about your system: it looks as though you have water cooling; my last system
used a Koolance system, but I had bought that almost 2 years ago, and didn't know the first thing about water cooling; I learned quickly. One of their video coolers actually has a very slow leak and ruined an ATI 9700 card, other than that, things went pretty good, but the system is not that good, IMHO.... When I go with water cooling again, I'm "brewing" up a system, probably use an auto heater core for cooling, one of the better pumps, bigger lines, and better CPU and vid coolers. Anyway, my experience with Koolance got me into it., but I sure won't go with them again. Whatever, 'just my limited experience....
Anyway, let me know how it goes with you situation and how it's going.

 

[eagle101]

Originally posted by: babentx
Thanks Eagle. Regarding the Adaptec controller, I'm not sure I understood what you said; my adapter is a
39320R, which is 2 internal connectors and 1 external conntector, and supports RAID. I also have a 39320D which is a single internal connector with 2 external connectors and does not support RAID. There are several
other 39xxx adapters, and 29xxx that support ultra320. And, I was using Seagate Cheetah drives, but I had so much trouble with 'em that I finally RMA'd 'em, 'just got a couple back yesterday, which must be a speed
record from what I've heard of RMA's with Seagate, I don't know, but I do know that Seagate spent a lot of time with me before we RMA'd these drives, probably over 3 hours total, making sure I had the latest firmware for the drives, etc.....Adaptec has done the same thing as far as giving great phone support.
I finally went with Maxtor 320's a while back though, and when I finally have 'something' back up, I'll be running 4 drives, with dual boot XP & Linux.
Oh, I just saw something else about your system: it looks as though you have water cooling; my last system
used a Koolance system, but I had bought that almost 2 years ago, and didn't know the first thing about water cooling; I learned quickly. One of their video coolers actually has a very slow leak and ruined an ATI 9700 card, other than that, things went pretty good, but the system is not that good, IMHO.... When I go with water cooling again, I'm "brewing" up a system, probably use an auto heater core for cooling, one of the better pumps, bigger lines, and better CPU and vid coolers. Anyway, my experience with Koolance got me into it., but I sure won't go with them again. Whatever, 'just my limited experience....
Anyway, let me know how it goes with you situation and how it's going.

i had to rma my cheetah back to in the very begining.....so maxtor has a scsi drive is it 15k?better than seagate........i see your system is raid , which im not at all....my buddy is a scsi expert at the movie studios hes the computer tech guy im going to send him your threads and see what he can do!
what scsi cd rom do you have..........
hope success follows......
ps my cpu is freon chilled by prometeia mach1.....my system is a toy your system is a working machine
soon im going dual boot linux dont know anything about it but i have to learn....be cool

 

[babentx]

Yes Eagle, Maxtor and several other companies do make some high end 320's; I'm not going to say the Maxtors are better than the Seagates, because I got these Cheetahs when Ultra320 first came out, and there were definately problems with 320 at first that had to be worked out; maybe I just got some of the earlier drives, not sure; I do know I have a Cheetah 15K for SCSI 160 that's still going, as are several Baracuda's, but I also have a Maxtor that's over 4 years old now that's still going strong too. And yes, all the 320's are 15K, I wouldn't have blown money for a 10K drive.
The only thing I have noticed about the Seagates is that they run very hot, that's one reason I went to water cooling with them, as I had dual fans, and that was just barely doing the job. The Maxtors don't seem to get that hot.
That's really something that you're cooling your processor like that; isn't that a whole, whole lot more hassle to be sure you don't have condensation using that freon ? I had looked at that before, but I'm not sure I'm ready to put out the bucks for a super system like that; if I can hold my CPU temps down to room temp, or thereabouts, I think that very good cooling, and it's really helping the CPU and system too.
As far as Linux, go for it: I went with SUSE 9.1, but there are a lot of good one's out there. If you're new to it like me, just install it and alternate OS's between that and Win; do a little reading in your spare time, and lurk around a board for Linux freaks [no disrespect meant ], and you'll be doing things like a pro in a few months, or sooner; my learning curve may be a little steep....it took me a while to catch on, but I did remember way back when I didn't even know DOS, and I kinda' approached Linux the same way; I think a lot
of command line stuff helps you learn a lot, but that's JMHO... Good luck

 

[eagle101]

Originally posted by: babentx
Yes Eagle, Maxtor and several other companies do make some high end 320's; I'm not going to say the Maxtors are better than the Seagates, because I got these Cheetahs when Ultra320 first came out, and there were definately problems with 320 at first that had to be worked out; maybe I just got some of the earlier drives, not sure; I do know I have a Cheetah 15K for SCSI 160 that's still going, as are several Baracuda's, but I also have a Maxtor that's over 4 years old now that's still going strong too. And yes, all the 320's are 15K, I wouldn't have blown money for a 10K drive.
The only thing I have noticed about the Seagates is that they run very hot, that's one reason I went to water cooling with them, as I had dual fans, and that was just barely doing the job. The Maxtors don't seem to get that hot.
That's really something that you're cooling your processor like that; isn't that a whole, whole lot more hassle to be sure you don't have condensation using that freon ? I had looked at that before, but I'm not sure I'm ready to put out the bucks for a super system like that; if I can hold my CPU temps down to room temp, or thereabouts, I think that very good cooling, and it's really helping the CPU and system too.
As far as Linux, go for it: I went with SUSE 9.1, but there are a lot of good one's out there. If you're new to it like me, just install it and alternate OS's between that and Win; do a little reading in your spare time, and lurk around a board for Linux freaks [no disrespect meant ], and you'll be doing things like a pro in a few months, or sooner; my learning curve may be a little steep....it took me a while to catch on, but I did remember way back when I didn't even know DOS, and I kinda' approached Linux the same way; I think a lot
of command line stuff helps you learn a lot, but that's JMHO... Good luck

from a scsi expert im forwarding to you:
problem is probably an incompatibility with the Asus AMD based chipset and the Adaptec 39320-D adapter. I have had problems with AMD based ASUS boards and PCI cards, namely an ethernet card. I had to return it for a completely different brand and then it worked. Not all PCI card are compatible with all chipsets. Usually people test with Pentium but the power/price advantages with AMD make it too good of a deal to pass up.

I believe Adaptec will tell you that it is a compatibility issue with their card and A8V FX-53. What about an Atto UL4D card instead?

 

[Peter]

As I already said, there's really no room for speculation. We figured out that the PCI device instance is seen and initialized - so there goes the PCI compatibility theory. The problem is that the system BIOS does not invoke the SCSI BIOS. Possible reasons see above.

 

[imported_NoGodForMe]

I got in on this thread late, but I have an A8V running 320 SCSI and it's fine.
I'm not sure why your card is not recognized by the MB. I have the 39320A-R running in my system which is this one
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwi...SI%2fNew+Ultra320+SCSI!

I looked at the description of your card, and don't see why it would fail in the A8V. When I compare the descriptions, you card looks almost the exact same as mine. This is your card here.

http://www.adaptec.com/worldwi...2fSCSI%2fUltra320+SCSI

When I set up my system and booted the first time, I didn't have to change anything in the bios, and there are no jumpers on the card to change. During the boot, the bios scans for ATA hard drives and Raid, to which it finds none. Since then, I've disabled those devices and the bios boots to SCSI with no error messages.

If you'd like to see my web site with pictures it's here.
http://www.nogodforme.com/MyBabyTera.htm

I don't think it's the MB either. If I were you, I'd contact Adaptec and ask them about it. See if you can send your card back, and get the newer one like I have. I would almost say, your card is defective.

Right now, my card is in the lower slot, which is also shared with the AGP video card. At first I moved the controller to slot 3, but then moved it back and it works fine.