Can't boot to SCSI? Really need help

[Lint21]

Having a problem:

Installed WinXP Pro on a Quantum Atlas 10k attached to an Adaptec 29160. Noticed the drive was running in "Sync 40" mode, so I disabled Domain Validation. This fixed the problem (SCSI post now shows 160), but Windows will not boot. Gets just past the SCSI card initialization and says "Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk And Press Enter".

If I switch Domain Validation back on, it boots, albeit in the slower transfer mode. What gives? I'm pretty new to SCSI, so hopefully there will be a simple fix.

TIA!

 

[Hard_Boiled]

What ID is the drive set to? My last two Atlas drives came jumpered to ID 6 out of the box, and usually SCSI cards are set to boot from ID 0 by default. I've never worked with the Adaptec Ultra160 cards, but such is the case for my Tekram card. Probably not your problem, but hey it's worth a shot.

 

[Lint21]

Thanks for the reply, but it is set to ID 0. It will boot, just not with Ultra 160 enabled. Certainly is a bummer. I'm beginning to wonder if it has to do with my Epox 8k7a mobo?

 

[bacillus]

as you're running a lvd hdd, is there a terminator at the end of the cable the hdd is on??
that bit of active termination is essential!

 

[Lint21]

I believe the cable has a built-in terminator at the end. Looks like a ~1 inch long plastic device with a PCB on the bottom?

 

[bacillus]

<< believe the cable has a built-in terminator at the end. Looks like a ~1 inch long plastic device with a PCB on the bottom? >>


yeah, that'll be the terminator. did you go into bios & try changing the sync transfer rate?
did you set the boot order in bios so that scsi comes before ide?
could you post a more detailed list of your system?

 

[guzik]

Do you have any non-LVD devices on the same channel with HD? (CDR, DVD etc.)?
Do you have appropriate cooling, airflow? (I had problem with drive showing 40 instead of 160 until I got proper airflow in my file server)
Give us some more info on your box.

 

[Lint21]

Sure thing, more info comin' up:

My system when I've been trying to set this up is:

Mobo: Epox 8K7A
CPU: AMD 1400mhz tbird
RAM: 512 megs Crucial PC2100 DDR
Video: Gainward Geforce3 TI200 Golden Sample
Sound: SB Audigy OEM
NIC: Linksys 10/100
CD: IDE Iomega 12x10x32 (flashed and renamed to Plextor)
Standard Floppy drive
SCSI: Adaptec 29160 SCSI Controller
Hard Drive: 9.1 gig Quantum Atlas 10K hard drive
Power: Enermax Whisper 351w with thermal fan control
Cooling: 1 Enermax thermal controlled case fan in front of case, Alpha PAL 8045 w/ 80mm PC Power & Cooling Silencer fan, stock HS/FAN on video card.
Overclocked: absolutely nothing

There are a few other things that I usually use that I've taken out while trying to set this up (extra CDROM, 2 IBM 75GXP hard drives, two other SCSI hard drives). I've tried to make it as simple as possible when setting this up, so that any chance of conflicts, etc would be reduced. The above setup is what I've been going with, and having problems with.

I don't think cooling is the problem, since it won't run in Ultra 160 even after being powered down for ~15 minutes and cold booting. The hard drive is the only device on the cable. There are two internal connectors on the card, the cable is connected to the one closest to the back of the case. The hard drive is connected to the SCSI connector closest to the card.

I've gone into the mobo bios and made sure it's set to boot from SCSI. Even played around with different priorities/combinations of boot order... SCSI first, SCSI first, second, and third, CDROM first SCSI second, Floppy first CDROM second SCSI third, and so on.

I thought that maybe the sound card was causing problems, so I took it out, to no avail. Tried moving the SCSI card to a different slot (the PCI slot next to the AGP slot), no dice. Disabled my serial ports in the mobo bios to free up IRQ's.

In the SCSI BIOS, I've played with a few different settings, but I'm not very familiar with them or what they do. On the screen where you select "options" for the different device ID's, everything is set to Ultra 160. I've tried resetting the adapter settings to their defaults, but that didn't do any good. I've pored over the knowledge bases at Adaptec's site, Maxtor's site (since they bought and now support Quantum), Microsoft, and Epox (Epox's online support is pretty sorry, BTW). Google and newsgroup searches don't turn up much that even remotely applies to me.

I'm not sure how the jumpers on the hard drive should be set up, since I've never really done SCSI before. There are two sets, on on the back of the drive like an IDE drive would have, and one larger set on the bottom. The ones on the back are just set to make the drive ID #0 without any other options. I don't know what the bottom jumpers are set to do... the Maxtor support page leaves something to be desired. I'm not really clear on what all those options are. I'm pretty sure that page is the right page for my drive, but the page does refer to the drive as "Wide LVD", rather than the Ultra 160 spec that's printed on the drive.

One other thing that is odd: after installing the SCSI card, WinXP boots incredibly slow. It gets to the screen where the Windows logo is shown and the little bar is moving from left to right, and just sits there for over two minutes. It eventually loads, but this phenomenon is new, and started happening when I put the card in. The weirdest part is, I took the SCSI card out this morning and put my 75GXP back in so I could use the computer, and it still hangs on that screen.

This has certainly been a crash course in SCSI! I spent all day yesterday monkeying around with this. Thanks for any and all help you guys can offer.

 

[Lint21]

Noooo-body knooowws.... the trouble I've seeen...