Promise Ultra66 inst prob on SCSI machine

[moregolf]

I have a Adaptec 19160 controller with 2 SCSI drives connected. I am trying to install a Promise Ultra66 controller so I can use it to run two EIDE drives, and keep the CD-ROM and CD-RW on the existing ata33 EIDE. When I install Promise card I get an
"improper or inadequate termination" msg when booting, and says that the SCSI BIOS not loaded and it won't boot to the SCSi drives. It asks for a system disk to be put in . I have the BIOS setup to boot SCSI. Don't know where to start. Everything works normal if I take the Promise controller out. Thanks for any help.

 

[Trashman]

Not sure if I'll be sayin this correctly but, the way you have it setup, the BIOS on your board is picking up the Promise controller before your SCSI controller, I'm not that all familar with how all motherboards assign priority to the PCI slots but usually PCI slot #1 is highest, I think. I would move around your cards, try swaping them once, see if that works or try the SCSI on slot #1...thats where I would start.

 

[Mday]

yeah, normally, i would not recommend having the promise card (or any ide controller card) along with SCSI. it is possible to have both, but it's headache city if it does not go smoothly. this is definitely not a newbie task.

the SCSI card MUST be given priority with respect to IRQs. the lower the better. Why? because that way the scsi card is initiated before the promise card, allowing the SCSI to be bootable. make the appropriate changes in your BIOS, or physically MOVE the cards to different slots.

 

[Mday]

heck, on some systems, having coexistence of the 2 is almost impossible... good luck

 

[Slikkster]

Trashman is correct. Here's the blurb from Promise:

How do I boot from the Ultra66 if I already have a SCSI card in the system?

Cause: Booting from Ultra 66 w/additonal SCSI Controller in System, BIOS, Configuration, PCI Slot preference, CMOS BIOS settings

Solution: If you have an actual SCSI controller in the system, the computer will attempt to boot from whichever controller is seen first. To get one controller to be seen before another, you must get it?s BIOS to load first. Manipulating the BIOS address that the card is set to use normally does this. However, the Ultra66 is fully PnP. This means that only the PnP BIOS on the motherboard can control which resources our card uses. In most cases, the PCI slot with the highest priority will be assigned the lowest BIOS address. On most motherboards, the PCI slot with the highest priority is PCI slot #1.

 

[moregolf]

Are we saying then that if I were to get a Abit BE6-II for instance, that I would not be able to run both IDE controllers on it, and have a SCSI adapter installed? Thanks for all the replies. I will move the SCSI to PCI 1 and the Promise to a lower one. Should I dissable the PnP in the BIOS? Thanks again, and have a Happy Easter.

 

[Trashman]

It wouldn't hurt to disable PnP in BIOS, from what Promise says above that could be something to try....Let us know if ya get this to work.

 

[moregolf]

Well, the PnP was already dissabled. I moved the SCSI to slot one, and put the Promise in slot 3. Worked (kinda). Got the new drivers installed, updated the Promise BIOS, and booted. Found everything.. One prob however. It wants to boot from the Promise (I have the first boot set to SCSI in the BIOS. Could not force it to boot from the SCSI. This won't work as all I really want is seperate IDE for the CD=ROM and CD-RW (master 1 & 2) and two other drives just for backup. The only solution I see is going to IDE totally. Dissapointing... But it looks like it would work. Anyone have any experience with the BE6-II? It has both reg and faster IDE's, and I wonder if I could add SCSI to it. If so, that would solve the prob. Thanks for all the help. It's been actually a fun learning experience..