scsi help... can't boot to scsi drive?

[boshuter]

ok, i'm totally new to scsi. i installed an adaptec 39160 card and a hitachi 73gig u160 drive. i can boot to my xp cd and it will format the drive and start installing files, when it comes time for the computer to restart and boot to the hard drive it boots back to the cd instead. if i remove the cd, it will say "os not found". i have the computer set to boot to scsi device in bios setup. can anyone help with this?

 

[Zepper]

You have to go into the SCSI adapter's boot utilities (usually a prompt will appear on screen while booting and Ctrl-A is the usual hotkey to enter it for Adaptec SCSI). Set the entries to enable booting from the HD and reboot.
.bh.
:beer: time!

 

[boshuter]

You have to go into the SCSI adapter's boot utilities

ok..i have been doing a lot of reading and i believe you have it right...... but, i don't get any prompt to enter the boot utilities for the adapter. i bought this card oem, no software or anything. is this utility something i need to get? if so any idea where i would look for it, i've been searching all morning! i downloaded the latest drivers for the card from adaptec and hit F6 when starting to load xp, it installs the drivers fine and gets to the point i mentioned earlier. it does seem like this "scsiselect is what i'm needing. i'm sorry if this is all pretty basic, but this is my first time using scsi. i thank you for any help...

 

[bozo1]

When you boot up, after your IDE drives are listed, you normally get a prompt to press CTRL-A to enter the Adaptec setup program. (The prompting can be turned off in the setup program - maybe that is why you don't see it.) Anyway, after your IDE drives start showing up, start hitting Ctrl-A and it should let you in.

 

[boshuter]

i have tried that.... there seems to be no way to get into the setup utility. is this utility embedded in the cards bios? or can it be run from a floppy? if it's not in the bios, where can i find it to get it on here? i'm completely stumped!

i have searched everywhere for "scsiselect" and can't find this utility...... i tried updating the bios to the latest from adaptec and everytime i get to "loading flash.exe" it comes up with "can't read drive A:"? this is getting crazy.

 

[bozo1]

SCSISelect is the BIOS in the card.

It's sounding like your system isn't seeing the card. When you boot, you should see the Adaptec BIOS message, you should see it when it scans your SCSI chain, when it finds the drives, etc. Try the card with the drive cable disconnected and/or try another slot.

 

[boshuter]

ok...... i removed the card and reset the esd configuration in bios, then i reinstalled the card with no drives hooked up, it shows up in the post screen as "mass storage device" (it actually shows as 2). but i still can't get into any setup utility for the scsi card. i've tried it in two different slots, i don't understand how windows can see the drive and controller but nothing else will work? i even tried to reflash the bios on the card and everytime i get to where it is loading the flash.exe and it says "can't read floppy" and the usual Aboar, Retry, Ignore, message appears........ i'm starting to wonder if this card is any good, but it will allow me to format and partician in xp....it just won't boot to it....

 

[Zepper]

There may be a jumper on the SCSI adapter to enable/disable the BIOS. See if that's set properlly.
.bh.
:beer: time!

 

[bozo1]

If your OS can see the drives, format them, etc., but not boot, it sounds like the 39160 BIOS is disabled. With it not enabled, the drive will work but you can't boot off of it. If disabled, you also do not get the bus scan message when you boot which sounds like you aren't getting either. To enable it, you need to get into the BIOS setup (Ctrl-A) which sounds like your having problems with.

I'd try to flash the BIOS. Your floppy error message means you have a bad floppy - use another disk, format & make it bootable and try the flash again.

 

[boshuter]

zepper, there are only two jumpers on the board, they are just for termination purposes.

bozo...... i believe that is exactly what i need to do....i'm going to try a different floppy and see if i can flash this thing. i even put the card and drive into a pc that is allready running xp with an ide drive and it installed the adapter and my scsi drive shows up in my computer. i just need to get to where i can get into the bios and configure it to boot to the scsi drive.... i sure appreciate all this help.... at least i'm learning a little about scsi ( not the way i would have liked, but hey)!

 

[boshuter]

WOOHOO!!! i got it.... it turned out the floppy drive itself was bad, after it seemed obvioius that i needed to reflash the bios on the card it was only a matter of figuring out why it wouldn't read the disks....... i think in all the consternation over it not working and the fact that i am completely new to scsi, i may have overlooked the simple things....... anyway, i thank you both for all your help..