SCSI problems - who to blame it on?

[Ilmater]

OK, some background first:

I fried my SCSI card by getting the bottom of the drive too close to the aluminum in a HDD cooler. I RMA'd it, but I'm having new problems. At first I couldn't get it to install Win 2k at all, but then I switched the slot the SCSI card was in, and everything worked perfectly; except for a few problems...

For reference, I have an Adaptec 29160 card, and an 18.4GB IBM Ultrastar 36Z15 SCSI drive.

My "new" drive is now showing up as 40 MB/sec instead of 160 MB/sec. I bought this cable and an LVD/SE terminator, so I know that it's not the cabling. Do I blame it on the drive or the card?

Also, my drive is not showing up as the correct SCSI ID #. When I set it to ID 0, it shows up in the SCSI card's BIOS as ID 1. When I set it to ID 1, it shows up as ID 3. When I set it to ID 2, it shows up as ID 0. Do I blame it on the card or the drive?

 

[mechBgon]

Do you have your non-rounded LVD SCSI cable, the one with the terminator plug about an inch from the hard drive plug? If so, try that... they don't make them that way for nothing. Also, re-read your documentation. If you're looking at the drive's jumper block upside down, that could be causing your troubles.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Do you have your non-rounded LVD SCSI cable, the one with the terminator plug about an inch from the hard drive plug? If so, try that... they don't make them that way for nothing.

I only have one SCSI cable, but this cable was working just fine before when I used it with my now dead drive.

Also, re-read your documentation. If you're looking at the drive's jumper block upside down, that could be causing your troubles.

I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I knew this question would come up. The SCSI ID 0 is actually in the middle of 7 possible jumper positions. I couldn't possibly have gotten this wrong. The label isn't in the documentation, it's right on the drive right below the jumpers themselves. And as I said, this is a replacement for an IBM Ultrastar drive that worked fine, so I know that the other one worked with the jumpers set like I thought they should. Trust me, the jumpers are right. I'm 110% sure.

 

[mechBgon]

Well, the three causes of 40Mb/sec operation that I can think of are: 1) the drive's been jumpered for it 2) the cable can't handle U160 and is forcing the bus to revert to 40Mb/sec, or 3) the card has been set to run this way in its BIOS. Well, or 4) maybe you plugged your cable into the legacy connector on your 29160, instead of the U160 connector? Good luck with the troubleshooting

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Well, the three causes of 40Mb/sec operation that I can think of are: 1) the drive's been jumpered for it 2) the cable can't handle U160 and is forcing the bus to revert to 40Mb/sec, or 3) the card has been set to run this way in its BIOS. Well, or 4) maybe you plugged your cable into the legacy connector on your 29160, instead of the U160 connector? Good luck with the troubleshooting

OK, I'll definitely check for these things. Any ideas on the SCSI ID? Do you know if that is something the drive did or something the card did?

 

[mechBgon]

Well, if you had the drive on the legacy bus instead of the U160 bus, I can imagine it interpreting the jumper setting differently perhaps. On the 29160, the U160 plug on the card is the one closest to the rear of your case.

 

[Ilmater]

That's the one it's plugged into. (the U160 plug)