Win2k doesn't see SCSI drive, but it's there in Win98 and DOS

[Floyd]

I have a 9GB external SCSI hard drive (Seagate ST-410800N) on my system which Win2k refuses to recognize. It's visible when I boot into DOS or into Win98, and storage applications such as PowerQuest Partition Magic and Drive Image see it just fine. Win2k didn't even locate it during the install process. The one curious thing is that when I view it with one of PowerQuest's programs, it displays the file system as FAT32X, that's a new one to me! The other FAT32 partitions display simply as FAT32, no X on the end. Anyone have an idea what this means?

I've even tried low-level formatting the thing, partitioning, and re-formatting in FAT32 again, still no go. The partitioning and formatting was done with Partition Magic v5, maybe I'll try it again with fdisk/format instead, although I can't think of a good reason why that would be the problem considering all three of my other drives were prepared with Partition Magic.

Don't know if it matters, but the SCSI card is a Tekram DC-390U2W. The hard drive in question is chained off of the SE channel, and Windows 2000 is installed on a SCSI drive on the LVD channel of the same card.

Just crazy that Win2k, with its higher-level disk management, can't see it yet Win98 can. It's things like this that make computers so much darned fun <sarcasm>

Best regards,
Floyd

 

[Xe0n]

i dont think win2k likes partition magic 5, maybe thats the problem, i know 5.01 supported it with floppies only, and 6 fully supports it

 

[Floyd]

True, but I thought it was related to NTFS 5 partitions only. The other drives were prepared with the same version of Partition Magic, so it's hard to imagine why it wouldn't work for this one as well. Then again, this little irritant defies all logic...

 

[Floyd]

Update: I tore my SCSI subsystem down and double, triple, and quadruple checked jumpers, ID's, termination, etc. Of course, not that any of these are genuine possibilities, just going by process of elimination. I also fdisked and formatted in DOS yet it still doesn't show in Win2k, so that rules out Partition Magic. Also, Seagate's HD diagnostic software didn't locate any problems.

However, when I first booted into Win2k after performing these tasks, I got a &quot;Windows has finished installing new hardware&quot; and a prompt to reboot (but no mention of what specifically it had installed). Rebooted, and yep you guessed it, still no drive.

Come on guys, I'm dyin' here :disgust:

Best regards,
Floyd

 

[Floyd]

Anyone?

<crickets chirping>

 

[Dameon]

Are you using default 2000 SCSI drivers or the one's off Tekram website?

 

[Floyd]

I've tried them both. At someone's suggestion (on this forum), I kept the default Win2k (Symbios chipset) drivers for quite some time, and yesterday tried the latest Tekram drivers.

Best regards,
Floyd

 

[zoiman]

Floyd, you said that it was the se device on cn2??? YOu then have a lvd device on J1. How is the se device connected externally?

 

[Floyd]

Actually, the drive is attached to the board's CN1 (50 pin ribbon) connector using the supplied adapter bracket (a ribbon is plugged into the board and routed to an HD50 socket mounted to an expansion slot bracket, item 3 pictured here).

However, the drive is working in Win2k now that I've disconnected the Canon FB1200S scanner from the chain. It seems the scanner was dying a slow death...using the same hardware config, as of two weeks ago it was working just fine. Later I tried scanning something in Win2k and it failed, so I booted into Win98 and it failed as well. The hard drive, CD burner, and DVD all work fine until the scanner is connected. So I removed all devices and tried connecting the scanner by itself, and it still would not work. Not only will it not work, it somehow locks up the SCSI bus such that not even the LVD drive will work...my OS is installed on that drive so that presents a big problem.

I've yet to contact Canon about a replacement. Despite the extensive testing I've already done, I can just imagine the agony of convincing tech support that the problem is indeed the scanner.

Best regards,
Floyd

 

[zoiman]

Good luck floyd. Have a problems with the 390u2w also with the cn2 and 1 not allowing devices to be connected simultaneously. have a scanner like you and have noticed some scan problems earlier. However, the umax i have has no drivers for 2k.

 

[Floyd]

Actually, I'm only using CN1 (plus a single LVD drive on J1, which is electrically isolated from the SE connectors CN1 and CN2).

There is, however, one final thing I need to check. I have an internal DVD-ROM which is connected on the SE channel, and then externally I have the hard drive, CD burner, and scanner. Thus the SCSI card is in the middle of the chain, which is a perfectly acceptable layout according to SCSI standards, but I suppose might cause trouble if the card cannot properly determine its auto-termination status (it should be off, while the last internal and external devices are terminated). The scanner did work at one time, so I'm not inclined to think the card is the problem.

Best regards,
Floyd