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Troubleshooting Tips: EZ-SCSI 5.0 Standard Edition User's Guide

Hardware

Check these items first if an error message indicates that the software programs cannot find a SCSI device (for example, CD-ROM drive or hard disk drive) connected to the SCSI bus:

• Termination-Be sure that termination is correctly set for all devices on the SCSI bus, as described in your host adapter documentation.
• Cabling-Be sure the cables connecting the external and internal SCSI devices and the host adapter are attached securely. Also be sure the pin-1 orientation is correct for internal cables. See the host adapter documentation for more information, including cable length requirements.
• If all connections are secure and you have ruled out other possible problems, try replacing the cable.
• Power-Be sure CD-ROM drives and other SCSI devices are attached to a power source and turned ON.
• SCSI Devices-Be sure that each SCSI device is assigned a unique SCSI ID. You can verify SCSI IDs in the host adapter BIOS Scan (refer to your host adapter documentation). If EZ-SCSI is already installed in Windows 95/Windows NT, you can check SCSI IDs in SCSI Explorer's Interrogator. If EZ-SCSI is installed in Windows 3.1, you can check SCSI IDs in SCSI Interrogator.

NOTE: Host adapters are set to SCSI ID 7, and should not be changed.

Tips for Windows 95/NT

SCSI Host Adapters

When I look in SCSI Explorer, my SCSI host adapters aren't listed in the correct order.

This is not an error. SCSI Explorer lists your SCSI host adapter(s), and all devices connected to it, in the same order the Adaptec drivers scan SCSI host adapters. For example, suppose your computer has two SCSI host adapters-the Adaptec AHA-2940 that it boots from, and Adaptec AHA-1542CP. Although the AHA-2940 may be assigned to Host Adapter #0 and the AHA-1542 host adapter assigned to Host Adapter #1, SCSI Explorer may list the AHA-1540 before AHA-2940.

In Windows 95, my SCSI host adapter ID is listed as "7" in SCSI Explorer, but this ID is incorrect.

This is not an error. Under Windows 95, your SCSI host adapter is listed at SCSI ID 7, even if you reassigned it to a different SCSI ID. Although your system will not be affected when you change the host adapter's SCSI ID, it should be left at 7.

In Windows 95, what should I do if the SCSI controllers icon or the host adapter model is missing in Device Manager?

Make sure your host adapter is securely seated in its slot. If it's secure, return to Device Manager to check whether or not Other Devices appears as a category. Double-click Other Devices if it's displayed. If the host adapter is listed under Other Devices, select it, click Delete, and then follow the instructions under Installing Windows 95 Drivers.

In Windows 95, how can I verify that my drivers are installed?

1. Right-click My Computer to open the short-cut menu, and then click Properties.
2. Open the Device Manager tab, and click View devices by type if it's not already selected.
3. Double-click SCSI controllers, and then double-click the host adapter of the driver you're checking.
4. In the General tab, the Device Status box indicates if your device is properly working.

In Windows 95, why is there a yellow ! beside my driver(s) in Device Manager?

The yellow ! may appear for many reasons. Use the table below to troubleshoot this problem. The reasons are listed by level of difficulty, the first being easiest to solve.
  

 In Windows 95, how do I check for faulty cables, termination, or damaged device?

1. Turn OFF you computer and disconnect the cables from the host adapter. (Do not disconnect the hard disk drive if it is bootable or contains the operating system.)
2. Turn ON your computer, and check if the yellow ! disappeared in Device Manager.

If the yellow ! disappeared, the cabling, termination, or device is faulty.

In Windows 95, where do I check that the Master Boot Record was modified?

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click System.
3. In the System Properties window, open the Performance tab. One of the following messages may appear:

The Master Boot Record has been modified.

Your system is configured for optimal performance.

<Drive letter> using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system.

If the first message appears, click the Details button in the Performance tab.

If the second message appears, you must update or install the driver. For help, see Installing Windows 95 Drivers.

If the third message appears, remove the DOS driver from config.sys and autoexec.bat.

1. Click the Start button, and then click Run.
2. In the Run window, type sysedit and then click OK.
3. Go to the Autoexe.bat window. If there are lines containing files with *.exe, *.com, or *.bat extensions, type rem at the beginning of those lines.
4. Go to the Config.sys window. If there are lines containing files with *.sys extensions, type rem at the beginning of those lines.
5. Save the changes.

In Windows 95, how do I update the host adapter driver?

Please refer to Installing Windows 95 Drivers.

In Windows 95, where do I check for conflicting or unavailable resources?

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click System.
3. In the System Properties window, open Device Manager.
4. In Device Manager, double-click Computer at the top of the list.
5. In the Computer Properties window, click Interrupt request (IRQ), if it's not already selected.

           View Resources tab

The Settings column lists the IRQs in use. IRQ settings range between 0 and 15. If an IRQ setting is not listed under Settings, then it's available. In Figure 4-1, settings 09 and 10 aren't listed, and therefore, available IRQs.

In Windows 95, where can I check if the device resource settings match the host adapter settings?

1. In Device Manager, double-click SCSI controllers.
2. Double-click the host adapter, and then open the Resources tab.
3. Verify that the settings in the Resources tab match the host adapter settings. Refer to your host adapter documentation for help setting jumpers, switches, or configuring the host adapter in SCSISelect®.

In Windows 95, where can I check that resource settings are set to PCI Plug-and-Play or ISA non Plug-and-Play cards?

Most Pentium computers have a PCI Plug-and-Play configuration in the BIOS setup. Consult the host adapter documentation to find if your host adapter is Plug-and-Play compatible. Consult the computer manual or call your computer manufacturer for help making the appropriate changes.

In Windows 95, how do I know which IRQ, DMA, and I/O address to use?

First, check if there are available resources (see the second troubleshooting tip on page 4-5). If your card is PCI or ISA Plug-and-Play, go to PCI and ISA Plug-and-Play cards. If your card is ISA non Plug-and-Play, go to Non Plug-and-Play cards. Consult your card's documentation if you're not sure what type of card you have.

PCI and ISA Plug-and-Play cards

You can assign IRQ settings for PCI Plug-and-Play on most computers. More advanced BIOS settings allow you to assign I/O and DMA settings as well. Consult your computer documentation or contact your computer manufacturer for help. If your ISA Plug-and-Play will not install in Plug-and-Play mode, disable Plug-and-Play and then install it as an ISA Legacy card. Refer to your host adapter documentation for help disabling Plug-and-Play.

Non Plug-and-Play cards

To install a non Plug-and-Play card in Windows 95, first start your computer without the card installed and allow Windows 95 to choose the resource by using these steps:

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Add New Hardware.
3. In the Add New Hardware Wizard, click Next.
4. "Do you want Windows to search for your new hardware?" appears in the next screen. Click No, and then click Next.
5. In the next screen, click SCSI controllers, and then click Next.
6. In the next screen, click the Have Disk button, and then insert the driver disk into the floppy disk drive.
7. In the Install from Disk window, enter the floppy disk drive letter, and then click OK.
8. In the next screen, select the SCSI host adapter model, and then click Next.
9. In the next screen, write down the resources available to install your hardware, and then click Next.
10. Click Finish, and then turn OFF your computer.
11. Configure the card to match what Windows selected for you.
12. Install the card, and then turn ON your computer.

In Windows NT 4.0, where can I verify that the driver for my SCSI host adapter is installed?

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click SCSI Adapters. If the driver is installed, your host adapter appears in the SCSI Adapters window.

                                SCSI Adapters Window

In Windows NT 4.0, where can I check that my SCSI devices are installed?

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click SCSI Adapters.
3. In the SCSI Adapters window, double-click the host adapter to see which devices are connected to it, as shown above

In Windows NT 4.0, where can I check which resources my SCSI host adapter is using?

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click SCSI Adapters.
3. In the SCSI Adapters window, shown in above, click the Properties button to find the resources in use.

In Windows NT 4.0, where can I check which resources are available in my computer?

1. Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Windows NT Diagnostics.
2. In the Windows NT Diagnostics window, click the Resources tab where available resources are found.

In Windows NT 4.0, where can I check that my SCSI device drivers are working properly?

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel, double-click Devices.

                                 Devices Window in NT 4.0

In the Devices window, the host adapter driver should indicate Started under the Status column, and Boot in the Startup column, such as the host adapter driver selected above. The following table provides a list of host adapter drivers that may be listed in the Devices window:
 

In Windows NT 3.51, where can I verify that the driver for my SCSI host adapter is installed?

1. In Program Manager, go to the Main window, and then double-click Windows NT Setup.
2. In the Options menu, click Add/Remove SCSI Adapters to look up the SCSI host adapter's installed driver.

In Windows NT 3.51, where can I check that my SCSI device drivers are working properly?

1. In Program Manager, go to the Main window, and then double-click Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel, double-click Devices.
3. In the Devices window, SCSI host adapter should be listed as Started under the Status column, and Boot in the Startup column, as circled in the figure below. The table  lists host adapter drivers you may find in the Devices window.

                 Devices Window in Windows NT 3.51

In Windows NT 3.51, where can I check which resources my SCSI host adapter is using?

1. In Program Manager, go to the Administrative Tools window.
2. In the Administrative Tools window, double-click Windows NT Diagnostics.
3. In the Windows NT Diagnostics window, click Devices.
4. In the Devices window, double-click \Device\ScsiPort X.

NOTE: Any installed EIDE cards are listed first. Make sure to select the SCSI controller. For example, if you have one EIDE card and one SCSI card, they will be assigned respectively as \Device\ScsiPort0 and \Device\ScsiPort1.

 

                             Looking up Device Details in Windows NT 3.51

In Windows NT 3.51, where can I check which resources are available in my computer?

1. In Program Manager, go to the Administrative Tools window.
2. In the Administrative Tools window, double-click Windows NT Diagnostics.
3. In the Windows NT Diagnostics window, double-click IRQ/Port Status and DMA/Memory buttons.

Hard Disk Drives

In Windows NT, my striped hard disk drives don't work in SCSI Explorer's Power Management or in Adaptec Drive Light.

Adaptec SCSI Power Management and Drive Light don't support striped hard disk drives.

CD-ROM Drives

In Windows 95, my CD-ROM drive doesn't work properly.

The CD-ROM drive may not work for one of these reasons:

• Some older models of SCSI CD-ROM drives aren't compatible with the embedded Windows 95 CD-ROM driver.
• Some CD-ROM drives are not supported by DOS drivers.
• You may need to install or update your host adapter driver. See Installing Windows 95 Drivers.

My CD-ROM drive shows up as more than one icon under My Computer.

Two reasons may cause this problem:

• You could have a multiple CD-ROM changer, where each CD-ROM gets it's own drive letter. For example, if a disc changer had seven discs, each disc would be assigned a drive letter, even the ones that aren't used.
• The CD-ROM drive has the same SCSI ID as the host adapter, which means that you need to change the CD-ROM drive's SCSI ID. Consult your CD-ROM documentation for help.

I was playing an audio CD and it stopped as soon as I accessed the CD-ROM drive through SCSI Explorer.

This is normal. Whenever you play an audio CD and try to access the CD-ROM drive through an ASPI program like SCSI Explorer, the audio may stop playing to service your program.

In Windows 95, Adaptec Drive Light keeps flashing my CD-ROM drive, even when my CD-ROM drive's LED isn't flashing. What's happening?

Nothing is wrong. Although your CD-ROM drive's LED doesn't flash, Windows 95 still checks the drive every few seconds to see if a media change occurred.

CD-Recorder

In Windows 95, Adaptec Drive Light keeps flashing my CD-Recorder, even when my CD-Recorder's LED isn't flashing. What's happening?

Nothing is wrong. Although your CD-Recorder's LED doesn't flash, Windows 95 still checks it every few seconds to see if a media change occurred.

Removable-media Drives

In SCSI Explorer's Interrogator, I tried to <lock, unlock, eject> media from my <removable media device>, but it didn't work.

Some removable-media devices don't support the commands found in the Media Control tab.

Software

Under Windows NT, I have a SCSI device that isn't displayed in Adaptec's Drive Light SCSI device list. What's wrong?

SCSI devices won't appear under Drive Light unless you first install their drivers included with Windows NT. Consult your Microsoft NT documentation or specific SCSI device documentation on installing drivers for the SCSI device.

If I'm running under Windows 95, do I need lines for the Adaptec real mode ASPI drivers and mscdex.exe in my config.sys and autoexec.bat files?

Usually, you don't need to use these real mode host adapter drivers, because the new Windows host adapter drivers support most SCSI host adapters and SCSI devices. However, you must install the drivers (including mscdex, if you have a CD-ROM drive) if you restarted the computer in MS-DOS mode and need to access the CD-ROM or removable drive attached to your Adaptec host adapter.
 

NOTE: If your software specifically does not support Windows 95, contact your software manufacturer for an upgrade.

 See Installing EZ-SCSI in DOS to install the EZ-SCSI DOS drivers.

Tips for Windows 3.1x/DOS

SCSI Host Adapters

My computer has a non-Adaptec host adapter, and I can't install EZ-SCSI.

Adaptec EZ-SCSI doesn't have the DOS drivers for host adapters of other manufacturers under Window 3.1x.

EZ-SCSI doesn't recognize that I have a Trantor T160/T260 SCSI host adapter.

EZ-SCSI no longer supports the Trantor T160/T260 SCSI host adapters.

Hard Disk Drives

My computer seems to have "phantom" disk drives that don't actually exist.

Multiple SCSI devices on your system may be set to the same SCSI ID. Make sure all SCSI devices attached to the host adapter have unique IDs. The host adapter SCSI ID is normally 7.

CD-ROM Drives

How do I know if EZ-SCSI supports my CD-ROM drive?

The EZ-SCSI CD-ROM device driver supports most SCSI-2 CD-ROM drives. Refer to EZ-SCSI readme.txt for the most current list of supported devices.

I replaced my host adapter with a newer Adaptec host adapter model, and now my CD-ROM drive doesn't work.

Your CD-ROM drive probably doesn't support synchronous negotiation. (In your hardware documentation, refer to the ASPI Manager section about disabling synchronous negotiation on the new host adapter.)

There's no sound when I use the Windows CD Player to play audio CDs.

If your CD Player is displaying track information and seems to be playing the CD, try using a headphone connected directly to the CD-ROM drive. If you hear sound, make sure the audio cable from the sound card to the CD-ROM drive is secure.

However, if your CD-player is not playing at all, then reload the drivers.

1. In the Control Panel, double-click Drivers.
2. If [MCI] CD Audio isn't listed under Installed Drivers, click Add and select this driver from the list.
3. Insert the Microsoft Windows disk when the prompt appears.
4. Close the Drivers window and start Adaptec CD player again.

Removable-media Drives

I tried to use my cartridges on another removable-media device that's identical to mine, but the device couldn't read the data on these cartridges. What's wrong?

Different manufacturers (e.g., Iomega, Syquest) use proprietary formatters and drivers that may not be compatible with Adaptec formatter utilities and drivers. Be sure that both systems use the same formatter and drivers.

Floppy Tape Drives

I installed an AHA-1542 host adapter, and now it takes much longer than it used to for my floppy tape drive to run its backup program. What's wrong?

You may need to adjust the bus-on and bus-off command line options in your config.sys file.

NOTE: Floppy tape drives are connected to a floppy diskette drive cable. The performance problem described here doesn't occur with SCSI tape drives, which are connected to the SCSI bus.

Software

Where should I install Adaptec EZ-SCSI?

You should install Adaptec EZ-SCSI to an accessible hard disk drive letter that exists at boot time. However, this does not include RAM drive, network drives, removable drives, or floppy drives.

What is causing EZ-SCSI for Windows to hang during installation?

This problem may be related to a hardware or driver conflict within your system. Check your hardware for resource conflicts, and config.sys and autoexec.bat files for driver conflicts.

After installing EZ-SCSI, my computer has less available base memory than it had before. What happened?

By default, EZ-SCSI loads the ASPI managers and device drivers in conventional memory (0-640 KBytes). To free up more conventional memory, you can load these programs in high memory using the MS-DOS MemMaker utility.

I set my host adapter to use IRQ=14, and now I cannot run Windows. What is wrong?

Open the Windows system.ini file and add this line to the [386Enh] section:

VirtualHDIrq=FALSE

The Adaptec EZ-SCSI installer doesn't display my SCSI host adapters in the correct order.

Although the order may appear to be incorrect, Adaptec EZ-SCSI will properly edit your configuration files.

Why aren't the higher SCSI IDs 8-15 of my host adapter listed in SCSI Explorer's Interrogator?

SCSI Interrogator for Windows (showscsi.exe) only displays icons for SCSI IDs 0-7. Therefore, if you have any wide SCSI host adapters, you won't see SCSI IDs 8-15.

How do I disable the SCSI Power Management Utility?

The SCSI Power Management Utility requires the following line in your system.ini file under the [386Enh] section:

device=VSCSIPWR.386

The first time you run SCSI Power Management, you'll be prompted to install the above driver.

To disable the SCSI Power Management Utility, remove device=VSCSIPWR.386 from the system.ini file located in your Windows subdirectory.

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