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Installing and Configuring SCSI Drivers: Dell™ PowerEdge™ 2400 Systems User's Guide

Overview • Installing SCSI Drivers for an Optional, Integrated RAID Controller in Windows NT 4.0 • The SCSISelect Utility • Driver Installation for Windows NT 4.0 • Installation for Novell NetWare 4.2 • Installation for Novell NetWare 5.0 • Using SCSI Devices • Optimizing Performance • Troubleshooting for Windows NT • Troubleshooting for NetWare

Overview

This section describes how to install and configure the Dell small computer system interface (SCSI) device drivers included with your Dell PowerEdge 2400 computer system. These device drivers are designed to work with the Adaptec AIC-7890 Ultra2/low-voltage differential (LVD) SCSI-3 controller and the Adaptec AIC-7880 Ultra/Wide SCSI-3 controller (limited to narrow SCSI by implementation) on the system board.

The AIC-7890 supports up to six internal SCSI hard-disk drives via a SCSI backplane board, while the AIC-7880 supports up to three externally accessible SCSI devices in the system's external drive bays.

The AIC-7890, AIC-7880, and the optional AHA-2940U2W SCSI controller card are all part of the Adaptec 78xx series of SCSI controllers, and they all use the 78xx series of SCSI device drivers provided by Dell. The Adaptec SCSI basic input/output system (BIOS), which is stored in your computer system's flash memory or on the optional AHA-2940U2W SCSI controller card, links these SCSI device drivers to the AIC-7890 and AIC-7880 SCSI controller chips or the optional AHA-2940U2W SCSI controller card.

If you are using an optional Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller, see "Installing SCSI Drivers for an Optional, Integrated RAID Controller in Windows NT 4.0" or your Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller documentation for information on installing your SCSI device drivers.

For instructions on installing SCSI hardware devices such as hard-disk drives, tape drives, or CD-ROM drives, trained service technicians should see "Installing Drives in the External Bays" and "Installing Drives in the Internal Bays" in the Installation and Troubleshooting Guide. After the SCSI devices you plan to use are installed, you may need to install and configure one or more SCSI device drivers so that your SCSI devices can communicate with your operating system.

SCSI device drivers are provided for the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
• Novell NetWare 4.2  and 5.0

See "Using the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD" for instructions on creating a diskette of drivers for your operating system. For instructions on configuring the SCSI device drivers, see the following subsections.

Installing SCSI Drivers for an Optional, Integrated RAID Controller in Windows NT® 4.0

To install SCSI drivers for the optional, integrated RAID controller in Windows NT 4.0, perform the following steps:

1. Boot from the Microsoft Windows NT Server CD, and press <F6> when the first Windows NT Setup screen appears.
   This disables automatic detection of SCSI devices.
2. Load the RAID driver.
   Press <s> to select the Specify Additional Device option. Insert the PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller driver diskette into drive A, and select PowerEdge RAID II NT DRIVER from the list of drivers.
3. Press <Enter> and continue with the setup.
   The following list of SCSI device drivers appears:

   Adaptec AHA-294X/AHA-394X/AIC-78XX SCSI Controller
   PowerEdge RAID II NT DRIVER

The readme.txt files that are included with your SCSI device drivers (in the device driver subdirectories in the \pe2400\raid subdirectory on the CD) provide updates to the information in this guide.

Use the editor included with your operating system to view or print the readme.txt file or any other readme file.

The SCSISelect Utility

The BIOS for the integrated Adaptec AIC-7890 and AIC-7880 SCSI controllers includes the menu-driven SCSISelect configuration utility, which allows you to change SCSI controller settings without opening the computer. SCSISelect also contains SCSI disk utilities that let you low-level format or verify the disk media of your SCSI hard-disk drives.

SCSISelect Default Settings

Default settings for the optional Adaptec AHA-2940U2W SCSI controller and the integrated AIC-7890 and AIC-7880 SCSI controllers are shown in Table 1. These default settings are appropriate for most Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) systems. Run SCSISelect only if you need to change any of the default settings.
 

NOTES: To change the configuration settings, you must run the SCSISelect Utility twice—once for AIC-7890 SCSI controller and once for the AIC-7880 SCSI controller. The term host adapter is used throughout this file to refer to the integrated AIC-7890 and AIC-7880 SCSI controllers or the optional AHA-2940U2W SCSI controller card.

For situations in which you might want or need to change the settings, see the descriptions of each setting in the following subsections. To change any of the default settings or to format or verify a disk, see "Starting the SCSISelect Utility."

Table 1. Default SCSI Controller Settings

SCSI Bus Interface Definitions

The basic host adapter settings are the SCSISelect settings most likely to require modification:

• Host Adapter SCSI ID — Sets the host adapter's SCSI ID. The default setting is SCSI ID 7, which allows the host adapter to support narrow SCSI devices in addition to wide SCSI devices. Dell recommends that you leave the host adapter set to SCSI ID 7.
• SCSI Parity Checking — Determines whether the host adapter verifies the accuracy of data transfer on the SCSI bus. The default setting is Enabled. You should disable SCSI Parity Checking if any SCSI device connected to the host adapter does not support SCSI parity; otherwise, leave it enabled. Most SCSI devices support SCSI parity. If you are unsure if a device supports SCSI parity, consult the documentation for the device.
• Host Adapter SCSI Termination — Sets termination on the host adapter. The default setting for the Adaptec AIC-7880 host adapters is Enabled; the default setting for the AIC-7890 host adapter is Automatic. Dell recommends that you leave this option set to the default.

Boot Device Options

The boot device settings allow you to specify the device from which to boot your computer:

• Boot Target ID — Specifies the SCSI ID of the device from which you want to boot your system. SCSI IDs are set for the hard-disk drive according to the drive's location on the backplane board. The default setting for Boot Target ID is SCSI ID 0.
• Boot LUN Number — Allows you to specify a particular logical unit number (LUN) from which to boot your boot device if your boot device has multiple LUNs and Multiple LUN Support is enabled (see "Advanced Host Adapter Settings"). The default setting is LUN 0.

SCSI Device/Configuration Settings

The SCSI device/configuration settings allow you to configure certain parameters for each device on the SCSI bus. To configure a specific device, you must know the SCSI ID assigned to that device. If you are not sure of the SCSI ID, see "Using the SCSI Disk Utilities."

• Initiate Sync Negotiation — Determines whether the host adapter initiates synchronous data transfer negotiation (synchronous negotiation) between itself and the device. The default setting is Yes.

Synchronous negotiation is a SCSI feature that allows the host adapter and its attached SCSI devices to transfer data in synchronous mode. Synchronous data transfer is faster than asynchronous data transfer.

The host adapter always responds to synchronous negotiation if the SCSI device initiates it. If neither the host adapter nor the SCSI device initiates synchronous negotiation, data is transferred asynchronously.

Normally, you should leave the Initiate Sync Negotiation setting enabled, because most SCSI devices support synchronous negotiation and because it allows for faster data transfer.

NOTE: Some older SCSI-1 devices do not support synchronous negotiation. This may cause your computer to operate erratically or hang if Initiate Sync Negotiation is set to Yes. Set Initiate Sync Negotiation to No for these devices.

• Maximum Sync Transfer Rate — Sets the maximum synchronous data transfer rate that the host adapter supports. The AHA-7890 host adapter supports rates up to 80 megabytes per second (MB/sec), and the AHA-7880 host adapter supports rates up to 40 MB/sec. The default setting for the AHA-7890 is 80 MB/sec (its maximum). The default setting for the AHA-7880 is 40 MB/sec (its maximum).

If the host adapter is set to not negotiate for synchronous data transfer, the maximum synchronous transfer rate is the maximum rate that the host adapter accepts from the device during negotiation. (This is standard SCSI protocol.)

• Enable Disconnection (sometimes called disconnect/reconnect) — Determines whether the host adapter allows the SCSI device to disconnect from the SCSI bus. Enabling disconnection allows the host adapter to perform other operations on the SCSI bus while the SCSI device is temporarily disconnected. The default setting is Yes.

Leave Enable Disconnection set to Yes if two or more SCSI devices are connected to the host adapter. This optimizes SCSI bus performance. If only one SCSI device is connected to the host adapter, set Enable Disconnection to No to achieve slightly better performance.

• Initiate Wide Negotiation — Determines whether the host adapter attempts 16-bit data transfer instead of 8-bit data transfer. The default setting is Yes.

NOTE: Some 8-bit SCSI devices may have trouble handling wide negotiation, which may result in erratic behavior or a hang condition. For these devices, set Initiate Wide Negotiation to No.

When this option is set to Yes, the host adapter attempts 16-bit transfer. When this option is set to No, 8-bit data transfer is used unless the SCSI device itself requests wide negotiation. The effective transfer rate is doubled when 16-bit data transfer is used because the data path for wide SCSI is twice the size of normal 8-bit SCSI.

• Send Start Unit Command — Determines whether the start unit command is sent to the SCSI device during the boot routine. The default setting is Yes.

Setting this option to Yes reduces the load on your computer's power supply by allowing the host adapter to start SCSI devices one at a time when you boot your computer. When this option is set to No, the devices are allowed to start at the same time. Most devices require you to set a jumper before they can respond to this command.

NOTE: For many devices, if Send Start Unit Command is set to Yes, the boot routine time will vary depending on how long it takes each drive to start.

• BIOS Multiple LUN Support — Provides support for peripherals that contain multiple SCSI devices, such as autoloading tape drives and CD-ROM changers.
• Include in BIOS Scan — Enables you to set whether the system BIOS scans this device during system startup. The default setting is Yes.

Advanced Host Adapter Settings

The advanced host adapter settings should not be changed unless absolutely necessary. These values are set by Dell, and changing them may cause conflicts with the SCSI devices.

• Host Adapter BIOS — Enables or disables the host adapter BIOS. The default setting is Enabled.

NOTE: Several SCSISelect options are not valid unless the host adapter BIOS is enabled.

If you are booting from a SCSI hard-disk drive connected to the host adapter, the BIOS must be enabled. You should disable the host adapter BIOS if the peripherals on the SCSI bus (for example, CD-ROM drives) are all controlled by device drivers and do not need the BIOS.

• Support Removable Disks Under BIOS As Fixed Disks — Controls which removable-media drives are supported by the host adapter BIOS. The default setting is Boot Only. The following choices are available.

NOTICE: If a removable-media SCSI device is controlled by the host adapter BIOS, do not remove the media while the drive is on or you may lose data. If you want to be able to remove media while the drive is on, install your removable-media device driver and set this option to Disabled.

• Boot Only —  Only the removable-media drive designated as the boot device is treated as a hard-disk drive.
• All Disks — All removable-media drives supported by the BIOS are treated as hard-disk drives.
• Disabled — No removable-media drives are treated as hard-disk drives. In this situation, software drivers are needed because the drives are not controlled by the BIOS.

• Plug and Play SCAM Support — Provides automatic configuration of SCSI devices in operating systems that support Plug and Play. Dell recommends that you leave this option set to Disabled.
• Reset SCSI Bus at IC Initialization — Enables the SCSI bus to be reset when the controller is initialized. The default setting is Enabled.
• Extended BIOS Translation For DOS Drives > 1 GB — Determines whether extended translation is available for SCSI hard-disk drives with capacities greater than 1 gigabyte (GB). The default setting is Enabled.

NOTICE: Back up your hard-disk drive before you change the translation scheme. All data is erased when you change from one translation scheme to another.

The standard translation scheme for SCSI host adapters provides a maximum accessible capacity of 1 GB. To support hard-disk drives larger than 1 GB, the 78xx series host adapters include an extended translation scheme that supports hard-disk drives as large as 8 GB, with a maximum partition size of 2 GB under the MS-DOS® operating system.

It is not necessary to enable the Extended BIOS Translation setting if you are using another operating system, such as Novell NetWare.

When you partition a hard-disk drive larger than 1 GB, use the MS-DOS fdisk utility as you normally would. Because the cylinder size increases to 8 MB under extended translation, the partition size you choose must be a multiple of 8 MB. If you request a size that is not a multiple of 8 MB, fdisk rounds up to the nearest whole multiple of 8 MB.

• Display <Ctrl><a> Message During BIOS Initialization — Determines whether the Press <CTRL><A> for SCSISelect (TM) Utility! message appears on your screen during system start-up. The default setting is Enabled. If this setting is disabled, you can still run the SCSISelect utility by pressing <Ctrl><a> after the host adapter BIOS banner appears.
• Multiple LUN Support — Determines whether your system supports booting from a SCSI device that has multiple LUNs. The default setting is Disabled. Enable this option if your boot device has multiple LUNs.
• BIOS Support For Bootable CD-ROM — Determines whether the host adapter BIOS provides support for booting from a CD-ROM drive. The default setting is Enabled.
• BIOS Support For Int 13 Extensions — Determines whether the host adapter BIOS supports disks with more than 1024 cylinders. The default setting is Enabled.
• Support For Ultra SCSI Speed — Determines whether the host adapter supports the fast transfer rates (20–40 MB/sec). The default setting is Enabled.

Starting the SCSISelect Utility

You can start the SCSISelect utility by pressing <Ctrl><a> when the following prompt appears briefly during start-up:

Press <CTRL><A> for SCSISelect (TM) Utility!

The first menu displays the Configure/View Host Adapter Settings and SCSI Disk Utilities options.

Using SCSISelect Menus

SCSISelect uses menus to list options that you can select. To select an option, press the up- and down-arrow keys to move the cursor to the option; then press <Enter>.

In some cases, selecting an option displays another menu. You can return to the previous menu at any time by pressing <Esc>. To restore the original SCSISelect default values, press <F6>.

Using the SCSI Disk Utilities

To access the SCSI disk utilities, select SCSI Disk Utilities from the menu that appears when you start SCSISelect. When the option is selected, SCSISelect immediately scans the SCSI bus (to determine the devices installed) and displays a list of all SCSI IDs and the device assigned to each ID.

When you select a specific ID and device, a menu appears, displaying the Format Disk and Verify Disk Media options.

NOTICE: The Format Disk option destroys all data on the hard-disk drive.

• Format Disk — Runs a utility that allows you to perform a low-level format on a hard-disk drive. Most SCSI disk drives are formatted at the factory and do not need to be formatted again. The Adaptec Format Disk utility is compatible with the majority of SCSI disk drives.
• Verify Disk Media — Runs a utility that allows you to scan the media of a hard-disk drive for defects. If the utility finds bad blocks on the media, it prompts you to reassign them; if you select Yes, those blocks are no longer used. You can press <Esc> at any time to exit the utility.

Exiting SCSISelect

To exit SCSISelect, press <Esc> until a message prompts you to exit. (If you changed any 78xx series host adapter settings, you are prompted to save the changes before you exit.) At the prompt, select Yes to exit, and then press any key to reboot the computer. Any changes that you made in SCSISelect take effect after the computer boots. (You can select No at the prompt if you are not ready to exit SCSISelect.)

Driver Installation for Windows NT 4.0

This section provides the following information about installing the Dell SCSI drivers for the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 operating system:

• Installing and/or updating the SCSI drivers for Windows NT
• Removing a host adapter
• Swapping a host adapter
• Restoring a configuration if Windows NT fails to boot

Installation Overview

This section provides the information that you need to install and use the Dell SCSI drivers for the 78xx series of SCSI controllers with Windows NT.

The Windows NT 4.0 driver diskette that you create for the Microsoft Windows NT Server operating system contains the files that you need for driver installation. The scsi subdirectory on the diskette contains the following files to be used with Windows NT:

• aic78u2.sys — Adaptec's 7890 Ultra2/LVD driver for Windows NT
• aic78xx.sys — Adaptec's 78xx series driver for Windows NT
• oemsetup.inf — A file used by Windows NT Setup for driver installation
• readme.txt — A text file describing the Adaptec 78xx driver for Windows NT

If you are installing Windows NT for the first time, see "Installing Windows NT and the Driver for the First Time" to begin driver installation. If Windows NT is already installed in your system, see "Using Windows NT to Install or Update the Driver."

Installing Windows NT and the Driver for the First Time

Windows NT 4.0 has SCSI drivers for the Adaptec 78xx series of SCSI controllers integrated into the operating system. When you load the operating system software, the drivers are automatically loaded. However, Dell recommends that you update the aic78xx.sys driver by using the diskette of drivers that you created from the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD. To install or update the aic78xx.sys driver for Windows NT 4.0, see the next subsection.

Using Windows NT to Install or Update the Driver

This section describes how to install or update the aic78xx.sys driver if Windows NT is already installed. If you are installing Windows NT for the first time, see "Installing Windows NT and the Driver for the First Time."

Perform the following steps only if Windows NT 4.0 is already installed:

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.
2. Double-click the SCSI Adapters icon.
3. Click the Driver tab and then click Add.
4. Click Have Disk.
5. Insert the Windows NT 4.0 driver diskette that you created into drive A.
6. In the Copy Manufacturer's Files From: field, type a:\scsi\ and click OK.
7. Select Adaptec AHA-294x/AHA-394x/AHA4944 or 78xx PCI SCSI Controller (NT 4.0). Then click OK.
8. If the following message appears, click New to replace the existing driver:
   The driver(s) for this SCSI Adapter are already on the system. Do you want to use the currently installed driver(s) or install new one(s).
9. If the following message appears, type a:\scsi in the dialog box and click Continue:
   Please enter the full path to Adaptec's installation files.
   These files are located in the \scsi directory on the Windows NT 4.0 Driver diskette.
   The driver is copied from the diskette to your system.
10. Click Yes when prompted to restart the system, and remove the diskette from drive A.

After the system reboots, the new driver is active. Some drive letter assignments may have changed from the previous configuration.

Removing a Host Adapter

NOTICE: If you have removed a host adapter but still have other host adapters of the same type installed in your computer, do not use Windows NT Setup to remove the device driver.

Removing a PCI expansion-card SCSI controller is as simple as physically removing it from its slot when your computer is shut down. Windows NT boots and functions properly in this configuration, but a warning message is generated every time you boot Windows NT.

To eliminate the warning message, you must update the Windows NT software configuration as follows:

1. Select and start the Windows NT Setup program.
   Windows NT Setup scans your hardware configuration.
2. Select the Options pull-down menu and then select Add/Remove SCSI Adapters.
   The SCSI Adapter setup program displays a list of all host adapters currently installed.
3. Select the host adapter that you want to remove and click Remove. When the Windows NT Setup program asks you for confirmation, click OK.
   Because SCSI device drivers are loaded during system start-up and they may be needed to load Windows NT itself, a message may appear warning you that Windows NT may not start if you remove the SCSI adapter.
4. When you are sure that you are removing the correct host adapter type, click OK.
5. Return to step 3 if you want to remove driver support for other types of host adapters, or click Close to exit the SCSI adapters portion of Windows NT Setup.
6. Close the Windows NT Setup program. When the following message appears, click OK to exit:
   The changes you have made will not take effect until the computer is restarted.
   If this message does not appear, no changes have been made to the Windows NT system configuration.
7. Restart your computer.

NOTE: The Windows NT Setup program does not delete the device driver from your hard-disk drive; it only updates Windows NT software configuration information so that the device driver is no longer loaded during system start-up.

Swapping a Host Adapter

The procedure for swapping one type of host adapter for another is similar to the procedure for adding a host adapter, except that you make all software configuration changes while Windows NT is running—before you make the hardware changes.

1. Install the driver for the new host adapter by following the steps in "Using Windows NT to Install or Update the Driver."
   It is not essential to remove the device driver for the host adapter that you are replacing. Windows NT dynamically detects the absence or presence of host adapter hardware, and no problems should arise if you leave the existing device driver installed. You can remove the device driver later, after you have successfully rebooted Windows NT. However, if you leave the driver in, the system alerts you with an error message about the extra device driver every time you boot. See "Removing a Host Adapter."
2. After the new device driver is installed, shut down Windows NT and replace the existing host adapter.
3. Restart your computer and Windows NT.
4. Some drive letter assignments may have changed from the previous configuration.

Installation for Novell® NetWare® 4.2

This section provides the following information about installing the Dell SCSI drivers for NetWare 4.2:

• Installing and/or updating the Dell SCSI driver for NetWare 4.2
• Automatic driver loading using startup.ncf and autoexec.ncf
• Booting a NetWare server from a SCSI drive, initializing hard-disk drives, and using removable media
• Troubleshooting error messages generated during initialization

Installation Overview

This subsection provides the information that you need to install and use the Dell SCSI drivers for Novell NetWare 4.2. The Dell SCSI drivers for NetWare support the optional Adaptec AHA-2940U2W and all Adaptec 78xx series SCSI controllers.

Before you begin installation of the SCSI drivers for NetWare, you must create a diskette of drivers for NetWare 4.2. "Using the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD" provides instructions for creating these diskettes.

The Dell SCSI drivers for NetWare are fully tested and approved for NetWare. The NetWare scsi subdirectory on the NetWare 4.2 drivers diskette that you create contains files to be used with NetWare 4.2. The following files appear in the scsi subdirectory on the NetWare driver diskette:

• readme.txt — Text file describing Adaptec's drivers for NetWare
• aic78u2.ham — NetWare driver for Adaptec's 7890 and AHA-2940U2W Ultra2/LVD SCSI series host adapters
• aha2940.ham — NetWare driver for Adaptec's 7880 and AHA-2940UW SCSI host adapters
• aspitran.dsk — Adaptec's ASPI® transport layer driver for NetWare
• aspicd.dsk — Adaptec's device driver for a CD-ROM drive
• nbi.nlm — File required by the NetWare bus interface
• nwpa.nlm — File required by the NetWare bus interface
• nwpaload.nlm — File required by the NetWare bus interface
• cdrom.nlm — File required by the NetWare bus interface
• aic78u2.ddi — A driver definition information file for the 78xx Ultra2/LVD SCSI series host adapters that provides setup information to NetWare during installation
• aha2940.ddi — A driver definition information file for the AHA-2940U2W host adapter
• aspicd.ddi — A device driver definition file
• aspitran.ddi — A device driver definition file
• dellsep.cdm — A file required by the Dell SCSI Enclosure processor device
• dellsep.ddi — A device driver definition file required by the Dell SCSI Enclosure processor device

NOTE: Your system must have a bootable version of MS-DOS installed before you can complete the Novell NetWare installation.

Installing NetWare 4.2

This section describes how to install the aic78u2.ham and aha2940.ham drivers at the same time you install NetWare 4.2. If NetWare 4.2 is already installed and you want to install or update the aic78u2.ham and aha2940.ham drivers, refer to the NetWare User's Guide for installation instructions. Also, refer to the NetWare User's Guide for information about partitioning, creating a server name, and checking the Internetwork Packet eXchange (IPX) network number.

Perform the following steps only if you are upgrading to NetWare 4.2 or installing it for the first time:

1. Make backup copies of all Novell diskettes, and use those backup copies as your working diskettes.
2. Boot MS-DOS on your computer.
3. Using an editor, verify that your config.sys file has its Files option set to 30 or higher (for example, Files=30).
   Make this change (if required) and save your config.sys file.
4. Change to the CD-ROM drive prompt.
   The installation files are located in the root directory on the CD-ROM.
5. Type install and press <Enter>.
6. Select a language at the language selection screen and press <Enter>.
7. Select whether you want to perform a simple or custom installation and press <Enter>.
   If you select a simple installation, you can press <F1> to view the default settings for the installation.
8. Press <F3> to continue through the next few screens.
9. When a screen appears asking you to select a disk driver, press <Insert>.
10. Insert the backup copy of the NetWare 4.2 driver diskette that you created in step 1 into the diskette drive.
    If you have not already created this diskette, see "Using the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD" for instructions.
11. Press <F3>, and type the path to the aic78u2.ham driver for NetWare (for example, a:\scsi).
12. Select the aic78u2.ham driver and press <Enter>. 
    The system prompts you for a slot number for the device.

NOTE: Specific help text for each driver appears in the middle of the screen as you scroll down the list. The Loaded Drivers window below the list of available drivers displays the names of drivers that are loaded and operational. For a new installation, this list is initially empty. For a selective installation, the list shows the drivers already running.

13. Press <Alt><Esc> to switch to the console prompt, type load a:\scsi\aic78u2.ham, and press <Enter>.
    A list of slot numbers is displayed separated by commas. Write down all slot numbers that are listed and press <Esc> to clear the command line. Press <Alt><Esc> to return to the installation screen.
14. Enter the slot number for the driver and press <Enter>.
15. Press <Enter> to save the parameters and continue.
16. When you are prompted to select an additional disk driver, select Yes.
17. Repeat steps 12 through 16 for the aha2940.ham driver.
18. Select Continue the Installation to create disk partitions and system volumes and to specify volume names following the procedures listed in the NetWare User's Guide.
19. To load the driver automatically at server start-up, make sure the startup.ncf file includes the load command line and correct slot number for your host adapter.  Refer to the NetWare User's Guide for information about editing the startup.ncf file.

Installation for Novell NetWare 5.0

This section provides information on installing the SCSI drivers for the Novell NetWare 5.0 operating system. Instructions assume that NetWare 5.0 is installed and operational.

Creating the NetWare 5.0 SCSI Driver Diskette

If you have not already done so, use the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD to create a NetWare 5.0 SCSI driver diskette. See "Using the Dell OpenManage Server Assistant CD" for instructions on creating the diskette.

Uninstalling a SCSI Driver

If you are replacing an existing driver (for example, because it has become corrupted or an upgrade has become available), you must first remove the installed driver. To remove a driver, perform the following steps:

1. At the initial NetWare screen, press <Alt><Esc> to display the NetWare console screen.
2. At the server prompt, type nwconfig and press <Enter>.
   The NetWare Configuration screen appears, displaying the Configuration Options menu.
3. At the Configuration Options menu, highlight Driver Options and press <Enter>.
4. At the Driver Options menu, highlight Configure disk and storage device drivers and press <Enter>.
5. At the Additional Driver Actions menu, highlight Unload an additional driver and press <Enter>.
6. At the Selected Disk Drivers menu, highlight the driver that you want to uninstall and press <Enter>.
7. At the message Driver xxx successfully unloaded, press <Enter>.
   The Additional Driver Actions menu appears.

From the Additional Driver Actions menu, you can repeat steps 5 through 7 to uninstall an additional driver, start with step 5 of the next procedure to install a driver, or press <Esc> to exit.

Installing the SCSI Drivers for NetWare 5.0

To install NetWare 5.0 SCSI drivers from the NetWare 5.0 SCSI driver diskette that you created, perform the following steps:

1. At the initial NetWare screen, press <Alt><Esc> to display the NetWare console screen.
2. At the server prompt, type nwconfig and press <Enter>.
   The NetWare Configuration screen appears, displaying the Configuration Options menu.
3. At the Configuration Options menu, highlight Driver Options and press <Enter>.
4. At the Driver Options menu, highlight Configure disk and storage device drivers and press <Enter>.
5. At the Additional Driver Actions menu, highlight Load an additional driver and press <Enter>.
   The software scans the system to determine what drivers are already installed.
6. When the Select a driver menu appears, insert the NetWare 5.0 SCSI driver diskette into the diskette drive and press <Insert> to install an unlisted driver.
7. Read the instructions on the screen and press <Enter> to continue.
8. At the Select a driver to install menu, highlight a desired driver and press <Enter>.
9. When you are prompted to confirm, highlight Yes and press <Enter>.
10. To accept the default server boot path that is displayed, press <Enter>.
    The software copies the driver to the selected location.
11. At the Driver xxx Parameter Actions screen, highlight Select/Modify driver parameters and press <Enter>.
12. At the driver parameters screen, type 1 for the integrated SCSI adapter or enter the slot number of the SCSI adapter card.

NOTE: The integrated SCSI adapter is always assigned to slot 1. If an adapter card is installed in slot 1, you must specify it as being in slot 2. An adapter card installed in slot 2 or a higher numbered slot is assigned its true physical slot number.

13. Press <F10> to save the parameters and exit.
14. At the Driver xxx Parameter Actions screen, highlight Save parameter and load driver and press <Enter>.
15. At the NetWare Configuration screen, confirm that the new driver has been added to the list that is displayed.
16. Repeat steps 3 through 15 for any additional drivers you want to install.
17. Press <Esc> three times. At the Exit nwconfig? dialog box, highlight Yes and press <Enter>.

Using SCSI Devices

The subsections that follow provide procedures and tips on the following topics:

• Initializing hard-disk drives
• Using removable media
• Using drives that are tested and approved for NetWare
• Using the NetWare tape backup utility
• Setting up a CD-ROM drive with NetWare 4.2

Initializing Hard-Disk Drives

NetWare's nwconfig.nlm program lets you optionally initialize a hard-disk drive for use with NetWare. The NetWare format procedure is not the same as using fdisk or format under MS-DOS.

NOTICE: You should not use NetWare to initialize a hard-disk drive that contains partitions for other operating systems because that information may be destroyed.

Using Removable Media

The aic78u2.ham driver module fully supports removable-media disk drives, including magneto-optical drives. Removable media is treated as a standard SCSI hard-disk drive, with some exceptions:

• The driver only recognizes and registers media with 512 bytes/sector.
• NetWare allows you to mount or dismount the media and lock or unlock the media.

These removable media options are supported by NetWare's monitor.nlm program.

To set up the removable media, perform the following steps:

1. Load monitor.nlm to display the various options.
2. Select Disk Information.
   All system hard-disk drives appear.
3. Select the removable-media device.
   Drive status options appear as shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Drive Status Options

Verify Status

The Read After Write Verify option (menu option 2) is set to Hardware Level by default. This option cannot be specified in the startup.ncf or autoexec.ncf file. However, the default can be set on the command line. Refer to the NetWare User's Guide for information about using the load command-line options.

The available options are defined in Table 3.

Table 3. Read After Write Verify Options

Mount Status

Mounting causes a drive to come online as a NetWare storage device. Dismounted drives are inactive and cannot be accessed.

Before you eject your current media, you should first dismount it (using menu option 5). When the mount status is Dismounted, you can eject the media. However, NetWare does not allow you to dismount media that are locked.

To insert your new media, wait for the drive to spin up, and then select the Removable Drive Mount Status option.

Lock Status

If your removable-media device supports the lock/unlock feature, you can lock the media (using menu option 6). The media must be in the Not Locked state before you can eject it. If the media is locked, it cannot be ejected when you press the eject button.

Using Drives Tested and Approved for NetWare

To be fully certified as NetWare "Yes, Tested and Approved," a drive and host adapter must both pass a qualification process that takes place before you see the product. The goals of NetWare testing are to simplify installation and provide the highest quality disk subsystem.

Adaptec 78xx series host adapters and their drivers are fully tested and approved for NetWare. This means that you can purchase a NetWare drive (certified as "Yes, Tested and Approved") from a vendor, connect it to your computer system or host adapter, partition it, and create a volume without any compatibility concerns.

NOTE: Dell recommends using only Dell-tested drives.

Adaptec's aic78u2.ham driver module is flexible enough to allow you to connect SCSI drives that are tested and approved for NetWare as well as standard SCSI drives to a single host adapter. The driver registers each hard-disk drive accordingly.

Drive registration is a user-transparent process; no user interaction is required.

Using the NetWare Tape Backup Utility

Included with NetWare is a server-based tape backup utility called sbackup.nlm. This allows backup of server disk drives to a server tape drive. The sbackup.nlm utility supports Adaptec host adapters. To load the backup utility, perform the following steps:

1. Load the SCSI adapter driver by entering:
   load [pathname]\aic78u2.ham [options] slot=x
   The ASPI layer (aspitran.dsk) is automatically loaded.
2. Refer to the Novell NetWare documentation for additional instructions on loading the server backup software. Refer to the NetWare Server Backup User's Guide to load the tsa and sbackup modules.

Setting Up a CD-ROM Drive With NetWare 4.2

To use a CD-ROM drive with NetWare 4.2, perform the following steps:

1. Ensure that the CD-ROM driver for NetWare 4.2 (aha2940.ham) is loaded. If necessary, load the driver by entering the following command line:
   load [pathname]\aha2940.ham slot=x
   
2. Load aspicd.dsk by entering the following command line:
   load [pathname]\aspicd.dsk
   

   NOTE: If aspicd.dsk does not work, unload it and load it again. The first load initializes the host adapter; unloading and reloading allows the initialization to complete.

3. Load cdrom.nlm by entering the following command line:
   load [pathname]\cdrom.nlm
   
4. Enter the following line at the prompt, and then note the number and name of the CD that appears:
   cd device list
   
5. Enter the number or volume name of the CD at the command line:
   cd mount [number]
   or
   cd mount [name]

The CD-ROM is now ready to be accessed as a volume.

Optimizing Performance

The Adaptec 78xx SCSI bus-master firmware increases the SCSI performance of the Adaptec 78xx series host adapters under multitasking environments. The firmware uses a paging mechanism to handle up to 255 simultaneous SCSI commands. The sequencer can simultaneously manage up to 32 tagged, or two nontagged, SCSI commands for each SCSI device, up to a limit of 255 SCSI commands. The firmware can queue as many commands as the operating system is able to send to the host adapter. To set this feature, enter the following command:

max_tags=n

In general, a low number for the max_tags option gives better sequential performance. This value varies with the level of random disk accesses and drive characteristics.

NOTE: A large value for max_tags can cause starvation problems with some drives.

Troubleshooting for Windows NT

The boot manager for Windows NT contains recovery logic to allow you to return to the last known good configuration. If you have changed your host adapter configuration and Windows NT no longer boots, perform the following steps to recover:

1. Undo any hardware changes that you have made to the computer since it was last operational.
2. Reboot the computer. Watch the display carefully during start-up. If the following message appears, press the spacebar, press <l> at the next screen, and then follow the instructions on the screen to continue booting with the last known good configuration:
   Press spacebar NOW to invoke the Last Known Good menu
   
3. When your computer is operational again, check all of the hardware and software configuration changes that you want to make. Look specifically for conflicts with parts of the existing system configuration that are not being changed.
   If you cannot determine the source of the error, contact Dell for assistance. See "Getting Help" in the Installation and Troubleshooting Guide for instructions on contacting Dell for technical assistance.

Troubleshooting for NetWare

Any error that occurs while the driver is initializing prevents it from loading. If an error does occur, the driver causes the computer to beep and then display a numbered error message:

xxx message

The xxx indicates the error code, and message is a descriptive line describing the error. The error codes are divided into three categories:

• 000-099 — Non-host-adapter specific
• 100-299 — Host-adapter specific
• 300-999 — Reserved

Specific error codes, such as those in the following subsections, appear only if you have installed the host adapters and drivers that generate them.

Non-Host-Adapter Specific Error Codes

The following error codes alert you to error conditions caused by factors not related to the host adapter:

000 Failed ParseDriverParameters call

A call to NetWare's ParseDriverParameters routine has failed for some unknown reason. The command line contains errors, or you pressed <Esc> at the port or slot prompt.

001 Unable to reserve hardware, possible conflict

The driver failed in its attempt to reserve the host adapter's hardware settings (that is, direct memory access [DMA] and interrupt request [IRQ] settings). Another card in your system may be causing a conflict with the host adapter.

002 NetWare rejected card Failed AddDiskSystem call

The driver failed in its attempt to register the host adapter with NetWare. The file server may not have enough memory.

003 Invalid command line option entered > option

An invalid option was entered on the command line. The invalid option that was entered is also displayed.

004 Invalid command line, please enter correctly

The driver was unable to understand the command line options that you entered. Be sure that you have entered these options correctly.

Host-Adapter Specific Error Codes

The following error codes alert you to error conditions caused by factors related to the host adapter:

200 No host adapter found for this driver to register

No Adaptec 78xx host adapter was found in your computer for the driver to register. Be sure that the host adapter is properly configured and properly seated in the slot.

203 Invalid 'device' setting

You have entered an invalid slot setting on the command line. You can only enter slot numbers for valid host adapters. If you load without the slot option, you will be prompted to enter a valid value.

204 Invalid 'verbose' setting, use 'y'

You can only enter y for this option (verbose=y).

205 Invalid 'removable' setting, use 'off'

You can only enter off for this option (removable=off).

206 Invalid 'fixed_disk' setting, use 'off'

You can only enter off for this option (fixed_disk=off).

208 SCSI present but not enabled/configured for PCI

A host adapter is present, but its bus or device entry has not been enabled.

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