Need advice before I spend more money on a VLB SCSI controller. \ VOGONS

Need advice before I spend more money on a VLB SCSI controller.

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First post, by Moogle!

Posted on 2008-12-27, 22:01

Moogle! Offline

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Before I blow 37USD, I need to know if it will work.

I got a 486 board from 1992. It's an Alaris Leopard rev C. It's BIOS date is 6-6-92. I know there is a later one, (11-11-92, and possibly one later than that), but I cannot find them.

I am using the aforementioned Alaris board. IBM SLC2, 66Mhz, 16MB Ram. I am using a DOS 6.22 bootdisk, the same one as I used while building my 486 tower of Power (where I did not have this issue, BIOS is from 94). I have two different 1GB hard drivers, and a Holtek 6560B VLB Enhanced IDE controller. In the BIOS, it reads both the correct size for both of the drives, but I cannot get FDISK to make a partition bigger than 504MB. I have tried the card with and without drivers. (it won't even load Fdisk with the drivers, for either drive, and I tried two different versions of the drivers), from what I understand, this is a mainboard BIOS issue, where most board made before a certain time will not do more than 504MB.

So, I've decided to go the SCSI route. I'm looking at an Adaptec 2842VL controller. And if I'm understanding correctly, the SCSI controller will not be limited by the motherbords bios. Am I correct? I did not have any issues with this on my EISA SCSI Compaq Deskpro, either, and it had a BIOS from 92, also.

Reply 1 of 8, by Amigaz

Posted on 2008-12-28, 11:59

Amigaz Offline

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I think the drive size limit is 8gig but I might be wrong
Csn't see any drive size limits i it's specs at adaptec.com
My Adaptec EISA 2742AT and PCI 2940UW have an 8gig limit
But the 8gig is no problems since you cvan use a bigger hd but only 8gig will be usable on the drive

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 2 of 8, by dvwjr

Posted on 2008-12-29, 08:33

dvwjr Offline

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I believe that all non-Windows DOS (ie <= v6.22) are the limiting factors in drive size when used with a SCSI controller and SCSI drive combination. The 2940UW int13h extensions would allow a Win9x DOS 7.x to address larger than 8GB FAT32x formatted SCSI drives on an older 486 system with VLB or PCI.

For the PCI 2940uw PCI Adaptec SCSI adapter the highest released FLASH BIOS update was the hard to find version 3.10, which had a fix to display SCSI drives larger than 60GB. I believe that the older SCSI LBA drive size limit is 2.2TB with 32-bit operating systems.

Attached is the Adaptec 2940uw v3.10 BIOS update package.

Note: this is not the Adaptec 2940u2w SCSI host adapter BIOS update package which has been posted below.

dvwjr

edit: fixed text and included info on below 2940u2w post.

Attachments

Filename

2940uw_bios_3100.zip

File size

276.37 KiB

Downloads

581 downloads

File comment

Adaptec 2940UW (only) BIOS update v3.10 package.

File license

Fair use/fair dealing exception

Last edited by dvwjr on 2008-12-30, 04:40. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 3 of 8, by Moogle!

Posted on 2008-12-29, 20:24

Moogle! Offline

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Thanks, though it doesn't really help my personal case. I knew about the file system limits, just wasn't sure where SCSIs limits were, and if the BIOS would hinder the SCSI controller.

Reply 4 of 8, by dvwjr

Posted on 2008-12-30, 04:37

dvwjr Offline

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Just for completeness sake: 😁

For the PCI 2940u2w PCI Adaptec SCSI adapter the highest released FLASH BIOS update was also the hard to find version 3.10, which had a fix to display SCSI drives larger than 60GB. I believe that the older SCSI LBA drive size limit is 2.2TB with 32-bit operating systems.

Attached is the Adaptec 2940u2w v3.10 BIOS update package.

Note: this is not the Adaptec 2940uw PCI SCSI host adapter BIOS update package which is posted in an above message.

dvwjr

Attachments

Filename

2940u2w_bios_3100.zip

File size

276.37 KiB

Downloads

698 downloads

File comment

Adaptec 2940u2w (only) BIOS update v3.10 package.

File license

Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 5 of 8, by Amigaz

Posted on 2008-12-30, 10:17

Amigaz Offline

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dvwjr wrote:
I believe that all non-Windows DOS (ie <= v6.22) are the limiting factors in drive size when used with a SCSI controller and SCS […]
Show full quote
I believe that all non-Windows DOS (ie <= v6.22) are the limiting factors in drive size when used with a SCSI controller and SCSI drive combination. The 2940UW int13h extensions would allow a Win9x DOS 7.x to address larger than 8GB FAT32x formatted SCSI drives on an older 486 system with VLB or PCI.

For the PCI 2940uw PCI Adaptec SCSI adapter the highest released FLASH BIOS update was the hard to find version 3.10, which had a fix to display SCSI drives larger than 60GB. I believe that the older SCSI LBA drive size limit is 2.2TB with 32-bit operating systems.

Attached is the Adaptec 2940uw v3.10 BIOS update package.

Note: this is not the Adaptec 2940u2w SCSI host adapter BIOS update package which has been posted below.

dvwjr

edit: fixed text and included info on below 2940u2w post.

Mine is the AHA 2940UW PRO, not sure if this BIOS works with my card...
I tested it yesterday...the BIOS version is 2.11 and at least it can see the full 18gig of my harddrive I tested with it.

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 6 of 8, by samudra

Posted on 2009-01-02, 15:56

samudra Offline

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No need to blow $37 on a Adaptec 2842VL.

That is way too much money. You should be able to get one for $5 or less.

I'd recommend you look at the 2840A instead. It is newest of all the Adaptec VLB SCSI adaptors and is compatible with L1 WB cache.

This is not a QEMM error.

Reply 7 of 8, by Moogle!

Posted on 2009-01-02, 20:49

Moogle! Offline

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It was actually 26.90, and it had a floppy controller on it, which I would have needed, as I don't have any working I/O controllers with a floppy. I also got a 1.05GB hdd for it. I could have spent less, but I wanted an Adaptec controller.

I also picked up a 2940 PCI controller for the Tower of Power, and a 2.1GB disk for it.

Reply 8 of 8, by samudra

Posted on 2009-01-02, 23:57

samudra Offline

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Joined: 2006-02-16, 19:52

I could have spent less, but I wanted an Adaptec controller.

You could have spent less and still got the Adaptec.

But hey, you probably got one brand new and sealed in the original box for that price which is good.

This is not a QEMM error.

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