Adaptec AHA-1740/42A EISA Controller card, Firmware needed for verification \ VOGONS

Adaptec AHA-1740/42A EISA Controller card, Firmware needed for verification

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First post, by ia2115

Posted on 2025-01-09, 16:38

ia2115 Offline

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Hello fellow retro entusiasts i have this Adaptec EISA scsi controller card, i have a small hunch maybe the eproms can be bad.
the controller, can fine be added to Compaq Deskpro computer with eisa config, but nomatter what i use of configurations normal/enhanced i never gets a bios to show, and when i try the
dos eisa configuration for the card it cant talk with the card, errors out with some timeout vs firmware.

ive read out the two eproms on the controller as:

U10_AM27C256 450113-00 C MCODE 23AB 1991 (Adaptec)
U47_TMS27C128-1JL 450211-00 A BIOS 8800 1991 (Adaptec)

so best thing would be to have same to compare against, or some other versions to write to other chips and try.

hopes someone has this card and can help me revive it 😉

regards
jan

Reply 1 of 5, by Disruptor

Posted on 2025-01-09, 16:51

Disruptor Offline

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You can read the firmware, build a 16 bit checksum and compare it to the imprint on the sticker of the EPROMs.

Reply 2 of 5, by MrKsoft

Posted on 2025-01-09, 19:16

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I dumped these from an AHA-1742A that I have, v1.40 dated 1992. The checksums match the labels so they should be good, but I have never tested the card as I do not own any EISA boards. Best of luck!

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Reply 3 of 5, by eisapc

Posted on 2025-01-10, 12:49

eisapc Offline

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Bios and Microcode ~~is still~~ was availiable for download:
https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/speed/epr … s/174xa_exe.htm
At least I thought so, but the link is not working,
Need to look in my personal archive.

Did you try to hit CTRL-A during boot, after the board BIOS screen?
I recently had a similar problem with an AHA2940UW where the BIOS was simply disabled/set to non verbose mode in the CTRL-A controller setup.

Reply 4 of 5, by weedeewee

Posted on 2025-01-10, 13:06

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eisapc wrote on 2025-01-10, 12:49:
Bios and Microcode is still was availiable for download: https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/speed/epr … s/174xa_exe.htm At lea […]
Show full quote

Bios and Microcode ~~is still~~ was availiable for download:
https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/speed/epr … s/174xa_exe.htm
At least I thought so, but the link is not working,
Need to look in my personal archive.

Did you try to hit CTRL-A during boot, after the board BIOS screen?
I recently had a similar problem with an AHA2940UW where the BIOS was simply disabled/set to non verbose mode in the CTRL-A controller setup.

somebody fu the website. replace .htm with .php
as in
https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/speed/epr … s/174xa_exe.php

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Reply 5 of 5, by shfil

Posted on 2025-01-10, 14:06

shfil Offline

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Joined: 2025-01-10, 02:13

> nomatter what i use of configurations normal/enhanced i never gets a bios to show

This may be connected to your motherboard, if you already have tested all compatibility settings in bios, then recommend checking on other mobo.

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