try removing any jumpers that are on the hdd and set the id on the 68-pin-to-sca adapter. and since u have a terminating cable u don't have to terminate the drive. if i remember correctly, the sca drive won't have id jumpers on it since all that info is set by a sca back plane. another thing to try is force single-end mode on the drive.

The Adaptec AHA-2940UW are good cards but you need to flash them to the latest BIOS for them to be good. This should be a upgrade over a Motherboard that only has 33mhz IDE. or slower.

The host bus must have its own ID it can't be the same ID as the HDD.
What SCSI ID is your host bust controller? If it is 0 there is part of your problem. Set the host bus to 0 set the HDD to 1 or something else.

Have you pressed CTRL + A and went into the SCSI HB BIOS and played with the spin up settings? There should be 2 settings Spin up on power up or Delayed spin on detection. I think you should set it to power the drive up on power on.

Have you inspected all of the Pins on your scsi cable are not bent?

Ok, you have the scsi card, 68 pin cable, and 68 to 80-pin sca adapter, correct?

I don't hear you are using a terminator. you have 3 options

Buy one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/292293586108
Get a new cable with a terminator built in. (this is what I do, they have the above permanently attached.)
Get a new sca adapter like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/112694609341

option 3 is just a 50-pin example, but notice the 3 small black things in the middle of the board. This board will terminate properly. I personally choose option #2 whenever possible. #1 is plan b. #3 is plan A if I'm doing something with 50-pin.

Also, set the hard drive to ID 1. Sometimes scsi controllers are on 0. This is changeable in the bios of the card. Leave it at the default value, and don't put anything else on that number.

FluffyBunnyFeet wrote:

try removing any jumpers that are on the hdd and set the id on the 68-pin-to-sca adapter. and since u have a terminating cable u don't have to terminate the drive. if i remember correctly, the sca drive won't have id jumpers on it since all that info is set by a sca back plane.

It has both - own jumpers and jumpers on the adapter. Both set to 0 (i.e. no jumpers anywhere), but also tried different values. No difference.

another thing to try is force single-end mode on the drive.

Tried that (had to improvise as the jumper for this was smaller than normal and not one I had), no difference.

Warlord wrote:

The Adaptec AHA-2940UW are good cards but you need to flash them to the latest BIOS for them to be good. This should be a upgrade over a Motherboard that only has 33mhz IDE. or slower.

Yep, particularly due to the low seek times of the 10k rpm drive - although in this case it was mainly intended as an upgrade from a 2GB CF card I managed to fry recently...

The host bus must have its own ID it can't be the same ID as the HDD.
What SCSI ID is your host bust controller? If it is 0 there is part of your problem. Set the host bus to 0 set the HDD to 1 or something else.

Should have mentioned that. Host controller was on ID3 (why?) when I got it, after reset to defaults it was back at 7. Either way no difference.

Have you pressed CTRL + A and went into the SCSI HB BIOS and played with the spin up settings? There should be 2 settings Spin up on power up or Delayed spin on detection. I think you should set it to power the drive up on power on.

That was in the list of things to try from the Adapter knowledge base. Default was spin op power up and no delay. Tried all four combinations. Again, no difference. The only thing at controller side the drive is in any way responding to is whether I put it on the U2W LVD/SE connector or the regular SE one. No other settings are having any effect whatsoever.

Have you inspected all of the Pins on your scsi cable are not bent?

They look regular & straight in all three connectors on the cable. Even though not advertised as such, the cable seems new&unused. Still no guarantees, but there's nothing in the way of damage or scuff marks I can find.

Anyway, the cable has three connectors and I've tried it with every combination that keeps the terminator on the right end, so if it was the cable or connector it would have to be faulty in at least two places. Not impossible, but unlikely IMHO.

luckybob wrote:

Ok, you have the scsi card, 68 pin cable, and 68 to 80-pin sca adapter, correct? […]
Show full quote

Ok, you have the scsi card, 68 pin cable, and 68 to 80-pin sca adapter, correct?

I don't hear you are using a terminator. you have 3 options

Buy one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/292293586108
Get a new cable with a terminator built in. (this is what I do, they have the above permanently attached.)
Get a new sca adapter like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/112694609341

option 3 is just a 50-pin example, but notice the 3 small black things in the middle of the board. This board will terminate properly. I personally choose option #2 whenever possible. #1 is plan b. #3 is plan A if I'm doing something with 50-pin.

I'm already using option 2, a cable with a terminator. That does give me one other avenue to pursue - termination at the controller card is set to auto. There's a jumper to manually force that. I'll see if that makes a difference...

...and nope. Still either not spinning or being detected at all, or spinning up but hanging the device detection.

Oh well, was planning to raid a new and promising thrift shop this afternoon anyway. If they have anything SCSI I'll be getting it.

Might want to try a terminator intended for Ultra2-LVD and a flat ribbon cable. It seems like this has saved me in the past with a similar situation. You also might want to try the LW versions of the drives. I've run into one card that the didn't work well with the 80-pin to 68-pin adapter.

Just be a bad hard disk drive this would be my assumption.

feipoa wrote:

Might want to try a terminator intended for Ultra2-LVD and a flat ribbon cable. It seems like this has saved me in the past with a similar situation.

How is that different to the Ultra320-LVD terminator I have?

You also might want to try the LW versions of the drives. I've run into one card that the didn't work well with the 80-pin to 68-pin adapter.

Will do so as soon as I come across one of those for free like this one 😜

Warlord wrote:

Just be a bad hard disk drive this would be my assumption.

It's sort of looking that way. Actively looking for another drive atm, but also for 50p flatcable and 50p-68p adapter. Apart from being able to use any drive with that, I can then also use my old Dawicontrol controller to rule out problems with the AHA-2940U2W. But of course just when you start actively looking for this stuff, there's not much locally, what there is is ridiculously expensive and elsewhere shipping costs more than the stuff is worth. Oh well, time to exercise some patience - SCSI is common enough, it'll turn up.

Yes, I believe the Ultra2-LVD terminator is different from the U180 or U320 types, but I'm not exactly sure how it is different.

If all the jumpers are off the Cheetah than it should be terminating itself. (The jumpers for terminator power and status should be on a small flat block on the bottom of the drive.) The AHA has built in terminators. So where exactly are you plugging in this external terminator? I’m not sure it’s actually needed in that case.

timb.us wrote:

If all the jumpers are off the Cheetah than it should be terminating itself. (The jumpers for terminator power and status should be on a small flat block on the bottom of the drive.)

You sure that applies to the LC as well?
https://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/d … scsi/29410c.pdf

LC and LCV model drives are designed for installation in host systems that have a backplane with single connect […]
Show full quote

LC and LCV model drives are designed for installation in
host systems that have a backplane with single connector
attachment (SCA) connections. Termination is normally pro-
vided on this backplane.

[...]

Host systems designed to use LC and LCV drives nor-
mally provide termination power from the host adapter or
other source. LC and LCV model drives cannot be config-
ured to provide termination power to the bus.

Sounds to me like it neither terminates nor provides termination power to the bus.

The AHA has built in terminators. So where exactly are you plugging in this external terminator? I’m not sure it’s actually needed in that case.

AHA 68p connector 0 ---flatcable--- 68p connector 1 --- flatcable--- 68p connector 2 ---short flatcable--- terminator (integrated into cable)

The SCA adapter with drive is plugged into either connector 1 or 2. I've also tried AHA on connector 1 and drive on connector 2 to see if that made any difference. It didn't.

The manual to that drive specifically states it does NOT terminate.

The fact the card hangs occasionally, tells me it is probably a cable problem. If I had your parts on my bench I could find the problem quick as I have the benefit of spare parts. Check the jumpers on the adapter. There should be one for startup. You want the drive to startup automatically. If you cant figure out which jumper this is, go into the card bios and look for an option somewhere that forces the scsi card to send out start signals.

Thats what i would try next.

luckybob wrote:

The manual to that drive specifically states it does NOT terminate.

The fact the card hangs occasionally, tells me it is probably a cable problem.

It's not 'occasionally', it's entirely reproducible. On the LVD-U2W connector on the 2940U2W it doesn't hang but isn't detected either, on the SE connector it hangs on detection. Given that the behaviour is consistent per port but changes with the cable, I'd say the cable is the least likely culprit.

If I had your parts on my bench I could find the problem quick as I have the benefit of spare parts.

If I had a second drive with SCA-80 or HD68 - or a 50p flatcable - I could do the same.

Check the jumpers on the adapter. There should be one for startup. You want the drive to startup automatically. If you cant figure out which jumper this is, go into the card bios and look for an option somewhere that forces the scsi card to send out start signals.

There are only two jumpers on the card, one for each bus to force termination. Everything else happens in BIOS. Automatic startup is an option and is enabled by default. Disabling doesn't change behaviour.

Am looking for some more hardware. Found someone nearby selling a box containing what looks like a SCSI drive, a SCSI adapter and a 50p flatcable. Unfortunately it also contains a Creative Sound Blaster 16 CT2290, which is pushing up the price drastically. Failing that I'll just have to be patient...

Well, keep it quiet, but I might be bidding on this: ***REDACTED***

I dont need the scsi stuff, so if I do get it, I can offer those parts to you pretty cheap. I'm mostly interested in the dual cpu board and one of the processors.

oh shit nvm, your in amsterdam. my bad.

It's the old shipping story. There's enough old SCSI stuff out there, even enough for good prices. But even shipping inside the country would cost more than a 50p cable or a <10GB HDD is worth. Let alone sending that stuff across the Atlantic. So thanks, but not really practical, no.

If I get too fed up/impatient I'll just order something on eBay from Germany. Always enough items there, and shipping isn't too diabolical. But there should be something suitable to be had within a 30mins drive sooner or later.

Do any of those 80 pin SCA drives have terminator jumpers? I've never seen them with jumpers. I have some of those 80pin to 68pin adapter boards, but mine do not have jumpers for termination. The ones luckybob posted above had the options to terminate. Do those negate the need for a terminating cable?

Obviously, the advantage in the 80 pin drives are that they are significantly cheaper than the 68 pin drives.

feipoa wrote:

Do any of those 80 pin SCA drives have terminator jumpers? I've never seen them with jumpers. I have some of those 80pin to 68pin adapter boards, but mine do not have jumpers for termination. The ones luckybob posted above had the options to terminate. Do those negate the need for a terminating cable?

Nope, no terminator jumpers (or indeed resistors). Just the usual pins for ID, MTR, DLY & SYN - and a feed for some drive LEDs.

Obviously, the advantage in the 80 pin drives are that they are significantly cheaper than the 68 pin drives.

In this case the big advantage was that it was a freebie. Two friends of mine were dumping their old crap. Most of it wasn't old enough for me (So939-vintage) but this drive was, as were a few cards and - best of all - a serial to PS/2 adaptor so I can ditch my awful serial mouse and use a decent old Logitech trackball (PS/2 with serial support) instead. And then I went and fried my 2GB CF card, which meant that between a 10MB ST-412 I don't have a controller card for yet (should be in the post though...) and an 80GB SATA drive, this was the only storage option I had left for my So7 build. Also it's perfectly period, if unlikely that anyone would have used such a high-end disk in a K6-system back then.

At $28 USD each, I won't be buying any of these active terminator SCA-80 to 68-pin adapters to test. I bought the non-terminated types many years ago for about $2 each and they have worked fine for all my PCI SCSI cards.