bostonvintage1993 wrote on 2023-08-16, 02:43:

Hi all,

I am currently trying to configure an Ultrastor 24F SCSI EISA card in my Anigma motherboard EISA system. I have the EISA .CFG file and I successfully loaded it using an EISA configuration utility, however no matter what I do/change I get an error message on startup - "Disk Controller RAM Error at 3E00." I looked it up and the manual says to change the BIOS address in the EISA configuration utility if this error occurs. Well, I changed the BIOS address to all available options in the EISA configuration utility and I get the same error every time. Only when I disable the BIOS address in the EISA configuration utility does the RAM error go away; but then the card still doesn't work. I'm currently at a loss and could really use some help to get this card up and running. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Take it this is the Anigma AN486EISA (Gateway?) board...which BIOS revision are you running (4.26A, 4.28A, 4.32A) and which EISA .cfg file version are you loading for it (v1.3?). Similarly, which .cfg file version are you loading for the UltraStor (v1.03, v2.0?)

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2023-08-16, 18:43:

bostonvintage1993 wrote on 2023-08-16, 02:43:

Hi all,

I am currently trying to configure an Ultrastor 24F SCSI EISA card in my Anigma motherboard EISA system. I have the EISA .CFG file and I successfully loaded it using an EISA configuration utility, however no matter what I do/change I get an error message on startup - "Disk Controller RAM Error at 3E00." I looked it up and the manual says to change the BIOS address in the EISA configuration utility if this error occurs. Well, I changed the BIOS address to all available options in the EISA configuration utility and I get the same error every time. Only when I disable the BIOS address in the EISA configuration utility does the RAM error go away; but then the card still doesn't work. I'm currently at a loss and could really use some help to get this card up and running. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Take it this is the Anigma AN486EISA (Gateway?) board...which BIOS revision are you running (4.26A, 4.28A, 4.32A) and which EISA .cfg file version are you loading for it (v1.3?). Similarly, which .cfg file version are you loading for the UltraStor (v1.03, v2.0?)

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, this is that board. I'm running on 4.32A and the only EISA .cfg file I could find was v1.3, so that is loaded. For the UltraStor, I tried multiple different EISA .cfg files and got the same results, right now I believe I have v1.03 loaded. Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

The 24F uses !USC0240 and one instance of !USC0248. Found 1.01, 1.03, 2.00 and 2.01 at mR_Slugs. attached.
http://66.113.161.23/~mR_Slug/EISA/!USC0240.CFG/
the 1991 files are v1.01, 1992 is 2.00, and 1993 and 1996 is 2.01....
this is 1.03: http://66.113.161.23/~mR_Slug/EISA/!USC0248.CFG

Horun wrote on 2023-08-17, 02:04:

The 24F uses !USC0240 and one instance of !USC0248. Found 1.01, 1.03, 2.00 and 2.01 at mR_Slugs. attached. http://66.113.161.23/ […]
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The 24F uses !USC0240 and one instance of !USC0248. Found 1.01, 1.03, 2.00 and 2.01 at mR_Slugs. attached.
http://66.113.161.23/~mR_Slug/EISA/!USC0240.CFG/
the 1991 files are v1.01, 1992 is 2.00, and 1993 and 1996 is 2.01....
this is 1.03: http://66.113.161.23/~mR_Slug/EISA/!USC0248.CFG

Hi,

Thanks for the reply as well! I already tried all of the .cfgs you kindly uploaded except for the !USC0248 and got the same error, do you think the !USC0248 would fix the issue? Thank you for taking the time to help me!

I do not know. Being you are running a Compaq OEM board with Compaq BIOS it may require a specifig .cfg file that works with that board/bios. Have not checked the Compaq archives but that would be the last resort for a possible working .cfg.
Otherwise the Ultrastor could have a fault and nothing short of some repair work will fix it to run on a EISA board. There is a chance it will work OK on a standard Pentium ISA board as a test, many EISA will work in ISA but with limited capabilities,,,,

Horun wrote on 2023-08-17, 02:31:

I do not know. Being you are running a Compaq OEM board with Compaq BIOS it may require a specifig .cfg file that works with that board/bios. Have not checked the Compaq archives but that would be the last resort for a possible working .cfg.
Otherwise the Ultrastor could have a fault and nothing short of some repair work will fix it to run on a EISA board. There is a chance it will work OK on a standard Pentium ISA board as a test, many EISA will work in ISA but with limited capabilities,,,,

Hi,

Thank you again for the replies! It’s actually a Gateway 2000 OEM board: I have a physical Gateway 2000 OEM EISA Configuration Disk which has the Anigma board .cfg file. Like I said, I tried all the UltraStor .cfg files I could find and unfortunately they all produced the same error. Not really sure where to go from here.

Thanks again!

bostonvintage1993 wrote on 2023-08-17, 14:38:

Hi, […]
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Horun wrote on 2023-08-17, 02:31:

I do not know. Being you are running a Compaq OEM board with Compaq BIOS it may require a specifig .cfg file that works with that board/bios. Have not checked the Compaq archives but that would be the last resort for a possible working .cfg.
Otherwise the Ultrastor could have a fault and nothing short of some repair work will fix it to run on a EISA board. There is a chance it will work OK on a standard Pentium ISA board as a test, many EISA will work in ISA but with limited capabilities,,,,

Hi,

Thank you again for the replies! It’s actually a Gateway 2000 OEM board: I have a physical Gateway 2000 OEM EISA Configuration Disk which has the Anigma board .cfg file. Like I said, I tried all the UltraStor .cfg files I could find and unfortunately they all produced the same error. Not really sure where to go from here.

Thanks again!

There is certainly a deal of crossover between brands with EISA boards of that vintage (eg there is indeed a Compaq copyright string in the BIOS), in part as many of the main players seemed to use MCS (Micro Computer Systems Inc.) to develop / supply their EISA support packages (BIOS, ecu & config files).

Although @Horun pointed to later versions, the ones I listed were the last Gateway seemed to reference so seemed most likely to have an effect (although in the end you'd already tried them).

My only other thoughts atm are...

...are you testing with other EISA / ISA boards in place or just the 24F...if so have you also loaded their .cfg files or changed the order you do so in the ecu?

...have you tested the 24F in more than just one slot (either busmaster or slave)?

Also, do you have an electronic copy of the 24F manual - had a quick look online but couldn't see one

Here is a 1995 archive of many Ultrastor 24x files: http://web.archive.org/web/20030215165259/htt … /downloads/24x/
The file 24fmanu.zip has PM4 files of various manuals, ULT24F.PM4 being the one I looked at. According to a Pagemaker created manual from 1995 the 24F does default to Busmaster. Not sure that helps...
Can you access the 24f bios?

Ok was able to use PageMaker 6 and import/edit/fix (had lots of errors) and export to a 70 page pdf. Is not perfect but better than no manual.....
Shoot ! should have embedded a image of adapter...oh well 😁

added: page 63 mentions the "Shadow ram error..." try changing the BIOS address. C800 is default, try CC00 or D000.
If you cannot get in 24f bios with F10 then you may have to run debug (page 22) to change it since it is not jumper settable....