1. fwpl273.exe Driver
2. fwpl273.txt File Contents

fwpl273.txt Driver File Contents (fwpl273.exe)

_______________________________________________________________________
Release Notes for
Firmware Release 2.73
DAC960PL
May 26, 1998

checksum = F960CB

Change description:  Firmware 2.38 to 2.73


Enhancements:	

* Drive Spin-Up Delays have been changed to accommodate long spin-up times seen in some of the larger drives.
* Added Configurable FUA on verify.  The SCSI READ with FUA command replaced the simple READ command in the error path on the last verify.  This is to ensure that data is read from the media in drives with write cache enabled. 
* The command time-outs have been set to 6 seconds for READ/WRITE commands and 30 seconds for Reassigns. 
* Incorporated sense data reporting into buffer. 
This addition has been implemented as a response to customer requests for more insight into problems with the SCSI devices.  A buffer is maintained which contains the following:
1.Sense data obtained using the Request Sense command to the physical drives.
2.Vendor Unique sense data created by Mylex to report 'drive killed' conditions.
This data is accessible through GAM 2.0 or later.
* Added support for Ultra SCSI when NCR770 is detected.  This enables this firmware to support the DAC960PU and PDU ultra controllers. 
* The controller now  attempts to start drives then waits the time interval specified in DACCF for "spin up delay" when drives have a Selection Time-out.
* Fixed problem where a drive was made Off-line after a consistency check if the parity was inconsistent. 
* Added function to spin up drives if they report "Not Ready" or "Unit Attention" status. 
* Added Turn Number and Build number to the firmware which is displayed on power up. 
* Policy change not to make a drive Off-line if the parity error counter exceeds 48, except in a single event. 
* Policy change not to make the drive Off-line solely because there was a double Check Condition from the drive. 
* Power sequencing change so that drives are not made Off-line when the whole channel loses power.



Fixes	
* Fix for problem seen when a reset was issued during a Data In or Data Out phase either by the controller or external source.  Sometimes 1 or more drives would be taken off line.
* Fix made to assure that the Arbitration delay and SCSI selection time-out adheres to the SCSI specification for both the Ultra and Fast DAC960 controllers. 
* Changed the time allowed for a drive to become ready after a start command to 30 seconds. 
* Fixed problem where the Soft Error counter was occasionally incrementing more than one time per event. 
* Fixed problem seen when there was a 64K cache line, the controller would occasionally hang if there was a Write Recovery after a drive problem. 
* If a user terminates a rebuild in progress, the drive is made Off-line.  Previously, it was left in a Write Only state which would restart the rebuild on the next power up.
* Fixed problem where a drive was made Off-line after a consistency check if the parity was inconsistent. 
* Fixed problem where the controller would stall after the following sequence:  a drive was removed, then replaced and rebuilt, then another drive was immediately removed.  This only occurred when there was no AEMI, SAFTE or StorageWorks disk subsystem attached. 
* Fixed problem where the DAC960 Controller took a long time to display an error message when there was a media error in a critical array. 
* Changed the synchronous transfer offset to 8 because some drives were having problems with 16. 
* If a Rebuild was in progress and a secondary DAC960 function also determined that a Rebuild should be performed, the rebuild was canceled.  This has been fixed. 
* Fixed a problem where Sense Data was reported by GAM for non-existent SCSI devices on power up.