DAC960 DOS Driver Documentation :
Version 2.00
September 21, 1994
The users are advised to go through this README document before
starting to use the DOS driver.
The DAC960 DOS driver directory contains the following files :
FILE NAME SIZE DATE VERSION DESCRIPTION
DACDRVR.SYS 4551 8/3/94 2.00 DOS driver for DAC960
DACMON.EXE 70744 6/4/93 1.11 Administration Utility for DAC960
under DOS
ASPIDAC.SYS 15176 10/27/94 1.05 DOS ASPI driver for DAC960
DAFCDA.SYS 4696 6/16/93 1.00 DOS CD-ROM driver for DAC960
DAC960 BIOS :
The BIOS provides access for up to 8 system drives per DAC960, under
DOS ver 5.0 and above. The total DOS partition size is limited to
1024 cylinders (BIOS limit) and hence it does not make sense to have
a system drive of more than 2048 MB, if it is used only for DOS. The
maximum size of any DOS partition cannot be more than 1023 cylinders
or 2046MB.
DOS Driver :
The BIOS on the DAC960 is usable only under the real mode of the
operating system. In order to use the DAC960 under memory managers
like Windows, QEMM etc., a DOS driver needs to be used. The
DOS driver, DACDRVR.SYS supports only disk drives. The total DOS
partition size on the DAC960 is limited to 2048 MB, even when the
DOS driver is used.
This driver has been updated to support
ASPI Driver :
The ASPI Manager has been upgraded. The new version is 1.05
The following modification was made to the ASPI Manager:
1. Virtual DMA support has been added to enhance the performance of
the DAC-960 controller under windows and whenever extended memory is
loaded.
The ASPI Driver is used whenever non-disk devices are connected to the
DAC960. Use the ASPI driver ASPIDAC.SYS under DOS, to access these
devices. The ASPIDAC.SYS works in conjunction with the DOS driver,
DACDRVR.SYS.
CDROM Driver :
Also a CDROM driver DAFCDA.SYS is included, to allow CDROM access under
DOS, using a MSCDEX driver. The DAFCDA.SYS works in conjunction with the
ASPI driver, ASPIDAC.SYS.
Installation :
If DAC960 is the only disk controller in the system, use DOS
"fdisk" to create a DOS partition and use DOS "format c: /s "
to high level format the DOS partition. Boot from the DAC960
disk.
Copy the driver file, DACDRVR.SYS from the DAC960 DOS driver
diskette to the root directory of the boot disk. Optionally,
copy the driver file ASPIDAC.SYS (ASPI driver) and DAFCDA.SYS
(CDROM driver) to the root directory of the boot disk.
The DAC960 DOS, ASPI and CDROM drivers are installed with the help
of CONFIG.SYS.
The following lines are put in the CONFIG.SYS file to install the
DAC960 DOS, ASPI and CDROM driver.
DEVICE={DRIVE}:DACDRVR.SYS
DEVICE={DRIVE}:ASPIDAC.SYS
DEVICE={DRIVE}:DAFCDA.SYS
In order to use the CDROM as a logical drive under DOS, the autoexec.bat
file needs to load the MSCDEX driver as follows:
{DRIVE}:MSCDEX /V /M:10 /D:MSCD001
Note : MSCDEX is available in DOS 6.0 or supplied by CDROM
manufacturers.
All the above statements need to be put before any line loading the
memory manager, like himem.sys, qemm.sys, emm386.exe etc.
DACDRVR.SYS, ASPIDAC.SYS and DAFCDA.SYS should always be installed in
real memory and never in high, expanded or extended memory.
If using another disk controller with DAC960, make sure all the
drivers associated with the other disk controller are loaded before
the DAC960 DOS driver.
Copy the DAC960 Monitor utility DACMON.EXE from the DAC960 DOS
driver diskette to the hard disk.
This completes the installation of the DAC960 DOS driver.
Known Bugs/Limitations :
None of these drivers can be loaded in upper or high memory.
ASPIDAC.SYS will behave unpredicatbly, under an "installation
abort" condition or on a controller that has no drives connected to
it. Do not use ASPIDAC.SYS when installation abort error is reported by
BIOS.
DACMON Utility :
This is an administrative utility for the DAC960 DOS user. This
utility can be invoked under DOS or the DOS screen of Windows. Once
invoked by entering DACADM <CR>, it comes up with a main menu screen
similar to the one shown below.
_________________Disk Array Monitor V 1.00________________________
| |
| ______________ ___________ ___________ ____________ ________ |
| | Select DAC | | Standby | | Rebuild | | Chng Dev | | Quit | |
| |____________| |_________| |_________| |__________| |______| |
| |
| ___________________________________________ |
| | | |
| |_________________________________________| |
| |
| ----------- Target--------> ___System Drive___ |
| | 0> ONLN RAID-7 | |
| Ch-0> ONL --- ONL --- | 1> CRIT RAID-5 | |
| | 2> CRIT RAID-1 | |
| Ch-1> --- DDD --- --- | | |
| | | |
| Ch-2> --- --- STB --- | | |
| | | |
| Ch-3> --- --- --- --- |________________| |
| |
| Ch-4> --- --- --- ONL |
| |
| |
| _______________<Message Log>____________________ |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| |______________________________________________| |
| |
|________________________________________________________DAC #1__|
Fig 1.0 : Disk Array Monitor (Main Menu)
Main Menu :
The top portion of the screen lists the 5 options namely Select DAC,
Standby, Rebuild, Chng Dev and Quit.
The rectangular box below this displays details about the option
currently selected.
Below that a matrix of drives connected on various channels of the
selected adapters are displayed. The left most column corresponds
to SCSI ID 0 and SCSI ID is incremented for every column. The
letters ONL, STB, DDD and --- are displayed for an Online,
Standby, Dead and not present disk drive respectively.
Below this is the message log box, where the description about
the drive failures, status of standby or manual rebuilds etc.
are displayed for the selected adapter.
The last line displays the number of the currently selected DAC960.
Use the left and right arrow keys to select one of the five options.
displayed on the top of the screen. The selected option box is
highlighted and also the box below the option box displays a
brief description about the option. Hit the ENTER key to select the
highlighted option.
Select DAC :
Once the Select DAC option is selected, a window pops up displaying
the possible four DAC960s. Use the arrow keys to highlight the
appropriate DAC960 that needs to be administered and hit Enter key
to select it. The arrow keys can be used to select only a DAC960
controller present in the system. The main menu is displayed now and
the currently selected DAC960's number is displayed on the last line
of the main menu.
Standby :
This option is used to make a drive ( that has replaced a dead drive )
standby. Once this option is selected, the cursor jumps to the drive
matrix area and allows the selection of the drive ( to be made standby )
using the arrow keys. Select a drive and hit Enter to make the
selected drive standby. The controller will try to start the drive
and on successful starting of the drive will make the drive a
standby drive. Note only disk drives that are not part of any pack
can be made standby drives. Hit Escape key to return to main menu.
Rebuild :
This option is used to rebuild a drive that was killed ( shown as
DDD on the matrix area ) by the DAC960. Before this option is
invoked, the killed drive has to be replaced by a properly working
drive. Once this option is selected, the cursor jumps to the drive
matrix area and allows the selection of the drive (to be rebuild)
using the arrow keys. Select a drive to be rebuild and hit Enter to
start the rebuild. The selected drive is then started, optionally
allowed to low level format and rebuild. While the rebuild is going
on, the Rebuild status is graphically displayed on a horizontal bar
for every system drive that needs to be rebuild. Also the progress
and completion status of the rebuild is indicated in the message log
area of the main menu. On successful completion of Rebuild, the
drive is made Online and indicated in the matrix by words ONL.
Chng Dev :
This option is used to quiet a SCSI channel on the DAC960, so
that the dead drive on that SCSI channel can be replaced online
for rebuilding. Once this option is selected, the cursor jumps
to the matrix area and allows selection of the channel to be
stopped using the arrow keys. Select a channel ( where the
dead drive needs to be replaced ) and hit Enter to stop the
activities on the channel. At this point of time disconnect the
power cable to the dead drive and disconnect the SCSI cable on
the dead drive. Plug in a new good drive with the same SCSI ID,
connect the SCSI cable and power cable to it. Press a key to
resume the channel activities.
Note : The channel activities will automatically be restarted in
about 30 seconds of stopping the channel (without updating the
screen). Hence the drive removal and replacement needs to be
done in less than 30 seconds. The removal and replacement can also
be done in two stages, stopping the channel before removal and
replacement.
Quit :
This option is used to terminate the program.
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.