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BOOTROM.TXT
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This file presents general information about the Symbios SCSI BIOS and
Configuration Utility Version 4.14.00. For this release, Disaster Recovery
Support has been added. See below for further details.
This text file is divided into the following sections:
SCSI BIOS
Boot Initialization with SCSI BIOS Boot Specification
CD-ROM Boot Initialization
Disaster Recovery Boot from Tape
Starting the SCSI BIOS Configuration Utility
Main Menu
Change Adapter Status
Adapter Boot Order
Additional Adapter Configuration
Utilities Menu
Adapter Setup Menu
Device Selections Menu
Quitting the SCSI Configuration Utility
* * * * * * * * * * * * SCSI BIOS * * * * * * * * * * *
A SCSI BIOS is the bootable ROM code that manages SCSI hardware resources. It
is specific to a family of Symbios SCSI controllers or processors. A Symbios
SCSI BIOS integrates with a standard system BIOS, extending the standard disk
service routine provided through INT13h.
During the boot time initialization, the SCSI BIOS determines if there are
other hard disks, such as an IDE drive, already installed via the system BIOS.
If there are, the SCSI BIOS maps any SCSI drives it finds behind the drive(s)
already installed. Otherwise, the SCSI BIOS installs drives starting with the
system boot drive. In this case, the system boots from a drive controlled by
the SCSI BIOS. For 4.05 versions and higher, Symbios supports the BIOS Boot
Specification (BBS).
The next section, "Boot Initialization with BIOS Boot Specification (BBS),"
discusses selecting boot and drive order.
* * * * Boot Initialization with BIOS Boot Specification (BBS) * * *
The SDMS SCSI BIOS provides support for the BIOS Boot Specification (BBS),
which allows you to choose which device to boot from by selecting the priority.
To use this feature, the system BIOS must also be compatible with the BBS. If
your system supports the BBS, then you will use the system BIOS setup menu to
select the boot and drive order. In the system BIOS setup, the Boot Connection
Devices menu appears with a list of available boot options. Use that menu to
select the device and rearrange the order. Then exit to continue the boot
process.
* * * * * * * * * CD-ROM Boot Initialization * * * * * * * * *
The SDMS SCSI BIOS supports boot initialization from a CD-ROM drive. There are
five types of emulation:
o No emulation disk
o Floppy 1.2 MB emulation disk
o Floppy 1.44 MB emulation disk
o Floppy 2.88 MB emulation disk
o Hard disk emulation
The drive letter for the CD-ROM is assigned based on the type of emulation.
For example, if a 1.44 MB floppy emulation CD was loaded, then the CD-ROM drive
would become the designated A: drive, and the existing floppy would become
drive B:.
* * * Disaster Recovery Boot from Tape * * *
The SDMS SCSI BIOS also supports boot from a tape when it is located in a tape
drive that is capable of emulating a CD-ROM drive. (Note that this support is
applicable only when the tape has been formatted correctly.) When a tape drive
emulates a CD-ROM drive, it will accept CD-ROM commands and will return a
CD-ROM status.
Disaster Recovery support is intended for situations where catastrophic
problems prevent the PC from booting cleanly. This support removes the
necessity of having a working operating system on disk or reformatting the
disk before attempting recovery.
In a manner similar to booting a system with a CD-ROM, a "Disaster Recovery"
boot from tape requires that the data content written into the tape headers be
in a particular format. Additionally, the tape headers must contain a special
"$DR" character string.
When the "$DR" string is recognized, the SDMS SCSI BIOS forces the tape drive
into the first position of the Boot Order. Then, the initial program load
proceeds from the tape.
IMPORTANT NOTE: As of April 1999, only some Hewlett-Packard tape drives
are available with "Disaster Recovery" support.
* * * * * Starting the SCSI BIOS Configuration Utility * * * * * *
If you have SCSI BIOS version 4.XX, and it includes the Symbios SCSI BIOS
Configuration Utility, you can change the default configuration of your SCSI
host adapters. You may decide to alter these default values if there is a
conflict between device settings or if you need to optimize system performance.
You can see the version number of the SCSI BIOS in a banner displayed on
your computer monitor during boot. If the utility is available, the following
message also appears on your monitor:
Press Ctrl-C to start Symbios Configuration Utility...
This message remains on your screen for about five seconds, giving you time
to start the utility. If you decide to press "Ctrl-C", the message changes
to:
Please wait, invoking Symbios Configuration Utility...
After a brief pause, your computer monitor displays the Main Menu of the
Symbios SCSI BIOS Configuration Utility.
To make changes with this menu driven utility, one or more Symbios SCSI host
adapters must have NVRAM (non-volatile random access memory) to store the
changes.
The following messages may appear during the boot process:
1. "Adapter removed from boot order, parameters will be updated accordingly"
appears when an adapter is removed from the system or relocated behind a
PCI bridge.
2. "Configuration data invalid, saving default configuration!" appears
if none of the information in the NVRAM is valid.
3. "Found SCSI Controller not in following Boot Order List, to Add: Press
Ctrl-C to start Symbios Configuration Utility..." appears when less than
four adapters are in the boot order and more adapters exist than are
shown.
IMPORTANT: The SCSI BIOS Configuration Utility is a powerful tool. If, while
using it, you somehow disable all of your controllers, pressing
Ctrl-A (or Ctrl-E on version 4.04 or later) after memory
initialization during reboot allows you to re-enable and
reconfigure.
Note: Not all devices detected by the Configuration Utility can be controlled
by the BIOS. Devices such as tape drives and scanners require that a
device driver specific to that peripheral be loaded.
* * * * * * * * * * * Main Menu * * * * * * * * * * * *
When you start the Symbios SCSI BIOS Configuration Utility, the Main Menu
appears. This menu displays a list of up to four Symbios PCI to SCSI host
adapters in your system and information about each of them.
To select an adapter, use only the arrow keys and enter key. Then you can view
and/or change the current settings for that adapter, and the SCSI devices
attached to it.
Select an adapter only if Current Status is "On". Changes are possible
only if NVRAM on your adapter is present. Selections that are not permissible
will be grayed out.
Here is an example of the Main Menu:
Main Menu
Port Irq --------Status--------- NvRAM
Num Level Current Next-Boot Found
SYM53C895 FC00 9 On On Yes
SYM53C896 F800 9 On Off Yes
SYM53C896 F400 9 On Off Yes
Change Adapter Status
Adapter Boot Order
Additional Adapter Configuration
Display Mode = Verbose
Mono/Color
Language
Help
Quit
Below the list of host adapters on the Main Menu display, you see eight
options. They are described in detail below. If these settings are altered,
the system reboots upon exit from the Configuration Utility via the Quit
option.
* * * Change Adapter Status * * *
The change adapter status allows you to activate or deactivate a host adapter
and all SCSI devices attached to it. When this option is used to make
a change, the change takes place after the reboot upon exit from the utility.
Here is an example of the Change Status on Next Boot menu:
Main Menu
Change Status on Next Boot:
Port Irq ---------Status-------- NvRAM
Num Level Current Next-Boot Found
SYM53C895 FC00 9 On On Yes
SYM53C896 F800 9 On Off Yes
SYM53C896 F400 9 On Off Yes
To change an adapter's status, select it and press Enter. Then press the
Escape (Esc) key to exit from this menu.
* * * Adapter Boot Order * * *
The adapter boot order allows you to set the order in which host adapters
will boot when you have more than one Symbios host adapter in your
system. When this option is selected, the Boot Order menu appears. Here is
an example of the Boot Order Menu:
Main Menu
BootSeq Bus DevFunc BootSeq Bus DevFunc
0 SYM53C896 00 A0 1 SYM53C896 00 98
2 SYM53C895 00 90
To change an adapter's boot order, select it and press Enter. You are then
prompted to enter the new boot sequence number. To remove an adapter's boot
order, press Enter again rather than entering a new sequence number. While
the maximum capacity is 32 adapters, only 0 through 3 can be assigned a
boot order. If an invalid number is entered, an error message appears. When
the adapters are ordered as desired, press the Escape (Esc) key to exit from
this menu and reboot.
* * * Additional Adapter Configuration * * *
The additional adapter configuration allows you to configure an adapter that
is not assigned a boot order. When this option is selected, the Adapter
Configuration menu appears. Here is an example of the Adapter Configuration
Menu:
Main Menu
BootSeq Bus DevFunc BootSeq Bus DevFunc
1 SYM53C896 00 A0 0 SYM53C896 00 98
SYM53C895
Highlight the adapter to be configured and press Enter. The message "Resetting
Adapter, Please wait" appears, and then the system scans for devices. Finally,
the Utilities Menu appears and lists the available options, which are described
below.
* * * Display Mode * * *
The Display Mode option determines how much information about your host
adapters and SCSI devices appear on your computer monitor during boot.
For more complete information, choose the verbose setting. For a faster
boot, choose the terse setting.
* * * Mono/Color * * *
The Mono/Color option allows a choice between a monochrome or color display for
the SCSI BIOS Configuration Utility. You might need to choose the mono setting
to get a more readable screen on a monochrome monitor.
* * * Language * * *
If enabled, the Language option allows the user to select from five languages
for the Configuration Utility: English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish.
* * * Help * * *
The Help option allows the user to bring up a help screen with information
about the Main Menu.
* * * Quit * * *
The Quit option allows exiting from the SCSI BIOS Configuration Utility when
the Main Menu is displayed.
* * * Esc * * *
The Esc option allows exiting from all the screens except the Main Menu.
* * * * * * * * * * * Utilities Menu * * * * * * * * *
When you select a host adapter on the Main menu, the Utilities menu appears:
SYM53C895
Utilities
Adapter Setup
Device Selections
Help
Exit this menu
Choose Adapter Setup to view and change the selected adapter settings. Choose
Device Selections to view and change settings for the devices attached to the
selected adapter.
You are returned to this menu after making changes to the configuration of
any host adapter or connected SCSI device. Before you exit this menu, you are
prompted to save or cancel any changes.
* * * * * * * * * * * Adapter Setup Menu * * * * * * * *
When you select Adapter Setup, the corresponding menu appears. Here is an
example of the Adapter Setup menu:
Adapter Setup
SCAM Support Off
Parity Enabled
Host SCSI ID 7
Scan Order Low to High <0..Max>
Removable Media Support None
CHS Mapping SCSI Plug & Play Mapping
Spinup Delay (secs) 2
Secondary Cluster Server No
Termination Auto
Help
Restore Default Setup
Exit this menu
The settings in this menu are global settings that affect the selected host
adapter and all SCSI devices attached to it. One of these choices can be
selected by highlighting it and pressing Enter.
* * * SCAM Support * * *
The Symbios BIOS version 4.XX supports the SCSI Plug and Play protocol called
SCAM (SCSI Configured AutoMatically). SCAM support by default is off in
versions 4.09 and later. The user may choose to turn this on. Note that if
this BIOS is flashed onto a board with existing settings, then these settings
will not be changed to reflect the new BIOS defaults.
* * * Parity * * *
The Symbios PCI to SCSI host adapters always generate parity, but some older
SCSI devices do not. Therefore, you are offered the option of disabling
parity checking.
Note: When disabling parity checking, it is also necessary to disable
disconnects for all devices, as parity checking for the reselection
phase is not disabled. If a device does not generate parity, and it
disconnects, the I/O never completes because the reselection never
completes.
* * * Host SCSI ID * * *
This option refers to the host adapter's SCSI ID, which is a unique number used
to identify the device on the SCSI bus.
Note: In general, it is suggested that you do not change your host adapter ID
from the default value of 7, as this gives it the highest priority on the
SCSI bus. Please also note that if you have 8-bit SCSI devices, they
cannot see host IDs greater than 7.
* * * Scan Order * * *
This option allows the user to tell the SCSI BIOS and your device drivers to
scan the SCSI bus from low to high (0 to max) SCSI ID, or from high to low
(max to 0) SCSI ID. If there is more than one device on the SCSI bus, changing
the scan order changes the order in which drive letters are assigned by the
system. Drive order may be reassigned differently in systems supporting the
BIOS Boot Specification (BBS).
See the section "Boot Initialization for BIOS Boot Specification (BBS)" for
more information.
Note: This Scan Order option may conflict with operating systems that
automatically assign a drive order.
* * * Removable Media Support * * *
This option defines the removable media support for a specific drive.
When this option is selected, a window appears with three choices:
o None
o Boot Drive Only
o With Media Installed
None indicates there is no removable media support whether the drive
is selected in BBS as being first, or first in scan order in non-BBS.
Boot Drive Only provides removable media support for a removable hard
drive if it is first in the scan order.
With Media Installed provides removable media support wherever the
drive(s) actually resides.
One of these choices can be selected by highlighting it and pressing Enter.
* * * CHS Mapping * * *
This option defines the cylinder head sector (CHS) values that will be mapped
onto a disk without pre-existing partition information. SCSI Plug and Play
Mapping is the default value.
To support interchange with non-compatible systems, there is another option
that can be selected by choosing CHS Mapping and then cursoring to "Alternate
CHS Mapping".
Note: Neither of these options will have any affect after the disk has been
partitioned with the FDISK command.
To remove partitioning, two options are available:
o Reformat the disk using the Format Device option. See the section
"Device Selections Menu" below.
o Use the FDISK /MBR command at the C:\ prompt, where MBR represents
master boot record.
Important: Reformatting the disk or using FDISK /MBR erases all partitioning
and data that exists. Be careful when using either the Format
utility or the FDISK /MBR command that you target the correct
disk.
Note: After clearing the partition data, it is necessary to reboot to clear
memory or the old partitioning data will be reused, thus nullifying the
previous operation.
* * * Spinup Delay (secs) * * *
This option allows the user to stagger spin ups between devices for a longer
period of time to balance the total current load. The default value is 2
seconds with choices between 1 and 10 seconds.
This is a power management device designed to accommodate disk devices that may
have heavy current load during power up. If multiple drives are being powered
up simultaneously and drawing heavy current loads, then this option staggers
the spin ups to limit startup current.
* * * Secondary Cluster Server * * *
This option allows the user to enable an adapter to join a cluster of adapters
without doing any SCSI bus resets. This is a requirement for Microsoft Cluster
Server. The default value is No with an alternate value of Yes.
* * * Termination * * *
This option allows the user to have termination control providing an adapter
has controllable termination. The default value is Auto termination. The
alternate value is Off.
* * * * * * * * * * Device Selections Menu * * * * * * * * *
When you select the Device Selections option, the corresponding menu appears:
SYM53C895
Device Selections 0-7
Sync Data Disc Time Scan Queue Initial
Rate Width Out Bus LUNS Tags Boot
Seagate 31051N 20 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No
1-Dev1 N/A 80 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No
2-Dev2 N/A 80 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No
Quantum Lighting 20 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No
4-Dev4 N/A 80 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No
IOMega ZIP 100 20 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No
6-Dev6 N/A 80 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No
SYM53C895
Device Selections 8-15
Help
Exit this menu
The settings in this menu affect individual SCSI devices attached to the
selected host adapter. Changes made from this menu do not cause the system
to reboot upon exit from the SCSI BIOS Configuration Utility. To change a
value, select the required device by using the arrow keys and press Enter.
A new menu appears providing the options and utilities available. For
example, you could cursor to Sync Rate to change the Sync Rate value of
the chosen device.
* * * Device Name * * *
Inside device
Sync Rate
Width
Disconnect
Read/Write I/O Timeout (secs)
Scan for Device at Boot Time
Scan for SCSI LUNs
Queue Tags
Initial Boot
Format
Verify
Help
Restore Default Setup
Exit this menu
Please review the descriptions of each option below before changing any values.
* * * Sync Rate (mega Bytes/sec) * * *
This option defines the maximum data transfer rate the host adapter will
attempt to negotiate. The host adapter and a SCSI device must agree to a
rate they can both handle.
* * * Width (bits) * * *
This option defines the maximum SCSI data width the host adapter will attempt
to negotiate. The host adapter and a SCSI device must agree to a width they
can both handle. Only host adapters that can do 16-bit data transfers have
this option enabled.
* * * Disconnect * * *
SCSI devices have the ability to disconnect from the initiator during an I/O
transfer, thus freeing the SCSI Bus to allow other I/O processes.
This option tells the host adapter whether or not to allow a device to
disconnect. Some devices run faster with disconnects enabled (mostly newer
devices), while some run faster with disconnects disabled (mostly older
devices).
* * * Read Write I/O Timeout (secs) * * *
This option sets the amount of time the host adapter waits for a read, write,
or seek command to complete before trying the I/O transfer again. Since this
provides a safeguard allowing the system to recover if an I/O operation fails,
it is recommended that you always set the time-out to a value greater than zero.
A zero value allows unlimited time for an operation to complete and could result
in a system hang-up if the operation could not complete.
* * * Scan for Device at Boot Time * * *
Set this option to "No" if there is a device that you do not want to be
available to the system. Also, on a bus with only a few devices attached,
the user can speed up boot time by changing this setting to "No" for all
unused SCSI IDs.
* * * Scan for SCSI Logical Units (LUNs) * * *
Set this option to "No" if you have problems with a device that responds to all
LUNs whether they are occupied or not. Also, if a SCSI device with
multiple LUNs exists on your system but you do not want all of those LUNs to be
available to the system, then set this option to "No." This will limit the scan
to LUN 0 only.
* * * Queue Tags * * *
This option enables or disables the issuing of queue tags during I/O requests
when your device driver can do this.
* * * Initial Boot * * *
This option allows any device attached to the first adapter to become the
boot device. It provides the users of non-BBS personal computers some of the
flexibility of a BBS machine.
* * * Format * * *
If enabled, this option allows low-level formatting on a disk drive.
Low-level formatting will completely and irreversibly erase all data on the
drive.
Note: Formatting will default the drive to a 512 byte sector size even if
the drive had previously been formatted to another sector size.
* * * Verify * * *
This option reads all the sectors on a disk to check for any errors. When
selected, this option displays the following message:
"Verify all sectors on the device
Press ESC to abort
Else press any key to continue"
* * * Help * * *
This option provides a help screen with information about the current menu.
* * * Restore Default Setup * * *
This option resets all device selections back to their optimal settings. Select
this option to restore all manufacturing defaults for the specified adapter.
Note that all user customized options will be lost upon saving after restoring
default setup.
* * * Exit this menu * * *
This option leaves the current menu screen and returns to the previous screen.
* * * * * * * * To Exit the SCSI BIOS Configuration Utility * * * * *
Since some changes only take effect after your system reboots, it is
important that you exit this configuration utility properly. Return to the
Main menu and exit via the Quit option. If you reboot the system without
properly exiting from this utility, some changes may not take effect.
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.