Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 16:44:55 -0700 From: "Scott Worthington" <SWorthington@hsag.com> To: mrc@ChipChat.com Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Adaptec 2940 Waiting for scsi to settle -Reply Message-ID: <s612634d.082@bvainc.com>
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I talked to tech support at Adaptec about down-grading the Adaptec 2940UW BIOS from 1.34.3 (1998) to 1.25 (~1986). He said the 1.34.3 BIOS in the card is 1) the most current and 2) the card CAN BE down-graded. He gave me the password protected site to download the BIOS file. I'm going to give it a patch tonight and report my findings tomorrow. Please e-mail me directly if you have experienced the same problems with your Adaptec cards and FreeBSD. I would like to send A LOT of e-mails to Adaptec telling them that Linux and BSDaemons are unsatisfied with their current SCSI cards and BIOS offerings. The tech support mentioned that the current BIOS patches after 1.25 are to (only) enhance and support M$-Windows products :( So, please me some e-mail if you, too, are experiencing difficulty with your FreeBSD and Adaptec products... A few minutes ago, I said... >> >>Marty, THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK! >> >>Anyone else have a solution, too (is there a software fix?) >> >>I just checked www.adaptec.com and it does NOT have any >>Adaptec 2940 BIOS patches (due to some problems with >>their flash upgrade software rendering the SCSI card >>inoperable on some systems). >> >>So, I posted a technical support request on their on-line tech >>support page on www.adaptec.com to see if I can receive >>a down-grade to the BIOS to 1.25. >> >>If my request falls on deaf ears at Adaptec, I'll try via Telephone >>Tech Support. And then as a last resort I'll request Mr. Cawthon >>for a copy of that patch. (as I finish this e-mail, my automated >>tech ticket from Adaptec just came in--hope I get a human >>response tomorrow) >> >>Again, thanks, Marty, for the response! And thanx to the FreeBSD >>community for 1) a clean, fast, stable OS and 2) for responding >>to issues quickly. >>> Marty Cawthon <mrc@ChipChat.com> September 30, 1998 12:30 pm >>> >Hello BSDaemons! > I experienced the same trouble with Adaptec 2940UW (Ultra-wide). >My older BIOS 1.25 card worked fine (with FreeBSD and OS/2) >Newer BIOS 1.3- had trouble with FreeBSD, possibly also OS/2. > > My action was to contact Adaptec tech support. >The change between 1.25 and 1.3-- was mostly to allow a system to >boot from a SCSI drive even when an IDE drive exists. >(It was called "BBS Support", as I recall, but that "BBS" >has nothing to do with "Bulletin Board System"). > > My remedy was to download the 1.25 BIOS code from Adaptec and >flash my newer cards to 'downgrade' them to 1.25. Both FreeBSD >and OS/2 work fine on them now. If you have this same trouble it >is probably best to contact Adaptec direct regarding it (so that >they are aware of it and perhaps fix it). As an alternative, I >am sure that I have the 1.25 BIOS code in my office, and could >make it available to other BSDaemons. > > It is disconcerting to buy a new card and then to 'downgrade' it, >but I am not using IDE drives, so I have no need for "BBS support". To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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