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From: "Richard Lyon" <rlyon@oznet02.ozemail.com.au>
To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org, freebsd-isp@freebsd.org,
        Chris Linstruth <cjl@qnet.com>
Date: Sat, 25 May 1996 20:51:29 +0000
Subject: Re: FreeBSD: SCSI hangs, panics and other failures as nntp serv
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> We at qnet have been attempting to use FreeBSD as a
> Usenet News server for about a year.  We are at this time
> evaluating other alternatives because we have been unable to
> achieve the stability required under this kind of load.
> 

> Would another host adapter (Buslogic?) solve all our problems?
> 

I have used an Adaptec 1542B SCSI adapter for many years starting with 
pre version 2.0 FreeBSD releases. I have a couple of hard drives and 
a CDROM hanging off it (All internal). The system is rock solid and never has any 
poblems.

It sounds like there may be some sort of hardware setup problem. I 
assume you checked for the obvious things like interrupt clashes, 
port overlaps, DMA channel setup, synchronous negotiation, parity 
checking, scsi terminators,  etc ... ??? Also I assume you have tried more than more 
than 1542 card to check that it is not just a faulty board.

I seem to remember the only real problem we experienced was selecting 
the correct wait states in the bios setup. Initially the machine experienced random 
crashes until we got this right.

A good simple check is to see if something like DOS runs OK on the 
SCSI hard disk over a few hours. Also the 1542 manual has some good tips and should be 
read very carefully.

FreeBSD works perfectly well with the Adaptec 1542B card!! I am 
currently running FSB 2.1R on a 33MHz 486 with a 1542B. I have not 
customised the kernel in any way.

Regards ...