From owner-freebsd-hardware Wed Jan 22 15:33:41 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id PAA05399 for hardware-outgoing; Wed, 22 Jan 1997 15:33:41 -0800 (PST) Received: from persprog.com (persprog.com [204.215.255.203]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id PAA05390 for ; Wed, 22 Jan 1997 15:33:34 -0800 (PST) Received: by persprog.com (8.7.5/4.10) id SAA10034; Wed, 22 Jan 1997 18:22:17 -0500 Message-Id: <199701222322.SAA10034@persprog.com> Received: from dasa(192.2.2.199) by cerberus.ppi.com via smap (V1.3) id sma010030; Wed Jan 22 18:21:47 1997 Received: from DASA/SpoolDir by dasa.ppi.com (Mercury 1.21); 22 Jan 97 18:22:38 +0500 Received: from SpoolDir by DASA (Mercury 1.30); 22 Jan 97 18:22:11 +0500 From: "David Alderman" Organization: Personalized Programming, Inc To: ee@burst.lever.com (Edward Elhauge), freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 18:22:07 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: Adaptec 1542 Priority: normal In-reply-to: <199701222016.MAA15676@burst.lever.com> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v2.50) Sender: owner-hardware@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On 22 Jan 97 at 12:16, Edward Elhauge proclaimed: > > Sometimes it will hang after fsck or sometimes it will timeout after > running for a couple of hours. I get the following error messages: > > sd0(aha0:0:0):timed out > adaptor not taking commands. > Debugger("aha1542") called. frozen?! > > So my questions are: > 1) Is there something I can do in the kernel to fix this problem? > > 2) Is there someghing inherently wrong with Mitac motherboards? > > 3) Is there another brand or model of SCSI adapter that is more reliable > in a FreeBSD environment? > I cannot answer 1) or 2) as well as others on this list that are far more knowledgeable. As to 3), the same applies, but I will answer anyway! The Adaptec 1542, being a bus-mastering ISA controller, is less than optimal with more than 16 meg of RAM (since that is all an ISA bus can address) so you would be much better served with a PCI controller, such as a Symbios Logic (NCR) chip based SCSI controller. The Asus SC200 is one example, and I believe Tyan makes a few. You might want to check with Mr Grimes for a specific product. Adaptec controllers have been problematic lately so they should probably be avoided unless they change their current modus operandi. Besides, the Symbios Logic chips are cheaper! I saw a few recommendations of Tekram here (JKH?) so they might be a good bet as well, although I cannot personally vouch for them. ====================================== When philosophy conflicts with reality, choose fantasy. Dave Alderman -- dave@persprog.com ======================================