Can't load SCSI bios from boot-need SCSI expert

[rickenbacherus]

If I power off my pc I have to boot it right away or it fails to load the SCSI bios from my Adaptec AHA2940UW controller. In other words, if I shut it off it won't boot up properly. This of course means I cannot access my SCSI drives. I have to reset the CMOS to get the SCSI bios to load. If I just reboot then no problem it loads just fine and recognizes my drives. My machine is on most of the time so it's no prob. but it's a bit of a hassle to reset the CMOS everytime if I do decide to power it off. I have a fresh CMOS battery installed and can't think of any other reason that it would behave this way. My SCSI controller is certified to work with my Anigma S-30 MoBo. It's the same no matter how many or which SCSI drives I have on the BUS. This SCSI system works great except for this problem. I've posted in other forums but no luck figuring this out yet. If you've got any ideas, even crazy ones let me know. Thanks :cool:

[bascule]

In a lot of BIOS splash screens you get a serial number at the very bottom left hand corner of your screen, get to the manufacturers site and see if there is a bios upgrade,then flash the bios. Also try the card in different slots if possible.

[rickenbacherus]

I got the serial number, went to Adaptec's site-it tells me that there is indeed a BIOS flash but definitely not to flash with the wrong one. I download the AHA 2940UW and in the README it says that a serial number with an "s" in it indicates an OEM adapter. Bummer cuz that's exactly what I've got. The serial is 1.32S10 and the adapter came from an HP Netserver. I have yet to read all the info available at the site. I was just wondering if anyone has flash a BIOS with an "s" in the serial and been successful? It says that you can "render the device useless". Well we don't want to do that. Get this tho (from the README file)-


"The very first time you run the utility, the current Bios will be
saved to a file named 'BACKUP.ROM' prior to flashing it with the
newer version.

Any subsequent execution of the utility will ONLY allow restoring
of the previous Bios version from file, without backing up the
current BIOS on the SCSI host adapter."

Sounds reasonably safe but............................well you know how it goes sometimes. I suppose I'll study some more and try out a different slot or two first. :cool:

[Modorf]

What version Linux Kernel do you have?
Not sure if this is related to anything, but I have a simular Adaptec scsi card (if not the same). Anyways, with the 2.4.18 Kernel, I got a kernel panic on a cold boot, but warm boots it worked. When I upgraded to the 2.4.19 and 2.4.20 kernels this problem disappeared. I don't know if your having simular issues, but that is a thought.

Nathan.