******************************************************************** DOS.TXT ******************************************************************** This file describes the features and use of the NCR SDMS device drivers for the DOS operating system environment. It is divided into the following sections: Introduction Device Drivers for DOS/Windows Introduction *************************** Introduction ****************************** In SDMS 3.0, the SCSI BIOS for each of the NCR family of PC SCSI chips is capable of mapping SCSI hard disk drives behind any non-SCSI hard disk drives (IDE, ESDI, etc.) within the same system. A driverless solution will allow up to eight hard drives (SCSI and non-SCSI) to be connected under DOS 5.0 and above. The SCSI BIOS also supports removable drives with 512-byte sectors as long as the media is in the drive at boot-up and remains in the drive during system operation. Low level Virtual DMA Services (VDS) are supported by the SCSI BIOS. Therefore, to gain maximum performance, any double buffer option provided by disk caching software (such as Microsoft’s SMARTDRV.EXE) should be disabled for all drives handled through SDMS. For full VDS support, including features such as scatter-gather, DOSCAM must be loaded in the CONFIG.SYS file. Connecting peripherals other than hard disk drives will also require loading the appropriate driver(s). Some of the drivers work together, and some are capable of direct communication with an NCR SCSI BIOS. The following sections list these drivers, their features, and their loading requirements. **************** Quick Installation of SDMS for DOS ******************** * Using the ProSCSI Installation Utility * The NCR SDMS ProSCSI installation utility provides a quick and easy method for performing either an automatic or custom installation of the SCSI device drivers in a DOS/Windows environment. It will work with any system using an SDMS supported and ROM BIOS based NCR SCSI chip. The installation utility will identify the system, scan the SCSI bus, and properly install the needed SCSI device drivers. An on-line help feature makes this utility very easy to use. The SDMS Drivers diskette containing the DOS device drivers, also holds the ProSCSI installation utility. To use the utility, insert the disk while in the DOS environment, and type: INSTALL Then follow the directions presented on the screen. When performing a custom installation, an understanding of the information presented in the following sections for manual installation may still prove useful. **************************** MINICAM.SYS ******************************* * Features * Supports single-threaded I/O Supports multiple host adapters Supports multiple Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs) Releases initialization code for smaller runtime size Substantially smaller in size than DOSCAM.SYS Supports Virtual DMA Services (VDS) * Description * The function of the MINICAM.SYS driver is primarily to execute SCSI I/Os. This driver is typically used to support ASPICAM.SYS, SCSIDISK.SYS, CDROM.SYS, or some combination of these (see the descriptions of these drivers in this guide). * Installation * 1. Use the COPY command to copy the MINICAM.SYS driver from the SDMS SCSI Drivers disk to your boot disk. 2. Add this line to your system's CONFIG.SYS file: DEVICE=C:MINICAM.SYS 3. If you are using Windows it is strongly recommended that you add the line: DMABufferSize=64 to the [386ENH] section of your Windows system.ini file. * Command Line Options * The MINICAM.SYS device driver has embedded functions which can be accessed via switches on the command line. These options are described below. Using the /ASK Option This option prompts the user at system boot-up whether to load MINICAM.SYS or not. For example, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads MINICAM.SYS would look like this: DEVICE=C:MINICAM.SYS /ASK Using the /MAXLUN=n Option This option allows the user to set the maximum number of LUNs to scan during initialization at boot time. The valid range for the parameter n is 0 to 7. The default value for n is 0 (zero). Using the /T=n Option MINICAM.SYS uses a timeout mechanism to detect certain errors. When MINICAM.SYS issues a command to a SCSI device, a timer is started. If the timer expires before the command completes, MINICAM.SYS assumes that something has gone wrong with the device, and takes steps to recover. The default value for this timeout is no timeout (to accommodate slow devices such as scanners). The timeout value can be specified as an argument to MINICAM.SYS in the CONFIG.SYS file. This argument consists of a /T=n parameter, with n being the number of seconds you want it to wait before timing out. For example, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads MINICAM.SYS would look like this: DEVICE=C:MINICAM.SYS /T=4 with /T being the timeout option and 4 being the number of seconds you want it to wait before timing out. ************************** Troubleshooting **************************** THE COMPUTER LOCKS UP AND WILL NOT COMPLETE BOOTING FROM A NON-SCSI HARD DISK DRIVE. a. Refer to the drive manufacturer's user manual. THE COMPUTER LOCKS UP AND WILL NOT COMPLETE BOOTING FROM A SCSI HARD DISK DRIVE. a. Is the SCSI BIOS seen during boot? NOTE: If the SCSI BIOS is seen during boot, a banner similar to the following will appear: NCR SDMS (TM) v3.0 PCI BIOS, PCI Rev. 2.0 Copyright 1993 NCR Corporation NCRPCI-3.04.00 YES Go to b. NO Power down all units in the system. Remove all SCSI cables. Boot system. Is the SCSI BIOS seen during boot? YES Power down all units in the system. Reconnect and check all cable and power connections. Boot system. Go to a. NO Power down all units in the system. Reseat the host bus adapter. Check jumper settings. Applicable jumpers may include: IRQ ROM address SCSI chip address DMA channel Check CMOS setup. Boot system. Go to a. b. Does the SCSI BIOS see the bootable SCSI drive? NOTE: When the computer boots, SDMS will scan the SCSI bus. Devices found on the SCSI bus will be identified as in the following lines: ID 00 QUANTUM LP52S ID 02 SONY CD-ROM YES Go to c. NO Power down all units in the system. Make sure the hard drives have different ID numbers (boot drive should have lowest ID). Make sure both ends of the SCSI bus are terminated. Check all cable and power connections. Check CMOS setup. Boot system. Go to a. c. If boot is still unsuccessful, go to the following item. THE DEVICE DRIVER DOES NOT RECOGNIZE ONE OF THE NON-BOOT SCSI PERIPHERALS (system may lock up). a. Make sure the drivers were installed in the correct sequence. b. Make sure the drivers' CONFIG.SYS line has the correct path to the drivers. c. Power down all units in the system. d. Make sure the hard drives have different ID numbers (boot drive should have lowest ID). e. Make sure both ends of the SCSI bus are terminated. f. Check all cable and power connections. g. Boot the system. THE COMPUTER LOCKS UP WHILE TRYING TO LOAD MINICAM.SYS WITH EMM386. a. Load MINICAM.SYS before EMM386. The only adverse effect is that the driver may not then be loaded high. THE COMPUTER FAILS TO LOAD WINDOWS, OR A WINDOWS APPLICATION CANNOT ACCESS A SCSI DEVICE. a. Make sure the line: DMABufferSize=64 is in the [386ENH] section of your Windows system.ini file. **************************** DOSCAM.SYS ******************************* * Features * Performs synchronous negotiation (including fast SCSI) Has full Virtual DMA Services (VDS) support (including scatter-gather) Performs Wide SCSI negotiation Allows tagged command queuing Supports multiple host adapters (with SCSIDISK.SYS) Supports multi-threading Allows Disconnect/Reselect * Description * DOSCAM.SYS has all of the features and functionality of MINICAM.SYS, but whenever one of the above features is required DOSCAM.SYS should be loaded instead. Synchronous negotiation will allow data transfers of 5 MB/s (up to 10 MB/s for fast SCSI, and 20 MB/s for fast wide SCSI). Tagged command queuing provides a performance improvement under multi-threaded I/O operating systems. * Installation * 1. Use the COPY command to copy the appropriate driver from the SDMS SCSI Drivers disk to your boot disk. 2. Add this line to your system's CONFIG.SYS file: DEVICE=C:DOSCAM.SYS * Command Line Options * The DOSCAM.SYS device driver has several embedded functions which can be accessed via switches on the command line. Using the /RAMCOPY Option RAMCOPY is an embedded command which tells the drivers to load the ROM on the controller card into RAM, thereby increasing the performance of the SCSI ROM. NOTE: Although it increases performance, this option will use more RAM. For example, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads DOSCAM would look like this: DEVICE=C:DOSCAM.SYS /RAMCOPY Upon boot, the RAMCOPY command will be executed and ROM will load into RAM. The first ROM will be copied into expanded memory if available. Using the /T=n Option DOSCAM.SYS uses a timeout mechanism to detect certain errors. When DOSCAM.SYS issues a command to a SCSI device, a timer is started. If the timer expires before the command completes, DOSCAM.SYS assumes that something has gone wrong with the device, and takes steps to recover. The default value for this timeout is no timeout (to accommodate slow devices such as scanners). If this option is desired, the timeout value must be specified as an argument to DOSCAM.SYS in the CONFIG.SYS file. This argument consists of a /T=n parameter, with n being the number of seconds you want it to wait before timing out. For example, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads DOSCAM.SYS would look like this: DEVICE=C:DOSCAM.SYS /T=4 with /T being the timeout option and 4 being the number of seconds you want it to wait before timing out. * Using the /ASK Option * This option prompts the user at system boot-up whether to load DOSCAM.SYS or not. For example, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads DOSCAM.SYS would look like this: DEVICE=C:DOSCAM.SYS /ASK ************************** Troubleshooting **************************** THE COMPUTER LOCKS UP AND WILL NOT COMPLETE BOOTING FROM A NON-SCSI HARD DISK DRIVE. a. Refer to the drive manufacturer's user manual. THE COMPUTER LOCKS UP AND WILL NOT COMPLETE BOOTING FROM A SCSI HARD DISK DRIVE. a. Is the SCSI BIOS seen during boot? NOTE: If the SCSI BIOS is seen during boot, a banner similar to the following will appear: NCR SDMS (TM) v3.0 PCI BIOS, PCI Rev. 2.0 Copyright 1993 NCR Corporation NCRPCI-3.04.00 YES Go to b. NO Power down all units in the system. Remove all SCSI cables. Boot system. Is the SCSI BIOS seen during boot? YES Power down all units in the system. Reconnect and check all cable and power connections. Boot system. Go to a. NO Power down all units in the system. Reseat the host bus adapter. Check jumper settings. Applicable jumpers may include: IRQ ROM address SCSI chip address DMA channel Check CMOS setup. Boot system. Go to a. b. Does the SCSI BIOS see the bootable SCSI drive? NOTE: When the computer boots, SDMS will scan the SCSI bus. Devices found on the SCSI bus will be identified as in the following lines: ID 00 QUANTUM LP52S ID 02 SONY CD-ROM YES Go to c. NO Power down all units in the system. Make sure the hard drives have different ID numbers (boot drive should have lowest ID). Make sure both ends of the SCSI bus are terminated. Check all cable and power connections. Check CMOS setup. Boot system. Go to a. c. If boot is still unsuccessful, go to the following item. THE DEVICE DRIVER DOES NOT RECOGNIZE ONE OF THE NON-BOOT SCSI PERIPHERALS (system may lock up). a. Make sure the drivers were installed in the correct sequence. b. Make sure the drivers' CONFIG.SYS line has the correct path to the drivers. c. Power down all units in the system. d. Make sure the hard drives have different ID numbers (boot drive should have lowest ID). e. Make sure both ends of the SCSI bus are terminated. f. Check all cable and power connections. g. Boot the system. THE COMPUTER LOCKS UP WHILE TRYING TO LOAD DOSCAM.SYS WITH EMM386. Load DOSCAM.SYS before EMM386. The only adverse effect is that the driver may not then be loaded high. **************************** SCSIDISK.SYS ***************************** * Features * Support for removable media devices Supports non-512-byte sectors (1024, 2048, 4096) Supports multiple logical unit number (LUN) support Supports multiple host adapters (with DOSCAM.SYS or MINICAM.SYS) Can reserve drive letters * Description * SCSIDISK.SYS is needed when connecting more than eight drives under DOS 5.0 and above. It is also required for drives with non-512-byte sectors and for removable drives if the user wants to change the media. As illustrated in Figure 2-1 at the beginning of this chapter, SCSIDISK.SYS works through MINICAM.SYS or DOSCAM.SYS, so one of these drivers must also be loaded. * Installation * 1. Use the COPY command to copy the appropriate drivers from the SDMS SCSI Drivers disk to your boot disk. 2. The lines shown below must be added to your system's CONFIG.SYS file. The MINICAM,SYS or DOSCAM.SYS driver is also required. List the drivers in this sequence: DEVICE=C:MINICAM.SYS DEVICE=C:SCSIDISK.SYS * Command Line Options * The SCSIDISK.SYS device driver has several embedded functions which can be accessed via switches on the command line. These options are described below, and use the following conventions: [] items in brackets are optional * items in brackets followed by an * means repeat 0 or more times | choose one of the given items Please be aware that using spaces in specifying a command line option is not allowed. Using the /ASK Option This option prompts the user at system boot-up whether to load SCSIDISK.SYS or not. To use this option, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads SCSIDISK.SYS should look like this: DEVICE=C:SCSIDISK.SYS /ASK Using the /UNITS= Option SCSIDISK.SYS allows the use of removable media, such as cartridge hard drives, each of which might have a different number of partitions. If media with different numbers of partitions are used, this option should be set to the maximum number of partitions on any one media. To use this option, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads SCSIDISK.SYS should look like this: DEVICE=C:SCSIDISK.SYS /UNITS=path:id:lun:num_units [,path:id:lun:num_units]* For example, if there is a removable media drive at the first host adapter set to id 2, and three partitions must be reserved, the command line should be: DEVICE=C:SCSIDISK.SYS /UNITS=0:2:0:3 Remember, no spaces are allowed in specifying a command line option for SCSIDISK.SYS. When SCSIDISK.SYS initializes, it will default to either: a. One drive letter for a removable media device with no media present. b. The number of partitions found on the media in the removable media device. NOTE: The full path, id, lun, and num_units values are required for this option. Also, there is a limit of 24 device options. Using the /EXCLUDE= Option This option allows a user to exclude a 'path:id:lun' combination from being scanned or controlled by SCSIDISK.SYS. The path parameter is mandatory with all ids and luns for that path excluded by default if just the path is specified. To use this option, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads SCSIDISK.SYS should look like this: DEVICE=C:SCSIDISK.SYS /EXCLUDE=path[:id[:lun]] [,path[:id[:lun]]]* As an example, for path 0, id 2, and lun 0 the command line should be: DEVICE=C:SCSIDISK.SYS /EXCLUDE=0:2:0 Remember, no spaces are allowed in specifying a command line option for SCSIDISK.SYS. NOTE: It is illegal to exclude a device for which an NCR boot ROM is providing an INT 13 interface. SCSIDISK.SYS will print an error message and will control those devices. Also, there is a limit of 24 'path:id:lun' combinations allowed. Using the /SSIZE= Option SCSIDISK.SYS will default to the largest sector size found during boot. If no media is found in a removable media device, SCSIDISK.SYS will assume a 512 byte sector size. This option can overcome this default. To use this option, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads SCSIDISK.SYS should look like this: DEVICE=C:SCSIDISK.SYS /SSIZE=512|1024|2048|4096 For example, if a removable media drive is used that has a sector size of 2048 bytes, the command line should be: DEVICE=C:SCSIDISK.SYS /SSIZE=2048 Remember, no spaces are allowed in specifying a command line option for SCSIDISK.SYS. NOTE: If SCSIDISK.SYS comes across a sector size larger than the one specified in this option, or if it finds a sector larger than the default, it will refuse to read/write to that media. It will report an invalid media error to DOS. * Troubleshooting * THE COMPUTER LOCKS UP AND WILL NOT COMPLETE BOOTING FROM A NON-SCSI HARD DISK DRIVE. a. Refer to the drive manufacturer's user manual. THE COMPUTER LOCKS UP AND WILL NOT COMPLETE BOOTING FROM A SCSI HARD DISK DRIVE. a. Is the SCSI BIOS seen during boot? NOTE: If the SCSI BIOS is seen during boot, a banner similar to the following will appear: NCR SDMS (TM) v3.0 PCI BIOS, PCI Rev. 2.0 Copyright 1993 NCR Corporation NCRPCI-3.04.00 YES Go to b. NO Power down all units in the system. Remove all SCSI cables. Boot system. Is the SCSI BIOS seen during boot? YES Power down all units in the system.? Reconnect and check all cable and power connections. Boot system. Go to a. NO Power down all units in the system. Reseat the host bus adapter. Check CMOS setup. Boot system. Go to a. b. Does the SCSI BIOS see the bootable SCSI drive? NOTE: When the computer boots, SDMS will scan the SCSI bus. Devices found on the SCSI bus will be identified as in the following lines: ID 00 QUANTUM LP52S ID 02 SONY CD-ROM YES Go to c. NO Power down all units in the system. Make sure the hard drives have different ID numbers (boot drive should have lowest ID). Make sure both ends of the SCSI bus are terminated. Check all cable and power connections. Check CMOS setup. Boot system. Go to a. c. If boot is still unsuccessful, go to the following item. THE DEVICE DRIVER DOES NOT RECOGNIZE ONE OF THE NON-BOOT SCSI PERIPHERALS (system may lock up). a. Make sure the drivers were installed in the correct sequence. b. Make sure the drivers' CONFIG.SYS line has the correct path to the drivers. c. Power down all units in the system. d. Make sure the hard drives have different ID numbers (boot drive should have lowest ID). e. Make sure both ends of the SCSI bus are terminated. f. Check all cable and power connections. g. Boot the system. *************************** CDROM.SYS ******************************* * Features * Compatible with Microsoft's CD-ROM Extension 2.21 and above Multi-session Photo CD support * Description * CDROM.SYS is needed whenever a CD-ROM device is connected on the SCSI bus. It must be loaded in conjunction with Microsoft's CD-ROM Extension 2.21 or above (MSCDEX.EXE). As illustrated in Figure 2-1 at the beginning of this chapter, CDROM.SYS communicates with the SCSI BIOS through MINICAM.SYS or DOSCAM.SYS, so one of these drivers must be loaded to use CDROM.SYS. * Installation * 1. Use the COPY command to copy the appropriate driver from the SDMS SCSI Drivers disk to your boot disk. 2. Add CDROM.SYS to your CONFIG.SYS file. It goes in after MINICAM.SYS or DOSCAM.SYS and SCSIDISK.SYS (if these drivers are also being used), in this order: DEVICE=C:MINICAM.SYS DEVICE=C:SCSIDISK.SYS DEVICE=C:CDROM.SYS /D:NAME NOTE: The /D: is not a drive letter designation; it indicates the name you wish assigned to your CD-ROM. The NAME must be included, and can be any combination of up to 8 characters. 3. To insure that sufficient drive letters are available to identify all devices connected to the SCSI bus, add the MS-DOS LASTDRIVE command to the CONFIG.SYS file: LASTDRIVE=x with x specifying a drive letter in the range C through Z. The letter assigned to LASTDRIVE represents the last valid drive MS-DOS is able to recognize and also represents the maximum number of drives available. For example, LASTDRIVE=K allows access to eleven (11) logical drives. For further details about LASTDRIVE, consult your MS-DOS manual. 4. Unless your CD-ROM access software specifies otherwise, Microsoft's CD-ROM Extension (MSCDEX.EXE) should execute from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file in order to access your drive. Add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: MSCDEX /D:NAME For example, if: DEVICE=C:CDROM.SYS /D:MY_CD is in CONFIG.SYS, then: MSCDEX /D:MY_CD should be in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. 5. Check installation instructions for the CD-ROM drive itself. There may be other parameters necessary to include with MSCDEX. 6. When MSCDEX is loaded during the AUTOEXEC.BAT file execution, a message is returned assigning a drive letter to the CD-ROM drive. For example: DRIVE E = DRIVER MY_CD UNIT 0 This informs you that the CD-ROM drive is recognized and ready for use. * Command Line Options * The CDROM.SYS device driver has embedded functions available, which can be accessed via a switch on the command line. An explanation of these options follows: Using the /ASK Option This option prompts the user at initialization time whether to load CDROM.SYS or not. For example, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads CDROM.SYS would look like this: DEVICE=C:CDROM.SYS /D:MY_CD /ASK Using the /UPTOLUN= Option This option is used to support multiple LUNs per Target ID on the SCSI bus. It is needed to support CDROM changers that hold several CDs at one time, such as the Pioneer DRM604x. For example, the line in CONFIG.SYS that loads CDROM.SYS would look like this: DEVICE=C:CDROM.SYS /D:MY_CD /UPTOLUN=x where 'x' is in the range of 0 to 7. It uses LUN 0 through LUN x to assign a separate drive letter for each of the x+1 CDs in the CD magazine. The CDROM.SYS driver defaults to supporting LUN 0 only. ************************ Troubleshooting *************************** THE CD-ROM DRIVE IS NOT SEEN AT BOOT TIME, OR THE SYSTEM LOCKS UP. a. Make sure the driver is installed and in the correct sequence. b. Make sure the driver's CONFIG.SYS line has the correct path to the driver. c. Make sure MSCDEX, in the AUTOEXEC.BAT, has the same drive name as the CDROM driver in the CONFIG.SYS file. d. Make sure there is no ID or drive letter designation conflict. e. Power down all units in the system. f. Check the cable and power connections. g. Make sure both ends the SCSI bus are terminated. ************************ ASPICAM.SYS ***************************** * Features * Supports Advanced SCSI Programming Interface (ASPI) applications * Description * ASPICAM.SYS is an ASPI manager which provides an interface to popular ASPI applications. ASPICAM.SYS communicates with the SCSI BIOS only through MINICAM.SYS or DOSCAM.SYS. It must be loaded (after either MINICAM.SYS or DOSCAM.SYS) whenever running an ASPI application. Some of the ASPI applications supported under DOS include CorelSCSI!, Sytos Plus, and Central Point Tape Backup. These provide support for tape, WORM, scanner, and other SCSI peripherals. * Installation * 1. Use the COPY command to copy the ASPICAM.SYS driver from the SDMS SCSI Drivers disk to your boot disk. 2. Add ASPICAM.SYS to your system's CONFIG.SYS file after MINICAM.SYS or DOSCAM.SYS. For example, the lines in your CONFIG.SYS file might look like this: DEVICE=C:MINICAM.SYS DEVICE=C:ASPICAM.SYS * Command Line Options * There are no command line options with ASPICAM.SYS. * Troubleshooting * SYSTEM LOCKS UP AT BOOT TIME. a. Make sure no other ASPI manager is loaded. b. Check for correct loading sequence in the CONFIG.SYS file. c. Boot the system. THE DEVICE DRIVER DOES NOT RECOGNIZE ONE OF THE NON-BOOT SCSI PERIPHERALS (system may lock up). a. Make sure the drivers were installed in the correct sequence. b. Make sure the drivers' CONFIG.SYS line has the correct path to the drivers. c. Power down all units in the system. d. Make sure all SCSI devices have unique ID numbers. e. Make sure both ends of the SCSI bus are terminated. f. Check all cable and power connections. g. Boot the system. ************** Important Additional Information **************** * Assignment of Drive Letters * The MS-DOS operating system assigns drive letters to primary partitions first. After the primary partitions have been assigned drive letters the logical partitions are assigned drive letters. Do not assume that the drive letter designations will follow consecutively from device to device within a PC system. An Example: A PC system is configured with an IDE hard disk as the boot drive, a SCSI hard disk, and a CD-ROM drive. The IDE drive has three partitions: one primary and two logical. The SCSI hard disk has two partitions: one primary and one logical. The SCSI hard disk is assigned ID one, and the CD-ROM is ID four. The distribution of the drive letters will be: A: 3 1/2" floppy drive B: 5 1/4" floppy drive C: IDE primary partition D: SCSI primary partition E: IDE first logical partition F: IDE second logical partition G: SCSI logical partition H: CD-ROM * WINDOWS 3.0 & 3.1 * NCR DOS SCSI drivers are compatible with Windows 3.0 and 3.1.