Adaptec 7800 Family Manager Set v1.30 - Windows NT
==================================================
Driver v1.30 release for Windows NT v3.5x
Directory Structure:
--------------------
The files on this diskette which are required for the installation of
the 7800 series Windows NT drivers are as follows:
\DISK1 - Disk identifier file
\TXTSETUP.OEM - Install script used during NT installation
\WINNT\3_5\AIC78XX.SYS - 7800 series driver v1.30 for Windows NT v3.5x
\WINNT\3_5\README.TXT - This file
\WINNT\3_5\OEMSETUP.INF - Install script used by Windows NT Setup
Installation instructions for the AIC-7870 Windows NT drivers:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Read this to find out about
===========================
Installing and/or updating the 7800 Family driver for Windows NT
Removing a host adapter
Swapping a host adapter
Information on restoring a configuration if Windows NT fails to boot
Installation Overview
=====================
This readme provides the information needed to install and use the Adaptec
7800 Family Manager (driver) for Windows NT v3.5x. The 7800 Family driver
for Windows NT supports all Adaptec 7800 Family host adapters listed
below:
AHA-2910 PCI-to-Fast SCSI (non-bootable)
AHA-2940 PCI-to-Fast SCSI
AHA-2940W PCI-to-Fast and Wide Single-Ended SCSI
AHA-2940U PCI-to-Fast20 SCSI
AHA-2940UW PCI-to-Fast20 and Wide Single-Ended SCSI
AHA-2944W PCI-to-Fast and Wide Differential SCSI
AHA-2940AU PCI-to-Fast20 SCSI
AHA-3940 MultiChannel PCI-to-Fast SCSI
AHA-3940W MultiChannel PCI-to-Fast and Wide SCSI
AHA-3940U MultiChannel PCI-to-Fast20 SCSI
AHA-3940UW MultiChannel PCI-to-Fast20 and Wide SCSI
AIC-7850 Single-Chip PCI-to-Fast SCSI
AIC-7855 Single-Chip PCI-to-Fast SCSI
AIC-7860 Single-Chip PCI-to-Fast20 SCSI
AIC-7870 Single-Chip PCI-to-Fast and Wide SCSI
AIC-7880 Single-Chip PCI-to-Fast20 SCSI
The 7800 Family Manager Set diskette for Windows NT contains the files
needed for driver installation. The Windows NT subdirectory (\winnt\3_5)
on the diskette contains the following files:
aic78xx.sys - Adaptec's 7800 Family driver for Windows NT
oemsetup.inf - A file used by Windows NT Setup for driver installation
readme.txt - An ASCII text file describing the Adaptec 7800 Family
driver for Windows NT
If you are performing a first time Windows NT installation, see Installing
Windows NT and the Driver (below) to begin driver installation. If Windows
NT is already installed in your system, see Updating Windows NT with the
Driver below.
Installing Windows NT and the Driver
====================================
This section describes how to install the aic78xx.sys driver at the same
time you install Windows NT v3.5x. If Windows NT v3.5x is already installed
and you wish to install or update the aic78xx.sys driver, see
Updating Windows NT with the Driver below.
Installing Windows NT v3.5x and the Driver
=========================================
An older version of the aic78xx.sys driver is embedded (included) in the
Windows NT v3.5x installation disks (or CD) for Non Fast-20 Host Adapters such
as the AHA-2940, AHA-2940W, AHA-2910 or AHA-3940 etc (ie. host adapters without
the letters AU, U or UW at the end of the model number).
We recommend first installing the embedded driver by following the instructions
in your Windows NT v3.5x documentation for a normal Windows NT installation.
Once the Windows NT installation is complete, you can update the aic78xx.sys
driver by following the instructions in Updating Windows NT with the Driver below.
The embedded aic78xx.sys driver does not support Fast-20 host adapters such as the
AHA-2940AU, AHA-2940U, AHA-2940UW and AHA-3940U etc. (ie. host adapters WITH
the letters AU, U or UW at the end of the model number). You should update/install the
aic78xx.sys driver from this diskette before installing the Fast-20 host adapter
on your system. See the instructions in Updating Windows NT with the Driver below.
Note: During a normal Windows NT installation, the 7800 Family host adapter
is detected in your system and the embedded aic78xx.sys driver is
automatically installed.
If you are booting from a 7800 Family host adapter and you are unable to
install the embedded aic78xx.sys driver by performing a Windows NT
installation, then follow the instructions here to complete a fresh Windows
NT installation and install the aic78xx.sys driver from the 7800
Family Manager Set diskette for Windows NT.
Note: If your boot host adapter is the Adaptec AHA-2944W, you must complete
the instructions in this section to install the aic78xx.sys driver.
You may install Windows NT from a floppy drive or from a CD-ROM drive;
whichever you choose, make sure the hardware installation is completed
prior to following these steps.
1 If you choose to install Windows NT from a floppy drive, locate the
Windows NT Disk 1 for Floppy Installation.
If you are installing from a CD-ROM drive, locate the Windows NT Setup
Disk 1 for CD-ROM Installation.
2 Put the diskette into drive A (not drive B) and turn on your computer.
When prompted, insert Windows NT Disk 2.
3 From the Welcome to Setup Screen, press Enter to set up -Windows NT.
4 When prompted, select Custom setup.
Note: If you select Express setup, the embedded aic78xx.sys driver
included with Windows NT will be loaded and not the most recent
version of driver available from the 7800 Family Manager Set diskette
for Windows NT.
5 Press S to skip mass storage device detection. This allows you to
manually select the driver for your host adapter.
6 Since mass storage device detection was skipped in the previous step,
Windows NT Setup displays none in the list of recognized devices.
Press S to configure additional SCSI adapters.
7 From the list of additional SCSI adapters, expand the list, select
Other, and press Enter. (Requires disk provided by a hardware
manufacturer).
8 Insert the Adaptec 7800 Family Manager Set diskette for Windows NT
into drive A and press Enter.
9 The screen displays the adapter drivers supported on the diskette.
The Adaptec AHA-2940/AIC-78xx (PCI) NT v3.5x driver is highlighted by
default; press Enter.
10 If you want to add other host adapters (that are not a part of the
7800 Family), do so at this time by repeating Step 7 for each
additional adapter and inserting the appropriate disk provided by the
hardware manufacturer. The Adaptec 7800 Family host adapters use the
same driver; it is not necessary to install the aic78xx.sys driver
again.
11 Press Enter to continue with the Windows NT operating system setup.
Follow the instructions given onscreen and in the Windows NT
installation documentation.
Updating Windows NT with the Driver
===================================
This section describes how to update/install the aic78xx.sys driver if
Windows NT 3.5x is already installed. If you are installing Windows NT
v3.5x for the first time, see Installing Windows NT and
the Driver above.
Updating Windows NT v3.5x
=========================
Follow these instructions only if Windows NT v3.5x is already installed.
1 Select and start the Windows NT Setup program. (Its icon is usually
found in the Main program group.) There is a brief pause while Windows
NT Setup scans your hardware -configuration.
2 Select the Options pull-down menu and then select Add/Remove SCSI
Adapters. The SCSI Adapter setup program displays a list of all host
adapters currently installed.
3 Click the Add button to add another host adapter type to the list. A
list of additional SCSI adapters appears.
4 Expand the list of additional SCSI adapters; select Other and press
Enter. (Requires disk provided by the hardware -manufacturer).
5 Insert the Adaptec 7800 Family Manager Set diskette for Windows NT
into drive A; enter the following path to the installation files and
then click OK.
a:\winnt\3_5
6 The screen displays the adapter drivers supported on the -diskette.
The Adaptec AHA-2940/AIC-78xx (PCI) NT v3.5x driver is highlighted by
default; click OK. The driver is added to the list of SCSI adapters.
7 Select Adaptec AHA-2940/AIC-78xx (PCI) NT v3.5x from the list of SCSI
adapters and click Install.
At this point, Windows NT Setup checks to see if the specified driver
(in this example, aic78xx.sys) has already been copied to the system
disk.
8 If the following message appears, click New to replace the existing
driver and skip to Step 10.
The driver(s) for this SCSI Adapter are already on the system. Do you
want to use the currently installed driver(s) or install new one(s).
If the following message appears, continue with Step 9:
Please enter the full path to the Windows NT SCSI Adapter files
9 Change the path to the directory (i.e., a:\winnt\3_5) with the desired
device driver, then click Continue.
The device driver is copied to your system disk and the -Windows NT
configuration is updated so that the new device driver loads when
Windows NT reboots.
10 When the installation is complete, Windows NT Setup again displays a
list of currently installed host adapter types. Verify that the new
host adapter appears on the list; the string should look similar to
Adaptec AHA-2940/AIC-78xx (PCI) NT v3.5x
11 Add other types of host adapters if necessary (see Step 4 above), or
click Close to exit the SCSI adapters portion of -Windows NT Setup,
and then close the program.
12 When you see this message, click OK to exit:
The changes you have made will not take effect until the computer is
restarted
If this message does not appear, no changes have been made to the
Windows NT system configuration.
13 Restart your computer and Windows NT. It is possible that some drive
letter assignments may change from the previous configuration.
Removing a Host Adapter
=======================
Removing a host adapter can be as simple as physically removing it from the
slot when your computer is shut down. Windows NT boots and functions
properly in this configuration, but a warning message is generated every
time you boot Windows NT.
Caution: If you have removed a host adapter but still have other host
adapters of the same type installed in your computer, do not use Windows NT
Setup to remove the device driver.
To eliminate the warning message, you must update the Windows NT software
configuration, as described in these steps:
1 Select and start the Windows NT Setup program. There is a brief pause
while Windows NT Setup scans your hardware -configuration.
2 Select the Options pull-down menu and then select Add/Remove SCSI
Adapters. The SCSI Adapter setup program displays a list of all host
adapters currently installed.
3 Select the host adapter you want to remove and click the Remove
button. When the Windows NT Setup program asks you for confirmation,
click OK.
Because SCSI device drivers are loaded during system bootup and
because they may be needed to load Windows NT itself, a screen may
appear warning you that Windows NT may not start if you remove the
SCSI adapter.
4 If you are sure you are removing the correct host adapter type, click
OK.
5 Return to Step 3 if you want to remove driver support for other types
of host adapters, or click Close to exit the SCSI adapters portion of
Windows NT Setup.
6 Close the Windows NT Setup program. When the following message
appears, click OK to exit:
The changes you have made will not take effect until the computer is
restarted.
If this message does not appear, no changes have been made to the
Windows NT system configuration.
7 Restart the computer.
Note: Windows NT Setup does not delete the device driver from your
system disk; it only updates Windows NT software configuration
information so that the device driver is no longer loaded during
system bootup.
Swapping a Host Adapter
=======================
Swapping one type of host adapter for another is similar to the procedure
for adding a host adapter. The important distinction is that you make all
software configuration changes while Windows NT is running and before you
make the hardware changes.
1 Install the driver for the new host adapter by following the steps in
Updating Windows NT with the Driver above.
It is not essential to remove the device driver for the host adapter you
are replacing. Windows NT dynamically detects the absence or presence of
host adapter hardware, and no problems should arise if you leave the
existing device driver installed. You may remove the device driver later,
after you have successfully rebooted Windows NT. However, if you leave the
driver in, the system alerts you with an error message of the extra device
driver every time you boot. See Removing a Host Adapter above.
2 Once the new device driver is installed, shut down Windows NT and
replace the existing host adapter.
3 Restart your computer and Windows NT. It is possible that some drive
letter assignments may change from the previous configuration.
Note: For Windows NT v3.1 only: If the host adapter you are swapping
controls the computer boot device, you must follow the additional steps
in Updating the Boot Host Adapter above.
Miscellaneous Notes:
====================
1. Disconnection disabled for tagged queuing drives
If disconnection is disabled under SCSISelect for a hard disk device, the
system may hang if the hard disk device supports tagged queuing. It is
recommended to always enable disconnection for hard disk devices. By default,
disconnaction is enabled so no action is required. If for some unique
requirements disconnection has to be absolutely disabled for hard disk
devices, you can turn off tagged queue requests by editing the Windows NT
Registry. You can do so by following these instructions:
1 Select the File pull-down menu from the Program Manager and select Run.
2 Enter REGEDT32 to run the Registry Editor.
3 Open \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\aic78xx.
4 Create a key named Parameters by selecting Add Key from the Edit pull-down
menu and entering "Parameters" (without quotations) in the edit-box for
Key Name. Leave the Class edit-box blank.
5 Open Parameters and create a key named Device by selecting Add Key from
the Edit pull-down menu. Enter "Device" (without quotations) in the Key
Name edit-box. Leave the Class edit-box blank.
6 Open Device. Select the Add Value option from the Edit pull-down menu.
In the Value Name edit-box, enter "DisableTaggedQueuing" (without quotations).
Select the Data Type REG_DWORD from the droplist combo box.
7 Enter a Hex value of 1 as the Data in the edit-box.
8 Shutdown and restart Windows NT.
9 Set Enable Disconnection to No for your particular device(s) in SCSISelect
during bootup. (See your Host Adapter manual on how to use SCSISelect).
2. Logical drive letter assignment changes between BIOS and NT
If the logical driver letters assigned by the BIOS change when the NT
operating system is running, it's not an error. To preserve drive letter
assigments between BIOS and NT, run the NT disk administrator and choose
permanent drive letters assigments as an option. NT will then preserve
logical driver letter assignments across boots and adapters.
3. Multiple AHA-2940/AIC-78XX listing in the Select SCSI Adapter Option
After a successful update of the aic78xx.sys driver, you will see
Adaptec AHA-294x/AIC 78xx (PCI) and Adaptec AHA-2940/AIC-78xx (PCI) NT v3.5x
listed as choices for the Add/Remove SCSI Adapters selection of the pull-down
menu Option of Windows NT Setup (described in Removing a Host Adapter, see above).
This behavior is due to differences between the embedded SCSI.INF file and the
OEMSCSx.INF that was created when installing/updating the aic78xx.sys. Both of
these choices in the Select SCSI Adapter Option refer to the same host 7800
Family of adapter(s) installed in your system. You can pick any one of the
selections when adding/removing the host adapter(s).
Troubleshooting
===============
The boot manager for Windows NT contains recovery logic to allow you to
return to the last known good configuration. If you have changed your host
adapter configuration and Windows NT no longer boots, follow these steps to
recover:
1 Undo any hardware changes you have made to the computer since it was
last operational.
2 Reboot the computer. Watch the display carefully during bootup. If the
following message appears, press the Spacebar and follow the
instructions on the screen to continue booting with the last known
good configuration:
Press spacebar NOW to invoke the Last Known Good menu
3 Once your computer is operational again, check all of the hardware and
software configuration changes you want to make. Look specifically for
conflicts with parts of the existing system configuration that are not
being changed.
If you cannot determine the source of the error, contact Adaptec Technical
Support for assistance at the telephone numbers listed below.
Contacting Adaptec:
-------------------
Technical Support:
Automated Technical Support: U.S. and Canada: (800) 959-7274
---------------------------- International: (408) 945-2550
o Interactive FAX Service
o On-line Questions & Answers
Live Technical Support: U.S. , Canada &
----------------------- International: (408) 934-7274
o M-F: 6:00am to 5:00pm
Pacific Standard Time
Literature Hotline: (800) 934-2766
o M-F: 6:00am to 5:00PM Pacific Standard Time
Software Ordering (U.S.A. and Canada): (800) 442-7274
o M-F: 6:00am to 5:00pm Pacific Standard Time
International Software Ordering: (408) 957-7274
o M-F: 6:00am to 5:00pm Pacific Standard Time
Bulletin Board Service (BBS): (408) 945-7727
o 24 hours a day (up to 28800 bps, using 8 data bits,
1 stop bit, no parity)
CompuServe Support GO ADAPTEC
The Microsoft Network (MSN) GO ADAPTEC
World-Wide Web http://www.adaptec.com
FTP (login as user "anonymous") ftp.adaptec.com
Internet E-Mail support support@adaptec.com
