AHA-154x Common Questions and Answers

Q. I disabled the BIOS via the switches and now I can no longer make changes 
   to the adapter.
A. Once the BIOS is disabled via the switches, the <Ctrl>-A SCSI Select will 
   no longer function.  An alternative for disabling the BIOS and still 
   allowing for the <Ctrl>-A to function would be to use the <Ctrl>-A to 
   disable the BIOS.  This is done in the Advanced Configuration Options 
   menu found under the Configure/View Host Adapter Settings menu.  Set the 
   option Host Adapter BIOS (Configuration Utility Reserves BIOS Space) to 
   DISABLE.  This will disable the BIOS but still allow access to SCSI 
   Select using <Ctrl>-A.


Q. I have the AHA-1542B with the greater than a gigabyte BIOS and my system 
   doesn't see the hard drive or just hangs there when I run Novell's 
   SERVER program.  What is the problem?
A. The greater than a gigabyte BIOS is a DOS solution and should not be 
   used with NetWare 386, since greater than a gigabyte support is built in.  
   Remove the jumper at J6, position 2.


Q. How do I correct the message "command port full" when installing an 
   AHA-154xC and Novell 2.x?
A. Ensure the hard disk drive is at SCSI ID 0 and the AHA-1540C Advanced 
   Features has extended BIOS translation disabled and Dynamic Scan disabled.  


Q. Under INSTALL.NLM with the AHA-1542C card there is a message "The Host 
   Adapter appears to be hung..." or "There are no accessible hard drive..."
A. After you reboot your system press <Ctrl>-A, select Configure/View Host 
   Adapter Settings, then press <F6> to re-load the defaults.  (The greater 
   than a gigabyte option was enabled and this will not work under NOVELL).


Q. When running NetWare with drives that are greater than 1 Gigabyte, do I 
   enable the Extended BIOS Option?
A: No, you do not enable that option when running under NetWare for any of 
   our cards.  You also need to ensure that on the AHA-154xC and AHA-154xCF 
   the Dynamic Scan of the SCSI Bus is disabled.  Press <F6> for default 
   settings in the SCSI Select utility.  If greater than 1 gigabyte is 
   enabled upon installation, download the latest NetWare drivers from the 
   NetWare directory on the BBS.


Q. While installing NetWare 3.11 with a AHA-1540 Host Adapter, I load the 
   driver AHA-1540.DSK.  Then I load, install and select disk options.  The 
   system "beeps" and console displays a message that says:  "Host adapter 
   appears to be hung.  Resetting Host Adapter."
A: Press <F6> in the SCSI Select utility to reset to defaults, or disable 
   the "Dynamically Scan SCSI Bus" option in the advanced configurations 
   setup.


Q. What do you do when you have an AHA-154xC, Novell 3.11 and Toshiba hard 
   disk drive, and Novell INSTALL reports "no accessible disk drives."
A: Remove "unit attention" jumper from the Toshiba hard drive, and check the 
   version of AHA-1540.DSK to ensure it's current.  Ensure the AHA-1540C 
   Advanced Features has "Dynamic Scan" option disabled.


File revised 9/2/94