Assemblying a new computer using the GigaByte GA-8KNXP Ultra motherboard which has two SCSI-320 channels (Ultra wide 4 SCSI), each channel capable of 15 SCSI devices. . . Right now, I only have two Maxtor 36-GB SCSI-320 10k-Rpm 68-Pin hard drives . . . And no other SCSI devices. . . . Ultimately plan to have several of these 36-GB HD's, each with only one OS on it, and no partitions. . . But for now, only have the two HD's. . . WinXP installed on both HD's at this time . . . Using NTFS file system both HD's . . . Using SCSI channel #1 on MB . . . Not using any Boot-Manager at the moment - - WinXP should allow boot-up control as to what OS is to be accessed with just two OS-drives installed With just one SCSI HD installed at a time and connected to MB via a single connector SCSI-320 ribbon cable (using SCSI-320 terminator block at cable end), everything works fine . . . . . . HD's do not have any pins jumbered here . . . I can boot-up into WinXP quick and easy . . . Works fine with either of the two HD's installed Next is to use both HD's on same SCSI-320 ribbon cable, but a two device ribbon cable now . . . Again terminator block at cable end . . . HD adjacent to terminator block has pins jumpered (vertical pair, nearest to power connector), per Maxtor's phone-call instructions . . . Other HD has no pins jumpered Have problems though when I try to use both HD's on the same ribbon cable . . . Extremely slow to boot (ten or twenty minutes) . . . Only one WinXP is accessed, as no Windows dialog appears to allow one to choose the OS to be accessed . . . The only WinXP accessed is that on the HD next to the terminator block at ribbon cable end . . . When WinXP finally boots-up, it is basically frozen . . . One can move the mouse, but can not open anything . . . Can not even open the Start Button Menu Any suggestions appreviated . . . Thanks in advanced
Hello You say that WinXP should allow bootup control. But I think this is evidence that it won't the way you think it will. Have you specifically told WinXP that there are going to be two drives? I am not too familar with Scsi, but is sounds like you have the jumpers set for one as Master and other as Slave. But you have THe same OS on each. I bet it loads and instead of giving you options, it get confused of where to go and locks the drive. IF possible I would try to add a boot loader or worse to worse add both, add the WinXp disk and format to have two drives conected. But your problem does sound like when you connect two IDE drives set on the same Cable and have the jumpers set for Cable Select. I have never goten that to work. I always need to Set with jumpers Master and Slave.
Thanks Prisoner. . . My eventual goal is to have several OS's, but only one per SCSI drive. . .The intent is avoid all the tedious backup whenever I have to refurbish, modify, or replace an OS, as here I just unplug the other drives. I have no trouble having WinXP on a SCSI drive and also simultaneously on a Serial ATA drive. . . I do not need a boot manager. . . During bootup, Windows allows me to choose which OS to activate . . . I tried this with both SCSI drives and all is fine When now trying to get the two SCSI drives to work on the same cable, the Serial ATA is physically disconnected. . . (Formatted as it will eventually be for data only) SCSI drives do not have Master-Slave settings. . . They use jumpers to create specific ID's and each SCSI device has to have a unique ID. . . The key advantage of SCSI is that all devices on the SCSI cable get fed at the same rate, a rate usually far faster than for EIDE devices on a EIDE cable. . . Previous SCSI systems were 8-Bit and allowed up to seven devices per cable . . I have the new 16-bit SCSI-320 and can have 15 SCSI devices on the ribbon cable, again all being fed the same rate. . . And I have two such ribbon cable connectors, so can have 30 SCSI devices if I want to. I have played with some three or four boot-managers. . . They pose problems. . . My SCSI and my SATA hard drives need drivers to access them, and the only drivers that exist are Windows based. . .Those boot-managers that work from DOS can not access the hard drives . . .Other boot-managers (OSL2000 and Star-Tools) create small hidden 8-MB partitions, and operate in the hidden background for the most part. . . Could not get these to work either, as they could not access the hard drives . . . . In fact, whem booting-up, I could not even access WinXP, nor access the boot-manager to trash it, and wound-up having to re-install WinXP . . In the end, after these evaluations, with the boot-mangers trashed, I had some four small 8-MB hidden partitions remaining that I had to find and eliminate Boot-managrs are reviewed and compared at below site. . . His conclusions are not mine, as I do not think he evaluated hard drives that needed Windows based drivers to access them w*w*w.boot-manager.de/english/
The only boot manager that I have success with is the default loader included with RedHat Linux 8. this really good, but it does install a small partion on the primary drive in some hidden space that Windows (atleast Win98) can't see and didn't effect the persived drive space in Win98. WinXp is much better, but I havn't tried multiple drives with it. My version of Windows98 need sto be on one drive one partion only. I then add the other drives and install following operations sytems (Redhat, OS2Warp). I am still dealing with this problem as only got OS2 installed correctly once. As For SCSI, If there are easily swapable, you could set up each OS independently on each drive. Then when you want it connect the desired drive. THis would be extreamly painfull, but is the only answer I can think of to avoid Boot managers. Good Luck. let me know if you do find an solution. I would like to learn more about SCSI, seems I have a long way to go
I finally got both SCSI hard drives to work on the SCSI cable. . . Computer apparently did not like the ID settings previously used and thus would take forever to bootup. . . Switching SCSI ID's (jumpers) solved that problem. But, since I installed WinXP on one SCSI drive at a time, with other disconnected - - The boot.ini file on each WinXP does not know that there are two SCSI drives. . . So, when I bootup, I can only get to the WinXP on the last drive on the cable (default case). . . Makes no difference whether I bootup with or without a Boot-Manager, as only that one SCSI drive's WinXP can be accessed. . . I now have to modify that boot.ini file so that that the default (primary so to speak) WinXP knows that there is another WinXP in the case. Boot-Managers that work from the small 8-MB (hidden) partition have proved disasterous . . .They simply can not see the SCSI or the SATA hard drives. . . These just stall-out on reboot, showing only the black empty screen, require me to reformat and re-install to escape PowerQuest Boot-Magic and Acronis OS Selector will not install on a NTFS system. . . One must use FAT32 or create a DOS partition. . . (DOS, last thing I want to do, would be disaster). . . These work from Windows, are okay, but only handle four hard drives . . . Also, I had wanted to dump the FAT32 and go with the NTFS system in the new computer Yes, I could do a physical connect-disconnect to activate whatever SCSI drive wanted.. . But, tedious, risky in damage sooner or later, and defeats the purpose in buying this expensive motherboard that can handle 30 SCSI devices, eight EIDE devices, and two SATA hard drives . . . There is an easier way though, relative to this approach - - use the Trios card from h**p://www.romtecusa.com/
Thanks John for the update, interesting that it was the jumpers and the WinXp install. Sorry you had to go through all the pain of the Boot loader, and I also prefer NTFS over Fat32 after using it for a while.
Prisoner - - Oh, I am not done. . I am still trying to get both WinXP's visible on bootup, to have a choice of who to activate. . . But, have not got this little annoying task figured out as yet. . . I hope one day I can get this new system fully working. I just noticed today (after talking to a friend) that my Bios allows me to select what hard-drive is booted first, which second, etc. . . (Common to SCSI systems). . . I am now exploring this and hopefully I can re-install WinXP into the correct hard-drive, such that WinXP now generates the correct MBR that recognizing all drives on the cable. BTW - - Ever use w.w.w.streamload.com?. . . You ought to check it out. . . Then PM me
