stimm@styx.sta.sub.org (Stefan Timm) (05/28/91)
Is there a way to shorten the boot time on a machine with an Adaptec SCSI controller? On my machine it takes almost a minute, an ESDI machine with the same autoexec and config is up in less then 15 seconds. -- Stefan Timm E-Mail stimm@styx.sta.sub.org
ben@epmooch.UUCP (Rev. Ben A. Mesander) (05/29/91)
In article <1992@styx.sta.sub.org> stimm@styx.sta.sub.org (Stefan Timm) writes: >Is there a way to shorten the boot time on a machine with an Adaptec SCSI >controller? On my machine it takes almost a minute, an ESDI machine with >the same autoexec and config is up in less then 15 seconds. This is normally done to give SCSI drives time to spin up and come on the bus after internal diagnostics and such. For instance, a drive with a 256KB cache, like some Wren VII's, has to do a memory check and such... So try to think of the delay as your friend; checking your hardware before your computer gets to by attempting to use it. A minute out of your day is not much to ask... >-- >Stefan Timm >E-Mail stimm@styx.sta.sub.org -- | ben@epmooch.UUCP (Ben Mesander) | "Cash is more important than | | ben%servalan.UUCP@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu | your mother." - Al Shugart, | | !chinet!uokmax!servalan!epmooch!ben | CEO, Seagate Technologies |
lampi@polari.UUCP (Michael Lampi) (05/30/91)
In article <ben.3234@epmooch.UUCP> ben@epmooch.UUCP (Rev. Ben A. Mesander) writes: >In article <1992@styx.sta.sub.org> stimm@styx.sta.sub.org (Stefan Timm) writes: >>Is there a way to shorten the boot time on a machine with an Adaptec SCSI >>controller? On my machine it takes almost a minute, an ESDI machine with >>the same autoexec and config is up in less then 15 seconds. > [..stuff about system checking deleted..] > >So try to think of the delay as your friend; checking your hardware before >your computer gets to by attempting to use it. A minute out of your day >is not much to ask... It is too much if you have to reboot your machine (for various reasons) several times an hour (or even several times a day), especially if you know the devices are ready! Michael Lampi -- ----- Michael Lampi lampi@seattle.UUCP
ben@epmooch.UUCP (Rev. Ben A. Mesander) (05/31/91)
In article <4283@polari.UUCP> lampi@polari.UUCP (Michael Lampi) writes: [Booting SCSI system takes 1 minute] >It is too much if you have to reboot your machine (for various reasons) >several times an hour (or even several times a day), especially if you >know the devices are ready! How do you know they *are* ready? "Doctor, it hurts when I do that!" "Don't do that then." :-) Buy a ST-506 interface drive. :-) When I used a PC, I always put a chkdsk in my autoexec, because I found when buggy software (by Intel!) locked up my machine and I rebooted often, I often had lost chains. The real solution is *not* to reboot the darn thing every five minutes. (I'm sure you have your reasons - if you must tell me, do it via email). If you are rebooting your system this often, and you find the delay on startup while the system is probing for SCSI disks intolerable, then perhaps you ought to get a different hard drive setup. Booting my current system takes 5 minutes - I only reboot a couple of times a week, though. >Michael Lampi lampi@seattle.UUCP -- | ben@epmooch.UUCP (Ben Mesander) | "Cash is more important than | | ben%servalan.UUCP@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu | your mother." - Al Shugart, | | !chinet!uokmax!servalan!epmooch!ben | CEO, Seagate Technologies |
nerd@percival.rain.com (Michael Galassi) (05/31/91)
ben@epmooch.UUCP (Rev. Ben A. Mesander) writes: >In article <4283@polari.UUCP> lampi@polari.UUCP (Michael Lampi) writes: >>It is too much if you have to reboot your machine (for various reasons) >>several times an hour (or even several times a day), especially if you >>know the devices are ready! >How do you know they *are* ready? ... >... If you are rebooting your system this often, >and you find the delay on startup while the system is probing for SCSI >disks intolerable, then perhaps you ought to get a different hard drive >setup. The 154[02][ab] are rather dumb in this respect. I have one in my xenix box. My NeXT on the other hand assumes that there is at least one bootable device out there and waits only 'til this one reports ready. Works well so far. I can't think of any reason the 1540 series boards don't do this. -michael -- Michael Galassi | nerd@percival.rain.com MS-DOS: The ultimate PC virus. | ...!tektronix!percy!nerd
iverson@xstor.com (Tim Iverson) (06/04/91)
In article <4283@polari.UUCP> lampi@polari.UUCP (Michael Lampi) writes: >In article <ben.3234@epmooch.UUCP> ben@epmooch.UUCP (Rev. Ben A. Mesander) writes: >>Is there a way to shorten the boot time on a machine with an Adaptec SCSI >>controller? On my machine it takes almost a minute, an ESDI machine with >>the same autoexec and config is up in less then 15 seconds. > >It is too much if you have to reboot your machine (for various reasons) >several times an hour (or even several times a day), especially if you >know the devices are ready! I agree, it is annoying. Unfortunately, it's better than the consequences. Some SCSI drives, most notably the cheaper Seagate drives (non-Imprimis ones) have an extremely long start up time. Much longer than the maximum in the SCSI spec.. If the Adaptec board was true to spec., instead of true to reality, these drives would never be usable. This is a rather expensive solution, but there is one way to improve boot time: install two drives, at ID 0 and ID 1. The BIOS in the 1540 series checks these ID's for drives and if they're found, it won't have to wait for the time-out to occur. >Michael Lampi lampi@seattle.UUCP - Tim Iverson iverson@xstor.com -/- uunet!xstor!iverson
lampi@polari.UUCP (Michael Lampi) (06/05/91)
>In article <1991Jun03.225530.13007@xstor.com> iverson@xstor.com writes: }In article <4283@polari.UUCP> I write: =In article <ben.3234@epmooch.UUCP> ben@epmooch.UUCP (Rev. Ben A. Mesander) writes: =Is there a way to shorten the boot time on a machine with an Adaptec SCSI =controller? On my machine it takes almost a minute, an ESDI machine with =the same autoexec and config is up in less then 15 seconds. }It is too much if you have to reboot your machine (for various reasons) }several times an hour (or even several times a day), especially if you }know the devices are ready! [...] >This is a rather expensive solution, but there is one way to improve boot >time: install two drives, at ID 0 and ID 1. The BIOS in the 1540 series >checks these ID's for drives and if they're found, it won't have to wait >for the time-out to occur. >- Tim Iverson The suggestion of having a SCSI drive at ID 0 and at ID 1 is a good one. However, the Adaptec disk software doesn't understand *large* SCSI disks (>32 Mb) at these ID's - they have to be at other than 0 & 1 for the ASPIDOS stuff to work. Anyway, since my system boots from a ST506 disk drive (C:), why should it have to wait for the SCSI bus?????? And, yes, I can tell by the sounds that a given disk drive makes in its self-tests (typically seek noises) when a drive has completed its self-test, a ***long*** time before the 1542 finally continues the boot process. Why can't it just do a Test Unit Ready and, if nothing responds, assume that there is nothing there? Most subsystems at least respond with Not Ready until their self test has completed. -- ----- Michael Lampi polari!lampi@sumax.seattleu.edu
press@venice.SEDD.TRW.COM (Barry Press) (06/05/91)
In article <4357@polari.UUCP> lampi@polari.UUCP (Michael Lampi) writes: >However, the Adaptec disk software doesn't understand *large* SCSI disks >(>32 Mb) at these ID's - they have to be at other than 0 & 1 for the >ASPIDOS stuff to work. Could you explain a little more about what leads you to say this, please -- I've a 200MB Maxtor running as ID 0, LUN 0 on a 1542B, with version 2.1 of aspi4dos, and it all seems to run just fine. -- Barry Press Internet: press@venice.sedd.trw.com