ken@dali.gatech.edu (Ken Seefried iii) (12/03/90)
----- I have a pretty old Adaptec 1540 with ROM rev 2F. Recently, i've noticed that out 1542B's have ROM rev. 3.08. Should I be interested in a ROM upgrade for this board? Thanks for the info... -- ken seefried iii "A sneer, a snarl, a whip that ken@dali.gatech.edu stings...these are a few of my favorite things..."
bill@camco.Celestial.COM (Bill Campbell) (12/06/90)
In <17957@hydra.gatech.EDU> ken@dali.gatech.edu (Ken Seefried iii) writes: >----- >I have a pretty old Adaptec 1540 with ROM rev 2F. Recently, i've >noticed that out 1542B's have ROM rev. 3.08. Should I be interested >in a ROM upgrade for this board? >Thanks for the info... >-- > ken seefried iii "A sneer, a snarl, a whip that > ken@dali.gatech.edu stings...these are a few of > my favorite things..." I have a related question here. I formatted and installed Xenix 2.3.2 on a machine using and Adaptec 1542b with a Wren Runner hard drive. I then put this hard disk into a Tandy 4000 with an older Adaptec 1540 (the original Tandy version without the connector on the back). I then had to re-install Xenix from scratch since the disk couldn't be read by the older controller. I'm reasonably sure I didn't do anything to the disk when I moved it from one CPU to another (I've done this hundreds of times without problems) so what could cause this incompatibility? Bill. -- INTERNET: bill@Celestial.COM Bill Campbell; Celestial Software UUCP: ...!thebes!camco!bill 6641 East Mercer Way uunet!camco!bill Mercer Island, WA 98040; (206) 947-5591
neese@adaptx1.UUCP (12/08/90)
>/* ---------- "Adaptec ROMs (esp. 1540A)" ---------- */ > >I have a pretty old Adaptec 1540 with ROM rev 2F. Recently, i've >noticed that out 1542B's have ROM rev. 3.08. Should I be interested >in a ROM upgrade for this board? The BIOS and firmware for all versions of the 154x family are not interchangeable between different levels of the adapter. The A BIOS and firmware cannot be used on the B abd vice versa. The original 1540 firmware cannot be upgraded by using the A or B adapter firmware. This is due to changes in the SCSI protocol chip from version to version of the adapter. Also other changes have occured. As we release a new version of the adapter we incorporate various aspects of the firmware into the ASIC hardware. This is done to improve speed and reliability, but the donwside is; the firmarwe/BIOS is not backward compatible. Roy Neese Adaptec Senior SCSI Applications Engineer UUCP @ neese@adaptex uunet!cs.utexas.edu!utacfd! {nominil,merch,cpe}!adaptex!neese uunet!mlite!adaptex!neese
neese@adaptx1.UUCP (12/11/90)
>In <17957@hydra.gatech.EDU> ken@dali.gatech.edu (Ken Seefried iii) writes: > >>----- > >>I have a pretty old Adaptec 1540 with ROM rev 2F. Recently, i've >>noticed that out 1542B's have ROM rev. 3.08. Should I be interested >>in a ROM upgrade for this board? > >>Thanks for the info... > >>-- >> ken seefried iii "A sneer, a snarl, a whip that >> ken@dali.gatech.edu stings...these are a few of >> my favorite things..." > >I have a related question here. I formatted and installed Xenix >2.3.2 on a machine using and Adaptec 1542b with a Wren Runner >hard drive. I then put this hard disk into a Tandy 4000 with an >older Adaptec 1540 (the original Tandy version without the >connector on the back). I then had to re-install Xenix from >scratch since the disk couldn't be read by the older controller. > >I'm reasonably sure I didn't do anything to the disk when I moved >it from one CPU to another (I've done this hundreds of times >without problems) so what could cause this incompatibility? The older 1540 used a 16 head translation and the latter 154x adapters uses a 64 head translation. The older adapter can be upgraded to the 64 head BIOS. If you got the adapter from Tandy, you must go to them for the upgrade, but if you got the adapter from distribution, (which the older 1540 never saw), you can clal (408)945-8600 and ask for Tech Support to get info on upgrades. Roy Neese Adaptec Senior SCSI Applications Engineer UUCP @ neese@adaptex uunet!cs.utexas.edu!utacfd! {nominil,merch,cpe}!adaptex!neese uunet!mlite!adaptex!neese