Re: SCSI woes, again.

[spector@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) writes...
>
>In article <9AUG199416170288@vax2.concordia.ca>,
>Mitchell Spector <spector@vax2.concordia.ca> wrote:
>> 
>> 	Usually, somewhere on the old non-DMA Apple SCSI cards, is a marking
>> indicating what hardware revision it is (rev A, B or C).
> 
>I wasn't aware of there being any hardware revisions - I have an
>original card (shipped with Rev A ROM) which was later upgraded to a
>Rev C ROM.

	Doesn't the revision (A, B or C) refer hardware updates, and not
firmware in the case of the original Apple SCSI card? At least it would
seem this way, as the card I owned for a short period of time was clearly
marked 'Rev. A'. Also had a 1986 copyright stamped nearby.

[snip] 
>You may run into all sorts of nasty problems if you use the 5.0.4
>drivers in System 6.0 or later - programs may assume that newer
>features are available.  In particular, do _not_ use the System 6
>version of Advanced Disk Utility with the 5.0.4 drivers - use 5.0.4's
>ADU instead.  Don't try to mark partitions "read only" from Finder,
>either.

	I usually follow that rule of thumb about not mixing old & new
versions of System Software, though in this case I had absolutely no
choice! A moot point now, as I no longer own the Rev A SCSI or the
Apple 20SC hardrive -- have a RamFast SCSI in it's place and looking to
buy a modern HD in the very near future (next week or two?). :-)

	...Speaking of that, is it safe to keep a RamFast SCSI (rev D/3.01e)
resting inside my IIgs until the hardrive gets here? It's not connected to
any kind of SCSI device, just installed in slot-7 and the connector coming out
of my GS's back ports. I was having some minor problems with brief pauses
while loading ProDOS 8 and GS/OS from floppy drives, not to mention two or
three rare cases of crashes into Monitor with a "RamFast RAM error - 0C" or
whatnot. Which is strange, as I don't have my control panel settings to
startup with scan or slot-7. I've set Slot-7 (and slot-1) to AppleTalk, which
causes the system to ignore the RamFast...at least until I get my hardrive.
Though the report of a RAM error has me a bit uneasy though, is there a way to
test the 256k of cache on the board? I hope I'm just getting completely
_random_ errors, due to the RF's being upset at not finding any devices on 
the SCSI bus... 

>David Empson
>dempson@actrix.gen.nz
>Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand

Mitchell Spector
sb_spec@pavo.concordia.ca / spector@vax2.concordia.ca