Frequently Asked Questions about OS/2 This FAQ document is valid for the following Symbios Logic devices: 53C810, 53C810A, 53C815, 53C825, 53C860 and 53C875. Many OS/2 installation problems are due to IRQs not being enabled properly. The subsequent sections will guide the reader through common setup steps to enable IRQs and general OS/2 driver questions. Most OEM cards that use our chipsets are not "TRUE" plug and play PCI-SCSI Host Adapters, that is why the manual settings of the IRQ in the system is required. System CMOS setup hints: The following section describes setup steps to take with 3 common System CMOSs. These are general procedures, since each Mother Board Vendor modifies the BIOS to configure their Mother Board. To get the best results. it is best to set Network cards to IRQ 9. This can be done via the software that comes with the card. Also set Sound cards to use IRQ 5. Award BIOS 1) While in the CMOS setup pick the "PCI Configuration Setup" or "PNP and PCI Configuration" menu. Change the settings for the slot number in which the Symbios Host Bus Adapter (HBA) is located if this option is available from "Auto Detect" to "INT A" or to an IRQ such as 10, 11, 12 or 15, leaving all other slots set to Auto. If there are no Slot options available then use the "MANUAL" setting. This will show all of the IRQs and will list them as either "Legacy ISA" or "NO/ICU" or "PNP/PCI" or "Yes/ICU". What you will do is set all IRQs below 9 to either Legacy ISA or NO/ICU. IRQ's 10, 11, 12 and 15 will be set to PNP/PCI or Yes/ICU. 2) The "Available IRQ" settings should be modified to 1st = 10, 2nd = 11, 3rd = 12, and 4th = 15. Ensure that any other device in the system (i.e., sound card or LAN card) are not set to the same IRQs as the Symbios Logic HBA. For example, if the LAN card is using IRQ 11, remove IRQ 11 as the 1st available IRQ in the CMOS setting and shift all of the available IRQs up one level. 3) Some versions have a statement that will say "PCI IRQ Activated by" set this to Level. Some versions have a statment that will say "PCI IDE MAP to" set this to ISA or Absent. 4) Save the configuration and reboot OS/2. If you see the OS2CAM.ADD driver initialize the device and the desk top appears then you system is configured properly. AMI BIOS 1) While in the CMOS setup pick the "Chipset" or "Advanced" menu. 2) Some versions of the CMOS setup allow for the setting of IRQs referenced to the slot location of the Symbios Logic HBA. Other versions of the CMOS setup only allow for the IRQ to be set to "PCI/ISA" or "Used/Available". In any case, make sure that IRQ 9 is set to "Used", "not available", or "ISA". Keep IRQs 10, 11, and 15 free. 3) Save the configuration and reboot OS/2. If you see the OS2CAM.ADD or the SYM8XX.ADD driver initialize the device and the desk top appears then you system is configured properly. Phoenix BIOS If you have the version of the Phoenix BIOS, that only has 2 pages to the CMOS setup and the only option for the SCSI is to enable or disable it. There is not much that can be done other than this. The system will do an Auto setting on its own. There is NO work-around to fix the problem. The only solution is to go to another SCSI card. ******************************************************************************** OEM SCSI HBA with Symbios Logic Chips Symbios Logic sells the controller chips to other vendors. Problems that we have encountered with specific vendor HBAs are listed below. MS-3805 HBA: JP2 comes default as INT A Edge pins 2&3. Change JP2 to INT A Level, pins 1&2. GA-410 HBA: JP3 is a setting for 1st controller and 2nd controller. The card comes default as pins 1&2. Change JP3 to pins 2&3, and the system will register the IRQ. SCSI-810P HBA: J1 comes default as INT B, pins 2&3. Change J1 to INT A, pins 1&2. Model P810 HBA: or PCI-SCSI 21-050020-11 HBA: This card will not allow an IRQ setting to be enabled for the Symbios Logic controller (which it needs for proper operation in OS/2). There is no work around for this card under OS/2. HSB KW801V10 HBA: This card will not allow an IRQ setting to be enabled for the Symbios Logic controller (which it needs for proper operation in OS/2). There is no work around for this card under OS/2*. * Note: The HSB card does allow IRQ's to be enabled if the host system is an Intel P5-66, a FIC P5-66, or a HSB motherboard. We were able to get the chip to see an IRQ on an old Intel Batman system P/66 and a P566 FIC Mother Board. HSB also has informed us that their Mother Boards also allow for an IRQ setting. ******************************************************************************** General Questions And Answers Q: I get the error "one or more of your scsi host adapters is malfunctioning", what do I do? A: This error is usually caused by an interrupt not being assigned to the host bus adapter card. Use the System CMOS setup hints to trouble shoot. Also most 486 motherboards and some Pentium boards have jumper assignments for the PCI slots. Refer to the motherboard manual for proper settings. Cmos configuration must match the card and motherboard settings. Remove the /sm and /dm switches. Q: I get the error "Unable to find country.sys" This error happens after the OS2 banner is displayed. A: This error is caused by the system not recognizing the hard drive. 1. Check termination first verify that there is termination only at both ends of the scsi cable. 2. It may be that the drive does not support synchronous or tagged command queing. Use /!SN or /!Q on the driver. Example BASEDEV=OS2CAM.ADD /V /!SN or BASEDEV=OS2CAM.ADD /V /!Q or BASEDEV=SYMC8XX.ADD /V /!SN /!Q Q: What driver do I load for an NCR Computer that has a built-in 53C700 SCSI interface? A: OS/2 is supported by NCR. If you are experiencing problems, call NCR/AT&T at 800-774-7406. Q: What driver do I load for OS/2 that supports a video card using a 77C22E, 77C22E+, 77C32BLT? A: There is no driver available for OS/2 support. The only option is to get another video card that is supported under OS/2. ******************************************************************************** General Notes 1) Remove any references to Adeptec controllers in your config.sys (*aha.add) this is for version 2.x and 3.x ONLY. With OS/2 version 4.x on remove aha164x.add, readme.ins and the cdinst.exe, also in the config.sys set copyfromfloppy=1. The "Basedev=os2cam.add /v" or "Basedev=symc8xx.add /v" should be the last line in config.sys. After install and before shutdown edit config.sys and move the basedev statement to the bottom. 2) All Symbios Logic PCI SCSI HBAs must be set to INT A, even if there are 2 or more cards being used. 3) The 53C810 HBAs DO NOT have a BIOS on the card. They rely on the System BIOS for BIOS support. 4) The Current OS/2 driver can be downloaded from either the BBS at (719) 533-7235 or at the Web site (www.symbios.com) click on the Technical Support button and go to the bottom of the page. The file name is OS2xxx.ZIP. (Where xxx is the current version number of the driver) 5) If you are using a SCSI HBA that has 3 SCSI ports, you can only use 2 ports at one time. If you are using all 3 ports and experienceing problems, then you need to remove the devices from one of the ports and hook those devices up to another controller. ********************************************************************************* Symbios Logic Technical Support If you are still experiencing problems with OS/2, you can contact the Technical Support Staff at 719-533-7230 or fax us at 719-533-7271. Hours of operation are 7:00am to 5:00pm MST Monday - Friday. We are closed on weekends and holidays. Messages can be left to the Technical Support at any time by pressing 2 at the start.