Adaptec 2940UW BIOS - Seagate 47 gig SCSI3 drive capacity question

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feklar - 10 Jul 2003 05:53 GMT

My current 2940UW controller BIOS startup screen shows:
Adaptec AHA-2940 BIOS v1.16
on bootup.

I have the upgrade file for: AHA-2940UW - BIOS 2.20.0 but I haven't
upgraded the BIOS yet.

I had a Seagate 18 gig SCSI-3 Cheetah hooked up to it, but it would only
recognize it as something like a 9 gig drive. I fdisked it, chose maximum
capacity, and it would only create a single 8.2 gig partition and tell me
that 100 percent of the drive had been utilized.

I finally gave up and sold the drive on eBay (I probably could have used
DiskWizard to get the entire 18 gigs, but the drive also ran too warm for my
tastes and I have too many fans running in my machine already without having
to add another one). The guy I bought the drive from had all 18 gigs up and
running, so I knew it wasn't the drive's fault, and the eBay buyer got all
18 gigs up and running OK, and was pleased with it OK.

Later, I found the 2.20 BIOS upgrade file for the controller. I also have
found a really decent price lately on a Seagate full height 47 gig drive,
and I will probably buy one.

What I wanted to know is if this BIOS upgrade is likely to solve the problem
or not. Will I need to use Discwizard to be able to utilize the full 47 gig
capacity of this drive with this controller and the new BIOS, or will the
BIOS upgrade allow the use of regular FDISK and format to make a single 47
gig partition?

Is this BIOS upgrade compatible with my card given its current 1.16 BIOS
version? What is provided by the upgrade?

Was the early card BIOS version undoubtedly the cause of the problem with
the Cheetah? I mean, is capacity limitation a known issue with version
1.16?

Reply to this Message

Maxim S. Shatskih - 10 Jul 2003 07:43 GMT

> I had a Seagate 18 gig SCSI-3 Cheetah hooked up to it, but it would only
> recognize it as something like a 9 gig drive. I fdisked it, chose maximum

Forget BIOS and forget FDISK. Boot the NT/XP setup from the CD, and
tell it to partition the disk.

Max

Reply to this Message

Folkert Rienstra - 10 Jul 2003 18:22 GMT

> My current 2940UW controller BIOS startup screen shows:
> Adaptec AHA-2940 BIOS v1.16 on bootup.

Then it is not likely a 2940UW. Probably a 2940W.

> I have the upgrade file for: AHA-2940UW - BIOS 2.20.0 but I haven't
> upgraded the BIOS yet.
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> or not. Will I need to use Discwizard to be able to utilize the full 47 gig
> capacity of this drive with this controller and the new BIOS,

I am not aware of any bios overlay for SCSI.

> or will the BIOS upgrade allow the use of regular FDISK and format to
> make a single 47 gig partition?

Yes.

> Is this BIOS upgrade compatible with my card given its current 1.16 BIOS
> version?

Yes and no.

> What is provided by the upgrade?

Int13 extensions, S.M.A.R.T., CDRom boot, write-cache management, .....

> Was the early card BIOS version undoubtedly the cause of the problem with
> the Cheetah? I mean, is capacity limitation a known issue with version 1.16?

Yes.
And unless you have access to an eprom programmer you cannot upgrade the
bios on the 2940 or 2940W.

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feklar - 10 Jul 2003 19:49 GMT

Damn I thought it was a 2940UW, but you're right, it's a 2940W. Do you know
what the compatible flash chip replacement would be? I can hot flash a
flash chip using a motherboard as the programmer.

> > My current 2940UW controller BIOS startup screen shows:
> > Adaptec AHA-2940 BIOS v1.16 on bootup.
[quoted text clipped - 46 lines]
> And unless you have access to an eprom programmer you cannot upgrade the
> bios on the 2940 or 2940W.

Reply to this Message

Folkert Rienstra - 10 Jul 2003 23:17 GMT

> Damn I thought it was a 2940UW, but you're right, it's a 2940W.

> Do you know what the compatible flash chip replacement would be?
> I can hot flash a flash chip using a motherboard as the programmer.

29EE512 but basically anything that is pin compatible as they all are 32
pin if I'm not mistaken.
You need to convert that to 28-pin afterwards, connecting pin32 to pin30

But you also have to check whether it accepts 512 kb (e)proms
i.e. that pin 1 is not connected to ground or VCC or left unconnected.
Else you're limited to v1.32

>>> My current 2940UW controller BIOS startup screen shows:
>>> Adaptec AHA-2940 BIOS v1.16 on bootup.
[quoted text clipped - 46 lines]
>> And unless you have access to an eprom programmer you cannot upgrade the
>> bios on the 2940 or 2940W.

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