AHA-152X Family
Common Questions and Answers
Doc. #39111


Q: When booting the computer I get the message, "Checking for SCSI 
   target 0 LUN 0", right after the Adaptec BIOS header information.
   The system then waits for approximately 30 seconds to a minute and
   reports "BIOS not installed,  no INT 13h device found". Then it boots
   normally.
A: The BIOS is trying to find a hard drive at SCSI id #0 or 1. If you do 
   not have a SCSI hard drive attached to the host adapter then it is
   recommended that the BIOS be disabled. 

Q: When the Adaptec BIOS header message comes up it hangs my system.
A: Make sure that  the SCSI devices at the end of the chain ( either 
   internally or externally ) are terminated.   Check all device IDs to
   make sure that they are unique and also check for system resource
   conflicts: BIOS address, port address, and interrupt address. Verify
   that  Shadow RAM is not enabled in CMOS setup.

Q: During system bootup,the Adaptec BIOS header is displayed then I get
   the error message "Host Adapter Diagnostic Error".
A: The card either has a port address conflict with another card or the 
   card has been changed to port address 140 and the BIOS is enabled. The
   AHA-152XB is able to use the BIOS under port address 140, so check for
   I/O conflicts.

Q: After installing my AHA-1522X card, my floppy drive(s) stopped working.
A: The AHA-1522X comes with the floppy port enabled at default. On the
   AHA-1522/1522A, the J7 jumper is installed for enabling the port. Simply
   remove the jumper to disable it. The 1522B is jumperless and switch ( 5 )
   should be placed in the closed position (closest to the card) to disable  
   the port.

Q: How many SCSI hard drives can I support under BIOS ?
A: The AHA-152XX host adapter can support up to (2) hard drives under the
   cards BIOS.  To support additional hard drives, your system will require
   the ASPI2DOS and ASPIDISK to load from the CONFIG.SYS file. The AHA-152XB
   card can support up to (7) seven hard drives under it's BIOS.

Q: The SCSI hard drive that is attached to my AHA-152XX is only allowing 1024
   of usable disk space.
A: The only model of this card that does not support the extended BIOS
   translation is the AHA-152X. The AHA-152XA with BIOS rev 1.20 and 1.20L has
   the extended translation enabled by placing the right most R- jumper
   installed on jumper block J5. The 152XB is programmable through the SCSI  
   Select utilities by pressing CTRL-A after the BIOS banner.

Q: How do I perform a low level format on my SCSI hard drive?
A: To low level format the hard drive on the AHA-152X/152XA you can either
   run the DOS DEBUG by typing G=DC00:6 at the ( - ) minus sign.  The DC00
   represents the BIOS address or you can run the utility SCSIFMT.EXE after
   loading the ASPI2DOS.SYS in the CONFIG.SYS  file. The 152XB card has a low
   level utility in SCSI Select.


Q: After installing my AHA-152X/152XA into my Pentium/PCI system, the card is
   not seen during the installation of EZSCSI or the ASPI2DOS.SYS driver.
A: On the majority of Pentium/PCI systems,  the lower IRQ range is reserved
   for the PCI bus ( IRQ 9 through 15 ).  This is determined by the word
   AVAILABLE next to the IRQ. Simply change the statement to display USED BY
   ISA BUS. If this does not change the issue, check for resource conflicts
   with other cards that are installed in the system. If you have the 152XB,
   the card fully supports the PLUG and PLAY options that maybe supported by
   the system's BIOS. 

   Note: For any questions on your system CMOS setup,  consult your 
         system manufacturer.

Q: After installing my AHA-152X/152XA into a Windows 95 based system the
   driver for the card displays a yellow exclamation mark ( ! ) next to the
   driver, under the system's properties.
A: This type of mark is an indication that the card is seen but some type 
   of system resource conflict via Port address or IRQ has occured. The
   easiest way to remedy this problem is to go to System Properties and
   remove the cards' driver from the Device Manager page. Then going back
   and add the driver manually through the "add new hardware options".  
   After choosing the correct driver for the card,  the system will then
   display the set of resources that the card can be set too without any
   conflicts.

Revised on 4/17/96