Ah, SCSI card setup... I second the motion on an IRQ problem, or
something related. The problem may not be Windows, but the fact that old
ISA SCSI cards have umpteen things to set, and any one of them not being
set right can cause a crash. You also have to match these settings with
the Windows drivers and the PCs BIOS.
When I got my LS-2000, I had to install an old salvaged (read free) ISA
SCSI card in my 1994 P166 running Win98. I've done such things many times
before, so I knew what I was in for. I had to set the IRQ on the card,
make sure the BIOS did not have it reserved for something else or available
for Plug n Play, and go through an evening's worth of trial and error to
make it work.
Windows really preferred the card to be on a different IRQ than the card's
default, and the Adaptec documentation was a bit murky on what was possible
and what was not. There was also a matter of DMA channel, and which
contradictory section of the docs were correct. Also, a bunch of jumpers
related to SCSI floppy and hard drive controllers and BIOS (enable or
disable) and I/o port address had to be set. Until they were, the computer
or windows would lock up at various stages of boot-up.
Once everything was set right, then Win98 detected the card and installed
the right card driver. But I *still* had to go to the Adaptec site and
download the latest version of the ASPI driver before everything worked
correctly. This also involved setting jumpers correctly for PIO mode vs.
DMA mode.
Now that all that's behind me, the card and scanner work
flawlessly. Whether it was worth the approximately $65.00 I saved by not
buying a new Plug N Play PCI SCSI card is questionable--it boils down to
time vs. money. For the PC I'll get when I retire this one, it would have
been worth it to just buy a new card. For this old PC, it was a question
of not sinking any more money into it than I had to.
I suggest going to www.scantips.com and looking at Appendix C, which
explains setting up SCSI from a practical point of view. Even so, non Plug
N Play SCSI is definately geekware. There's a reason why they call it
"scuzzy!" :-)
--Peter Klein
Seattle, WA
Date: Sun, 04 Nov 2001 11:54:13 -0800
From: Mike <watershed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [OM] OT: Computers
> In pondering my scanner options, a new option has occurred to me.
> I've got a decent scanner for a beginner (an Acer ScanWit). Windows
won't
> install it, after many, many attempts and a boatload of technical advice.
> Window crashes on me all the time.....
>
Hmm... I'm jumping in late here as I've been away for a few days but
this could be an IRQ conflict. I think these scanner SCSI cards are ISA
and need to be assigned their own unique IRQ. If you also have an old
sound card, modem or network card as well then Win98 won't be able to
sort things out. You may not even have enough IRQ's available. I had to
pull my LAN card to get my scanner to work. If you have enough IRQ's
available then the solution could be to switch assignments around which
may mean setting jumpers. If your IRQ's are maxed out then maybe you
could do without the sound for example. But then again this is pure
speculation on my part as I'm lacking many details. In any event
switching OS's seems like way overkill.
Mike
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|