DOCUMENT ID: 1546-02

SYNOPSIS:    Getting aha154xCP working with Solaris x86

OS RELEASE:  2.4, 2.1 not confirmed

PRODUCT:     Solaris x86

KEYWORDS:    aha 1540 plug play pci


SYMPTOMS:    Failure to boot with 154xCP installed


DESCRIPTION:

A number of customers have reported problems getting the new adaptec
154xCP working with Solaris x86. 


SOLUTION:

Solaris x86 does not currently support plug+play features.  The
aha154xCP is however, fully compatible with previous versions of the
154x and can be be made to work by disabling plug+play options and in
some cases formatting the hard disk to be installed upon. 
                                                                           
Below are the settings we have successfully used to install a 1542CP in
a desktop:
                                                                           
 Dip switches.                                                              
 -------------                                                              
 SW1 - ON (Disables plug and play)                                          
 SW2-SW4 (inclusive) - OFF (I/O address 330h-333h)                          
 SW5 - On (Disables floppy controller, this is configuration specific)      
 SW6-SW8 (inclusive) - OFF (BIOS address DC000h)                            
                                                                           
 Adaptec BIOS settings (available via CTRL-A during boot up)                
 -----------------------------------------------------------                
 IRQ - 11                                                                   
 DMA - 5 or 6 (both verified)                                               
 HBA SCSI ID -7                                                             
 Parity - Enabled                                                           
 DMA Tx Rate - 5.0MB/s                                                      
 HBA SCSI Term - Automatic                                                  
                                                                           
 Reset SCSI bus at Power on - Enabled                                       
 Plug+Play SCAM support - Disabled                                          
 Plug and Play IRQ 9 and DMA 0 Support - Disabled                           
 HBA BIOS - Enabled                                                         
 Extended BIOS Translation for DOS Drives > 1Gb - Disabled                  
 Support Removable disks under BIOS as fixed disks - Disabled               
 Dynamically Scan SCSI Bus for BIOS Devices - Disabled                      
 BIOS Support for more than 2 drives - Disabled                             
 BIOS Support for INT 13h extensions - Disabled                             
 BIOS Support for bootable CD-ROMs - Disabled                               
 Immediate return on seek command - Enabled                                 
 Display  message during BIOS Initialization - Enabled             
                                                                           

Other important things to remember.                                        
-----------------------------------                                        
                                                                           
Most PCI boxes now (whether they support plug+play explicitly or not)
tend to have to be "told" about non-PCI or non-Plug and Play cards.  PC
BIOS' commonly have a screen where you can allocate IRQs for ISA use
only and the same is true for shared memory addresses.  Refer to your
PC's documentation for more help on this subject.  In the case of the
adaptec we had to "forbid" PCI from using IRQ 11 and shared memory
around DC000h. 
                                                                           
When installing Solaris x86 on a desktop with two disk controllers eg. 
an EIDE and a SCSI you may find it useful to disable the EIDE during
install to ensure the SCSI is picked up as the primary controller.  Once
installed, the EIDE can be re-enabled and a reconfigure boot (b -r) will
cause Solaris to pick up and configure in this controller.  Consult your
PC documentation for information on disabling onboard controllers. 


DATE APPROVED: 11/20/95