***************************************************************************** MultLang.TXT ***************************************************************************** This file presents general information about the Symbios Multilanguage Configuration Utility, Version 4.12.00. This text file is divided into the following sections: Multilanguage Configuration Utility Starting the Multilanguage Configuration Utility Main Menu Change Adapter Status Adapter Boot Order Additional Adapter Configuration Utilities Menu Adapter Setup Menu Device Selections Menu Exiting the Multilanguage Configuration Utility * * * * Starting the Multilanguage Configuration Utility * * * * If you have SCSI BIOS version 4.XX, and it includes the Symbios Multilanguage Configuration Utility, you can change the default configuration of your SCSI host adapters. You may decide to alter these default values if there is a conflict between device settings or if you need to optimize system performance. The Multilanguage Configuration Utility is a stand alone configuration utility, which is not invoked at boot time. To initialize this utility, type: PCI_CNFG.EXE at the DOS command prompt: This executable program will launch the multilanguage menu driven utility. To make changes with this utility, one or more Symbios SCSI host adapters must have NVRAM (non-volatile random access memory) to store the changes. IMPORTANT: The Multilanguage Configuration Utility is a powerful tool. If, while using it, you somehow disable all of your controllers, pressing Ctrl-A (or Ctrl-E on version 4.04 or later) after memory initialization during reboot allows you to re-enable and reconfigure. Note: Not all devices detected by the Configuration Utility can be controlled by the BIOS. Devices such as tape drives and scanners require that a device driver specific to that peripheral be loaded. * * * * * * * * * * * Main Menu * * * * * * * * * * * * When you start the Symbios Multilanguage Configuration Utility, the Main Menu appears. This menu displays a list of up to four Symbios PCI to SCSI host adapters in your system and information about each of them. To select an adapter, use only the arrow keys and enter key. Then you can view and/or change the current settings for that adapter, and the SCSI devices attached to it. Select an adapter only if Current Status is "On". Changes are possible only if NVRAM on your adapter is present. Selections that are not permissible will be grayed out. Here is an example of the Main Menu: Main Menu Port Irq --------Status--------- NvRAM Num Level Current Next-Boot Found SYM53C895 FC00 9 On On Yes SYM53C896 F800 9 On Off Yes SYM53C896 F400 9 On Off Yes Change Adapter Status Adapter Boot Order Additional Adapter Configuration Display Mode = Verbose Mono/Color Language Help Quit Below the list of host adapters on the Main Menu display, you see eight options. They are described in detail below. If these settings are altered, the system reboots upon exit from the Configuration Utility via the Quit option. * * * Change Adapter Status * * * The change adapter status allows you to activate or deactivate a host adapter and all SCSI devices attached to it. When this option is used to make a change, the change takes place after the reboot upon exit from the utility. Here is an example of the Change Status on Next Boot menu: Main Menu Change Status on Next Boot: Port Irq ---------Status-------- NvRAM Num Level Current Next-Boot Found SYM53C895 FC00 9 On On Yes SYM53C896 F800 9 On Off Yes SYM53C896 F400 9 On Off Yes To change an adapter's status, select it and press Enter. Then press the Escape (Esc) key to exit from this menu. * * * Adapter Boot Order * * * The adapter boot order allows you to set the order in which host adapters will boot when you have more than one Symbios host adapter in your system. When this option is selected, the Boot Order menu appears. Here is an example of the Boot Order Menu: Main Menu BootSeq Bus DevFunc BootSeq Bus DevFunc 0 SYM53C896 00 A0 1 SYM53C896 00 98 2 SYM53C895 00 90 To change an adapter's boot order, select it and press Enter. You are then prompted to enter the new boot sequence number. To remove an adapter's boot order, press Enter again rather than entering a new sequence number. While the maximum capacity is 32 adapters, only 0 through 3 can be assigned a boot order. If an invalid number is entered, an error message appears. When the adapters are ordered as desired, press the Escape (Esc) key to exit from this menu and reboot. * * * Additional Adapter Configuration * * * The additional adapter configuration allows you to configure an adapter that is not assigned a boot order. When this option is selected, the Adapter Configuration menu appears. Here is an example of the Adapter Configuration Menu: Main Menu BootSeq Bus DevFunc BootSeq Bus DevFunc 1 SYM53C896 00 A0 0 SYM53C896 00 98 SYM53C895 Highlight the adapter to be configured and press Enter. The message "Resetting Adapter, Please wait" appears, and then the system scans for devices. Finally, the Utilities Menu appears and lists the available options, which are described below. * * * Display Mode * * * The Display Mode option determines how much information about your host adapters and SCSI devices appear on your computer monitor during boot. For more complete information, choose the verbose setting. For a faster boot, choose the terse setting. * * * Mono/Color * * * The Mono/Color option allows a choice between a monochrome or color display for the Multilanguage Configuration Utility. You might need to choose the mono setting to get a more readable screen on a monochrome monitor. * * * Language * * * If enabled, the Language option allows the user to select from ten languages for the Configuration Utility: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Swedish, Portugeuse, Czeck, and Danish. * * * Help * * * The Help option allows the user to bring up a help screen with information about the Main Menu. * * * Quit * * * The Quit option allows exiting from the Multilanguage Configuration Utility when the Main Menu is displayed. * * * Esc * * * The Esc option allows exiting from all the screens except the Main Menu. * * * * * * * * * * * Utilities Menu * * * * * * * * * When you select a host adapter on the Main menu, the Utilities menu appears: SYM53C895 Utilities Adapter Setup Device Selections Help Exit this menu Choose Adapter Setup to view and change the selected adapter settings. Choose Device Selections to view and change settings for the devices attached to the selected adapter. You are returned to this menu after making changes to the configuration of any host adapter or connected SCSI device. Before you exit this menu, you are prompted to save or cancel any changes. * * * * * * * * * * * Adapter Setup Menu * * * * * * * * When you select Adapter Setup, the corresponding menu appears. Here is an example of the Adapter Setup menu: Adapter Setup SCAM Support Off Parity Enabled Host SCSI ID 7 Scan Order Low to High <0..Max> Removable Media Support None CHS Mapping SCSI Plug & Play Mapping Spinup Delay (secs) 2 Secondary Cluster Server No Termination Auto Help Restore Default Setup Exit this menu The settings in this menu are global settings that affect the selected host adapter and all SCSI devices attached to it. One of these choices can be selected by highlighting it and pressing Enter. * * * SCAM Support * * * The Symbios BIOS version 4.XX supports the SCSI Plug and Play protocol called SCAM (SCSI Configured AutoMatically). SCAM support by default is off in versions 4.09 and later. The user may choose to turn this on. Note that if this BIOS is flashed onto a board with existing settings, then these settings will not be changed to reflect the new BIOS defaults. * * * Parity * * * The Symbios PCI to SCSI host adapters always generate parity, but some older SCSI devices do not. Therefore, you are offered the option of disabling parity checking. Note: When disabling parity checking, it is also necessary to disable disconnects for all devices, as parity checking for the reselection phase is not disabled. If a device does not generate parity, and it disconnects, the I/O never completes because the reselection never completes. * * * Host SCSI ID * * * This option refers to the host adapter's SCSI ID, which is a unique number used to identify the device on the SCSI bus. Note: In general, it is suggested that you do not change your host adapter ID from the default value of 7, as this gives it the highest priority on the SCSI bus. Please also note that if you have 8-bit SCSI devices, they cannot see host IDs greater than 7. * * * Scan Order * * * This option allows the user to tell the SCSI BIOS and your device drivers to scan the SCSI bus from low to high (0 to max) SCSI ID, or from high to low (max to 0) SCSI ID. If there is more than one device on the SCSI bus, changing the scan order changes the order in which drive letters are assigned by the system. Note: This Scan Order option may conflict with operating systems that automatically assign a drive order. * * * Removable Media Support * * * This option defines the removable media support for a specific drive. When this option is selected, a window appears with three choices: o None o Boot Drive Only o With Media Installed None indicates there is no removable media support whether the drive is selected in BBS as being first, or first in scan order in non-BBS. Boot Drive Only provides removable media support for a removable hard drive if it is first in the scan order. With Media Installed provides removable media support wherever the drive(s) actually resides. One of these choices can be selected by highlighting it and pressing Enter. * * * CHS Mapping * * * This option defines the cylinder head sector (CHS) values that will be mapped onto a disk without pre-existing partition information. SCSI Plug and Play Mapping is the default value. To support interchange with non-compatible systems, there is another option that can be selected by choosing CHS Mapping and then cursoring to "Alternate CHS Mapping". Note: Neither of these options will have any affect after the disk has been partitioned with the FDISK command. To remove partitioning, two options are available: o Reformat the disk using the Format Device option. See the section "Device Selections Menu" below. o Use the FDISK /MBR command at the C:\ prompt, where MBR represents master boot record. Important: Reformatting the disk or using FDISK /MBR erases all partitioning and data that exists. Be careful when using either the Format utility or the FDISK /MBR command that you target the correct disk. Note: After clearing the partition data, it is necessary to reboot to clear memory or the old partitioning data will be reused, thus nullifying the previous operation. * * * Spinup Delay (secs) * * * This option allows the user to stagger spin ups between devices for a longer period of time to balance the total current load. The default value is 2 seconds with choices between 1 and 10 seconds. This is a power management device designed to accommodate disk devices that may have heavy current load during power up. If multiple drives are being powered up simultaneously and drawing heavy current loads, then this option staggers the spin ups to limit startup current. * * * Secondary Cluster Server * * * This option allows the user to enable an adapter to join a cluster of adapters without doing any SCSI bus resets. This is a requirement for Microsoft Cluster Server. The default value is No with an alternate value of Yes. * * * Termination * * * This option allows the user to have termination control providing an adapter has controllable termination. The default value is Auto termination. The alternate value is Off. * * * * * * * * * * Device Selections Menu * * * * * * * * * When you select the Device Selections option, the corresponding menu appears: SYM53C895 Device Selections 0-7 Sync Data Disc Time Scan Queue Initial Rate Width Out Bus LUNS Tags Boot Seagate 31051N 20 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No 1-Dev1 N/A 80 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No 2-Dev2 N/A 80 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No Quantum Lighting 20 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No 4-Dev4 N/A 80 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No IOMega ZIP 100 20 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No 6-Dev6 N/A 80 8 On 10 Yes Yes On No SYM53C895 Device Selections 8-15 Help Exit this menu The settings in this menu affect individual SCSI devices attached to the selected host adapter. Changes made from this menu do not cause the system to reboot upon exit from the Multilanguage Configuration Utility. To change a value, select the required device by using the arrow keys and press Enter. A new menu appears providing the options and utilities available. For example, you could cursor to Sync Rate to change the Sync Rate value of the chosen device. * * * Device Name * * * Sync Rate Width Disconnect Read/Write I/O Timeout (secs) Scan for Device at Boot Time Scan for SCSI LUNs Queue Tags Initial Boot Format Verify Help Restore Default Setup Exit this menu Please review the descriptions of each option below before changing any values. * * * Sync Rate (mega Bytes/sec) * * * This option defines the maximum data transfer rate the host adapter will attempt to negotiate. The host adapter and a SCSI device must agree to a rate they can both handle. * * * Width (bits) * * * This option defines the maximum SCSI data width the host adapter will attempt to negotiate. The host adapter and a SCSI device must agree to a width they can both handle. Only host adapters that can do 16-bit data transfers have this option enabled. * * * Disconnect * * * SCSI devices have the ability to disconnect from the initiator during an I/O transfer, thus freeing the SCSI Bus to allow other I/O processes. This option tells the host adapter whether or not to allow a device to disconnect. Some devices run faster with disconnects enabled (mostly newer devices), while some run faster with disconnects disabled (mostly older devices). * * * Read Write I/O Timeout (secs) * * * This option sets the amount of time the host adapter waits for a read, write, or seek command to complete before trying the I/O transfer again. Since this provides a safeguard allowing the system to recover if an I/O operation fails, it is recommended that you always set the time-out to a value greater than zero. A zero value allows unlimited time for an operation to complete and could result in a system hang-up if the operation could not complete. * * * Scan for Device at Boot Time * * * Set this option to "No" if there is a device that you do not want to be available to the system. Also, on a bus with only a few devices attached, the user can speed up boot time by changing this setting to "No" for all unused SCSI IDs. * * * Scan for SCSI Logical Units (LUNs) * * * Set this option to "No" if you have problems with a device that responds to all LUNs whether they are occupied or not. Also, if a SCSI device with multiple LUNs exists on your system but you do not want all of those LUNs to be available to the system, then set this option to "No." This will limit the scan to LUN 0 only. * * * Queue Tags * * * This option enables or disables the issuing of queue tags during I/O requests when your device driver can do this. * * * Initial Boot * * * This option allows any device attached to the first adapter to become the boot device. It provides the users of non-BBS personal computers some of the flexibility of a BBS machine. * * * Format * * * If enabled, this option allows low-level formatting on a disk drive. Low-level formatting will completely and irreversibly erase all data on the drive. Note: Formatting will default the drive to a 512 byte sector size even if the drive had previously been formatted to another sector size. * * * Verify * * * This option reads all the sectors on a disk to check for any errors. When selected, this option displays the following message: "Verify all sectors on the device Press ESC to abort Else press any key to continue" * * * Help * * * This option provides a help screen with information about the current menu. * * * Restore Default Setup * * * This option resets all device selections back to their optimal settings. Select this option to restore all manufacturing defaults for the specified adapter. Note that all user customized options will be lost upon saving after restoring default setup. * * * Exit this menu * * * This option leaves the current menu screen and returns to the previous screen. * * * * * * Exiting the Multilanguage Configuration Utility * * * * * Since some changes only take effect after your system reboots, it is important that you exit this configuration utility properly. Return to the Main menu and exit via the Quit option. If you reboot the system without properly exiting from this utility, some changes may not take effect.