From: Steve McCrystal 
@X-Yahoo-Profile: pretender53151
@Mime-Version: 1.0
@Mailing-List: list os2hardware{at}yahoogroups.com; contact
os2hardware-owner{at}yahoogroups.com
@Delivered-To: mailing list os2hardware{at}yahoogroups.com
@Precedence: bulk
@List-Unsubscribe: 
@Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 13:20:09 CDT
Subject: Re: ecs K7S5A pro , AMI BIOS , and SCSI drives
Reply-To: os2hardware{at}yahoogroups.com
@Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
@Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

** Reply to note from "Richard R. Pufky"
 Sun, 12 Oct 2003 15:14:00   
-0400 
 
Rick, 
   
> http://www.phoenix.com/resources/specs-bbs101.pdf>   
> Seems to be a bit old (Jan 11, 1996). It is version 1.01 though, which
seems to be the newest 
> version. 
 
AFAIK, that's the latest one. 
 
> Just a quick perusal of that spec so far. Seems to make some sense so
far They seem to 
> have created BBS in order to take a bunch of the burden of determining
boot order off of the 
> BIOS code, now it can query plugin cards (PCI and maybe some other
types, but not ISA or 
> VESA), and have the cards tell it what it needs to do in order to
boot. This makes it so that 
> the BIOS doesn't have to know how to boot off of many different types
of devices (they've 
> already got floppy, IDE, Zip, LS120, et c, etc, etc boot support in
the BIOS -- boot code was 
> getting too big). 
    
> The big thing that BBS brings to the table is that the boot order
search is now limited to *8* 
> devices as opposed to 2 to 4 (IDE, floppy, cdrom) that previous BIOSes
(like the one on my old 
> S1590S) supported. 
   
> The reason the BBS shows up in some BIOS' and not in others (for the
ones that actually have 
> it), is really dependant on the addin cards in the system. BBS looks
for PnP cards to give it 
> information. If it doesn't get any, it doesn't show up. Since the PnP
cards are giving the 
> information, that's gotta be how they show up as BBS #68 and BBS #69
in my BIOS. That 
> information is given to the BIOS by my LSI Logic SCSI card (which has
those numbers associated 
> with the SCSI buses). 
 
Strangely enough, trying to make an LSI controller boot from a CD was what
lead to me learning   
about BBS in the first place. I corresponded with the folks at LSI support
for quite a while   
trying to resolve the problem (GREAT folks, even bought a motherboard like
I had to test, but it   
blew up before their testing was completed). They did get enough data to
point at the Award BIOS   
as the culprit, tho.  
 
Per your analysis above, that was the problem. The LSI controller presented
the information, but   
the BIOS apparently applied it incorrectly. I'm sure you are familiar with
the Symbios/LSI setup   
option to specify any of the attached devices that *can* support booting as
the device to boot   
from. At one point, this worked fine (that may have been accidental, tho).
Then Award updated the   
mainboard BIOS to correct a couple of other critical problems, and it no
longer worked (the   
option appears white in the LSI config utility, and can't be changed. At
one point, I suggested   
they consult their version control system to see exactly what they had
changed between the two   
BIOS releases. They pointed at the motherboard manufacturer, and the
motherboard manufacturer   
pointed at Award, and after I got sufficiently fed up, I bought another
motherboard! :^) 
  
> I've been quite impressed with AMD's K7's (and moreso the K8s... but
those are *WAY* outta 
> price range). Much moreso than the P4. 
 
At similar clock speeds?  That's odd, altho I haven't checked prices in a while. 
    
> > Nope, they won't work in any OS, and I can't boot from even a DOS 
> > floppy (or read it, for that matter!)  That has happened to me before, 
> > but putting in a new drive always cured it. Not this time!  
    
> That sucks. Sounds like the controllers on your mobo have finally bit it. 
 
In the case of the floppy, I'd have to agree.  
    
> > I'm beginning to suspect the internal cable in the SCSI case, but it's 
  
> Oh, do you have a SCSI floppy drive then? Didn't realize those existed. 
   
  Different problem, altho they do exist. What I was talking about
here is the CD-Rom problem. 
Since I swapped the drive out, and it still doesn't work (from any OS), and
I know the second   
drive is good, I have to suspect the cabling. Even stranger, everything
else in the external box   
works fine! 
  
> > Booting from a CD is no longer a problem, assuming I can read a CD at 
> > all! :^)  This thing simply  refuses to acknowledge there is a CD in 
> > it. The 40X Plextor has had about 4 hours of actual use, so I doubt 
> > the drive is the problem.  
    
> Yikes! Can you read from the CD if you boot from the HD? 
 
No. That's what's so wierd. The Plextor did work, and I did nothing to
change that... unless not   
using it can make one die. I don't use the CD drive all that often, mostly
for installing   
software. In fact, that's how I found out it didn't work.  
 
BTW, I quoted your analysis primarily so other reading this, who might be
wondering, could get   
another shot at seeing your description. It's quite good! 
 
Steve 




------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/9rHolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
os2hardware-unsubscribe{at}yahoogroups.com

 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 



---