DPT PM2001 SCSI controller software/info ?

[bear]

Colleagues;

I have a ca. 1990 DPT PM2001B/95 SCSI host adapter I would like to use on a project. This adapter has no BIOS extension ROM, as it emulates a WD1003 controller, and so is meant to use the built-in drive table, unlike the vast majority of other PC SCSI host adapters.

My problem is that the DPTFMT utility from the software package that goes with one of my slightly newer DPT caching host adapters does not detect the old board, so I can't prep a drive for use with this board. I don't know whether it's because of the architectural differences between this first generation board and all the later ones, or because there's some problem with the board.

Does anybody happen to have the utility disk for this board, or can confirm whether the DPTFMT utility from a newer gen board definitely does/does not work with this older one?

 

[Malvineous]

Hasn't SCSI used block numbers (like IDE's LBA) since the start? That would mean you could format the drive on any machine with a SCSI controller then move it across.

I guess the trick would be figuring out which translation algorithm the controller uses to convert CHS into "SCSI LBA", and entering the appropriate values into the BIOS to get the mapping correct.

 

[mR_Slug]

Have you tried debug g=c800:5? I have a Mylex SCSI controller from about 1990 that iirc uses the debug routine to setup the first two SCSI disks. You have to set the BIOS drives to type 0. I think the computer reads the bootsector, that runs a program to overwrite the systems BIOS drive table and then the SCSI controller gets involved, black magic, and everything works in WD1003 mode. All I know is that the "LLF" that this Mylex controller puts on the drive is not like the later Adaptec/DPT controllers.

YMMV

Andrew

 

[bear]

There is no BIOS extension ROM on the card in which a routine that could be jumped to might live. This isn't like an Adaptec; the DPTFMT utility does something to prepare a drive for use with the host adapter. I imagine at the very least it writes out some kind of sector translation table. But until it's done, no drive is usable.