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F/W Streaming RAID
@8F82.ADF - IBM SCSI-2 F/W Streaming-RAID /A 'Cheetah'
FWSR Option Disk, #1 v. 2.31 Contains Disk Configuration Utility! (Cheetah and Passplay)
SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Streaming RAID Adapter/A "Cheetah" FRU 06H3059
Function of NVSRAM SCSI-2 F/W Streaming RAID Adapter/A "Cheetah" FRU 06H3059
Note: Channel 2 is
connected to J2 (edgecard) and J9 (external 68 MDX). Do
not connect devices to both ports. One -OR- the other,
not both. It probably won't smoke things, but this isn't
a SCSI-1 narrow 5MB/s device, either. Jumper J6 is a 6-pin header that provides a connection for three status LEDs. Pin 1 is to the left end of the board. In each case the odd-numbered pin is the +5V source. An external series resistor is not required for the LEDs.
DAC960 LED Error Reporting When any DAC960 is powered up, the i960 CPU performs a sequence hardware tests. Failure(s) is indicated by flashing an error-code on the Write Pending LED. An appropriate BIOS error message is also on the system. The memory parity error (irrecoverable), during card operation, is also indicated by the same LED.
The LED blinks will always be repeated at regular intervals.
i960CA is pin AND
function compatible with the i960CF. The i960CF adds a
4KB cache (or something). People have swapped out the CA
with a CF for @ 10% increase in performance. Note: The i960Hx
seems cool, but lacks a DMA controller, some pins are
used for different purposes, and though 5v tolerant,
needs current limiting on the Vcc line. No Holy Joy
here, move along. J7,J8 have two solder pads that are shunted (jumpered). Purpose unknown. J10 has the bottom two solder pads shunted. Purpose unknown. J11 is a pair of
solder pads. Purpose unknown. U15,16 NCR 53C720 Datasheet and Programming Guide U18 Intel A80960CA25 Datasheet U18 Substitution Intel A80960CF Datasheet i960 Microprocessor Performance Brief U32 Dallas DS1225Y-200 64KB Nonvolatile SRAM Datasheet Scan I apologize for the long delay in detailing the Cheetah. Cheetah Side Card, Front FRU 06H3060
Wow. Simple but elegant. Area marked "Ground Plane" surrounds the central area of the side card. The individual signal lines are on this side, and each goes straight over to an inductor before continuing on to the SCSI port, J2. J1 on this side is unusual compared to other MCA cards. All pins on this side are connected to ground, with the exception being 17, 18, and 19. These three pins are brought out separate to the center of the board, where they cut over to the SCSI port. The edge that fits into the MCA slot is bare PCB, no resist, no nothing. No MCA bus signals or power is drawn by this side card. Cheetah Side Card, Rear FRU 06H3060
This side resembles the component side. The signal lines come off J1 (a normal looking edgecard) and go down to their through holes, where they cross over to the front side. Then they are routed to the SCSI port. Signal Lines is an area uncovered by the ground plane
where the signal
lines connect to the SCSI port header. The ground pins
are inside (and
connect to) the ground plane. Channels The Cheetah has two channels. Each channel is controlled by an NCR53C720. The header J1 is Channel 1. It usually is attached to an internal array, but with the addition of a side card, it can control an external array. The second channel uses J2 OR the external port, J9. This is still one channel, so one can use either the internal port, OR the external port. Do NOT try to use both J2 and J9 at once. Notes: NVSRAM Functions Each NV SRAM has a self-contained lithium energy source and control circuitry which constantly monitors VCC for an out-of-tolerance condition. When such a condition occurs, the lithium energy source is automatically switched on and write protection is unconditionally enabled to prevent data corruption. Cable Parts The mini C68 for the Channel edgecard connectors is the Molex 71660i, part# 15-92-3068, called a half pitch Centronics, or a VESA Media Connector. Suprise! AMP makes a similar part (mini-C68) AMP Part 1-557089-2 Any cable with a .025 pitch, 28 to 30 AWG will work with either connector. A Better Cable Hack?
My Take on it: Could you slit the flat cable up towards
the controller and get the very flexible cable bundle of
the IBM original? The black sheathing is available from
Jameco for about $1 a foot. Well worth it, IMHO. (Start
the slit with an X-Acto and use the reverse of the blade
to finish parting the conductors???) The sheathing is Techflex Cable Sleave,
looks to be the 3/8" size. Sold in a 25' spool. Part #162157,
Product # CCPT2X per spool $14.95 Techflex is HERE If the Brandt maneuver can be done from
the top drive connector to the adapter, it might be a
close match to the real thing HD LED Doesn't Work LED For Cheetah I tried this, but the LED didn't have enough umph. Pretty dim through the LED Panel. Maybe some sort of a drive circuit? Just had a thought- twist the existing HD LED out of the Op Panel and put the LED that is connected to J6 in there.... Possible Cyrix-Cheetah Incompatibility? Cache Size Go HERE for more information. Access the RAID Configuration Both the FWR (Passplay) and FWSR (Cheetah) are only configurable through the RAID Utilities disk. You CANNOT see the SCSI Disks under "Set and View SCSI Devices" like normal SCSI drives. Boot with FWSR Option Disk, #1 ver. 2.31 in order to view or configure the array. Both adapters use the same Utilities disk of the later IBM F/W Streaming RAID Adapter /A (Codename "Cheetah" - with external port) since both are based on Intel i960 / Mylex / NCR technology. There was a single-disk version 2.22, which should be unique for all /A-Raid adapters of that kind, but not the PCI-versions. The RAIDADM (manager) should work on both /A-adapters. Configuration Utility
version 2.31 consists out of two disks: Not sure if this fits- Fast/Wide Streaming RAID Flash BIOS for "Cheetah" FRU 06H3059 Caution! The Passplay and the Cheetah differ in the microcode, which *may not* be interchanged. The Passplay (FWR) adapter uses a microcode-level 1.6x through 1.99, the Cheetah (FWSR) uses 2.xx levels. If you flash the one adapter with the code from the other you end up in non-functional adapters.
FWSR Flash BIOS 2.21 For RAID controller WITH external port! Cheetah in a Model 95 The RAID bay for the 85/95/95A does not have a place for the status cable to attach. The RAID bay has a 68 pin edgecard at the back where the Molex style SCSI connector attaches to. The 95 RAID bays automatically terminate the SCSI drives inside. Do NOT enable termination on the individual drives! I installed a CD Rom in Bay 7. I used a 68 to 50 pin adapter from the RAID cable connector. I have installed both NT Workstation 4 and OS/2 on it. Both were able to detect and use the CD Rom during setup. FWIW, I had only one bay with three drives in it. Cheetah in a Server 500
Setting the CD-ROM ID in a Server 500 I think I saw a patch somewhere to "fix" a CD on the FWSR under NT.From Rich Nagle After checking the SCSI ID jumper on the backplane (set to LO for IDs 0 thru 5 on the backplane), a sudden flash of inspiration occurred - I set the CD-ROM to ID 5, went back under the RAID Utilities, and the CD-ROM was now ID6. I then deleted, then recreated the array. Now when I ran NT Setup the CD-ROM was recognized automatically. Linux
on FWSR? Not on machines with the IBM Raid controller with the old 2.43 firmware. No Linux driver available The IBM Fast/Wide Streaming Raid Adapter PCI as used in the Server 320/520 MCA-PCI versions is derived from the Mylex DAC960PL - it only has 128K Flash ROM (one 28F010 chip) but a second open socket. Firmware 3.x requires 256K Flash. I'd tried to plug in a second 28F010 ... but I think the old software contained in that chip confused the adapter a bit ... it behaved a little "strange" (long boot time etc.) What I do not have is an EPROMmer that is capable to write the Flash ROMs of the 28Fxxxx series or I could a) write a spare 2.4x Flash (to keep for the "worst case") and b) clear the 28F010 ROMs I pulled from some old boards. Else I would stuff in a blank ROM in the second socket, have the old 2.xx in the first and run a firmware update 3.x from the DAC960PL on that adapter. The machines with the older RAID-adapters ("Passplay" and "Cheetah") based on MCA technology are out of the discussion anyway. They are based on the DAC960M technology basically but an older draft of that concept. They use some of the chips of the -M and early -Px adapters (PL / PD) and they are developed by Mylex - but the firmware 3.x is PCI specific, not MCA. So you can practically forget about using them under Linux since the driver is *particularly* written for the 3.x firmware level. LVD on Cheetah From Peter If you get - for example - a set of U/W "Low Voltage Differential" (LVD) IBM DDRS 4.5 or 9.1GB drives then they will nicely run with the Cheetah. I have some of them in "Starship" - my Server 520 attached to the Fast/Wide RAID Adapter PCI. No problem. You can even mix them with "ordinary" F/W or U/W drives. Same for the Cheetah and even the older Passplay. Logical Drive Limits under NT Tony Ingenoso speaks with conviction when he says: Specifications
AdapterID 8F82 IBM SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Streaming-RAID Adapter/A Interrupt Level BIOS Base Address I/O Address DMA Arbitration Level
Tower Configuration
Data Parity Exception Handling
Support Micro Channel Streaming
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Content created and/or collected by: Ardent Tool of Capitalism - MAD Edition! is maintained by Tomáš Slavotínek. |
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