@8EFC.ADF IBM PS/2 Fast/Wide SCSI Adapter
C8EFC.ADF Init file for @8EFC.ADF
193-294 SCSI-2 F/W Adapter/A
194-145 SCSI-2 F/W Adapter/A, SCSI-2 Differential F/W Adapter/A
rev71upd.exe SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Adapter Firmware Upgrade 7.1
corv77.exe SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Firmware rev7.7
ibm2.exe F/W and OS/2 2.1 Fix '94 (ibm2scsi.add and ibm2m57.add)
scsi2fw.exe SCSI-2 F/W Support Diskette v2.0
SPOCK206 IBM SCSI Driver for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT by Unal Z
Adapter Microcode Protection during Download (TDB)
(old)
Possible MCA Interface Chip Problems
SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Adapter/A
Corvette Rear
LED Flash Codes
Jumpers on the Fast/Wide
Running Wide Devices on Narrow Cables
RS/6000 Boot Support
Update Corvette Flash
Maximum Number of Corvettes Supported
80C188 vs. 80C186
PTC Function
Internal Connector
External Conductor
MCX to HPDB68 Interposer
05H3834 is HPDB68 Only!
SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Adapter/A Specs
SCSI device and adapter configuration flexibility
SCSI Device Order
Maximum SCSI Devices Supported
Fast POST Consequences
Server 85 - Sharing External SCSI DASD Fails
ADF Sections
Fast/Wide SCSI-2 Adapter/A "Corvette" FRU P/N 92F0160

CR1 Motorola MBRD630CT
J2 Mini-C68 SCSI port
J4,5,8 Leave open (not used)
J7 Serial port factory use
OS1 40MHz SMD Oscillator
TR29 PTC (External SCSI bus)
TR30 PTC (Internal SCSI bus)
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U1 61G3929, SCSI BIOS, Odd
U2 61G3930, SCSI BIOS, Even
U3 Internal SCSI Controller
U4 AMD N80C186-20
U5 61G2323 MCA Bus iface "Malibu"
U6 External SCSI Controller
U7 PLCC socket (unused PS/2 or RS6K)
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U3 and U6 are:
52G9307 (9314) on controllers made from about 9243 to 9340
82G2645 (9352) on controllers made from about 9404 to 9512
CR1, CR2 (back) MBRD630CT ("B630T")
Schottky Barrier Rectifier (datasheet,
pic).
Part of the SCSI termination circuit.
Fast/Wide SCSI-2 Adapter/A Rear

CR2 LED (flash codes)
CR3 Motorola MBRD630CT
U8,9 89F7000 Term Network, external
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U10,11 89F7000 Term Network, internal
U14,19 Sony CXK581000AM-70LL
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J7 - Serial Port
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IBM's TDB
identifies the Burn/Alive/TXD/RXD as being used to flash certain components.
Basically, factory use only.
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LED Flash Codes
All SCSI-2 F/W adapter versions (Corvette SE, DE, Enhanced/Turbo,
and Integrated) have an onboard LED indicator that aids in problem debugging.
At power ON, the LED stays lit until SCSI POST executes (RS6K,
system LED=292). If SCSI POST is successful, the LED turns off.
If there is a hardware failure, the LED flashes a failure code. The failing
component is identified by LED blinks, a pause, then a repeat of the blinking
code again, over and over.
Code | Definition | Probable Causes |
0 | No error (LED turned off) | N/A |
1 | 80186 ROM Test Failure | SCSI Controller |
2 | Local RAM Test Failure | SCSI Controller |
3 | FUSE Bad | Devices/Cable/Term |
4 | 80186 Peripheral Test Failure | SCSI Controller |
5 | Local Transfer Bus (LTB) Test Failure | SCSI Controller |
6 | Undefined Error Condition | SCSI Controller |
7 | System Interface Control Chip Test Fail | SCSI Ctlr/IO Plnr |
8 | Internal SCSI Interface Test Failure | Device/Cable/TERM/Contrlr |
10 | External SCSI Interface Test Failure | Device/Cable/TERM/Contrlr |
A blink code of 3, 8, or 10 may indicate a configuration problem like a
shorted cable or bad device, or duplicate SCSI addresses on the same bus.
LED stays solidly lit after SCSI POST executes - replace SCSI controller.
LED blinks during normal operation. If it's non-periodic, it isn't a problem.
During normal operation the device driver may issue a command reset to the
adapter, when this occurs you will see the LED blink briefly.
Example: If the LED blinks 8 times, this indicates a bad internal SCSI bus.
First, remove the internal SCSI cable from the SCSI Controller. If the problem
persists, replace SCSI Controller. If not, add the cable and SCSI devices back
(one at a time) until LED again starts to blink.
Running Wide Devices on Narrow Cables
The Corvette automatically terminates it's end of the SCSI bus with
termination networks on the back side. However, some user intervention
IS required within System Programs.
Uli Link replies:
Not in terms of termination. You must disable "wide messages" if
you connect a wide SCSI device to a wide SCSI controller through narrow
cabling. During negotiation both devices agree both can speak "wide". But the
cabling cannot. So *no* wide negotiation must happen.This is what disabling the
"wide messages" does. If you connect wide SCSI devices through wide cables all
works automagically.
Some combinations of Narrow and Wide
devices on a Corvette
8EFCh "IBM PS/2 SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Adapter/A" or planar section
"Wide SCSI messages - External"
<"Enabled">,
Disabled
Enable for a wide cable and wide external device.
Disabled for a Wide SCSI device attached through a
narrow (8 bits wide) external interface cable.
"Wide SCSI messages - Internal"
<"Enabled">, Disabled
Enable Wide - Internal for a wide cable and at least a
wide terminator (or wide device). Disable for a Wide
SCSI device attached through a narrow (8 bits wide)
internal cable.
Corvette Capabilities
The Corvette is a SCSI-2, 32-bit MCA 40MBps Data Streaming bus
master adapter with dual SCSI-2 16-bit, F/W channels (one 20MB/s internal,
one 20MB/s external). The dual bus of the adapter
prevents access to internal DASD from the external port and also allows
the maximum cable length to be calculated individually for each bus. Data
transfer rates for 8 bit SCSI up to 10MB/s, 16 bit devices up to 20MB/s.
The Corvette supports SCSI Tagged Command Queuing (TCQ),
making it possible to send multiple commands to the fixed disk, and the disk
stores the commands and execute each command in the sequence which will give
optimal performance. Standard 8-bit SCSI devices are supported using either
asynchronous, synchronous, or fast synchronous (10MBps) SCSI data transfer
rates.
RS/6000 SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Boot Support
SCSI-2 Fast/Wide adapters available for the RISC/6000 are recognized as boot
devices on all POWER2 and PowerPC systems. They are not recognized as boot
devices on POWER-based models. Any devices attached to a POWER-based model via
a SCSI-2 Fast/Wide adapter may be used for storage but cannot be used as a boot
device.
SCSI-2 F/W Adapter (4-6, 4-7, 4-C) Boot Support
Type | Model | Processor | SCSI-2 F/W Boot Support |
7006 | All | PowerPC 601/604 | Yes |
7007 | N40 | PowerPC 601 | No (N/A) |
7008 | All | POWER RSC | No |
7009 | All | PowerPC 601/604 | Yes |
7010 | All "Xstation" | (various) | No (N/A) |
7011 | 22x,23x | POWER RSC | No |
25x | PowerPC 601 | Yes |
7012 | 32x,34x,35x,36x,37x | POWER | No |
380,390,39H | POWER2 | Yes |
397 | POWER2 Super Chip | Yes |
G30,G40 | PowerPC 601/604 SMP | Yes |
7013 | 52x,53x,54x,55x,560,570,580 | POWER | No |
58H,590,591,59H | POWER2 | Yes |
595 | POWER2 Super Chip | Yes |
J30,J40 | PowerPC 601/604 SMP | Yes |
7015 | 930,950,97x,98x,R10 | POWER | No |
990,R2x | POWER2 | Yes |
R30,R40 | PowerPC 601/604 SMP | Yes |
7030 | All | POWER2 | Yes |
Update Corvette Flash (from Uli Link over in Germany)
Get REV77.BIN, it is the
renamed - 8EFC3011.77M from corv77.exe
Run rev71upd.exe It creates
a bootable floppy:
REV71 BIN 131,082 01-19-96 6:40p REV71.BIN
AUTOEXEC BAT 720 04-13-03 1:07p AUTOEXEC.BAT
README TXT 815 10-05-95 10:06a README.TXT
DOWNCORV EXE 2,479 08-31-94 6:16p DOWNCORV.EXE
REV58 BIN 131,082 09-22-93 3:50p REV58.BIN
SCSILEVL COM 928 03-24-93 5:31p SCSILEVL.COM
COMMAND COM 48,006 10-25-91 12:00p COMMAND.COM
DOWNNEW EXE 2,479 08-10-94 9:53a DOWNNEW.EXE
Copy Rev77.bin to a:. Edit a:\autoexec.bat:
@echo off
//--------------------//
@echo on
pause
downnew rev77.bin <-- rename the rev71.bin to rev77.bin
@echo off
//---------------------//
You can use "downcorv.exe" instead of
"downnew.exe" "downnew.exe" checks for flashing only
newer firmware into corvette. "downcorv.exe" is even
able to downgrade.
If you flash the DOS way, the new firmware
level is NOT recognized by AIX. To flash a PS/2 corvette
in a RS/6000 rename 8EFC3011.77M to 8EFC0001.77M. Now
the firmware level 077 is recognized by AIX. The adapter
still will work in a PS/2 and can be downgraded back to
071 or even 058.
Tested with 3 corvettes in RS/6000 C10 and
2 Lacunas. No problems so far. But no problems before
flashing, too.
How Many is Enough?
Tim Clarke uttered this after a pint of warm beer:
All **IBM** SCSI CBIOS-flavour (i.e. *not* FD
MCS700 OEM) will share IRQ14 and you only need one BIOS
ROM enabled to drive multiple adapters. So, for example
you *should* be able install (in the same slot-type,
please) IBM F+W SCSI-2 "Corvette", IBM SCSI w/cache
("Spock") and IBM SCSI w/o cache ("Tribble") in the same
PS/2. No naughties like AHA1640, Storage Dimensions unless
you disable their BIOS ROMs and assign a different IRQ.
OS Limits
Not all Microsoft products support multiple IBM
SCSI adapters gracefully. W9x cannot handle shared IRQs
and will drop into MS-DOS compatibility mode.
Win NT handles the shared Interrupts. OS/2, Linux
and many UNIX systems support shared Interrupts.
80C188 vs. 80C186
Older adapters (SCSI, SCSI w/cache) use an
80C188-16 microcontroller as busmaster-CPU, the
Fast/Wide uses an 80C186-20 busmaster CPU.
Both CPUs however are integrated CPUs
with 2 8-bit parallel-ports, the -188 has 8-bit external
data-path, the -186 has 16-bit external data-path and
slightly different (enhanced) command set.
PTC Function
There is one PTC for the internal SCSI bus
and another for the external bus. The PTC protects the
SCSI bus from high currents due to shorts on the cable,
terminator, or device. It is highly unlikely that the PTC
resistor can be tripped by a defective adapter.
A fault (short circuit) causes an increase in
PTC resistance and temperature. The increase in resistance
causes the PTC resistor to halt current flow. The PTC
resistor returns to a low resistive and low temperature
state when the fault is removed from the SCSI bus or when
the system is powered off. Wait 5 minutes for the PTC
resistor to fully cool, then reset.
MF-SM Series - datasheet,
archived page
Empty PLCC Socket
The PLCC Socket U7 was possibly to provide a
RS/6000 BIOS, and the jumper J5 might have been to enable
it. RS/6000 documentation says that the PLCC socket is
unused.
The 4-4 SCSI-2 SE High Performance
Adapter has a chip (P/N 52G7507) in the PLCC socket. The 4-4 is the only
F/W related SCSI adapter to have the PLCC chip installed.
Jumpers on Fast/Wide
The results of shorting the jumpers ranged from no difference, slight
performance hit (10% overhead increase) or a system-halting error. Leave them
off. RS/6000 documentation says the jumpers are to be left open.
J4 Grounds pin 33 of the MCA Bus Interface,
61G2323. Purpose unknown.
J5 Purpose unknown.
J8 Grounds pin 1 of both U1 and U2.
Resembles J6, Boot Block Enable on DFW.
68-pin Internal Connector
This is a "mini-Centronics" plug. The ANSI moniker for it is a "P" plug. 80
pin version seems to be used for SCA drives... Hmm... It used to be you could
find many IBM P/2 or RS/6000 cables and you could pick and choose the exact one
for your PS.2. Nowadays, there are a lot more HPDB68 SCSI connectors to IBM
SCSI controllers.
AMP (Tyco) # 1-557089-2
CHAMP
050,68P A/P RCPT,25 CL CHAMP. 0.050 I Series
Interface Connectors
For VMC Applications: 68-Position
Designed for 30 AWG solid conductors on .064mm (.025")
centers.
Obsolete, but old stock available here and there...
TE Connectivity (Molex) # 1734098-7
Champ050
68p A/P RCPT 25CL PB .050 CHAMP Series I 1734098-7
Spec
Drawing
Active part.
Molex 71660i # 15-92-3068 1.27mm (.050") Pitch
EBBI 50D - Receptacle, Vertical, IDT 71660i
30 AWG solid or stranded .025" ribbon cable
or laminated discrete wire cable
Status is "Obsolete" and "Replacement: Contact Molex". Odd,
all the 071660 series board receptacles are still
active.
68 Pin External Conductor
I'll be darned if I know who made the leaf connector. From my lurking about,
the peculiar connector is called the "MCX" and is made from pure unobtanium.
HPDB68 to MCX Adapter
FRU P/N 50G0460, Mkt P/N 94G5569
The C68 or MCX port is refreshingly rare. IBM did have some smarts when it
made a handy-dandy adapter, "Interposer 68 Ribbon to 68 Socket", P/N 50G0460.
Mine is made by Amphenol with a date of 06/97.
Use of this interposer is simple. Use the thumbwheels to fasten the
interposer onto the F/W adapter. Screw on the HPDB68 socket. Power on and
compute.

05H3834 is HPDB68 Only!
This is an HPDB68 M to HPDB68 F interposer, for MAGSTAR 3570, 3590, and 9406
AS/400. It is a near-miss, where BOTH connectors are HPDB68... No Holy Joy,
folks, move along...

"INTERPOSER 68 HIGH TO 68 STANDARD" IBM P/N 05H3834, Amphenol 04/95.
MidrangeWiki - 05H3834
"05H3834 is an IBM part number for a SCSI interposer
which was only needed for the old tape/disk controller
card feature card #6501. It is a passthrough type
connector, with male pins on one side and female pin
receptacles on the other side.
The interposer was needed because the pins on the SCSI
cables did not make proper physical contact with the
#6501 card... ... the interposer has longer male pins
than the standard length, as seen on a 61G8324
terminator for comparison."
SCSI-2 Fast/Wide Adapter/A Specs
SCSI type |
SCSI-2 Fast/Wide |
SCSI bus path / speed |
16 bit / 20 MB/sec |
I/O bus path / speed |
32 bit / 40 MB/sec streaming |
I/O features |
Streaming data transfer Address parity and data parity |
RAID levels |
None (use software) |
Tagged Command Queuing |
Yes |
Processor |
80C186 at 20 MHz |
Size |
Type 3 (short) |
Channels |
Two (one internal/one external) |
Connectors |
Two internal SCSI-1 or SCSI-2 cabling 50 pin edgecard and 68 pin mini C68 (only one active);one external C68 |
Devices supported |
7 narrow or 15 wide per adapter 15 on Server 500 on one or two channels |
Cache std / max |
0 KB / 0 KB (128 byte buffer) |
SCSI device and adapter configuration flexibility
Systems with the enhanced SCSI device and
adapter support allow up to 8 IBM PS/2 SCSI adapters of
any type to be installed in a single system. The maximum
number of SCSI devices which many be configured in these
newer systems has also been increased from 60 to
120. However, other factors, for example, the type
of devices (optical, etc.), cooling requirements, or power
consumption of the devices may limit the number for a
particular system.
SCSI Device Order
SCSI device logical ordering and hard drive
letter assignment (e.g. C:, D:) sequence is determined
by the SCSI adapter slot numbers, internal or external
SCSI bus connection, and SCSI ID of the connected
devices.
Adapters are scanned for SCSI devices
beginning with the SCSI adapter in the lowest numbered
slot. Devices connected to the same adapter are
logically ordered according to device SCSI IDs in order
from 7 to 0 and then from 15 to 8 according to the
priority scheme defined by the SCSI standard.
Devices connected to a SCSI-2 Fast/Wide adapter's
internal bus connector are ordered logically before
devices connected to the external bus of the same
adapter.
Maximum SCSI Devices Supported
Wide SCSI devices support 16 possible SCSI
ID values. The adapter uses one these values;
therefore, the SCSI-2 Fast/Wide adapter can connect up
to 15 fast and wide devices internally or externally in
any combination using the remaining ID values.
Narrow SCSI devices support 8 possible SCSI ID values;
therefore, up to 7 narrow SCSI devices can be connected
to the internal or external SCSI buses in any
combination using the remaining ID values. Wide
and narrow devices may be mixed on the same
internal/external bus by using the proper combinations
of SCSI bus cables, terminators, and/or SCSI connector
convertor adapters.
Note:
Use of a 8 bit (Narrow) cable forces the controller to
default to only 7 devices supported on that port, even
if all devices on that cable are Wide.
Fast POST Consequences
Some newer systems also provide a FAST POST
option which may be selected from the system
configuration menu or from the IBM logo screen.
When this option is selected, the system will not check
for the presence of newly added SCSI devices unless F1
is also pressed while the IBM logo is displayed.
Newly added SCSI devices will not be configured nor will
an error occur if the fast post option is chosen as the
default. To access the system configuration program,
press F1 while the IBM logo screen is displayed to
configure the new SCSI device(s) initially.
Server 85 - Sharing External SCSI DASD fails
External SCSI DASD expansion shared between two system fails when one of the
systems is powered down. Systems affected : 9585 0N* MCA SCSI-2 Fast/Wide
controller card.
On the 9585 0N* the trace on the solder
(back) side of the planar running parallel below resistor R351 must be cut. On
the SCSI-2 F/W controller the trace running next to C30 on the component side
of the card must be cut. This trace runs from the fourth pin from the right on
the bottom of the larger IC next to the external connector.

On the Corvettes in my possession, some have no trace at all from the fourth
pin, nor is there a C30 on the PCB. Others have it. YMMV.
ADF Sections @8EFC.adf 4/10/95
I/O Address
Each adapter must have a unique I/O address
range.
<3540-3547>,
3548-354F, 3550-3557, 3558-355F, 3560-3567, 3568-356F,
3570-3577, 3578-357F, 3578-357F
DMA Arbitration Level
Arbitration level used to transfer
data.
<C>, D,
E, 8, 9, A, B, 1, 3, 5, 6, 7
SCSI Adapter Address (ID)
SCSI ID of adapter. Usually ID7, unless you
have specific requirements.
Adapter IDs available are: <7>,
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0
Move Mode Support
Enable or Disable Micro Channel Subsystem
Control Block Move Mode This is the second mode of SCBA
(first is locate mode) which permits the system
processor to move the subsystem control blocks to the
adapters directly.
<Enabled>
or Disabled
Wait State Support
Enable or Disable Bus Master wait states.
If the target expansion card is an older card, it may
not be able to process commands or data from the
busmaster fast enough, and when queried by the
busmaster, it replies with "not ready". By inserting a
wait state, the slower card has more time to signal
"ready". Enabling wait states can slow your busmaster
down.
<Disabled>
or Enabled
Data Parity Exception Handling
This Adapter can generate and detect data
parity on Micro Channel. Data parity must be supported
on both ends of an across-the-bus transmission in order
for this error detection process to be effective. A data
parity enable (-DAPAREN) bus line to the system and
other expansion boards is enabled when data parity is
being used. If the System does not support Data Parity
Exception Handling, this feature will always be
disabled.
<Enabled>
or Disabled
Selected Feedback Return
Exception
Whether a busmaster will report errors
detected in the select-feedback-return process.
When enabled, the busmaster monitors the
selected feedback return and card-selected feedback
buslines. The return line tells the master that it's
target expansion board is responding properly to being
addressed for a read or write operation. If the bus
master does not receive this signal (and SFR has been
enabled) it may mean that the expansion board is not
operating properly or that the signals themselves are
not properly traveling across the expansion bus. This
error causes the master to immediately halt the transfer
in progress and notify the host system of the error
using an interrupt.
Note:
The SFR must be ignored for PC compatibility. If the
System doesn't support the Selected Feedback Return
feature, it will always be ignored.
<Enabled>
or Ignored
100 ns Streaming Data Transfer
Support
This provides better performance. It will
be disabled if the system doesn't support it.
<Enabled>
or Disabled
Target Mode
Target mode should be disabled only if this
system is sharing SCSI devices with another system and
there are more than 15 devices to be shared. Only
15 devices can be configured on each adapter. When target mode is enabled, this
adapter appears as a processor device on the other
system and unless you have specialized software that
can communicate between the two systems through these
processor devices (peer-to-peer communication), there
is no advantage in having target mode enabled. When
target mode is disabled, this adapter does not appear as
a device to the other system, and one more device can be
shared by the two systems. If your system is not
sharing any SCSI devices with another system on this
adapter, it does not matter whether you enable or
disable target mode.
<Enabled>
or Disabled
SCSI Disconnect
Disconnect is a SCSI-bus procedure in which
a device logically stops communicating with the adapter
during certain operations and then reestablishes
communication with the adapter when the operation is
complete. Disconnect should not be confused with
the 'Presence Error Reporting' option for a device in
'Set and view SCSI device configuration.'
If you are using an operating system that
is single-threaded and issues commands to only one
device at a time (such as DOS or
Win95), disabling SCSI disconnect might
result in a slight performance improvement. If
your operating system is multi-threaded (such as OS/2),
disabling SCSI disconnect will degrade the performance
of the SCSI subsystem.
<Enabled> or Disabled
Fast SCSI - External
If Fast SCSI devices are attached externally,
enabling Fast SCSI improves performance
- One external SCSI device enclosure model
3511.
- Up to three external SCSI device enclosures
model 3510.
- Any external configuration where SCSI cable
length isn't > 3 meters.
<Disabled>
or Enabled
Wide SCSI messages - External
'Enabled' if external Wide SCSI device
attached with WIDE (16 bit) cable.
'Disabled' if external Wide SCSI device
attached with NARROW (8 bit) cable -OR-
if an external Narrow
SCSI device is attached with a NARROW (8 bit) cable.
Note:
"Disabled" applies termination to the High Byte on the
adapter itself.
<Enabled>
or Disabled
Wide SCSI messages - Internal
'Enabled' unless a Wide SCSI device is
attached through a narrow (8 bits wide) cable.
Note:
This is almost always using a Wide drive on the 50 pin
edgecard connector.
<Enabled>
or Disabled
Internal/External Bus Mode
'Separate', SCSI devices on external bus
connector can have the same SCSI ID setting as other
SCSI devices connected to internal SCSI bus connector on
the same adapter.
'Combined', all devices must have
unique SCSI ID settings regardless of which SCSI bus
connector is used to attach the devices. Default
is 'Separate' unless you are using an operating system
device driver that does not support independent
operation of the internal and external SCSI buses on
the adapter.
<Separate>
or Combined
Note: SCO Unix and
Banyan Vines can not recognize devices configured on the
SCSI-2 F/W Adapter (DFW as well), when in a 90 /95 level
3 BIOS or higher. This is due to the the internal
and external ports being separated. A special
version of the SCSI-2 F/W Adapter's ADF
(@8EFC.ADF) file is available to allow the buses to be
set to a COMBINED state, which overcomes this problem.
Note: I don't
know what version this is for, nor do I know if later
versions of SCO Unix and Banyan Vines fixed this issue.
The last version of the F/W ADF has "COMBINED" as a
choice.
System Determined
ROM Address Range
Address of 32K block of memory assigned to
adapter. Only one SCSI Adapter will have the ROM
assigned, and any other SCSI Adapter installed will
share that address range.
ESDI Requirements
If the ESDI adapter is also installed, then
the address of the SCSI adapter must be greater than the
ESDI adapter address.
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