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Adaptec AHA-1640

@0F1F.ADF AHA-1640 SCSI Host Adapter

Metropoli Files - Adaptec
Format Utility for Legacy Adaptec SCSI Host Adapters
Install Guide for the AHA-1640

Adaptec's Disk Controller Sets SCSI Speed Record (AIC-6250 article)

Drivers
AHA-1640 SCSI Host Adapter
Adapter ROMs
Block Diagram
Features
   Transfer Rates
   RAID Support
   W95 and DMA
No SCSI BIOS Installed
AHA-1640 in IML System
Accessing Onboard Utility and Multiple AHA-1640s in a System
ADF 0F1F Sections

Drivers

AHA206 for Windows 95/98 by Unal Z
DOSDRVR.EXE DOS ASPI drivers 02/01/99
AHA164X.EXE OS/2 v2.x driver for AHA-164x
NW215.EXE Novell NetWare v2.15.
NW22.EXE NetWare v2.2.
NW30.EXE Novell NetWare 3.0.
NW310.EXE Novell NetWare v3.10.
NW31X.EXE Novell NetWare v3.1x.
NW4X.EXE Novell NetWare v4.x.

AHA-1640 SCSI Host Adapter FCC ID FGT5AG1640 |

RN1,4-9 Allen Bradley 710A103 or BI 899-5 resistor networks (R220/330)

F1 (from Peter) The fuses are Schurter (Switzerland) microfuses of the MSF-125 series, order no. 0034.9875 - a single package is 10 pieces at 125V / 1.6A, rated "quick acting F". Schurter has an internet page with product catalogues in .PDF at www.schurter.ch (Ed. A PTC resistor might work here as well.)

AIC-4600 HPC (HPC46003V20) ?

Adapter ROMs

1640.EXE AHA-164x BIOS and Microcode, v1.08
   Note: The microcode and BIOS should only be changed together.

AHA1640_108.ZIP AHA-164x BIOS and Microcode, v1.08 (zipped images)

Block Diagram

Features

16 bit, Bus Master DMA, Passive Termination, Supports up to 7 SCSI devices
   Supports SCSI HDs under DOS of up to: 1GB with on board BIOS, and up to 8 GB as a secondary device using Adaptec EZ-SCSI.
   SCSI and SCSI 2 Compatible, 50 pin HPDB50 external port, 50-pin internal connector.

Transfer rates

Up to 8 MB/s bus master DMA on the Micro Channel bus.
5 MB/s synchronous burst or 2 MB/s asynchronous burst on the SCSI bus.

RAID Support

The AHA-164x supports RAID Level 0, 1, and 5 with the help of third party software.
Ed. Whose software?

W95 and DMA Channels

It seems as if W95 has the choices of DMA Channels 5, 6, and 7 available. You may have to go into the System Programs (a.k.a. Setup) and change the Arbitration Level to one that W95 is looking for.

No SCSI BIOS Installed

1. The AHA1640 says no SCSI BIOS installed. The chips are there on the card.

The BIOS is installed under following circumstances:
-no "drive C: " (Hex-80 device) previously installed
-drive size is 1GB or below
-BIOS is enabled under the machine setup and on a valid address

2. I can't get it to boot a HDD which boots fine form a Future Domain. If the drive is over 1GB and / or low-level formatted with a different translation scheme it will not be recognized anyway. The Adaptec Boot BIOS is "old fashioned" and has a 1GB limit.

It is principally the same as used on the ISA AHA-1540B (not -C or -CF) and has no CTRL-A support and uses the DOS-compatible HD translation, which is a bit "register width challenged".

You need to LL-Format the drive with Adaptec's SCSIFMT ... which requires a boot disk with the ASPI4DOS.SYS to have the drive under ASPI-Manager control. The ASPI Manager is capable to handle drives over 1GB - the Boot BIOS isn't.

Using AHA-1640 in an IML System

The IBM model 90 and 95 systems that are non-flash systems (Types 1, 2, and 3) require the use of an IBM made SCSI controller to store the IML information.

Install the AHA-1640 as the secondary adapter, boot the machine using the IBM System Reference diskette and configure the AHA-1640 as the secondary adapter and set the BIOS to disabled.

Ed. IML systems depend on the Int4b function to perform the Initial Microcode Load. With any non-IBM SCSI adapter installed, the non-IBM SCSI adapter will be scanned first (all of them have a lower I/O address than the IBM SCSI adapters). Even _IF_ there is a bootable device on the AHA-1640, it CANNOT perform the IML. Since the IML is not completed, the system cannot scan for the IBM SCSI adapter for the IML information. Result: System hang.

Accessing Onboard Utility and Multiple AHA-1640s

> Adaptec onboard utilities are nice. [...] But don't exist on the MCA 1640...there is no "Control-A" for it, unless perhaps you tinkered with the ROMs.

Nihavent Longa sounds off with:
   They do - the Onboard Utility is accessed through the DOS debug, type 'debug' on the DOS prompt and then enter G=XXXX:6, replace XXXX by the segment value of the BIOS base address, for the default value use G=DC00:6, you can then list installed SCSI devices and low-format any target/LUN.

You can have multiple AHA-1640s in a system, as usual only one BIOS should be enabled. The BIOS will select as the boot device the host adapter with the lowest number physical slot among those having a 0 as the last digit of their I/O address (330h, 230h or 130h). If using auto-config, the adapter in the lowest slot will be selected as the boot adapter and assigned I/O address of 330h.

If you want to use another adapter as the boot adapter, all adapters in a lower numbered slot than the boot adapter should have a 4 as the last digit in their I/O addresses, i.e. 334h, 234h or 134h. Again, only one adapter should have its BIOS enabled.

AdapterID 0F1F AHA-1640 SCSI Host Adapter

Adapter BIOS
   Memory location of BIOS ROM. Note, if two AHA-1640 host adapters reside in the system, one of them must have its BIOS ROM disabled.
      <DC000h>, D8000h, D4000h, D0000h, CC000h, C8000h, BIOS disabled

I/O Port Address
   I/O Port of the adapter
      <330h>, 334h, 234h, 134h, 230h, 130h 

Arbitration Level
   Selects DMA channel used to transfer data.
      <Level_5>, 6, 7, 4, 3, 1, 0 

Interrupt Level
   Interrupt channel used to report status.
      <Int_15>, 14, 12, 11, 10, 9 

SCSI Address
     SCSI address of the host adapter
      <Addr_7>, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 

Sync Xfer Started by AHA-1640 Yes/No
   Synchronous transfer on the SCSI bus will be started by the adapter if  'Yes'.
     <Yes>, No 

SCSI Parity Checking On/Off
    The host adapter will check SCSI Parity if  'On'
    <On>, Off 

Fairness On/Off
   Bus Arbitration Fairness. Adapter releases control of bus after it has been using it exclusively.
      <On>,Off