SCSI Card Puzzlement

I just installed an Apple/ATTO Express PSC SCSI card in my B&W (10.3.8). Attached are two AtlasV drives, with SCSI ID=0 and 1, and properly terminated. Both drives are mounted and appear fully functional when I boot into 10.3.8, but not when I boot into 9.2.1. Any hints as to why?
Second, I assume this is supposed to be a bootable card. When I try to boot from it into 10.3.8, I get the flashing folder/? icon, then it boots to another drive. I have a freshly installed OS X system on the drive, and I tried running the firmware update with no success.

Now that you have plugged your Express PCI PSC card into both a Blue & White and a beige G3, you may have noticed that the PCI slots on the Blue & White will accept another section of connector that the Express PCI PSC card does not have. The reverse situation, using the Apple/ATTO UL2D is also interesting -- the last section of the connector on the UL2D plugs into nothing in the beige.
The Apple/ATTO UL2D was shipped in later Macs in the line, mostly the Graphite G4s and some later ones. Apple says it is unsupported in the beige. In addition to Single-Ended drives, it can also support LVD drives and transfer up to 80 MBytes/sec/channel with LVD drives. The terminators for LVD got so big the Drive manufacturers gave up including them on the drives.
The beige G3 problems I have seen with the Apple/ATTO UL2D are crashes due to conflicts with the portions of the CD driver in Mac OS 9: There is a direct conflict [startup crash] with High Sierra extension, and even if you remove that extension, if a CD is in the drive at startup (but the Mac is not booting from that CD) it crashes to location 0. [But the CD driver is known to cause some other, different problems, and sometimes needs to be replaced with an older version anyway].
Mac OS 9 Apple System Profiler does not understand that the UL2D is a 2-channel card. (Apparently, it never recognizes any two-channel cards as such.)
To Mac OS 9 Drive Setup, the Drives appear on another SCSI Bus or two, and it is happy to see them and format them.
In Mac OS X, the only problem is that Darwin/Unix jumps on the drives so fast the drives sometimes have not had a chance to spin up, are not ready, and are bypassed. Resetting their IDs to numbers above 7 seems to help. Mac OS X RAID seems to be fully supported (although as advertised, those RAID drives do not mount in Mac OS 9). OS X Server 10.3 can be installed (with XPostFacto) and made to work with Mirrored Drives for user directory storage for a modest number of users (probably less than the 350 users talked about for a single server).
The Apple/ATTO cards can usually be had for around US$25, but will do up to 80 MBytes/sec/channel with LVD drives. The depopulated connector can be re-populated and work, but there is some risk involved in de-soldering 68 holes and re-soldering.
G4/867,G3 B&W,G3 AIO,5500,Q840AV Other OS and 9.2, 10.3 and Server - LW IIg, LW 4/600, ATalk ImageWriter LQ

Similar Messages

How can I re-install my old SCSI card (2906)?

I think I should have asked for guidance here first but...
I'm trying to re-install my old SCSI card in my G4 (Dual 1 GHz - 1.5 GB Ram, 10.5.8), it worked fine a few years ago (under previous OS) but I can't seem to get it running now. The Profiler sees the card (Adaptec 2906) but says there is no driver. So I downloaded a driver from the Adaptec site (2930 - they say its the same as the 2906 driver), installed it, connected an old ZIP drive as a test - and yes I set the auto termination. Restarted and got a Kernel panic! - retried and got another panic!
Un-installed the driver, cleaned the cashes and reset permissions with Onyx, so I appear to be back to a stable system.
Anyone have any experience with SCSI cards? I would greatly appreciate any/all suggestions. I do have some experience with computers [Apple II+, SE30, IIFX, 8500 PowerMac, but this old head just can't get this figured out.
Thanks in advance!

I thought I'd post this as an update and general information for others who might have a similar problem.
I have my old original Scsi card installed (Adaptec 2906), and it does work under 10.4.11 (my alternate/back-up system). I installed just "Adaptec78XXSCSI.kext" in the system/library/extensions folder and as long as I start my scanner before I boot into 10.4 everything seems to work just fine.
It's a bit of a pain to have to switch systems whenever I need to scan something, but I can live with it.
I tried to install the drivers in 10.5.8 but that doesn't work at all. If I install the whole Adaptec2930 package, I get a Kernel panic almost immediately. If I install just the "Adaptec78XXSCSI.kext", the card is not recognized. From what I've read on various sites is that 10.4 is the last OS that supports SCSI cards (or at least this Adaptec card). If someone has better/more information, I would appreciate hearing from them.
I contacted Adaptec tech support, but I have not as yet received a reply
In the end, things have worked out reasonably well. I have the use of my old reliable Agfa Scanner (Vuescan is great!), and my old Powermac 8500 is still functional enough for me to recover all my ancient tape archives.
An interesting little twist: Part of my incentive to re-install the old SCSI card was to recover my tape archives via Retrospect. But I discovered while searching for the drivers that Retrospect no longer supports the Adaptec cards, and hasn't for some time, so I could not have used it on my G4 anyway!
Now I'm saving my pennies for a new 27" iMac

OS 10.4.9 and SCSI card

Recently I installed OS 10.4 and prior to installation had to remove the SCSI card (wouldn't boot up off of disk with card in place). After removing the card installation was no problem. I tried a USB card but "Sleep" no longer works. Now that I have the system installed, do you think there will still be a conflict if I reinstall the SCSI card (use it for ZIP drive back up)either in operation or possible problems with update installations?
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Glen

Allan,
The SCSI card is Adaptec, AVA 2906(I think this is the model #). It was installed when I bought my computer years ago. I don't have any more info on it, other than what I find on the card. When I had problems with installation, I looked here in discussions and found some peripheral info on others with trouble having SCSI cards installed, that is how I decided to try removing it before installation. I thought the USB card would be the answer but as mentioned, trouble with that also.
Thanks,
Glen

SCSI card for a G5 or processor upgrade for a G4?

Hi all
Actually, this is a question that concerns the G5 and the G4 forum, but I decided to post it here first.
So, I have this old G4/400 PCI with an Adaptec 2930 SCSI card that I use for scanning slides with an Artix 4000t sclide scanner; this works fine, but the G4 is rather slow when it comes to using some features of the scanning software, such as removing scratches.
I've been thinking about buying a SCSI card for my G5 (Dual 1.8) for some time now, but I'm not sure what card I should go for; I'm not even sure if there are still cards for such an "old" device as the slide scanner (about 3 to 4 years old, no Ultrawide or something like that). And then there's the problem of the drivers for the card - how long will they be available, especially now that Apple is switching to Intel...?
The other possibility would be to buy a processor upgrade for the G4. I've seen some at OWC, and they seem to be less expensive than a SCSI card. The drawback of this solution is of course that I'll have to keep the G4 standing on my desk... on the other hand, I do know that the scanner will work perfectly with the G4.
The G5, on the other hand... it will be faster and easier, since I won't have to transfer the files for storage and editing, I could free some space on my desk,... but will it work? The G5 is running 10.4, I'm not sure if my current scanner driver is compatible... and what when 10.5 comes out...?
So I'm looking for a second, third, fourth... opinion:
What would you do? Get a SCSI card for the G5 or a processor upgrade for the G4? What SCSI card would you recommend?
TIA,
Tina

I've done some research on G5 and SCSI and scanners, and obviously, what I remembered was correct... making it work seems at least tricky, and maybe expensive too (if you've got to buy new scanning software and and..).
So I guess that's decided: No SCSI on the G5. Leaves the question, should I buy a processor upgrade card for the G4? Getting some dual G4 on eBay might be an option, but then, that would be another computer in my already crammed office, and I just can't throw the G4 away, it's one of the very first models...
I came by the idea of a processor upgrade because I just played around with an old Mac SE, which has an 68030 accelerator card installed, and this seems to work fine. Anyone has any experience with G3 /G4 upgrades (good or bad)?
Smokerz: Why would you not recommend an upgrade? Any bad experiences?
Tina

B/W G3 SCSI card problem

Hi all,
I have a rev. 1 B&W G3. Its 400 mhz and has 1gb of RAM and the stock ATI Rage. This machine came from the factory with an Ultra SCSI II card and a 9 GB SCSI II HD. About a year or so ago the HD died and I tryed to replace it with a cheap IDE Hard Drive, but then found out the hard way that i had the rev. 1 motherboard. So the machine has since been sitting on the floor looking cool with its translucent white/ blue casing, but not running. I've been using my beige 266 for a while now, but I want to get that B&W running again, as it is faster/more expandable/cooler looking. I have come across an orange micro grappler 2 906f SCSI card. It is for old style SCSI devices but it will run them fast. It says it is system bootable and recomended for the B&W G3. I installed 3 GB & 4 GB quantum SCSI drives onto the card. I installed 9.2 on the 3 GB and all booted up nicely. I attempted to install 10.3 but when I booted off the CD it said there were no hard drives there, even in disk utility all that comes up in the side panel is the CD. I then booted off the IDE drive I had got a while back witch has 10.3.9 on it (suffers data corruption) and it did not see the drives either. I opened system profiler and it said there were no drives under SCSI and no card installed in the PCI slot when there was. I booted off of 10.0, 10.2, and 10.3 retail CD's and none of them saw the drives. I dont understand this as everything works perfectly under OS 9.2, even when booting off the OS 9 CD.
Can anyone help me out here?
Thanks,
Allen

Here is a link to the firmware update for that card. The article was originally written when 8.6 was the latest OS available -- you CAN run the firmware update running from a writeable OS 9 (perhaps not from an OS 9 CD), but not under Mac OS X.
60409- Ultra SCSI Card 1.2 Firmware Update: Document and Software
The 68-pin cable that shipped with the Apple/Adaptec card should have a discrete terminator captured at the end of the cable. It is non-trivially large, and cannot hide inside a regular connector.
An adapter such as this one will adapt a 50-pin drive to your 68-pin cable:
http://www.mcpb.com/html/adp.fhd68.50f.html

CD/DVDs Not Mounting But Drive is Recognized / SCSI Card Not Seen

Apologies for this mess in advance, but I thought it was worth seeing if anyone had an idea of what to try on either of these two issues from a system software perspective before I start breaking the computer apart and tinkering with hardware.
My G4 is the 733 MHz model which first shipped with the SuperDrive. That SuperDrive died years ago and I replaced it with an HP DVD Writer 300n which worked fine up until some version update of 10.4 though I can't recall the specific version. In any case, now the drive will not mount any CD or DVD that I insert, commercially-pressed or otherwise. The eject key on the keyboard functions properly, the tray opens and closes without problem and when a disc is inserted the activity light goes on and the disc spins for a minute and all seems normal, but the disc never appears on the desktop nor in any Finder window. The drive is still recognized in the System Profiler and I've double-checked the CD/DVD settings under System Preferences to verify that nothing is set to ignore there. I suppose it's possible the laser suddenly went bad, but as I said, the symptoms showed up following an update (though it was a while ago and at the time I had no need for a optical drive on this computer so I didn't address it then).
The second issue I discovered when I attached an external optical drive via the SCSI port I hadn't used in many years. That drive wasn't recognized at all and when I looked in the System Profiler the SCSI card isn't listed under PCI Cards. Is there a generic SCSI card driver I might be missing under OS X or will I need to open up the computer and determine which card I actually have in there?
Any suggestions would be appreciated and hopefully I've provided enough information to make that possible.

Hi K Roth, and a warm welcome to the forums!
I find Optical drives fairly short lived myself, but on the Internal, you might try PatchBurn...
http://www.patchburn.de/
Do you have another Mac with Firewire and a good optical drive?
If so you can boot the Other Mac into Target mode...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
Boot this G4 with the Option key held down, see if the Install Disc in the other Mac shows up as a boot choice.

How do I stop Aperture from automatically imputing SCSI card data when I put a SCSI card in?

I use the SCSI card every day to move movie files from my camera to an external harddrive. When I put a SCSI card in the slot, Aperture automatically opens and starts downloading. How can I stop this? I want to just copy the SCSI card to my external hard drive. This was asked in a priveious Apple forum but never answered.

I meant SD card I guess, not SDSC card
Frank, thanks I will try that.
John

Will OSX support Adaptec PCI Express scsi cards in an early 2008 Mac Pro?

I need to move my scsi interface scanner from a G4 machine and the old PCI Adaptec AHA 2930 CU card won't fit. I was using Snow Leopard on the G4 unit - it still supported the Adaptec card and all was good. My 23" Cinema display then bit the dust and I replaced it with with a 24" Cinema display with the mini display port connector. I purchased an adapter from Kanex to make it compatible, but the adapter was defective - so I returned it. Their reviews aren't very good - seem to have a lot of D.O.A. adapters - not sure I want to deal with the frustration, but it would be the least expensive option.
I do have, however, an early 2008 Mac Pro that I can use, provided that it supports the newer PCI Express scsi cards that Adaptec makes. I'm not sure which one to get yet, either. I'd rather not buy one and find out it won't work. I can make a partition on the boot drive for Snow Leopard in case scsi isn't supported in later versions of OSX. In case you're wondering, I did use a scsi to firewire adapter to run the scanner on my laptop for a while - but it stopped working and I can't locate any replacements (or the company - 2nd Wave Technologies - for that matter). I haven't tried locating a scsi to usb adapter, but from what I can see, they are getting pretty scarce. I'd replace the scanner, but it is fairly pricey and the newest model retails at the price of a small car - so that really isn't an option at this point.
Thanks in advance for any info.
Message was edited by: Jakob Richardt
Changed name of display adapter manufacturer.

Thanks for the response - I guess the question I should have asked is "Will OSX support scsi cards in an early 2008 Mac Pro and if so, which ones?" I didn't realize Apple and Adaptec weren't working together - my G4 tower arrived with an Adaptec card in it when I bought it in 2000 (from a third party vendor, not directly from Apple). It came with either OS 8.* or OS 9. When I updated to OSX, everything continued working, so I didn't think much about it until I pondered using the Mac Pro for the scanner - at some point the G4 is going to stop working - need to have a solution before that happens. The manuals I've been reading refer to the slots in the G4 machines as PCI. The manual for the Mac Pro refers to the slots as PCI e. These slots have fewer connectors, so I thought that the "Express" part of the name referred to this particular card configuration when compared to the longer card connectors in the G4 type of machines.
Can you tell me what scsi card brands will work in the Mac Pro? I'd still like to pursue this option. As I mentioned in my original post, buying a new scanner isn't in the cards right now - it costs more than the computer, so, although pricey, the card option is still less expensive.
Thanks!

What SCSI card do i need for new Mac Pro?

hello all, can anybody give me a straight answer on the cheapest SCSI card I can buy from UK, to fit in my Mac Pro. I have googled and searched the forums and am getting confused by talk of all the different types.
I have borrowed an old neg scanner, which is SCSI only. The guy gave me a SCSI card as well, but it came from a PC. I figured I would chuck it in the Mac and see if it recognized it. Cue epic fail, because it appears only to fit in "backwards". that is with the scsi port facing into the case.
No big deal I thought, I'll just buy one. I had no idea it would be so complicated.
Speed of connection is not an issue to me, I just want it to work!
Please help, thanks in advance
stu.

Hatter, thanks for the speedy reply. Can I only put in an expensive SCSI card? Why don't the cheapo 50 buck ones work? Sorry for being dense...
I hear your point about cheapo USB scanners, but the SCSI one i got was free! Just looking to archive my years of negs and want to keep the costs to a minimum. Will defo check out firewire adapters though. good call.

G-4 tower, PPC,10.4.11 PCI SCSI card install

G-4 tower, PPC,10.4.11 and Classic 9.2. I have been trying to install a new Adptec SCSI card. From what I understand, this card should work??
I keep getting the "grey vail". The fix is to remove the PCI card.I have tried USB and network PCI cards. Both create NO problems. Is there a good reason I cannot install the SCSI PCI card??

These look pretty old to me...
http://www.adaptec.com/en-us/downloads/macos/macos_x/productid=ava-2906&dn=adapt ec+scsi+card+2906.html

PCI Express SCSI Card

Which PCI Express SCSI Card should I use for a DAT Tape drive on a Mac Pro?

I was afraid of that. I think I may try and switch out an old Firewire CD box with the DAT tape box. Thanks for the info.

MSI K7D / K7D-L and tekram SCSI card

Anyone get the above combination to work?
I've tried a Tekram DC390F in a K7D Master and a DC395UW in a K7D-L Maater and both times I've had to remove the Tekram BIOS chip to get the motherboards to boot.
Anyone know if the Award BIOS on the K7D/-L Master contains code to control a SCSI card (in particular NCR or Symbios chip based cards)
Cheers
phich

this is very interesting. i have a Tekram DC-390U3W in my main workstation and bought an LSI U160 for this server. When I realized the Tekram could run at 66mhz, I thought I'd move it over to the server and use the LSI in my Abit board instead.
COULD NOT, for ANYTHING, get the Tekram to work in my new K7D Master. Interestingly, the LSI works just fine, but the weird thing is, they have the EXACT same controller chip - 53C1010. Doesn't make any sense to me, but finally I just gave up.
if you made any headway on this, I'd love to hear about it.
rb
Charlotte, NC

PCI scsi card for ScanMaker 4

Hi every one!
I have G4 running Mac OX 10.4, I'm able to scan from the ScanMaker 4 in Mac OS 9 into PhotoShop or using the scanning software, however if I try to scan in OS X there is not communication between the computer and the scanner.
I have installed a " PCI Adaptec SCSI" card ( which work fine in OS 9x), so far no luck in Microtek web site or Adaptec trying to down load a driver, a patch or something that allow me get my scanner to work in OS X.
Any help on this will greatly appreciated!
Regards!

joem,
I have had the same problem with an Epson SCSI scanner. Either there is no driver or it does not work. The solution is shareware "VueScan" which worked presto. You can download a free trial version before buying.
Hans

Installing SCSI card

Hi,
I've recently purchased an Adaptec 2906 SCSI card for use in a G4 running OS X 10.1. My knowledge of SCSI is not the greatest so I have a few problems I hope someone could help me with.
I have installed the card as per the Adaptec instructions, however I am unsure as to whether I need to use an internal scsi cable to connect the SCSI card to another part of the computer. The Adaptec instructions mention an internal 50 pin SCSI cable, but I am unsure of whether this is only used when connecting up internal SCSI devices (CD drives/Optical Drives etc). At the moment, the only other PCI slot used in the G4 is a card for a monitor.
When I enter Apple System Profiler it is aware that there is a card in the PCI slot, but it does not name it as Adaptec (at the moment it simply says "name: not available"). Also, when I connect a device to the SCSI card - ASP does recognise it is connected (I have attached both a Sony Optical Drive and Apple CD Drive). However, when I place some media in these drives they do not mount in OS X, and disk utility does not show either drive.
As I said, I haven't the greatest understanding of SCSI, so I may be making a stupid mistake somewhere along the line.
As a bit of background, I need to get some information off of a batch of Magneto Optical disks, and all the drives I have are SCSI, therefore I need to get this SCSI card up and running if possible
Thanks
Jack
Mac OS X (10.1.x)

Hi Jack-
Sorry to hear the saga continues. I have just started rechecking the Adaptec help site, and the following is the response to a "not reported" (my search), or "device name not available" (Adaptec's phrasing):
Q: SCSI Disk Utilities in SCSI Select or BIOS scan reports 'device name not available' for all devices.
This information applies to the following product(s):
- 2902, 2906 series, 2910 series, 2920 series, 2930 series, 2940 series, 3940 series, 2940U2W series, 2930U2 series, 3950U2 series - PCI SCSI Card(s)
This information applies to the following Operating System(s):
- All / PC
A: The SCSI Host Adapter is not in a bus mastering PCI slot.
Move the SCSI Host Adapter to a different PCI slot.
The SCSI Host Adapter has an IRQ conflict with another device in the system. The resources for the PCI SCSI Host Adapter are assigned by the motherboards CMOS setup. Double check with your computer manufacturer or motherboard manual for setting up resources for PCI slots.
So, though I will continue the search, I need some more information from you.
What, precisely, is your model and cpu?
What other PCI devices do you have installed (if any)?
Also, in spite of the fact that the card is not reporting (though detected), as far as testing function goes, please attempt connection of one of your SCSI devices. Please read the following:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58245
Make note of the ID configuration.
Be sure to properly terminate your device.
Connect only with system "off". (SCSI device power off as well).
After connected, turn "on" the SCSI device BEFORE powering up the computer.
After you get back with me regarding your Mac's vital stat's, I can then check for more system specific information.
One last note- In my G4 Sawtooth and G4 Gigabit Ethernet, the SCSI card is in slot "D"- the PCI slot closest to the internal hard drives.
G4 AGP(450)Sawtooth Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2ghzPPC,1.62gbSDRAM, ATI9800, DVR-109,(IntHD)120&160,LaCie160,23"Cinema Display

Will Beige G3 SCSI card and drive work in a BW G3?

My wife's G3Tower died with data on the scsi hd. I've picked up a bw G3 (which on the serial # tag states Ultra2 SCSI), but no scsi drive is inside, nor is there a scsi card.
Can I take the SCSI card and drive out of the Beige Tower and put it in to the BW G3? Is anything special needed to be able to get the needed files off the disk?
I later plan to upgrade to Jaguar (I've got the disks), but the files come first.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
ps - I looked through Apple's faqs and kb, but didn't really find anything.
Regards,
Den

"Can I take the SCSI card and drive out of the Beige Tower and put it in to the BW G3? Is anything special needed to be able to get the needed files off the disk?"
You can do that, but bootability will be a problem because the B&W G3 is based on the New World architecture or ROM-in-RAM. While the beige G3's ROM was wholly contained in the ROM card, some of the B&W's ROM code is contained in the Mac OS ROM file, which is written to the System Folder during the OS installation. The OS installation performed on the beige G3 won't have the necessary Mac OS ROM file. The file could be extracted from the installer tome on the Mac OS 9.x installer CD, but that would require the use of TomeViewer (downloadable utility). Do you have another working Mac in the house? Incidentally, what component in the beige G3 failed?

SCSI Card Puzzlement

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for