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BIOS Startup Messages



BIOS Startup Messages

After you have installed the host adapter, BIOS displays a message when you boot the computer. Normally, this message lists the SCSI ID, manufacturer, model number and other information for each SCSI device that the BIOS detects.

If an initialization failure occurs, the host BIOS displays a specific error message followed by a BIOS installation Failure message. The following are some of the installation failure messages and their meaning:

A drive lager than 1 gigabyte has been detected with 64 head / 32 sector partitioning. This drive is not compatible with the 255 head / 63 sector translation which has been enabled on this adapter. Data could be corrupted! Please check your system setup. Press any key to continue.

This message occurs only if Extended BIOS Translation is enabled in the SCSISelect  utility. It means that the BIOS detected a large-capacity drive invalid partition in the master boot record.

Extended BIOS Translation is used only with MS-DOS 5.0 or above. You do not need to enable this option if you are using another operating system such as OS/2 or UNIX.

If you are using a drive larger than 1GB under MS-DOS 5.0 or above and this message appears, do the following:
  1.  Run the SCSISelect  utility and set Extended BIOS Translation to Disabled.
  2.  Exit from the SCSISelect  utility and back up the data on the disk drive, if you want to save it.
  3.  Perform a SCSI low-level format with the Format Disk utility under SCSI Disk Utilities in the SCSISelect  utility.

    NOTE: All data on the target drive will be lost when you run the Format Disk utility. Back up your data before you run it.

  4.  In the SCSISelect  Advanced Configuration Options menu, set Extended BIOS Translation to Enabled.
  5.  Restore data to the drive, if necessary.


Device connected, but not ready

This message appears if the host adapter receives no answer when it requests data from an installed SCSI device. The host adapter skips this device and moves to the next device on the bus.

Do the following if you see this message when you request data from the SCSI drive:
  1.  Run the SCSISelect  utility and access SCSI device Configuration. Locate the SCSI ID of the host adapter and set Send Unit Commands to yes.
  2.  Exit the SCSISelect  utility and request data from the drive again.
  3.  If the message still appears, follow the drive manufacturer's instructions to make sure the drive is set to spin-up when the power switched on.


Start unit request failed

The BIOS was unable to send a Start Unit Command to the device. Run the SCSISelect  utility and disable Send Start Unit Command for the device.

Time-out failure SCSI Inquiry command

- or -

Time-out failure during SCSI Test Unit Ready command!

- or -

Time-out failure during Start Unit command!

An unexpected time-out occured. Try disconnecting the SCSI device cables from the host adapter and then starting the computer. If the computer successfully restarts check the following:


One of the devices on the SCSI bus may be defective.


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