Problems with AHA1542B (DAMN BIOS !) and ISC 2.2 (won't boot !)

[Norbert Bladt]

Hi ISC and Adaptec gurus !

I am trying to install ISC 2.2 on the following system:

	386 Motherboard 33 Mhz, 8 MB RAM
	Adpatec 1542B SCSI Controller
	Micropolis 350 MB Harddisk
	STB Powergraph VGA Board
	EIZO (Nanao) 9070-SZ monitor (16")

As you may guess, I have a big problem, here.
After inserting the boot floppy for ISC 2.2 the text
Booting the UNIX System...
is shown on the screen, but that's it. The system just hangs
after accessing the floppy several times.

I think, the main problem is, that there is NO HARDDISK info
stored in the BIOS (CMOS) data area. The setup shows
- no harddisk installed - for drives C: and D: (DOS naming).
That may be the reason for hanging, because the ISC boot program
can't find a disk.

I tried several things to persuade this program to boot, anyway.
Among them were:
	1. disable Adaptec's on-board BIOS.
	2. enter the data for the drive (64 heads, 322 cyl., 32 sec/trk)
	   into the CMOS and
	   2.a disable Adaptec BIOS
	   2.b enable Adaptec BIOS (which installs the disk as drive D: now
	       because I entered data for drive C:)
	       Now, there is no C: (or first) harddisk in the system
	       -> Boot hangs !?!

As you can guess, no success up to now.
BTW: I determined the data for the drive from one of the HW-configuration
display programs available. These data may be wrong, but it shouldn't really
matter for SCSI disks, right ?

I have read in this newsgroup, that it is possible to use this combination
of harddisk and controller for a second disk or tape. This might be true,
because of the automatic installation and overwriting of the CMOS RAM (?)
by the Adaptec BIOS. (I hate automatic procedures which can't be disabled !!!)

Did someone solve this problem or should I give all my hard- and software (?)
back and get a real system, i.e. which works ?

Isn't it funny how MS-DOS forces SOME hardware and software companies to
think, that there are NO OTHER OS's ??
(Other example: Intel Cache controller 82385)

Oh, just one remark:

Because we had a lot of problems with disks losing their information
"can't read sector xyz", this could be a problem with the boot disk, too.

But, i think, there is another problem than just that.

So, if anyone can help me, ...

Thank you very much in advance,

Norbert Bladt.
-- 
Norbert Bladt, Ascom Autelca AG, Worbstr. 201, CH-3073 Guemligen, Switzerland
Phone: +41 31 52 92 14
Mail: nbladt at autelca.ascom.ch  UUCP: ..!uunet!mcsun!chx400!hslrswi!aut!nbladt