scsi id’s etc

[Geraint Pari huws]

Apologies, scenario.

Need to hang 9 lvd 72gig drives off, nothing complicated, no stripe sets etc

thanks again

[Bob Zelin]

just use any id except 7 (which is the default ATTO SCSI ID). Feel free to use 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,a,b,c,d,e,f. You can use the same numbers on the 2 different busses, as well – just avoid 7.

Use SHORT SCSI cables.

bob Zelin

[Geraint Pari huws]

Bob, try this out?

5 x 72gb on one scsi card channel, numbered 1-5
1 x 72gb on second channel, numbered 1

everything cool.

Once I add 1 or more drives to the second channel, numberes 2/3 etc windows reaces desktop, then the avid startup appears and it all hangs. I’m fairly sure the scsi’s are all sound.

Any ideas?

[Bill Stephan]

You can’t duplicate SCSI addresses on the same SCSI card, even if they are on different channels.

Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City

[Geraint Pari huws]

Thanks guys, but still struggling, tried unique ids on seperate buses as suggested avoiding 7 etc, but it seems whatever combination I try windows gives up once it hits avid startup whenever I use more than 6 drives. Should I look at updating avid start up, can you update avid startup?

thanks again

[Bill Stephan]

Watch the monitor as the computer boots up (before the desktop comes up). You should see the configuration of all your SCSI drives as the SCSI chain initializes. Do you see anything obviously wrong here? You can hit the pause key if necessary to pause the boot process if necessary. Or you can snoop around in the setup utility. As the machine boots, you should see a message indicating what hotkey to press to get to it.

Do you have the correct terminator for LVD SCSI?

Try connecting the SCSI drives one-at-a-time, cold booting the computer each time. You might have one bad drive (or cable) screwing up the whole operation.

Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City

[Geraint Pari huws]

cheers, yep, checked cables and drives, all work singularly, I’m fairly sure its not a direct hardware issue, i’ve had all drives on at sonme poinnt to format etc on various buses, spent most of a day watching slow 2k reboots, Avid start up is my main worry, can I disable the process…boot in safe mode?

[Bob Zelin]

yea – you have a bad cable. Try just using the 2nd channel – just use 2 drives and see if it works. Swap out with one of the cables from channel 1, and see if it works. There is no reason this should not work – people do it all the time. Cable pins get bent ALL THE TIME.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

BILL writes –

You can’t duplicate SCSI addresses on the same SCSI card, even if they are on different channels.

Bill Stephan
Senior Editor/DVD Author
USA Studios
New York City

Bill has posted INCORRECT INFORMATION. You can ABSOLUTELY have IDENTICAL SCSI ID #’s on 2 differnt busses. For example, buss 1 can have SCSI ID
1, 2, 3, 4, and buss 2 can have SCSI ID 1, 2, 3, 4.

Bob Zelin (sorry Bill – )

[Bob Zelin]

I don’t believe that you have checked all your cables. Plugging 1 cable in at a time is a very painful process, and most people don’t actually do it. Again, since you are having issues with Buss 2, plug in all the drives from Buss 1 to Buss 2. Does it work ? Now, take that loop cable from the “bad drive problem”, and replace it with one of the working cables. Does it work?

I know what a painful process this is, and how long it takes. This is one of the problems of troubleshooting SCSI problems. One bent pin will screw you. Add one drive at a time, and when one fails, switch out the cable to make sure it’s not the cable. You will eventually find the problem.

Bob Zelin