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058595d5 MCC |
1 | .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 |
2 | ||
3 | ================================= | |
4 | Qlogic FASXXX Family Driver Notes | |
5 | ================================= | |
1da177e4 LT |
6 | |
7 | This driver supports the Qlogic FASXXX family of chips. This driver | |
8 | only works with the ISA, VLB, and PCMCIA versions of the Qlogic | |
9 | FastSCSI! cards as well as any other card based on the FASXX chip | |
10 | (including the Control Concepts SCSI/IDE/SIO/PIO/FDC cards). | |
11 | ||
12 | This driver does NOT support the PCI version. Support for these PCI | |
13 | Qlogic boards: | |
14 | ||
15 | * IQ-PCI | |
16 | * IQ-PCI-10 | |
17 | * IQ-PCI-D | |
18 | ||
d6933df9 | 19 | is provided by the qla1280 driver. |
1da177e4 LT |
20 | |
21 | Nor does it support the PCI-Basic, which is supported by the | |
22 | 'am53c974' driver. | |
23 | ||
058595d5 MCC |
24 | PCMCIA Support |
25 | ============== | |
1da177e4 LT |
26 | |
27 | This currently only works if the card is enabled first from DOS. This | |
28 | means you will have to load your socket and card services, and | |
29 | QL41DOS.SYS and QL40ENBL.SYS. These are a minimum, but loading the | |
30 | rest of the modules won't interfere with the operation. The next | |
31 | thing to do is load the kernel without resetting the hardware, which | |
32 | can be a simple ctrl-alt-delete with a boot floppy, or by using | |
33 | loadlin with the kernel image accessible from DOS. If you are using | |
34 | the Linux PCMCIA driver, you will have to adjust it or otherwise stop | |
35 | it from configuring the card. | |
36 | ||
37 | I am working with the PCMCIA group to make it more flexible, but that | |
38 | may take a while. | |
39 | ||
058595d5 MCC |
40 | All Cards |
41 | ========= | |
1da177e4 LT |
42 | |
43 | The top of the qlogic.c file has a number of defines that controls | |
44 | configuration. As shipped, it provides a balance between speed and | |
45 | function. If there are any problems, try setting SLOW_CABLE to 1, and | |
46 | then try changing USE_IRQ and TURBO_PDMA to zero. If you are familiar | |
47 | with SCSI, there are other settings which can tune the bus. | |
48 | ||
49 | It may be a good idea to enable RESET_AT_START, especially if the | |
50 | devices may not have been just powered up, or if you are restarting | |
51 | after a crash, since they may be busy trying to complete the last | |
52 | command or something. It comes up faster if this is set to zero, and | |
53 | if you have reliable hardware and connections it may be more useful to | |
54 | not reset things. | |
55 | ||
058595d5 MCC |
56 | Some Troubleshooting Tips |
57 | ========================= | |
1da177e4 LT |
58 | |
59 | Make sure it works properly under DOS. You should also do an initial FDISK | |
60 | on a new drive if you want partitions. | |
61 | ||
62 | Don't enable all the speedups first. If anything is wrong, they will make | |
63 | any problem worse. | |
64 | ||
058595d5 MCC |
65 | Important |
66 | ========= | |
1da177e4 LT |
67 | |
68 | The best way to test if your cables, termination, etc. are good is to | |
69 | copy a very big file (e.g. a doublespace container file, or a very | |
70 | large executable or archive). It should be at least 5 megabytes, but | |
71 | you can do multiple tests on smaller files. Then do a COMP to verify | |
72 | that the file copied properly. (Turn off all caching when doing these | |
73 | tests, otherwise you will test your RAM and not the files). Then do | |
74 | 10 COMPs, comparing the same file on the SCSI hard drive, i.e. "COMP | |
75 | realbig.doc realbig.doc". Then do it after the computer gets warm. | |
76 | ||
77 | I noticed my system which seems to work 100% would fail this test if | |
78 | the computer was left on for a few hours. It was worse with longer | |
79 | cables, and more devices on the SCSI bus. What seems to happen is | |
80 | that it gets a false ACK causing an extra byte to be inserted into the | |
81 | stream (and this is not detected). This can be caused by bad | |
82 | termination (the ACK can be reflected), or by noise when the chips | |
83 | work less well because of the heat, or when cables get too long for | |
84 | the speed. | |
85 | ||
86 | Remember, if it doesn't work under DOS, it probably won't work under | |
87 | Linux. |