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Further Study
PC designers have always sought ways to connect more devices to fewer cables. This
reduces the amount of adapter card hardware in the system, so power, space, cost, and
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maintenance demands are also lowered. In the early 1980s, it became clear that a more versatile and intelligent interface would be needed to overcome the myriad of proprietary interfaces appearing at the time. By 1986, PC designers responded with the introduction of the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, pronounced scuzzy). SCSI proved to be a revolution for PC power-usersa single adapter could operate a number of unique devices simultaneouslyall daisy-chained to the same cable. Where other low-end PCs needed one adapter for hard drives, one adapter for the CD-ROM, another adapter for a tape drive, etc., a system fitted with a SCSI adapter could handle all of these devices and achieve data throughputs that other interfaces of the day couldnt even dream of. Todays PC industry has changed. Proprietary interfaces are largely discouraged and the standardized interfaces (such as ATA-2, also known as EIDE) now support a variety of devices while offering low cost and performance levels rivaling SCSI. Yet, SCSI has endured and evolved, and it remains the interface of choice for multitasking and high-end systems. This chapter examines the inner workings of the SCSI interface, and shows you how to deal with installation and troubleshooting problems.
DEVICE INDEPENDENCE
From a practical standpoint, SCSI is a busan organization of physical wires and terminations, where each wire has its own name and purpose. SCSI also consists of a command seta limited set of instructions that allow the computer and peripherals to communicate over the physical bus. The SCSI bus is used in systems that want to achieve device independence. For example, all hard-disk drives look alike to the SCSI interface (except for their total capacity), all optical drives look alike, all printers look alike, etc. For any particular type of SCSI device, you should be able to replace an existing device with another device, without any system modifications. New SCSI devices can often be added to the bus with little more than a driver upgrade. Because the intelligence of SCSI resides in the peripheral device itself and not in the computer, the computer is able to use a small set of standard commands to accomplish data transfer back and forth to the peripheral. Now that you understand a bit about the nature of the SCSI interface, the following sections explain some of the important terms and concepts youll need to know.
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SCSI VARIATIONS
This section covers at the evolution of the SCSI interface and the ways in which it has evolved and proliferated. SCSI began life in 1979 when Shugart Associates (you might remember them as one of the first PC hard drive makers) released their Shugart Associates Systems Interface (or SASI) standard. The X3T9.2 committee was formed by ANSI in 1982 to develop the SASI standard, which was renamed SCSI. SCSI drives and interfaces that were developed under the evolving X3T9.2 SCSI standard were known as SCSI-1, although the actual SCSI-1 standard (ANSI X3.131-1986) didnt become official until 1986. SCSI-1 provided a system-level 8-bit bus that could operate up to eight devices and transfer data at up to 5MB/s. However, the delay in standardization lead to a lot of configuration and compatibility problems with SCSI-1 setups. Table 39-1 compares SCSI-1 specs to other versions.
Although SCSI-1 was supposed to support all SCSI devices, manufacturers took liberties with the evolving standard. This frequently led to installation and compatibility problems between SCSI-1 devices which theoretically should have worked together perfectly. Today, all existing SCSI-1 adapters should be upgraded to SCSI-2 installations.
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Earlier in 1986 (even before the SCSI-1 standard was ratified), work started on the SCSI-2 standard, which was intended to overcome many of the speed and compatibility problems encountered with SCSI-1. By 1994, ANSI blessed the SCSI-2 standard (X3.131-1994). SCSI-2 was designed to be backwardly compatible with SCSI-1, but SCSI-2 also provided for several variations. Fast SCSI-2 (or Fast SCSI) doubles the SCSI bus clock speed and allows 10MB/s data transfers across the 8-bit SCSI data bus. Wide SCSI-2 (or Wide SCSI) also doubles the original data-transfer rate to 10MB/s by using a 16-bit data bus instead of the original 8-bit data bus (the SCSI clock is left unchanged). To support the larger data bus, Wide SCSI uses a 68-pin cable instead of the traditional 50-pin cable. Wide SCSI can also support up to 16 SCSI devices. Designers then combined the attributes of fast and wide operation to create Fast Wide SCSI-2 (Fast Wide
TABLE 39-1 COMPARISON OF SCSI VARIATIONS BUS SPEED (MB/S) BUS WIDTH (BITS) BUS LENGTH (METERS) DEVICES SUPPORTED
TERM SCSI-1 SCSI-1 SCSI-2 Fast SCSI Wide SCSI Fast Wide SCSI SCSI-3 Fast-20 SCSI Wide Fast-20 SCSI *Fast-40 SCSI *Wide Fast-40 SCSI
5 10 10 20 20 40 40 80
8 8 16 16 8 16 8 16
8 8 16 16 8 4 8 16
* These standards are still in development, and their full specifications are still being determined.
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SCSI), which supports 20MB/s data transfers across a 16-bit data bus. Whenever you see references to Fast SCSI, Wide SCSI, or Fast Wide SCSI, youre always dealing with a SCSI-2 implementation. But SCSI advancement hasnt stopped there. ANSI began development of the SCSI-3 standard in 1993 (even before SCSI-2 was adopted). SCSI-3 is intended to be backwardly compatible with SCSI-2 and SCSI-1 devices. Although SCSI-3 is still not finalized, many SCSI devices and controllers are using the advances offered by SCSI-3 development. These early SCSI-3 devices are generally known as Fast-20 SCSI (or Ultra SCSI-3, also termed Ultra SCSI). Ultra SCSI uses a 20MHz SCSI bus clock with an 8-bit data bus to achieve 20MB/s data transfers. By using a 16-bit data bus, SCSI-3 offers Wide Fast-20 SCSI (Wide Ultra SCSI-3, also termed Wide Ultra SCSI) which handles 40MB/s data transfers. For the future, the SCSI-3 standard is also proposing Fast-40 SCSI (called Ultra2 SCSI-3 and Ultra2 SCSI), using a 40MHz bus clock to provide 40MB/s data transfers with an 8bit data bus. The 16-bit data bus version is known as Wide Fast-40 SCSI (called Wide Ultra2 SCSI-3 or Wide Ultra2 SCSI), which is supposed to support 80MB/s data transfers. Whenever you see references to Ultra, Fast-20, Ultra2, or Fast-40, youre almost certain to be faced with a SCSI-3 setup.
Youll probably encounter a lot of literature using the term Ultra SCSI, but the use of Ultra as a SCSI-3 designator is being actively discouraged because of legal disputes with companies using the term Ultra in their SCSI-2 (yes, SCSI-2) devices. As a rule, use the Fast or Wide Fast terms instead of the Ultra terms.
SCSI has traditionally been a parallel bus; that is, 8 or 16 bits of data are transferred at a time across parallel data lines. SCSI-3 is proposing three new serial connection schemes. Youll see these noted as Serial Storage Architecture (SSA), Fibre Channel, and IEEE P1394 (a.k.a. Fire Wire). These serial schemes will offer faster data transfers than their parallel-bus cousins, but are not backward compatible with SCSI-2 or SCSI-1.
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s s s s s s
Random-access devices (e.g., hard drives) Sequential access (e.g., tape drives) Printers Processors WORM (write-once read-many) drives Read-only random-access devices The SCSI-2 interface adds five more devices to the specification:
s s s s s
CD-ROM drives Scanners Magneto-optical drives Media changer (jukebox) Communication devices
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resistors at each end of the cable help to maintain acceptable signal levels. A common ground (return) provides the reference for all single-ended signals. Unfortunately, singleended circuitry is not very noise resistant, so single-ended cabling is generally limited to about six meters at data transfer speeds of 5MHz or less. At higher data-transfer speeds, cable length can be as short as 1.5 meters. In spite of the disadvantages, single-ended operation is simple and popular because of its simplicity. The differential (DIF) wiring approach uses two wires for each signal (instead of one wire referenced to a common ground). A differential signal offers excellent noise resistance because it does not rely on a common ground. This allows much longer cables (up to 25 meters) and higher-speed operation (10 MHz). An array of pull-up resistors at each end of the cable help to ensure signal integrity. The problem with differential wiring is that it is more complicated than single-ended interfaces.
TERMINATORS
When high-frequency signals are transmitted over adjacent wires, signals tend to degrade and interfere with one another over the length of the cable. This is a very natural and relatively well-understood electrical phenomenon. In the PC, SCSI signal integrity is enhanced by using powered resistors at each end of the data cable to pull up active signals. Most high-frequency signal cables in the PC are already terminated by pull-up resistors at drives and controller cards. The small resistor array is known as a terminator. Because the number of devices that can be added to a floppy drive or IDE cable is limited, designers have never made a big deal about terminationthey just added the resistors and that was it. With SCSI, however, up to eight devices can be added to the bus cable. The SCSI cable also must be terminated, but the location of terminating resistors depends on which devices are added to the bus and where they are placed. As a result, termination is a much more vital element of SCSI setup and troubleshooting. As you will see later in this chapter, poor or incorrect termination can cause intermittent signal problems. Later on, you will see how to determine the proper placement of terminating resistors. Termination is typically either active or passive. Basically, passive termination is simply plugging a resistor pack into a SCSI device. Passive resistors are powered by the TERMPWR line. Passive termination is simple and effective over short distances (up to about 1 meter) and usually works just fine for the cable lengths inside a PC, but can be a drawback over longer distances. Active terminators provide their own regulated power sources, which makes them most effective for longer cables (such as those in external SCSI devices, such as page scanners) or Wide SCSI systems. Most SCSI-2 implementations use active terminators. A variation on active termination is forced perfect termination (FPT). FPT includes diode clamps, which prevent signal overshoot and undershoot. This makes FPT effective for long SCSI cable lengths.
SCSI IDS
A SCSI bus will support up to eight devices. This means that each device on the bus must have its own unique ID number (0 to 7)if two devices use the same ID, there will be a conflict. IDs are typically set on the SCSI adapter and each SCSI device using jumpers or DIP switches. Typically, the SCSI adapter is set for ID 7, the primary SCSI hard drive is
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set to ID 0, and a second SCSI hard drive is ID 1. Other devices can usually be placed anywhere from ID 2 to ID 6.
BUS CONFIGURATIONS
Most of the SCSI implementations currently available use single-ended cabling that supports an 8-bit data bus (known as an A-cable). An A-cable is a 50-pin assembly outlined in Table 39-2. The three major sections to the 50-pin single-ended SCSI cable are: ground wires, data signals, and control signals. You will notice that at least half of the singleended interface carries ground lines. There are eight data lines (D0 to D7) and a data parity bit (DPAR). Notice that SCSI parity is always odd. There are four terminator power lines (TERMPWR) and nine control-signal wires. Each signal is explained:
s C/D Control/Data (driven by target) Allows the target device to select whether it will
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ror messages back to the initiator during the message portion of the SCSI bus cycle.
s REQ Request (driven by target) A data strobe signal that allows a potential target de-
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TABLE 39-2 PINOUT OF A STANDARD SINGLEENDED A-CABLE (CONTINUED) SIGNAL Ground G Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground PIN 1 39 41 43 45 47 49 PIN 2 40 42 44 46 48 50 SIGNAL Data 0 RST MSG SEL C/D REQ I/O (Reset) (Message) (Select) (Control/Data) (Request) (Input/Output)
s ACK Acknowledge (driven by initiator) A data strobe signal sent in response to the
targets REQ signal, which informs the target device that it has gained use of the bus.
s BSY Busy (driven by initiator or target) Allows a device to inform the bus that the
get device.
s ATN Attention (driven by initiator) A signal produced by the initiator that informs
the target that the initiator has a message ready. The target should switch to the message phase. s RST Reset (driven by initiator or target) A strobe signal that triggers a bus-wide reset of all devices. Usually, only one device produces a Reset signal. The differential SCSI interface replaces most of the ground wires with +signal leads. For example, pin 2 represents +D0, while pin 27 is -D0. These + and - signal pairs are the differential signals. Notice that there are still a few ground wires, but the grounds are not related to differential signals as they are to single-ended signals. Just about all of the data and control signals in the differential interface serve an identical purpose in the single-ended interface, but the signal locations have been rearranged (Table 39-3). The one additional differential signal is the DIFFSENS (Differential Sense) line, which provides an active high enable for differential drivers. Remember that plugging a differential cable into a single-ended interface (or vice versa) can damage the device, the SCSI adapter, or both. As you might imagine, wide SCSI implementations will not work with A-cables. A 16bit cable is needed. Early implementations of wide SCSI used a second cable to provide the extra signal lines, but was quickly abandoned for a single cable assembly (called a Pcable). The single-ended P-cable is shown in Table 39-4. Although many of the signals might look familiar, you will notice that it has 68 pins instead of 50primarily to support the eight additional data lines (D8 to D15). Control lines are identical to those in the Acable. Table 39-5 shows the pinout for a differential 68-pin P-cable.
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TABLE 39-3 PINOUT OF A STANDARD DIFFERENTIAL A-CABLE SIGNAL Ground +Data 0 +Data 1 +Data 2 +Data 3 +Data 4 +Data 5 +Data 6 +Data 7 +Data parity DIFFSENS Reserved TERMPWR Reserved +ATN Ground +BSY +ACK +RST +MSG +SEL +C/D +REQ +I/O Ground PIN 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 PIN 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 SIGNAL Ground Data 0 Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 Data 4 Data 5 Data 6 Data 7 Data parity Ground Reserved TERMPWR Reserved ATN (Attention) Ground BSY (Busy) ACK (Acknowledge) RST (Reset) MSG (Message) SEL (Select) C/D (Control/Data) REQ (Request) I/O (Input/Output) Ground
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TABLE 39-4 PINOUT OF A STANDARD SINGLE-ENDED P-CABLE SIGNAL Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground PIN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 PIN 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 SIGNAL Data 12 Data 13 Data 14 Data 15 Data parity 1 Data 0 Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 Data 4 Data 5
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TABLE 39-4 PINOUT OF A STANDARD SINGLE-ENDED P-CABLE (CONTINUED) SIGNAL Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground TERMPWR TERMPWR Reserved Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground PIN 1 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 PIN 35 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 SIGNAL Data 12 5 Data 6 Data 7 Data parity 0 Ground Ground TERMPWR TERMPWR Reserved Ground ATN Ground BSY ACK RST MSG SEL C/D REQ I/O Data 8 Data 9 Data 10 Data 11
TABLE 39-5 PINOUT OF A STANDARD DIFFERENTIAL P-CABLE SIGNAL +Data 12 +Data 13 +Data 14 +Data 15 +Data parity 1 Ground +Data 0 +Data 1 +Data 2 +Data 3 +Data 4 +Data 5 D 6 PIN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 PIN 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 SIGNAL Data 12 Data 13 Data 14 Data 15 Data parity 1 Ground Data 0 Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 Data 4 Data 5 D 6
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TABLE 39-5 PINOUT OF A STANDARD DIFFERENTIAL P-CABLE (CONTINUED) SIGNAL 6 +Data 12 +Data 7 +Data parity 0 DIFFSENS TERMPWR TERMPWR Reserved +ATN Ground +BSY +ACK +RST +MSG +SEL +C/D +REQ +I/O Ground +Data 8 +Data 9 +Data 10 +Data 11 PIN 13 1 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 PIN 47 35 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 SIGNAL 6 Data 12 Data 7 Data parity 0 Ground TERMPWR TERMPWR Reserved ATN Ground +BSY ACK RST MSG SEL C/D REQ I/O Ground Data 8 Data 9 Data 10 Data 11
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attached to the bus, a device must obtain permission from all other devices before it can take control of the bus. This attempt to access the bus is called the arbitration phase. Once a device (such as the SCSI controller) has won the bus arbitration, it must then make contact with the device to be communicated with. This device selection is known as the selection phase. When this contact is established, data transfer can occur. This part of the chapter details negotiation and information transfer over the SCSI bus.
NEGOTIATION
Devices must negotiate to access and use an SCSI bus. Negotiation begins when the bus is free (BSY and SEL lines are idle). A device begins arbitration by activating the BSY line and its own data ID line (data bit D0 to D7, depending on the device). If more than one device tries to control the bus simultaneously, the device with the higher ID line wins. The winning device (an initiator) attempts to acquire a target device by asserting the SEL line and the data ID line (data bit D0 to D7) of the desired device. The BSY line is then released by the initiator and the desired target device asserts the BSY line to confirm that it has been selected. The initiator then releases the SEL and data bus lines. Information transfer can now take place.
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INFORMATION
The selected target controls the data being transferred and the direction of transfer. Information transfer lasts until the target device releases the BSY line, thus returning the bus to the idle state. If a piece of information requires a long time for preparation, the target can end the connection by issuing a disconnect message. It will try to re-establish the connection later with a new arbitration and selection procedure. During information transfer, the initiator tells its target how to act on a command and establishes the mode of data transfer during the message-out phase. A specific SCSI command follows the message during the command phase. After a command is sent, data transfer occurs during the data-in and/or data-out phases. The target relinquishes control to the initiator during the command phase. For example, the command itself might ask that more information be transferred. The target then tells the initiator whether the command was successfully completed or not by returning status information during a status phase. Finally, the command is finished when the target sends a progress report to the initiator during the message in phase. Consider this simple SCSI communication example:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Bus Free Phase Arbitration Phase Select Phase Message-Out Phase Command Phase Data-In Phase Status Phase Message-In Phase Bus Free Phase
System is idle A device takes control of the bus The desired device is selected Target sets up data transfer send Command Exchange data Indicate the results of the exchange Indicate exchange is complete System is idle
SCSI PERIPHERALS
The first item to be considered is the SCSI peripheral itself. You first need to know what type of device is needed (such as a SCSI hard drive or CD-ROM). The peripheral should be compatible with SCSI-2 architecture. You might also find a growing base of SCSI-3 compliant adapters and peripherals. Each SCSI peripheral device should also have a wide range of available SCSI ID settings. SCSI typically handles eight IDs (0 to 7) and the peripheral should have the flexibility to run on virtually any ID. If only a few IDs are available, you might be limited when it comes time to add other SCSI devices. Peripherals should support SCSI parity.
Ideally, a SCSI-3 host adapter should support SCSI-2 devices. If you have any intention of using SCSI-3 (Wide/Fast 20 SCSI) devices, be sure to use a SCSI-3 adapter.
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SCSI devices are available in both internal and external versions. If you consider an internal peripheral, be sure that there is adequate drive space in the PC to accommodate the new peripheral. Either there is a drive bay available, or an existing device might be removed to make room. If the peripheral is to be an external device (such as a printer or scanner), there should be two SCSI connectors on the device to allow for daisy-chaining additional devices later. All SCSI peripherals other than hard drives will require device drivers. Be sure that the device driver is compatible with the same standard protocol used by the adapter (i.e., ASPI, CAM, or LADDR). This is a serious consideration because peripherals using incompatible device driver standards will not work properly. Finally, try to choose SCSI peripherals that offer built-in cable termination.
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FIGURE 39-1
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the peripheral itself, the adapter should also be designed to support the SCSI-2 standard (or SCSI-3, if possible). Although most adapters are assigned a SCSI ID of 7, the adapter should be flexible enough to work with any ID from 0 to 7. The host adapter will also require a device driver for using devices other than hard drives. Be sure that the host device driver uses the same standard as the peripheral(s) (ASPI, CAM, or LADDR). It is important to note here that the driver standard has nothing to do with the choice of SCSI, SCSI-2, or SCSI-3. It is only important that the peripherals and the adapter use the same driver standard.
SCSI DRIVERS
Device drivers provide the instructions that allow the SCSI host adapter to communicate with the PC, as well as the peripherals in the SCSI chain (or the SCSI bus). The host adapter itself requires a device driver, as will every peripheral that is added. For example, a SCSI system with one CD-ROM will need a driver for the host adapter and a driver for the CDROM. Be sure that driver standards (ASPI, CAM, or LADDR) are the SAME for the host adapter and peripherals. The only exception to the device-driver requirement (at this time) is the SCSI hard drive, which might be supported by the SCSI adapters BIOS ROM. Real-mode device drivers are added by including them in your PCs CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. One issue to remember when adding device drivers is that drivers use conventional memory (unless you successfully load the drivers into high memory). The more drivers that are added, the more memory will be consumed. It is possible that a large number of device drivers might prevent certain memory-demanding DOS applications from running. To keep as much conventional memory (the first 640KB in RAM) free as possible, use the DOS devicehigh and loadhigh features to load the drivers into upper memory (from 640KB to 1MB in RAM). Windows 95 uses protected-mode drivers for the host adapter and devices.
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confusion and serious delays for you and your customer. The following tips should help to ease your upgrades:
s Add only add one SCSI device at a time By adding one device at a time and testing the
system after each installation, it becomes much easier to determine the point where problems occur. Suppose what happens when you add an adapter, hard drive, and CD-ROM. If the system fails to function, you will have to isolate and check each item to locate the fault. On the other hand, by adding the adapter and testing it, then adding the hard drive and testing it, then adding the CD-ROM and testing it, installation troubleshooting becomes a much simpler matter (although it might take a bit more time overall). s Record the host adapters resources One of the most difficult aspects of troubleshooting is determining what the configuration of a system is. This is especially important during an upgrade because you must know the interrupts (IRQs), DMA channel(s), and I/O ranges used by other expansion devices in the PC. Any overlap in the use of these system resources will eventually result in a hardware conflict. When you install a SCSI host adapter, make it a point to record its IRQ, DMA, and I/O settings along with the SCSI ID settings of all devices that are installed. Tape the record to the inside of the PCs cover. The next time the PC returns for service or upgrade, youll have the information right at your fingertips. s Use good-quality cabling Using the correct terminators and cables can have a profound effect on the performance of your SCSI installation. Good-quality cables and terminators provide electrical characteristics that support good signal transfer. This results in good data reliability between the host controller and peripherals. If the cable quality is sub-standard or terminator networks are not correct for the SCSI level being used, the cables electrical characteristics and data transfer will be degraded.
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New SCSI host adapters (mainly PCI boards) are often Plug-and-Play (PnP) devices, and are configured through the SCSI BIOS and host adapter driver(s) at startup.
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FIGURE 39-3
When a second SCSI peripheral is added (Fig. 39-3), termination becomes a bit more complex. Suppose that a CD-ROM is added with a SCSI ID of 6. The terminator on the existing SCSI hard drive is no longer appropriate; it should be removed, and the termination should be made on the CD-ROM, which is now the last device in the SCSI chain. In most cases, a terminator network can be deactivated by flipping a DIP switch or changing a jumper on the peripheral itself. If the terminator can not be shut off, it can almost always be removed by gently easing the resistor network out of its holder using needle-nose pliers. If you remove a terminator, place it in an envelope and tape it to the inside of the PC enclosure. If it is simply impossible to remove the existing terminator on the hard drive, place the CD-ROM between the adapter and hard drive and remove the CD-ROMs terminator (re-arrange the chain). The SCSI host adapter must remain terminated. So what happens if an external device is used (such as a scanner), as in Fig. 39-4? An external cable connects the adapter to the scanner. Because the scanner (ID 6) and adapter (ID 7) are the only two points in the chain, both are terminated. Most external devices designed for SCSI-2 compatibility allow the active terminator built into the peripheral to be switched off, if necessary.
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SCSI-2 cable
SCSI-2 cable
FIGURE 39-5
Suppose that both an internal and an external SCSI device are being used (Fig. 39-5). The SCSI host adapter (ID 7) is no longer at an end of the chain, so its terminator should be switched off or removed. The internal hard drive (ID 0) and external scanner (ID 6) now form the ends, so both devices should be terminated. Because both peripherals should ideally support internal termination, nothing needs to be done, except to confirm that the terminators are in place and switched on.
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ver from one another. Drivers can now be written for each peripheral without worry of incompatibility so long as the drivers are written to be compatible with the standard. Three SCSI standards are now competing: ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programming Interface), CAM (Common Access Method), and LADDR (Layered Device Driver Architecture). ASPI is the most popular of the three standards. The idea for compatibility is to select a host adapter and peripherals that support the same standard. For example, if you select a host adapter that uses an ASPI driver, each of the peripherals that you choose must also use ASPI drivers. If you upgrade the host adapter later, you also upgrade the hosts ASPI driverfull compatibility should be maintained. The actual installation process varies little from other software installations. The realmode driver files for your adapter and peripheral(s) are copied to a sub-directory on the hard drive, then the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files are updated to load the appropriate drivers on system startup. If your particular system commits too much conventional memory to drivers, you can manually optimize your startup files later to load as many drivers as possible into upper memory.
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hardware wizard to register the device(s) and install the protected-mode drivers (remember not to let Windows 95 detect devices itself). s You can use the Add New Hardware wizard to update existing SCSI drivers if new versions become available. s If your SCSI hardware is not listed in the Add new hardware wizard, youll need to contact the hardware manufacturer(s) and download the correct .INF file and protected-mode drivers. If no protected-mode drivers are available for your SCSI hardware (that would be rare today), youll need to use the real-mode (DOS) driversthis might result in all system drives running in DOS compatibility mode and impairing system performance.
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needed troubleshooting for that particular controller. Check with the manufacturers BBS or CompuServe forum to find up-to-date test routines for various controllers.
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to each device.
s Check the orientation of each connector on the SCSI cable. Pin 1 must always be in the
proper orientation.
s Check the SCSI ID of each device. Duplicate IDs are not allowed. s Check that both ends of the SCSI cable are properly terminated and that the terminators
are active.
s Check the SCSI controller configuration (IRQQ, I/O, BIOS addresses, etc.). s Verify that the SCSI controller is not conflicting with other devices in the system. s Check SCSI host adapter BIOS. If youre not booting from SCSI hard drives, you can
often leave the SCSI BIOS disabled. This will also simplify the device configuration.
s Check the CMOS setup for drive configurations. When SCSI drives are in the system
and IDE/EIDE drives are not, be sure that the drive entries under CMOS are set for None or Not installed. s Check the PCI bus configuration in the CMOS setup. See that the PCI slot containing the SCSI host adapter is active and is using a unique IRQ (usually named IRQ A).
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s Check for the real-mode drivers under DOS. If youre working under DOS, see that
any needed driver(s) for the host adapter and non-HDD device(s) are installed in the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. s Check for the protected-mode drivers under Windows 95. If youre working under Windows 95, see that any needed protected-mode drivers for the host adapter and SCSI devices are installed. s Try remarking-out real-mode drivers if problems occur only under Windows 95. Realmode SCSI drivers can sometimes interfere with protected-mode SCSI drivers. If the SCSI system works fine in DOS, but not in Windows 95, try temporarily disabling the DOS drivers in your startup files.
SYMPTOMS
Even the best-planned SCSI setups go wrong from time to time, and SCSI systems already in the field will not run forever. Sooner or later, you will have to deal with a SCSI problem. This part of the chapter is intended to show you a variety of symptoms and solutions for many of the problems that you will likely encounter.
Symptom 39-1. After initial SCSI installation, the system will not boot from the floppy drive You might see an error code corresponding to this problem.
Suspect the SCSI host adapter first. An internal fault with the adapter might be interfering with system operation. Check that all of the adapters settings are correct and that all jumpers are intact. If the adapter is equipped with any diagnostic LEDs, check for any problem indications. When adapter problems are indicated, replace the adapter board. If a SCSI hard drive has been installed and the drive light is always on, the SCSI signal cable has probably been reversed between the drive and adapter. Be sure to install the drive cable properly. Check for the SCSI-adapter BIOS message generated when the system starts. If the message does not appear, check for the presence of a ROM-address conflict between the SCSI adapter and ROMs on other expansion boards. Try a new address setting for the SCSI adapter. If a BIOS wait-state jumper is on the adapter, try changing its setting. If you see an error message indicating that the SCSI host adapter was not found at a particular address, check the I/O setting for the adapter. Some more-recent SCSI host adapters incorporate a floppy controller. This can cause a conflict with an existing floppy controller. If you choose to continue using the existing floppy controller, be sure to disable the host adapters floppy controller. If youd prefer to use the host adapters floppy controller, remember to disable the pre-existing floppy controller port.
Symptom 39-2. The system will not boot from the SCSI hard drive Start by
checking the systems CMOS setup. When SCSI drives are installed in a PC, the corresponding hard-drive reference in the CMOS setup must be changed to none or not installed (this assumes that you will not be using IDE/EIDE hard drives in the system). If previous hard-drive references have not been mapped out, do so now, save the CMOS setup, and reboot the PC. If the problem persists, check that the SCSI boot drive is set to ID 0. You will need to refer to the user manual for your particular drive to find how the ID is set.
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Next, check the SCSI parity to be sure that it is selected consistently among all SCSI devices. Remember that all SCSI devices must have SCSI parity enabled or disabledif even one device in the SCSI chain does not support parity, it must be disabled on all devices. Check the SCSI cabling to be sure that all cables are installed and terminated properly. Finally, be sure that the hard drive has been partitioned and formatted properly. If not, boot from a floppy disk and prepare the hard drive, as required, using FDISK and FORMAT.
Symptom 39-3. The SCSI drive fails to respond with an alternate HDD as the boot drive Technically, you should be able to use a SCSI drive as a non-boot drive
(e.g., drive D:) while using an IDE/EIDE drive as the boot device. If the SCSI drive fails to respond in this kind of arrangement, check the CMOS setting to be sure that drive 1 (the SCSI drive) is mapped out (or set to None or Not installed). Save the CMOS setup and reboot the PC. If the problem persists, check that the SCSI drive is set to SCSI ID 1 (the non-boot ID). Next, be sure that the SCSI parity is enabled or disabled consistently throughout the SCSI installation. If the SCSI parity is enabled for some devices and disabled for others, the SCSI system might function erratically. Finally, check that the SCSI cabling is installed and terminated properly. Faulty cables or termination can easily interrupt a SCSI system. If the problem persists, try another hard drive.
Later SCSI host adapters use BIOS that allows SCSI drives to booteven with IDE/EIDE drives in the system. In such a configuration, the Boot order entry in CMOS setup will determine whether A:, C:, or SCSI will be the boot device. Symptom 39-4. The SCSI drive fails to respond with another SCSI drive as the boot drive This typically occurs in a dual-drive system using two SCSI drives.
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Check the CMOS setup and be sure that both drive entries in the setup are set to none or not installed. Save the CMOS setup. The boot drive should be set to SCSI ID 0 while the supplemental drive should be set to SCSI ID 1 (you will probably have to refer to the manual for the drives to determine how to select a SCSI ID). The hard drives should have a DOS partition and format. If not, create the partitions (FDISK) and format the drives (FORMAT) as required. Check to be sure that SCSI parity is enabled or disabled consistently throughout the SCSI system. If some devices use parity and other devices do not, the SCSI system might not function properly. Be sure that all SCSI cables are installed and terminated properly. If the problem persists, try systematically exchanging each hard drive.
Symptom 39-5. The system works erratically The PC hangs or the SCSI adapter
cannot find the drive(s). Such intermittent operation can be the result of several different SCSI factors. Before taking any action, be sure that the application software you were running when the fault occurred did not cause the problem. Unstable or buggy software can seriously interfere with system operation. Try different applications and see if the system still hangs up (you might also try any DOS diagnostic utilities that accompanied the host adapter). Check each SCSI device and be sure that parity is enabled or disabled consistently throughout the SCSI system. If parity is enabled in some devices and disabled in others, erratic operation can result. Be sure that no two SCSI devices are using the same
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ID. Cabling problems are another common source of erratic behavior. Be sure that all SCSI cables are attached correctly and completely. Also check that the cabling is properly terminated. Next, suspect that a resource conflict might be between the SCSI host adapter and another board in the system. Check each expansion board in the system to be sure that nothing is using the same IRQ, DMA, or I/O address as the host adapter (or check the Device manager under Windows 95). If you find a conflict, you should alter the most recently installed adapter board. If problems persist, try a new drive adapter board.
Symptom 39-6. A 096xxxx error code appears This diagnostic error code indi-
cates a problem in a 32-bit SCSI host adapter board. Check the board to be sure that it is installed correctly and completely. The board should not be shorted against any other board or cable. Try disabling one SCSI device at a time. If normal operation returns, the last device to be removed is responsible for the problem (you might need to disable drivers and reconfigure termination when isolating problems in this fashion). If the problem persists, remove and re-install all SCSI devices from scratch, or try a new SCSI adapter board.
Symptom 39-7. A 112xxxx error code appears This diagnostic error code indi-
cates that a problem is in a 16-bit SCSI adapter board. Check the board to be sure that it is installed correctly and completely. The board should not be shorted against any other board or cable. Try disabling one SCSI device at a time. If normal operation returns, the last device to be removed is responsible for the problem (you might need to disable drivers and reconfigure termination when isolating problems in this fashion). Try a new SCSI host-adapter board.
Symptom 39-8. A 113xxxx error code appears This diagnostic code indicates that a problem is in a system (motherboard) SCSI adapter configuration. If a SCSI BIOS ROM is installed on the motherboard, be sure that it is up-to-date and installed correctly and completely. If problems persist, replace the motherboards SCSI controller IC or replace the system board. It might be possible to circumvent a damaged motherboard SCSI controller by disabling the motherboards controller, then installing a SCSI host adapter card. Symptom 39-9. A 210xxxx error code appears A fault is in a SCSI hard disk. Check that the power and signal cables to the disk are connected properly. Be sure that the SCSI cable is correctly terminated. Try repartitioning and reformatting the SCSI hard disk. Finally, try a new SCSI hard disk. Symptom 39-10. A SCSI device refuses to function with the SCSI adaptereven though both the adapter and device check properly This is
often a classic case of basic incompatibility between the device and host adapter. Even though SCSI-2 helps to streamline compatibility between devices and controllers, the two just dont work together in some situations. Check the literature included with the finicky device and see if any notices of compatibility problems are included with the controller (perhaps the particular controller brand) you are using. If warnings are included, alternative jumpers or DIP switch settings might be included to compensate for the problem and allow you to use the device after all. A call to technical support at the devices manufacturer might help shed light on any recently discovered bugs or fixes (e.g., an updated SCSI
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BIOS, SCSI device driver, or host adapter driver). If problems remain, try using a similar device from a different manufacturer (e.g., try a Connor tape drive instead of a Mountain tape drive).
Symptom 39-11. A No SCSI controller present error message appears
Immediately suspect that the controller is defective or installed improperly. Check the host adapter installation (including IRQ, DMA, and I/O settings) and see that the proper suite of device drivers have been installed correctly. If the system still refuses to recognize the controller, try installing it in a different PC. If the controller also fails in a different PC, the controller is probably bad and should be replaced. However, if the controller works in a different PC, your original PC might not support all the functions under the interrupt 15h call required to configure SCSI adapters (such as an AMI SCSI host adapter). Consider upgrading the PC BIOS ROM to a new versionespecially if the PC BIOS is older. An upgraded SCSI BIOS or host adapter driver might be available to compensate for this problem.
Symptom 39-12. The PCI SCSI host adapter is not recognized and the SCSI BIOS banner is not displayed This often occurs when installing new PCI
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SCSI host adapters. The host computer must be PCI REV. 2.0 compliant and the motherboard BIOS must support PCI-to-PCI Bridges (PPB) and bus mastering. This is typically a problem (or limitation) with some older PCI motherboard chipsets, and youll probably find that the PCI SCSI adapter board works just fine on newer systems. If the system doesnt support PPB, it might not be possible to use the PCI SCSI adapter. You can try an ISA SCSI adapter instead or upgrade the motherboard to one with a more recent chipset. If the system hardware does offer PPB support and the problem persists, the motherboard BIOS might still not support PPB features as required by the PCI 2.0 standard. In this case, try a motherboard BIOS upgrade if one is available. If the problem continues, either the board is not in a bus-mastering slot, or the PCI slot is not enabled for bus mastering. Configure the PCI slot for bus mastering through CMOS setup or through a jumper on the motherboard (check your systems documentation to see exactly how).
Symptom 39-13. During boot-up, a Host-adapter configuration error message appears In virtually all cases, the problem is with the PCI slot configuration
for the SCSI host adapter. Try enabling a IRQ for the SCSI adapters PCI slot (usually accomplished through the CMOS setup). Be sure that any IRQ being assigned to the SCSI adapter PCI slot is not conflicting with other devices in the system.
Symptom 39-14. An error message, such as No SCSI functions in use, appears Even when a SCSI adapter and devices are installed and configured properly,
there are several possible causes for this kind of an error. First, be sure that no hard-disk drivers are installed when no physical SCSI hard disks are in the system. Also be sure that there are no hard disk drivers installed (i.e., in CONFIG.SYS) when the SCSI host-adapter BIOS is enabled. HDD drivers arent needed then, but you could leave the drivers in place and disable the SCSI BIOS. Finally, this error can occur if the HDD was formatted on another SCSI controller that does not support ASPI, or uses a specialized format. For example, Western Digital controllers only work with Western Digital HDDs. In this case, you should try a more generic controller.
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Symptom 39-15. An error message, such as No boot record found, appears This generally simple problem can be traced to several possible issues. First,
chances are that the drive has never been partitioned (FDISK) or formatted as a bootable drive (FORMAT). Repartition and reformat the hard drive. If you partitioned and formatted the drive with a third-party utility (e.g., TFORMAT), be sure to answer Y, if asked to make the disk bootable. A third possibility can occur if the disk was formatted on another manufacturers controller. If this is the case, the only alternative might be to repartition and reformat the drive again on your current controller.
Symptom 39-16. An error, such as Device fails to respondNo devices in use. Driver load aborted, appears In most cases, the problem is something
simple, such as the SCSI device not being turned on or cabled correctly. Verify that the SCSI devices are on and connected correctly. In other cases, the SCSI device is on, but fails the INQUIRY commandthis happens when the SCSI device is defective or not supported by the host adapter. The device might need default jumper settings changed (i.e., the drive should spin up and come ready on its own). You might find that the SCSI device is sharing the same SCSI ID with another device. Check all SCSI devices to verify that each device has separate SCSI ID. You might have the wrong device driver loaded for your particular device type. Check config.sys to be sure the correct driver is loaded for the drive type (e.g., TSCSI.SYS for a hard disk, not a CD-ROM).
Symptom 39-17. An error, such as Unknown SCSI device or Waiting for SCSI device, appears The SCSI hard disk has failed to boot as the primary drive
check that the primary hard disk is set at SCSI ID 0. Be sure that the drive is partitioned and formatted as the primary drive. If necessary, boot from a floppy with just the ASPI manager loaded in CONFIG.SYS (and no other drivers), then format the drive. It might also be that the SCSI cable termination is not correct (or TERMPWR is not provided by the hard disk for the host adapter). Verify the cable terminations and the TERMPWR signal.
Symptom 39-18. An error, such as CMD failure XX, appears This typically
occurs during the format processthe XX is a vendor-specific code (and youll need to contact the vendor to determine what the error means). The most common problem is trying to partition a drive that is not low-level formatted. If this is the case, run the low-level format utility that accompanied the SCSI drive, then try partitioning again. If youre suffering a different error, you might need to take other action, depending on the nature of the error.
Symptom 39-19. After the SCSI adapter BIOS header appears, a message, such as Checking for SCSI target 0 LUN 0, appears The system
pauses about 30 seconds, then reports BIOS not installed, no INT 13h device found. The system then boots normally. In most cases, the BIOS is trying to find a hard drive at SCSI ID 0 or 1, but no hard drive is available. If you do not have a SCSI hard drive attached to the host adapter, then it is recommended that the SCSI BIOS be disabled.
Symptom 39-20. The system hangs up when the SCSI BIOS header appears This is usually caused by a terminator problem. Be sure that the SCSI devices at
the end of the SCSI chain (either internally or externally) are terminated. Check all device IDs to be sure that they are unique, and also check for system resource conflicts (e.g.,
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BIOS address, I/O address, and interrupts). You might also need to disable the Shadow RAM feature in the CMOS setup.
Symptom 39-21. The SCSI BIOS header is displayed during system startup, then the message appears: Host adapter diagnostic error The
card either has a port-address conflict with another card or the card has been changed to port address 140h and the BIOS is enabled. Some SCSI host adapters are able to use the BIOS under port address 140h, so check for I/O conflicts. You might need to reconfigure the SCSI host adapter.
Symptom 39-22. When a VL bus SCSI adapter is installed, the system hangs at startup Chances are that the VL SCSI adapter is a bus-mastering device and
requires that the VL slot support full 32-bit bus mastering. Most VL bus systems have either slave slots and/or master slots. The SCSI adapter must be inserted into a master slot. If you are not sure if the system supports bus mastering or if you have a master slot, contact the system manufacturer. Also, the slot that the SCSI VL card is inserted into must be a 5-Vdc slot that operates at 33MHz or less. The VL bus speed is typically set through a jumper on the motherboard. It should be set in the <=33MHz position. The motherboard might also need to be set for write-through caching. This might be set in the motherboards CMOS setup utility or it might be configured via a jumper on the motherboard (if both a CMOS setting and a jumper are used, be sure that both are set the same way).
Symptom 39-23. When upgrading a VL bus system CPU to a faster model, the system locks up with a SCSI VL card installed, or it wont boot from the SCSI HDD Most likely a DMA or other timing discrepancy is between the SCSI
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adapter and the VL local bus. The SCSI adapter probably works fine on VL bus systems running up to 33MHz. Faster CPUs can increase the VL bus speed beyond 33MHz. Above this 33MHz speed, variations in motherboard, chipset, or CPU design might cause the SCSI adapter to function intermittently or to fail. In some cases, this problem can be resolved:
s The motherboard might have jumpers that govern the VL bus speedbe sure that the
liably.
s Try disabling the systems turbo setting during the boot-up sequence, then re-enable
VL SCSI adapters often refuse to run with SLC type CPUs because the SLC uses 16-bit architecture, rather than 32-bit at the VL bus. Some VL SCSI adapters will run in this configuration, but it is rare. Use an ISA SCSI adapter instead of an VL adapter in this circumstance.
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Symptom 39-25. When running the Qualitas 386MAX memory-manager software on ISA or VL systems with an SCSI host adapter, the system crashes when booting 386MAX is known to cause problems with SCSI systems, and
youll need to adjust the 386MAX command line. Do not allow 386MAX to load during boot up, then include the key NOIOWRAP on the 386MAX command line. This will allow you to boot with 386MAX loaded.
Symptom 39-26. When installing an EISA SCSI adapter and running the EISA configuration utility, you see an EISA configuration slot mismatch or board not found in slot x error This error occurs because your board is not
completely seated in the EISA slot. You can verify this by booting to a floppy diskette, and running the DOS Debug command. After typing Debug, you will receive the debug prompt (a dash). Then type i (space) Xc80 where X is the EISA slot where your board is physically installed. If a 04 is returned, the board is correctly seated and the problem lies elsewhere. If FF is returned, the board needs to be pushed down further. Power down your system before re-seating your board.
Symptom 39-27. An EISA SCSI adapter cant be configured in enhanced mode You get the error: Unable to initialize Host Adapter or the system hangs after
the SCSI BIOS scans the SCSI devices. These errors are usually limited to motherboards that do not support LEVEL INT triggering. These chipsets (such as the Hint and SIS) require a few modifications be made to the host adapters EISA configuration (.CFG) file. Make the following changes to the !ADP000X.CFG file:
CHOICE = "Enhanced Mode" FREE INT=IOPORT(1) LOC (7 6 2 1 0) 10000B LINK IRQ=11|12|10|15|14|9 SHARE = "AHA-1740" (Change to: SHARE = NO) TRIGGER = LEVEL(Change to: TRIGGER = EDGE) INIT=IOPORT(3) LOC(4 3 2 1 0) 10010B | 10011B | 10001B | 1010B | 10101B | 10000B (Change first zero in each binary number to a one: Example: 10010B = 11010B)
Another option is to download the latest .CFG file for your SCSI adapter card (i.e., ASWC174.EXE). Reconfigure the card with new .CFG file and select edge-triggered IRQ.
Further Study
This concludes the material for Chapter 39. Be sure to review the glossary and chapter questions on the accompanying CD. If you have access to the Internet, take a look at some of these SCSI system resources: Adaptec: http://www.adaptec.com AMI: http://www.megatrends.com
FURTHER STUDY
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Ancot: http://www.ancot.com/ Fibre Channel Association: http://www.Amdahl.com/ext/CARP/FCA/FCA.html Quantum: http://www.quantum.com/src/ SCSI FAQ: http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/scsi-faq/top.html SCSI guide: http://www.delec.com/Tech_Links/SCSIGuide/ SCSI Trade Association: http://www.scsita.org/ SCSI-2 spec: http://abekas.com:8080/SCSI2/ Symbios articles: http://www.symbios.com/articles/articles.htm Symbios specs: http://www.symbios.com/x3t10 Western Digital: http://www.wdc.com
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