NetWare v3.11 on FT//e or FT//s with >16MB RAM & Adaptec SCSI Cards

If installing NetWare v3.11 (or for that matter v4.0) on an FT//s or FT//e server that is configured with more than 16MB of RAM, and the system is using Adaptec AHA1640 SCSI cards, the following steps need to be taken to ensure correct operation.

These steps are required because the Adaptec AHA1640 controller is a 16 bit bus-mastering card and therefore needs to have its driver loaded into memory below 16MB. Once loaded, it can access the memory above 16MB however (so long as it is loaded with the ABOVE16=Y switch).

1. In STARTUP.NCF, add the following lines:-

   SET AUTO REGISTER MEMORY ABOVE 16 MEGABYTES=OFF
   SET RESERVED BUFFERS BELOW 16 MEG=200

2. Create an AUTOEXEC.NCF on the same drive and in the same directory as STARTUP.NCF. In it, you should have the following:-

   FILE SERVER NAME <servername>
   IPX INTERNAL NET <address>
   LOAD AHA1640 ABOVE16=Y SLOT=<slot number>
   REGISTER MEMORY 1000000 <memory above 16MB in hex>
   MOUNT SYS
   AUTOEXEC

This will ensure that the server will only see 16MB of RAM when the disk driver loads. It will also ensure that SYS: is not mounted until the rest of the memory has been registered, and as a result will mean that all available memory is used for disk caching.

All other commands needed to start the server can then go into the AUTOEXEC.NCF in SYS:SYSTEM (as before).

For more info on the REGISTER MEMORY command, consult the Novell NetWare v3.11 Installation Manual.

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