XEN-PC 590 (Jade) with BIOS from 4.02 & 560 (Ruby) with SCO Unix

This IPB details the IDE Translation Mode set-up for the IDE hard disc for use with SCO Unix with XEN-PC 590 Jade motherboard (RE & RF) systems from 4.02 BIOS and XEN-PC 560 Ruby motherboard (RG & RH) systems. Release 4.02 BIOS is a common BIOS for use in 560 Ruby and 590 Jade based systems. It is a SurePath BIOS and produces a square in the top right hand corner of the display at boot time.

This IPB also details the Adaptec 1510 card configuration in these systems.

Related IPB's

Refer to IPB 3177 for a description of the IDE disc set-up required for the XEN-PC 560 Intel Revenge motherboard (RA product code).

IPB 3181 refers to disc set-up for the XEN-PC 590 Jade motherboard (RE & RF product codes) with BIOS prior to 4.02.

IPB 3188 refers to disc set-up for the XEN-PC 486 Acer P2 motherboard (RC & RD product code) systems.

IPB 3142 and IPB 3143 give further detail on Unix configuration with the 1510 card and these should be referred to.

IDE Disc set-up

Prior to installing SCO Unix onto the hard disc the BIOS setup should be run to set the IDE Translation Mode. The setting depends upon whether a DOS partition is required or not.

If the whole disc is required for Unix then set IDE Translation Mode to Extended CHS by following the section later in this IPB. Unix will recognise the disc correctly. For example, Unix will report the Quantum LT 730 AT drive as 1416 cylinders during installation and in the Unix kernel boot-up screen.

If a DOS partition is required in addition to Unix the following procedure should be used:

1. Install the DOS partition with the IDE Translation Mode set to Standard CHS by following the section later in this IPB. Unix Support have verified such an installation with a 100Mb DOS 5 partition.
   
   
2. During the installation of Unix on the remainder of the disc you are asked if the disc parameters are to be changed. Answer yes to this question and change menu item 1, the number of cylinders, to the appropriate number. (Refer to the Insight CD-ROM for geometry of drives.) As an example, for the Quantum LT 730 AT this is 1416. This will make Unix report the geometry that the disc offers rather than the reduced geometry (1024 cyls.) that Unix obtained from the BIOS during installation. Using the Quantum 730Mb drive as an example these two geometry's are:

   1024 cyl. 16 heads 63 sectors = 504Mbytes
   1416 cyl. 16 heads 63 sectors = 697Mbytes

   It has been noted that not carrying out the above change to the disc parameters did not affect operation. However, we recommend making this change at installation time to enable correct reporting of the disc at Unix boot-up.

   If DOS and Unix are installed with the IDE Translation Mode set to Extended CHS then Unix will not boot, a "NO OS" error being produced when re-booting. The IDE Translation Mode could then be set to Standard CHS, however Unix would then report the drive as having only 1024 cylinders.

1. Enter setup by pressing <F1> when the square appears in the top right hand corner of the display. Entering setup can be speeded up by bypassing the memory count by pressing <esc> as soon as it starts.
   
   
2. Select Advanced Setup
   
   
3. Select Hard Disk Control
   
   
4. Set the IDE Translation Mode to Standard CHS or Extended CHS as required.
   
   
5. Press <esc> twice to return to the main menu of the Configuration/Setup Utility and select Save Settings.
   
   
6. Select Exit Setup.

Adaptec 1510 card configuration

It has been seen that under certain configurations strapping the card for I/O 140 will de-activate the floppy drive.

When tested by Unix Support it was found that the hard disc was sometimes not seen during Unix installation unless restart was also used in the boot string.

It is therefore recommended that the card is strapped for I/O 340, and if IRQ 9 is also strapped the following should be entered at the Boot: prompt to allow a tape installation:

restart kernel.adapter=spad(0x340,0x9,0)

Review IPB 3142 and IPB 3143 for details of the modifying the link kit to reflect these hardware settings for the 1510 card.

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