Is my SCSI card dead?

D

dave80

Registered
Recently, I was doing some scanning on a g4 at work and in the middle of the scan, we had a power cut. When the power was back on the computer wouldn't restart, so i formatted the HD and re-installed OSX 10.2. Now the scanners don't work. When I go into System Profiler, the SCI card isn't recognised at all i.e. the computer says there's nothing there.
Did the blackout kill the SCSI, or do I need to install drivers or something? I don't know what kind of card is in the machine, I couldn't see any brand names or anything when i had a look.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Cheers,
Dave
 
Hello Dave. I'm a big fan of SCSI - even though everybody else seems to have moved on... Finding out what brand and type of SCSI card you have really helps these kinds of trouble-shooting episodes. So I would suggest taking another look at the card as the brand name and model number should be printed on it. "ATTO" and "Adaptec" are the most common SCSI card brands for Mac - but, there are others.

SCSI cards do require their own drivers in order to work.

Usually the Mac OS X system files have (the most common) drivers already installed - but less common cards will require the drivers to be installed.

These are easily available for download from the manufacturer's website.

Because you have re-installed Mac OS X - and found that the SCSI connection is no longer working - I'm assuming that the absence of the drivers are your problem...
 
Hi, thanks for the advice. I had another look on the card and I did find a name and model number (its an adaptec). I found the driver, installed it on the machine and now the computer no longer starts up. It just hangs on the grey startup screen. It makes me think there's something wrong with the card, because when the computer couldn't see the card it worked fine.
Any more ideas anyone?
 
Hmmmmm. Sounds like it doesn't like the driver you installed.

Did you install the correct driver? Please tell me:
> What model Adaptec card you have.
> The name/version driver you installed.

You might have installed a driver that is incompatible with Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar". Or that driver might be conflicting with one that is already installed.

Do you have a power surge safety plug on the computer? If not, the blackout might have wiped the firmware off the card. Although, I think this would be highly unlikely. (But it wouldn't be too hard to flash it back.) It's just strange. My feeling is that you have not installed the correct driver. Or as you suggest, something is wrong with the card. Does the computer boot up fine if you pull the card out? Let me know.
 
Hi, thanks for all your help so far. The card is and adaptec ava 2906. The driver is adaptec2906 and comes in a package cafrom the adaptec website called adp2906_X_v102.hqx.
Does this help?
 
Hey Dave - I have one those cards too!

Anyway, I just checked the Adaptec website and there is a newer version of the required driver available. You are currently using version 1.0.2 when you probably should have been using version 1.1. However, don't bother downloading it as the download web page states this:

Notes: The version 1.1 driver is embedded in Mac OS X 10.2 and later, there is no need to download and install this driver if you are running Mac OS X 10.2 or later.

So I imagine that's why your computer wouldn't boot after you installed the version 1.0.2 driver - driver conflict. If the installer doesn't come with an "uninstall" option, you will need to manually remove the version 1.0.2 driver in order to restore the OS X. (Navigate from your "hard drive" - System folder / Library folder / Extensions folder - and find the file. It will be called something like: "Adaptec2906.kext". Right click (or "control" left click) and choose "move to trash". The computer will ask you to Authenticate the action with your system password.)

As for why your SCSI card isn't working - well that's not looking so good. Because the correct driver is built into Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar - your card should have been working properly - or at least showing up in the system profiler. Since there are no downloadable files to re-flash the firmware - we can only try so hard. Should none of the below work, I would contact (email) Adaptec, tell them what happened and ask for help. (Refer them to this thread on macosx.com even.)

1. Shutdown, disconnect SCSI cables from Adaptec card, disconnect power cord, and open Mac up.
2. Touch the metal side of the Mac case with both hands to rid yourself of electrical discharge.
3. Pull the Adaptec card out of its PCI slot. You will need release the screw that holds the card in the slot in order to remove it. (When you have it out, inspect it for obvious damage - especially the contacts at the bottom.) Re-connect card. If you can, relocate the SCSI card to another PCI slot when you put it back.
4. Press the CUDA reset button on the motherboard. (This is probably what you should have done after the blackout instead of re-installing Mac OS X.) The CUDA reset button is a little silver metal button located on the motherboard - often near to the CPU. (You may need to use the end of a pen to push it down.) Hold it down and count to three!
5. (Wait a minute) Reboot and see if card shows up in profiler.
6. If yes - re-connect SCSI cords and test scanner. If no - contact Adaptec.
 
Well, i've just tried to get rid of the driver, but I can't manage to even get the mac to start up now. Here's what happens: Start the mac with a OSX install cd in the drive and pressing c on the keyboard. I get a blank grey screen. The drive ejects the disc by itself and then the grey apple logo come on screen. Then it just hangs. I can't get past this screen. Any ideas on how to get around this to access the HD?
 
Have you tried a safe boot?

Have you tried removing the SCSI card (To get the computer back up and running)
 
Hi. I 've pulled out the scsi card and the mac managed to start up fine. I then deleted the driver, and installed the card in a new slot. I also pressed the button on the board, and I'm now back at the same problem: the computer hangs on a grey blank screen on startup.
Any more ideas? I think i'll have to contact adaptec but first I'd like to pick everyone else's brain because things seem to move alot quicker around here than any tech support department I've ever dealt with. :)
cheers everyone.
 
Are you sure you deleted the right driver? Cos' remember there were two. The original mac os x one (Adaptec290X-2930.kext) and the one you installed.

Let me get this straight - with the SCSI card in = the mac won't boot, but when you take it out = everything's fine? At this point it seems like the card is the problem. Since you did a clean install the other day I'd recommend this:
> take card out
> boot computer from install disks
> use disk utility and "repair permissions"
(This will fix up any bugs left over from the driver conflict and "refresh" the original driver).

Again, try booting with the card installed. Since we have established that the correct Adaptec driver is inbuilt into Mac OS 10.2 and later, my feeling is that if the computer cannot boot with the card - then there is something wrong with it...
Anyone else?
 
Hi again. There was an uninstaller that came witht the driver so I just used that to get rid of the adaptec290x-2930.kext. So yeah, witht the card in the mac hangs on a blank grey screen and with no card it works fine. I'll try the disk utility and let you know how i go.
Thanks again!
 
I tried the disk utility and I'm still stuck on a grey screen on startup. How frustrating! Any way, I'm starting to think that I may have to track down a new scsi card and throw the other one in the bin.. unless anyone has any other ideas...
 
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