Fresh install to SCSI drive off an aftermarket AHA2940?

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gfen

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So, in an effort to beef up the performance of a budget G3/233 (edit: I neglected to mention this is a revision B or later beige G3), I've since added memory (384mb), a new CPU (G4/500), and now its either video or drive.. and drive _should_ be easier.



Well, I thought so, at least.

I've got an AHA2940 (not sure of the exact flavour, it supports U2W and LVD2) with a Seagate SCA LVD2 drive mounted to it. The drive uses a SCA->68 adapter, I've got it running on the normal U2W port (no LVD cable), and I can paritition and write to it when I use the icurrently installed system, off an IDE drive.

However, when I try to reinstall, the OSX installer doesn't see the drive. It sees an IDE drive, if I use one, it sees a scsi2 narrow drive off the internal adapter, but the one on the AHA? Nope, not there.

Is there a work around for this, or am I stuck booting from some sort of integral host, either the IDE or narrow scsi2 adapter?
 
OS X is probably not going to support that old AHA2940UW (LVD). You may have some luck by upgrading to a newer Adaptec card, and there's others from other companies that may work; but Adaptec recommends upgrading to a 29160 model.
 
No, it definatly supports this card, as I can use it just fine under OSX, but I cannot install to it anew.

There in lies my confusion.
 
OK, you said that your SCSI drive is recognized through the narrow connection, how about doing the install through that hookup, and re-connecting to the card once the install is completed. There's nothing distinctive installed for a wide SCSI compared to a narrow SCSI. If the problem is the installer recognizing the SCSI drive through the wide connection, then use the narrow adapters temporarily, It SHOULD work.
 
That's the integrated controller, and unforutnatly, the SCA adapter I have goes to 68 pin only, no 50 pin narrow.

edit: I'm just not good with details today...

The installer recognizes the INTEGRAL APPLE controller, it does not seem to see things on the AFTERMARKET AHA2940.

I hope that clears it up, a bit at least.
 
68-pin to 50-pin adapter (you have an LVD drive, might not work, but I suppose you knew that already) It might be worth the 15 or 20 bucks to find out for sure if that process WILL work.
 
Unfortuantly, that's not in the cards. Admittedly, I made a mistake by not spending the extra $2 for SCA adapters with 50 pin connectors, but at this point I'm not going to mail order another set and deal with the wait as I figure I'm not the ONLY person to wonder this.

Surely someone else must've tried this by now.
 
Oh, lookie there.. there's a different version of the 2940 for the Mac than the PC. I wonder if that's why it won't boot?

I'm really getting agitated with this aspect of the Apple Experience. :)
 
Check out the Adaptec web site, they admit to no longer supporting this card, it's about 4-5 years old. They recommend replacing with a more current card (which certainly better supports OS X) Of course, OS X support for SCSI sucks; that is, it works, but woe to you if you have problems.
 
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