Monthly Update - April, 96

Updated Product History

Updated Errata Section

Updated Qualified Memory Lists (DRAM & SRAM)

Updated Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) section

Product History

ECOs - Board - April, 96

ECOs - Software - April, 96

ECO's - Columbus System - April, 96

ECO's - MG5000 System - April, 96

Baseboard revision summary -  April, 96

Baseboard revision details  April, 96

System revision summary -April, 96

ECOs - Board - April, 96

ALTSERVER BOARD LEVEL CHANGES - Implemented and Projected April, 96

Related Topics:

New Pentium 133 Mhz Stepping - Class III

Riser Card Changes - Class II

New I/O riser card baseboard Connector - Class III.

New PCEB Stepping - Class I

Cache module part number change - Class III

ALTServer Buffer Change - Class I

INCA Stepping Change - Class Il

New Pentium 133 Mhz Stepping - Class III

Current Implementation Date: 5/96

ECO# 5529143

New C-0 stepping of 133 Mhz Pentium CPU.  The new stepping fixes several errata.

Riser Card Changes - Class II

Date Implemented: 4/96

1.  Width of critical dimension increased by .006" to address worst case mechanical alignment with connector.

2.  Square corner was replaced with diagonal 'ramp' to cause board to self-align with connector as board is inserted.

ECO#  5525781

New I/O riser card baseboard Connector - Class III

Date Implemented: 4/96

ECO #5526204

The I/O riser card baseboard connector changed to one which is less tensile and has stronger retainers. No new compatibility issues are introduced using this connector. This new connector works with -002 and -003 riser cards.

New PCEB Stepping - Class I

Date Implemented: 1/96

ECO# 5525602

The PCEB changed from -A2 stepping to the -B1.  This enables the SMI if in 120 or 133Mhz Dual processing mode with BIOS 1.00.15 or greater.  This is reflected in a board PBA number ending in -302 or greater (e.g. 630958-302).

Cache module part number change - Class III

Date Implemented: 1/96

ECO# 5526581

Intel's internal part numbers for the second level cache modules changed.  This change was implemented in order to allow better internal tracking of what processor speeds each qualified cache module supports.

ALTServer Buffer Change - Class I

Date Implemented: 3/96

ECO# 5527592

The ALTServer PBA changed to the 74ALTS245 in replacement of the 74F245 buffers.

INCA Stepping Change - Class Il

Date Implemented: 3/96

ECO# 5527592

New stepping on INCA. Added clamp diode to input lines to modify the diode kickback voltage, minimize signal reflections

ECOs - Software - April, 96

ALTSERVER SOFTWARE LEVEL CHANGES  - Implemented and Projected April, 96

Related Topics:

New Country Kit - Class II

New version of Testview Diagnostics - Class II

New Country Kit - Class II

New Country Kit - Class II

BIOS Fixes - Class I

SCU Plug and Play Fix - Class I

New Country Kit - Class II

Current Implementation Date: 6/96

ECO# 5529446

A new country kit will be included with all systems.  The SCU included in the kit will change to version 3.4 OVL 1.3. the testview diagnostics program will change to version 3.37.

New version of Testview Diagnostics - Class II

Current Implementation Date: 5/96

ECO# 5529446

New version of the Testview diagnostics software will be cut into the product. Early copies of these drivers and release notes are available now for customer evaluation.

                                    Old Diagnostics: 3.31   New version: 3.37

New Country Kit - Class II

Date Implemented: 1/96

ECO# 5526526

A new country kit included with all systems.  The Platform guide revision will change, SCSI drivers, LSC version and the SCU included in the kit will change to version 3.21 / OVL 1.01 (required by BIOS 1.00.15.BI0).

New Country Kit - Class II

Date Implemented: 3/96

A new country kit will be included with all systems.  The SCU included in the kit will change to version 3.3 / OVL 1.20 (required by Feb. BIOS release).

BIOS Fixes - Class I

Date Implemented: 3/96

A new BIOS was cut in to fix the following errata.

Detect Fab 6 vs. 7 using A/D channel 6 (0-based) to control the following:

a. GAT Mode - If fab 7, cannot allow GAT mode because it's using  an external arbiter.

b. SMM - If fab 6, cannot allow SMIs to be enabled because SMI pullup is missing.

PnP ISA card fix to allow PnP ISA cards' resources to be changed in the SCU without causing an extra record in the ESCD to be created.  This fix requires new SCU 3.30/OVL 1.02 or greater also.

1MB Hole Fix

a. Fixed CMOS locations 34h-35h to report the correct amount  of extended memory based on enable status of 1MB hole.

b. Fixed INT 15 Function DA88 to report the correct amount of  extended memory by subtracting out the 1MB hole if it is enabled.

SCU Plug and Play Fix - Class I

Date Implemented:  3/96

The SCU version 3.3, Overlay 1.20  fixed issues with Plug andf Play (PnP) ISA cards.  Changes since previous release:

1) PnP code updates to work with newest BIOSes.  Previously, BIOS would not honor PnP resource requests.  New BIOSes will honor requests but must have some fixes in SCU.  Unfortunately, this fix makes this particular SCU Beta not work with older BIOSes.

2) There is a warning when trying to restore a CMOS image image from an older BIOS than what is currently in the system.

3) A couple of references to the 'ECU' were removed

4) The global resource map uses a PnP card's name instead of a generic "Main Function" string when describing resources.

5) There is a warning if no resources are reserved for standard video BIOS.

6) The maximum amperage was increased according to the Hardware EPS.

7) There is a "Toggle Temperature" key in the Volt/Temp Limits window to allow the user to toggle between entering temperatures in Celcius and Kelvin.

8) The Password dialog box title is "New Password" when there is no valid password and "Change Password" when there is a valid password.

ECO's - Columbus System - April, 96

COLUMBUS SYSTEM / CHASSIS CHANGES - Implemented and Projected April, 96

Related Topics:

Fan Sense Jumper - Class I

Front Panel Board update - Class II

New Front Panel Switch buttons - Class III

Fan Sense Jumper - Class I

Date Implemented: 1/96

ECO# 5526645B

   Some Columbus systems with Altair Fab 7 baseboards were shipped without the "fan sense jumper" installed.  The cooling fan in the system will not work properly without this jumper installed on the unused fan connector on the baseboad. Please contact your Intel field sales representative.

Front Panel Board update - Class II

Date Implemented: 1/96

ECO# 5526078

New fab to bury blue wires and remove etch cut on existing Front Panel PBA.

New Front Panel Switch buttons - Class III

Date Implemented: 3/96

ECO# 5525301

New switch buttons are being implemented to remove requirement of the black switch caps on the front panel board that are underneath the existing buttons.  These buttons will be identical to the old in function and appearance and are attached to the bezel.

ECO's - MG5000 System - April, 96

MAGELLAN  SYSTEM / CHASSIS CHANGES - Projected April, 96

Related Topics:

None Planned

None Planned

Baseboard revision summary -  April, 96

Baseboard revision details  April, 96

System revision summary -April, 96

Errata

General

Common to All Operating Systems

Limitations in the BIOS and SCU

Windows NT* 3.5 / 3.51

Windows* 95

Novell* NetWare* 3.12, 4.1x

SCO UNIX

Banyan* Vines* 6.0

Novell UnixWare* 2.x

Solaris*

IBM* OS/2*

Processor Errata as they apply to ALTServer Summary

Processor Errata Details

Known Errata - System

Manual

Closed Errata

General

Board Flex - Rubber bumper under power connectors in non-Intel chassis

Rubber bumper under I/O riser in non-Intel chassis

Installing the Video Memory DRAM

Configuring Multiple EISA/PCI add-in cards

BIOS - Procedure for updating

Board Flex - Rubber bumper under power connectors in non-Intel chassis

CAUTION:  Baseboard damage can occur due to board flex between the power connectors and the corner mounting screw.  This was discovered when the mouse failed on some systems.  Care must be taken when inserting and removing the power connectors.  This same care is also recommended when applying any mechanical force to the baseboard (I/O riser, Adapters, Video DRAM, etc.)   If you are not installing this product in an Intel chassis, add a rubber bumper under the baseboard power connector to eliminate any possibility of flexing the baseboard while installing the power cables.  This stabilizer has been added to Intel Chassises.

Rubber bumper under I/O riser in non-Intel chassis

CAUTION:  If you are not installing this product in an Intel chassis, add a rubber bumper under the I/O riser card connector on the baseboard to eliminate any possibility of flexing the baseboard while installing the riser card.  Make sure you hear the riser card click into place; otherwise the baseboard may be damaged.  A new specification is in progress; all pre-production/evaluation parts will be replaced.

Installing the Video Memory DRAM

! WARNING: Installing the video memory DRAM chip incorrectly in the socket could produce an extremely high Case temperature and destroy the chip and possibly the system board. Do not touch the Video memory chip after such an occurrence until it has been determined the case is not at elevated temperature.
 

Configuring Multiple EISA/PCI add-in cards

CAUTION: There is a small probability that problems may be encountered when loading a combination of more than five EISA and/or PCI add-in cards in the ALTServer system.  This is due to configuration memory allocation requirements  of .cfg files of some add-in cards.  Unfortunately, it is not possible to predict the configuration memory usage pattern of most EISA add-in boards until the board is actually inserted in the system.  A two-part solution exists for these cases:

·      A "Memory Used" utility included with a special System Configuration Utility to help in determining the amount of memory available for configuring additional EISA add-in cards.

· For the rare cases where configuration memory is exhausted (as indicated by an "Out of  Memory" error message from the SCU), a separate SCU has been developed.  This SCU, "OVL.lite", frees up additional memory, but requires an additional step in configuration. In this case,  a customer would first run the normal SCU and configure the baseboard/system.  Then the "OVL.Lite" SCU would be run to configure the EISA cards.  A copy of this utility and its instructions may be obtained from the Intel BBS.For the rare cases where configuration memory is exhausted (as indicated by an "Out of  Memory" error message from the SCU), a separate SCU has been developed.  This SCU, "OVL.lite", frees up additional memory, but requires an additional step in configuration. In this case,  a customer would first run the normal SCU and configure the baseboard/system.  Then the "OVL.Lite" SCU would be run to configure the EISA cards.  A copy of this utility and its instructions may be obtained from the Intel BBS.

Ed note: this is exactly how this page appears in the original .hlp file.

BIOS - Procedure for updating

CAUTION: Special instructions for updating may be required and instructions are noted in the "release.txt" file supplied with the BIOS.  Care must be taken to read this file and follow its directions to ensure proper operation and upgrading.

Get BIOS update from dealer or sales representative; unzip file and copy the FMUP files to a bootable diskette (formatted, DOS 6.22 or later).

To update the BIOS:

1.   Run SCU and save current configuration to a file.

2.   Run <F1> CMOS Setup and note differences from defaults listed in manual.

3.   Turn the server off.

4.   Removal of ISA adapters from system may be necessary if there is an IRQ or I/O conflict with a factory default setting of an embedded feature in the system (e.g. Video or SCSI).  Note slot location of each adapter.

5.   Insert in drive A the bootable diskette that you have just copied the BIOS updates files to.  Turn the server on.  The update process starts automatically following system boot.  Follow the system prompts.

6.   When the update process completes, turn the server off.

7.   Reset CMOS NVRAM.

To reset CMOS NVRAM to factory default values:

1.   Turn the server off.  Move CMOS Clear jumper (J1B) to pins 2-3.

2.   Turn the server on and wait for the message indicating "NVRAM Cleared by Jumper".  This automatically reprograms CMOS NVRAM to default settings.

3.   Turn the server off.  Move the CMOS Clear jumper to pins 1-2.

4.   Turn the server on.

5.   Run <F1> CMOS Setup and restore configuration as per your notes from step 2 of "Updating BIOS" above.

6.   Run SCU to reconfigure the server.  At this point you can use the file saved in step one of "Updating BIOS" above.  Be sure to save changes (SCU step #4) before exiting the SCU.

7.   If you removed ISA adapters during the Updating BIOS procedure, power down system and re-install the adapters in there original slots now.

These instructions are repeated in Resetting CMOS NVRAM to Factory Defaults in the manual shipped with the product.

Common to All Operating Systems

                                    (Errata present in BIOS 1.00.15.BI0 and SCU 3.21 overlay 1.01)

Related Topics:

Mouse AutoDetect may/may not assign IRQ12 as usable  1929

Factory Default A/D values incorrect for baseboard monitoring 1580

DPT 2122 hangs system with no drives attached. 2043

Fails PCI SIG "P2P Bridge" Test; Can't handle VGA on bridge  2233

Failed using the Sound Blaster IDE configured at secondary IDE 2236

Fails the PCI SIG Expansion ROM test  2349

Custom EISA card not found; reports wrong EISA config  2412

Atapi IDE CD-ROM Drives failed to function   2413

Creative Labs AWE32 sound blaster does not function w/ EISA SCSI  2414

Fails when running the PCI expansion ROM test  2444

Fails Toshiba XM-3501 SCSI CD-ROM  2478

Failed to reserve DMA 5  2528

Mouse AutoDetect may/may not assign IRQ12 as usable  1929           

Problem:  On mouse auto detect - if mouse is not present we are not releasing IRQ12. This was found with a DPT card which was auto assigned IRQ12 when mouse was not present and it would hang the adapter.

Resolution:  To be fixed with future release of BIOS.

Factory Default A/D values incorrect for baseboard monitoring 1580

Problem:  Factory default settings for Upper FATAL, UPPER WARNING, LW, LF has incorrect values .

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 17, will close when BIOS releases.

DPT 2122 hangs system with no drives attached. 2043

Problem:  Place DPT 2122 SCSI raid controller in any EISA slot. 1a) Clear CMOS 2) Run SCU and configure controller for IRQ 15, BIOS address C8000, disable WD1003, disable floppy 3) Reboot system 4) With a drive attached to the 2122, a floppy disk will boot in drive A With no drive attached to the 2122 the system will hang.

Resolution:  There seems to be a conflict between the dpt bios and the onboard adaptec scsi bios.   Will be fixed in future BIOS.

Fails PCI SIG "P2P Bridge" Test; Can't handle VGA on bridge  2233

Problem:  At PCI Workshop on 9/21/95, the PCI SIG group gave a fail on the P2P Bridge test.

Resolution:  Under investigation, will fix in future BIOS release.

Failed using the Sound Blaster IDE configured at secondary IDE 2236

Problem:  With the Sound Blaster IDE set at Port 170, the primary master drive is then moved to primary slave and a "Drive Not Ready Error" Insert BOOT diskette in A: is received on bootup.

Resolution:  Under investigation.

Fails the PCI SIG Expansion ROM test  2349

Problem:  During 3 card states (0E,0F and 10), the error message "Warning: Option ROM code for Device 0x07 Function 0 on Bus 0x01 was not executed."

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 17, will close when BIOS releases.

Custom EISA card not found; reports wrong EISA config  2412

Problem:  The card can be installed, but BIOS can not be "see" it. When the system is booted the system reports wrong EISA configuration; even though, card has been properly configured in SCU.  This custom made card has been designed using EISA specs 3.12.

Resolution:  Under investigation.

Atapi IDE CD-ROM Drives failed to function   2413

Problem:  The system would not boot up in this configuration. Rather than boot off the Micropolis hard drive on the primary IDE port, it would try to boot off the Teac CD-ROM drive connected to the secondary IDE port. Failing in this, it would then give a "Drive not ready" error message.

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 17, will close when BIOS releases.  Duplication of 2236.

Creative Labs AWE32 sound blaster does not function w/ EISA SCSI  2414

Problem:  The system would not boot up in this configuration with the Mitsumi CD-ROM attached. When the CT531 CD-ROM and adapter were used the system would boot but no sounds were reproduced when the Windows programs were run. When the tests were run with the CT531 attached to a Creative Labs Value 16 sound card all programs ran correctly.

Resolution:  Under investigation.

Fails when running the PCI expansion ROM test  2444

Problem:   The BIOS is placing an 8K ROM at memory address EA00 which interferes with the execution of a large option ROM during the test.

Resolution:  Under investigation.
 

Fails Toshiba XM-3501 SCSI CD-ROM  2478

Problem:  While attempting to install the Toshiba XM-3501 (Firmware Rev. HA51215), the onboard 7870 SCSI host adapter, with CQWA542 listed on the chip, failed to boot the XM-3501 attached, the following error message was seen "unexpected SCSI time-out during SCSI inquiry". This problem does not occur when an Adaptec AHA 2940 is used.  All other SCSI CD-ROMs tested with the onboard SCSI host adapter on the baseboard passed as expected including; Toshiba XM-3601, XM-3701, NEC CDR 600, 601, 502, Plextor PX-4CH, 6CH, and the Sony CDU-76S.

Resolution:  Under investigation.

Failed to reserve DMA 5  2528

Problem:  Using Creative Labs ViBRA in SLOT9: IRQ=5, I/O=220/300, DMA=1/5, CS=CT2501-TBQ, BIOS=1.01; or Media Vision Pro Audio Studio in SLOT9: IRQ=5, I/O=220/300, DMA=1/5, CS=MVA508.  The cards listed above would not work when the high DMA setting was at "5". The DOS program "Hexen" worked fine and had clear sound. The card's diagnostic programs allowed the selection of DMA "5". But, under Windows 3.11, the "Rack" program failed to play .WAV files. Instead, an audible squeaking noise was produced. Both the Media Vision and the Creative Labs allowed the selection of DMA "5". Although the Creative Labs Vibra diagnostic programs had passed the selection of DMA "5" for its high DMA, it could not produce the correct sounds when testing "16 Bit Testing " from the menu. The Media Vision diagnostic during install first allowed the selection of DMA "5", but later produced squeaking noises when trying to select the same.

Resolution:  Under investigation

Limitations in the BIOS and SCU

(Errata present in BIOS 1.00.15.BI0 and SCU 3.21 overlay 1.01)

Related Topics:

Setup screen indicates BIOS v1.00.17 not bootble from SCSI HD  2442

BIOS Setup & SCU differ on Inactivity Timout maximum 2039

SCU appears to allow setting of PCI device memory location.  2057

SCU will allocate C0000 ram buffer for SMC EISA card  2198

SCU: User can not add cards manually from OEM diskette  2414

DPT 2122 hangs system with no drives attached  2472

BIOS does not honor the lock bit for PCI/PnP devices 2890

Setup screen indicates BIOS v1.00.17 not bootble from SCSI HD  2442

Problem:  This BIOS v1.00.17 differ to previous versions. The setup screen shows the boot option from only A: or/and primary IDE.   Previous BIOS versions gave options for boot from A:, the C:; C: only etc.  System will still boot to SCSI if no IDE is attached (as designed), but setup screens are confusing.

Resolution:  Will be fixed in future BIOS release.

BIOS Setup & SCU differ on Inactivity Timout maximum 2039

Problem:  BIOS states  0-255 minutes. SCU states valid values to be 0-127 minutes.  These should be equal.

Resolution:  Actual maximum is 127 minutes.  Will be fixed in future BIOS release.

SCU appears to allow setting of PCI device memory location.  2057   

Problem:  SCU resources such as PCI memory locations can be changed while in an SCU session, but this does not affect the location of the devices

Resolution:  Only PCI interrupts and I/O locations can be manually set within the SCU.  Memory locations are not allowed to be set manually under PCI.  The fact that the SCU makes it look like you can change PCI memory locations is a limitation of the SCU.  Plans are in place to have help added to the "resource editing" fields indicating that the BIOS does not honor PCI port/memory requests until this problem is fixed in the BIOS.

SCU will allocate C0000 ram buffer for SMC EISA card  2198    

Problem:  SCU overlay 29 will allow the SMC EISA lan adapter to map it's ram buffer to C0000, on top of the video bios.  When the system is rebooted, video is blank. C0000 is the first choice in the SMC's config file.

Resolution: The AMISCU assigns ISA and EISA resources first.  If there is a PCI video card and an EISA adapter that requests C0000 as a resource the EISA card will get the resource because it is scanned by the AMISCU first. This is a problem with the core AMISCU code.  The long-term Resolution is to ""special case"" video cards and give precedence to cards requesting C0000 as video memory. When using the SCU, you must scan each defined device and make sure that is does not request C0000 unless it is a video card. This is ""manual conflict Resolution.""  If the video device is already displaced then CMOS must be cleared before attempting the above.

SCU: User can not add cards manually from OEM diskette  2414         

Problem:  There is no way to add cards to the system if the .cfg / .ovl files are on a separate OEM diskette. If the SCU is run off diskette and .cfg / .ovl files are stored on a separate diskette, the SCU provides no means of retrieving those files fo4r a manual load of an adapter card.

Resoultion: All .cfg and .ovl files for use must be placed on the SCU diskette. We are paging memory and we could possibly run out of disk space if too much data is placed on the SCU disk.   Care must be taken to avoid this.

DPT 2122 hangs system with no drives attached  2472   

Problem: Placing a DPT 2122 SCSI raid controller in any EISA slot of the ALTServer system seems to hang with no drives attached to the 2122.

Resolution:  Investigation into this matter has shown that the DPT BIOS and Adpatec BIOS is conflicting in their assignments of ROM shadowing.  This issue has been brought to the attention of Adaptec and they are currently working to resolve.  

BIOS does not honor the lock bit for PCI/PnP devices 2890

Problem:  Currently the [F8] Lock Resources option in the SCU doesn't work. Each reboot of the system will clear the bits assigned to take care of this.  The only resource that is reliably selectable via the SCU is the device IRQ.

Solution: The plan of record is to  Will be fixed in future BIOS.

Windows NT* 3.5 / 3.51

(Errata present in BIOS 1.00.15.BI0 and SCU 3.21 overlay 1.01)

Related Topics:

WinNT3.51 shows resource conflict between AHA2940 and pro100b  2529

DPT PM3224W RAID card fails to install Win NT 3.51  2467

System can hang on the 10th of the month at 10:40 AM

WinNT3.51 shows resource conflict between AHA2940 and pro100b  2529

Problem:  WinNT3.51 SV shows resource conflict between AHA2940 and EEpro100B while SCU assigned the resource correctly.

Resolution:  Under investigation.
 

DPT PM3224W RAID card fails to install Win NT 3.51  2467

Problem:  Windows Nt installation is completed. However, when the system boots the OS LOADER to complete the final installation of Nt, it hangs (blue screen). Sometimes it will state an error message can not find a bootable device. DPT PART NUMBER: HA-0321-002-B WITH FIRMWARE UPDATE (-C EQUIVALENT) DPT BIOS ver. 003.C9 FAB 7 : 648428-302 SEAGATE BARRACUDA ST32550N

Resolution:  Under investigation.  Intel is working with DPT to resolve.

System can hang on the 10th of the month at 10:40 AM

Problem:  Windows NT fails to boot after displaying "OS loader v 3.51", or a currently running Windows NT system will hang. The problem only occurs at 10:40 AM on the 10th of the month. The anomaly is a consequence of Testview (Intel's manufacturing test and diagnostics software module) incorrectly initializing the reqisters of the real time clock. The error creats an interrupt that Windows NT cannot handle.

Resolution:  A special utility has been developed to properly initialize the real time clock. It is called RTC.EXE and is available from the Intel Application Support BBS. In addition, XDIAGNOSTICS which is supplied with Testview has been modified to disable the resister.

Windows* 95

(Errata present in BIOS 1.00.15.BI0 and SCU 3.21 overlay 1.01)

Related Topics:

Produced double mouse pointers @ 1280X1024 resolution w/Win95 2175

Win95 would not recognize CD-ROM drive  2375

Onboard CL GD5430-QC-B failed Windows95 video resolutions 2221

Produced double mouse pointers @ 1280X1024 resolution w/Win95 2175

Problem:  Using the Orchid Kelvin 64, when the 1280X1024 resolution was selected, the mouse pointer changed to a double pointer. The mouse pointer also had to be clicked below and to the right of a desired menu selection.

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 17, will close when BIOS releases.

Win95 would not recognize CD-ROM drive  2375

Problem:  Subsequent to Win95 installation using a CD-ROM the platform failed to recognize the same CD-ROM when attempting to install the HCT's.

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 17, will close when BIOS releases.

Onboard CL GD5430-QC-B failed Windows95 video resolutions 2221

Problem:  When changing resolutions, the pull down menu leaves behind bits of images.

Resolution:  Under investigation.

Novell* NetWare* 3.12, 4.1x

(Errata present in BIOS 1.00.15.BI0 and SCU 3.21 overlay 1.01)

Related Topics:

SMC EISA 10/100 card fails Netware 4.10 testing 2258

Thomas Conrad TC3045 ArcNet ISA fails to init w/ NW 4.1   2278

Cogent EM964 PCI Quartet LAN card fails NWtest 2300

DPT 2122 EISA controller fails lite load test  2307

3COM TokenLink III ISA card fails NWTEST; Spurious IRQ error  2400

Proteon P1392+ fails NWTEST in Netware 4.10  2404

Thomas Conrad TC6242 fails NWTEST in Netware 4.10  2406

IBM 16/4 II, 3COM TokeLinkIII, TC5045 fail NWTEST 2427

Intel Token Express32 failed NWTEST after 18hrs  2457

SMC EISA 10/100 card fails Netware 4.10 testing 2258

Problem:  SMC EISA 10/100 card fails Netware 4.10 testing. Network stations drop off of server.  When 4 NE3200 are installed in a FAB 7 baseboard, stations start dropping off. With only 3 NE3200 installed in a FAB 7 baseboard, there are no problems with stations dropping off.

Resolution:  Under investigation.

Thomas Conrad TC3045 ArcNet ISA fails to init w/ NW 4.1   2278

Problem:  The cards should initialize in the system under test, connect to each other, and an IPX route should be established between the two systems.  The Failure in this Case: The TCMSL lan driver could not initialize the card. It reported there was no reset signal from the card.

Resolution:  Under investigation

Cogent EM964 PCI Quartet LAN card fails NWtest 2300

Problem:  One of the clients rebooted itself at the same time the two other clients reported Network Read Errors. The server was unresponsive to keyboard commands, requiring a hard reset to regain control.

Resolution:  Under investigation.

DPT 2122 EISA controller fails lite load test  2307

Problem:  With the DPT card in the system, the system would lock after Starting MS-DOS and the floppy access light would remain on. This failure only occured with 2 SCSI drives in the system. With only 1 drive in the system the DPT would function correctly.

Resolution:  Under investigation, Deturbo has been reported to fix this issue.  This may be caused by the same issue as DCS 2043.

3COM TokenLink III ISA card fails NWTEST; Spurious IRQ error  2400

Problem:  The client would be unable to attach to the 3COM card. When the VLM was executed from the client, the server would report "Spurious Hardware Interrupt 5 Detected". The specific interrupt number would change according to the configuration used. If the 3COM card was configured at interrupt 3, the spurious interrupt would report "Spurious Hardware Interrupt 3 Detected".

Resolution:  Under Investigation.

Proteon P1392+ fails NWTEST in Netware 4.10  2404

Problem:  NWTEST would start reporting write errors immediately upon starting. The error count would increase until the maximum of 50 errors was reached. NWTEST would then stop.

Resolution:  Under investigation.

Thomas Conrad TC6242 fails NWTEST in Netware 4.10  2406

Problem:  The lan driver would load, immediately causing the Server to abend, reporting a "Page Fault Processor Exception Error". This occurs using either of the listed drivers for the card.

Resolution:  Under investigation

IBM 16/4 II, 3COM TokeLinkIII, TC5045 fail NWTEST 2427

Problem:  The IBM 16/4 II card failed when the lan driver for the card was installed. Netware reported "Error Allocating Memory For The Adapter Structure". The TokenBM lan driver would not load. The 3COM TokenLink III card failed after the client had attached and NWTEST had been started. The server would report Spurious Hardware Interrupt X Detected. The interrupt number reported would change according to the cards' configuration. After the server reported this error, the client would report a Network Read Error. At that point, the client had been disconnected from the network. If the client was re-attached to the server, and NWTEST was restarted, the server would abend. The Proteon P1392+ lan driver would load without difficulty. The card did not receive any requests for service. No received packets received were seen by the server. The Thomas Conrad TC4045 failed after the client had attached to the card. When LOGIN was executed from the client, the server would report Initialization Error = 1C - DMA Data Error. The client could not log in. The Thomas Conrad TC5045 failed when the client was requesting service. Everything would load at the client except the VLM, which would abend the server as soon as it requested service from the TC5045.

Resolution:  Under investigation

Intel Token Express32 failed NWTEST after 18hrs  2457

Problem:  NWTest gave a network read error on the Intel Token express 32 at 18hrs in to the overnight test.

Resolution:  Under investigation.

SCO UNIX

(Errata present in BIOS 1.00.15.BI0 and SCU 3.21 overlay 1.01)

Related Topics:

None known at this time

None known at this time

Banyan* Vines* 6.0

(Errata present in BIOS 1.00.15.BI0 and SCU 3.21 overlay 1.01)

Related Topics:

Fails certification tests with 1 MEG hole and SCSI enabled  2455

Fails certification tests with 1 MEG hole and SCSI enabled  2455

Problem:  Banyan 6.0 certification tests fail when the onboard SCSI controller and 1MB hole are both enabled. When IDE drives are used and the onboard SCSI controller is disabled, all tests run clean. Once the 1MB hole is enabled with drives attached to the onboard SCSI controller, the system will panic with core dumps. SCSI driver V.1.0L.

Resolution:  Under investigation.

Novell UnixWare* 2.x

(Errata present in BIOS 1.00.15.BI0 and SCU 3.21 overlay 1.01)

Related Topics:

Know that as of BIOS 15 (1.00.15.BI0), Multiprocessing requires release Unixware 2.03.

Know that as of BIOS 15 (1.00.15.BI0), Multiprocessing requires release Unixware 2.03.

Solaris*

(Errata present in BIOS 1.00.15.BI0 and SCU 3.21 overlay 1.01)

Related Topics:

None known at this time.

None known at this time.

IBM* OS/2*

(Errata present in BIOS 1.00.15.BI0 and SCU 3.21 overlay 1.01)

Related Topics:

OS/2 Stress test FSDEL322 would not pass 2420

Fails to install OS/2 SMP 2.11 successfully; OS2APIC.PSD failure 2438

OS/2 Stress test FSDEL322 would not pass 2420

Problem:  The test FSDEL322 did not complete during the PCMMED01, long stress test. Nor did it complete satisfactorily when run by itself.

Resolution:  Under investigation.  Conversations with IBM indicate this may be a video issue.

Fails to install OS/2 SMP 2.11 successfully; OS2APIC.PSD failure 2438

Problem:  SMP operating system fails to install. Failure is characterized by "freezing" during the final boot on the Fab 7 (PBA# ending in -30x) baseboard.

Resolution:  Under investigation

Processor Errata as they apply to ALTServer Summary

Processor Errata Details

Various signals and instructions   1- 9

STPCLK# deassertion not recognized for 5 CLKs after BRDY# returned  10

Future Pentium OverDrive® processor FERR# contention in two-socket systems  11

STPCLK# assertion during execution of the HALT instruction hangs system  13

Runbist restrictions when run through boundary scan circuitry  15

FCR mode miscompare due to uninitialized internal register  16

STPCLK# restrictions during EWBE#  17

For baseboards that employ B step dual processors  DP1, DP2, DP3, DP4, DP5, DP6, DP7

For baseboards that employ dual processors and use Pentium® processor APICthe   AP1, AP2, AP5, AP6, AP7, AP8

Spurious interrupt in APIC through local mode  AP9

Potential for lost interrupts while using APIC in through local mode  AP10

For only those systems that use TCP package  TCP2

Various signals and instructions   1- 9

            Errata 1 through 9 deal with various levels of functionality or debugging situations.  Each has been fixed in the C2 step of the part.  All ALTServer products are shipping with the C2 parts, so this is not an issue.

STPCLK# deassertion not recognized for 5 CLKs after BRDY# returned  10 

            The BRDY# on the Intel Server platform ALTServer baseboard has been implemented in a manner such that STPCLK# is not used, so this is not an issue.

Future Pentium OverDrive® processor FERR# contention in two-socket systems  11      

            This erratum describes the situations that may exist when the Future Pentium OverDrive processor is plugged into Socket 5 of a two-socket 75-, 90-, or 100-MHz Pentium processor system.  On the ALTServer baseboard, this could occur and cause the OEM processor to shut down following RESET to allow the OverDrive processor to drive the bus.  In this case, the FERR# output of the 75-, 90-, and 100-MHz Pentium processor continues to be driven HIGH (inactive).

            The chosen workaround for this errata is shown in the figure that follows.  External logic is used to connect the FERR# outputs from the two sockets (296-pin SPGA and 320-pin Socket 5) in a way that will resolve the signal contention. An external AND gate is used to combine the outputs of the FERR# signals from the two sockets.  A pull-up resistor (³3KW) is required on the FERR# output from Socket 5 in order to allow proper operation of both the Dual Processor and the Future Pentium OverDrive processor.

            ALTServer uses this workaround  to prevent bus contention and allow the processors to individually drive the bus when needed.

STPCLK# assertion during execution of the HALT instruction hangs system  13   

            The Intel Server platform baseboard APM code has been implemented in a manner such that STPCLK# is not used, so this is not an issue.

Runbist restrictions when run through boundary scan circuitry  15    

            The Intel Server platform baseboard has been implemented in a manner such that Runbist is not used, so this is not an issue.

FCR mode miscompare due to uninitialized internal register  16           

            This problem only has implications in dual processor fault tolerant machines that employ FRC (Functional Redundancy Checking) on a cycle by cycle basis. The Intel Server platform baseboard has been implemented in a manner such that the FRC Mode is not used, so this is not an issue.

STPCLK# restrictions during EWBE#  17    

            The Intel Server platform baseboard APM code has been implemented in a manner such that STPCLK# is not used, so this is not an issue.

For baseboards that employ B step dual processors  DP1, DP2, DP3, DP4, DP5, DP6, DP7         

            These errata are relevant only for baseboards that employ B step dual processors.  The Intel Server platform position has always and will continue to be that all ALTServer baseboards will not be DP-ready for pre-production products.  All DP errata are fixed in the C-step parts.  All ALTServer production products will be C step or later baseboards, so this is not an issue.

For baseboards that employ dual processors and use Pentium® processor APICthe   AP1, AP2, AP5, AP6, AP7, AP8

            These errata are relevant only for baseboards that employ dual processors and use the Pentium APIC.  The only time the APIC is used is in the DP mode, and hence the Intel Server platform position has always and will continue to be that all ALTServer baseboards will not be DP-ready for pre-production products.  All DP errata are fixed in the C-step parts.  All Intel Server platform ALTServer production products will be C step or later baseboards, so this is not an issue.

Spurious interrupt in APIC through local mode  AP9       

            In a non-APIC system, interrupts are presented to the processor on the INTR pin. INTR is a level sensitive input, which means that WHENEVER INTERRUPTS ARE ENABLED, an interrupt acknowledge cycle will be run by the processor on the next instruction boundary after recognition of an active level on the pin.

            When the INTR pin is routed through the APIC unit, a design error caused information on the INTR pin to be latched (edge sensitive) rather than flow through (level sensitive).  As a result, even when processor interrupts are disabled, an "extra"(spurious/"lost") interrupt occurs.  Most operating systems ignore spurious interrupts.  Novell logs them and reports them as lost interrupts--meaning that an interrupt occurred, it came from hardware, but the OS can no longer identify the source.  In this case, the source of the interrupt is the 9AP Pentium errata.

            The only possible Resolution that we have is to disable the APIC whenever we are in uniprocessor mode.  A register is available in the Pentium processor which can be used to disable the APIC.  But this can only be done when we know that a uniprocessor OS is being used.  We have verified that this workaround fixes the problems that have been reported. We will offer our customers an executable program that will perform this function, and we can work with our OS vendors to also implement this function.  Starting with BIOS version 1.00.04, the APIC can be disabled from F1 Setup.

Potential for lost interrupts while using APIC in through local mode  AP10  

            Problem:  This erratum affects APIC in through local (virtual wire) mode. If a uniprocessing or dual processing system is using a 75-, 90- or 100-MHz Pentium processor with the APIC in through-local (virtual wire) mode, and the chipset is able to re-assert the INTR line prior to completion of the second Interrupt acknowledge cycle (from a prior assertion of the INTR line), then the processor will neither recognize nor service the second interrupt. The assertion edge of INTR has to occur after the completion of the second IntAck BRDY#, if there is a transition and this transition is held high during the restricted time period, this INTR will not be recognized. Software disabling of the APIC by clearing bit 8 of the SVR (spurious vector interrupt register) will not prevent this from occurring.

            Implication:  If the conditions listed above are met, the system may hang up, because there would be an interrupt that would not get serviced.

            Workaround:  A PAL has been added to the baseboard to modify the chipsets such that they cannot assert a second INTR for processing prior the completion of both Interrupt acknowledge cycles for the first INTR.

For only those systems that use TCP package  TCP2     

            This erratum applies to only those systems that use the TCP package.  No Intel Server platform baseboards use the TCP package, so this is not an issue.

Known Errata - System

ed note: this page is blank
 

Manual

Front panel connector pinout

Hotkeys for Turbo / Deturbo

Front panel connector pinout 

Pin 16 should be Chassis Switch.

Hotkeys for Turbo / Deturbo

Problem:  The ALTServer product manual states that the hotkey sequence incorrectly . 

Resolution:  The correct hotkey sequence for Turbo Enabled is <Ctrl-Alt-+>(plus), 

Turbo Disable is <Ctrl-Alt-->(minus).

Closed Errata

Chassis Label incorrectly displays PCI Slot Order - CLOSED

Front panel power down - CLOSED

OS/2 2.11 - server cannot remote boot with IBM TR  1236  - CLOSED

OS/2 displays phantom floppy drive B: icon 2154  - Closed

Screen blanked at  start  of network part of MP Stress Test 1835 - CLOSED

Mouse movement and button presses misinterpreted after reboot  1381 - CLOSED

NFS clients lose connections with ALTServer running UnixWare 2.01 2199 - CLOSED

Unixware data corruption  2203  - CLOSED

SCO rel 5.0 fails to install  2674  - CLOSED

ALTServer POST(BIOS) can not detect newly installed EISA card   2454 - CLOSED

Disabling the 2nd serial and the parallel port, OS/2 WARP locked up  1580 - CLOSED

ALTServer SCU hangs installing EtherExpress and TokenExpress EISA cards together  2116 - CLOSED

Server hangs during loading if a DPT EISA SCSI Controller is in the system  2118  - CLOSED

IBM token ring can't be installed with SCU, can without  2164 - CLOSED

BIOS Setup & SCU differ on IDE sectors per block  2231 - CLOSED

BIOS setup sometimes implies 2 onboard SCSI devices  2233 - CLOSED

SCU hangs at various times for memory issues  2360 - CLOSED

SCU does not copy required *.OVL file when copying *.CFG file  2398 - CLOSED

SCU references "Memory Above & Below 512M" system only supports 256M  2399 - CLOSED

SCU will not correctly configure 2 DPT 2122 SCSI RAID controllers  2473 - CLOSED

BIOS - EISA CFG errors don't give <F1> wait message  2392 - CLOSED

Adding EISA cards with the manual add in the AMISCU can cause defaults  2426 - CLOSED

Adaptec Driver not using config data in CMOS  2461 - CLOSED

IBM DFHS52F HDD makes loud noise at cold boot 2884  CLOSED

DPT configuration program fails to run w/ on-board SCSI drive attached  2471 - CLOSED

SCU - Second Processor Status=Pass w/out processor present  2390  - CLOSED

SCU-Internal PCI resources can be removed in Add/Remove boards  2405 - CLOSED

Restoring Configurations from Backup CMS does not restore baseboard  2519 -CLOSED

Fujitsu keyboard not detected with bios 1.00.07  2525 - CLOSED

System board configuration file erros  2561 - CLOSED

AMI SCU conflicting configuration  2562 - CLOSED

Automatic/Manual Configuration labels misleading  2563  - CLOSED

NetWare 3.12J abends after about 9 hours of LAN stress test   2059 - CLOSED

NetWare drops SCSI drive volumes with ST3390N drives  2488  - CLOSED

PCI bridge cannot be configured conveniently  2145 - CLOSED

Adobe* Acrobat* Reader fails on system without Adobe Type Manager  2149 - CLOSED

Problems with Password protection in CMOS Setup  2160  - CLOSED

System I/O Ports need defined in SCU  2196 - CLOSED

Secure mode enabled on bootup with keyboard controller ver. 1.22  2202 - CLOSED

FAST IDE PIO modes & DMA modes not functional  2241 - CLOSED

Unreliable XMS Memory Error with HIMEM.SYS  2484 - CLOSED

SCSI BIOS gives 2nd Data Drive > 1G Warning Message  2538 - CLOSED

SCU does not manage IDE IRQ properly  2555 - CLOSED

LCD Display comes up enabled after CMOS clear  2585 - CLOSED

SMIs occurring with SMP configuration creates system hangs  2619 - CLOSED

PCEB register 46h initialized with 64K hole at 1Meg  2624 - CLOSED

Orchid Kelvin EZ PCI video adapter incompatible on ALTServer 2737- CLOSED

ALTServer fails to recognize the #9GXE 64 or #9 FX Motion 531 video cards 2738 - CLOSED

Undetected data corruption in on-board SCSI  1625 - Closed

Customer-supplied soft reset program locks ALTServer  1632 - CLOSED

Windows* 3.1 with #9GXE, screen garbled  1739 - CLOSED

Some SCSI devices cannot support 10.5 MB/s transfer rate  573 -CLOSED

Onboard parallel port does not show up when external port installed  1054 -  CLOSED

Adaptec* 1532P resets to IRQ6 each time server is rebooted   1542 CLOSED

PCIDiag test reports Orphan Vendor and Device ID   1573 - CLOSED

Zynx 312 diagnostic prints nonsense on ALTServer  2040 - CLOSED

Test Time for Windows NT Tape Test takes a long time  1829 - CLOSED

SONY CDU55S CD-ROM hanging using UnixWare 1.02S driver  565  CLOSED

Adaptec 1542CP requesting wrong interrupt  1298 CLOSED

Network adapters using the PLX 9032D chip may fail  1371 CLOSED

NDIS driver causes Lantastic to lose connection during first 1 MB file transfer  1537 CLOSED

Intel SMM does not allow shared memory use, interrupts, and DMA  1614 CLOSED

DTC2290 EISA IDE controller causes an unresolvable resource conflict  1919 CLOSED

3-mode floppy failure when IDE not plugged in  2101 CLOSED

PCI bridge resource allocation problem above 1 gigabyte  2102   CLOSED

120 Mhz CPu speed reported incorrectly in setup  2138 CLOSED

ISA bus mastering to PCI video fails when using LANDesk® Server Monitor Module  2140 CLOSED

PCI arbitration problem   2446 CLOSED

ALTServer baseboard fails password selections portions of the BIOS test  2508 CLOSED

ALTServer Testview (CPU) Anomaly  2314 CLOSED

ECP parallel port needs selectable DMA  2250 CLOSED

ALTServer IBM TR II will not initialize (NDIS driver problem) 2287 CLOSED

SCU Can't Lock EISA Resources  2256 CLOSED

Cannot boot from Future Domain PnP 1630 SCSI  2345 CLOSED

SMI not active on ALTServer  2295 CLOSED

3COM TokenLink III will not initialize 2288 CLOSED

STB Velocity 64 PCI adapter fails at boot  2389 CLOSED

ECP Parallel option inoperable 2630 CLOSED

SCU and OVL may produce dead-lock when resolving conflicts 2768 CLOSED

PCI devices getting assigned pre-allocated memory 2875 CLOSED

Static Device Resource Conflicts 2883 CLOSED

Removing an EISA card may delete ISA entries  2427 CLOSED

Thomas Conrad TC4045 fails NWTEST in Netware 4.10  2407 CLOSED

Removing EISA video card causes system to hang  2248   CLOSED

Failed to recognize several video cards  2526  CLOSED

Chassis Label incorrectly displays PCI Slot Order - CLOSED 

Problem:  PCI Slots are incorrectly labeled on the chassis configuration label

Resolution:  Correct order is Slot 1 closest to the EISA slot (Slot 3 on label), slot 2 in the middle (no change), Slot 3 closest to 3.3V connector (Slot 1 on label).  The label has been corrected.

Front panel power down - CLOSED

Problem:  This model of the Columbus chassis does not support power-down features.  Intel will make a field-replaceable front panel available to customers who wish to upgrade.

Resolution:  Front panel interface board has been redesigned and now operates properly with the baseboard powerdown feature.  This can be verified by front panel PBA #634425-003 or later

OS/2 2.11 - server cannot remote boot with IBM TR  1236           - CLOSED

Problem:   The IBM Token-Ring II RPL card was configured, using the SCU utility, to:  IRQ 3; no DMA; 64K of reserved memory starting at d8000; and I/O port 0a2-0a3 (the field will not allow an entry without a leading zero and, since there are only 3 character positions, a20-a2f cannot be chosen).  The onboard IDE is disabled and the system is set to Deturbo mode for this test.  ISA ROM shadowing for d8000 and dc000 was enabled for the first attempt and disabled for the second with the same result.  When the system is booted, an error message appears, immediately following the installation of the floppy drives, which says: "PCI I/ O port conflict: BUS 00, DEVICE 0F, FUNCTION 00".  After this message appears, the system is locked and stays locked until CMOS (NVRAM) is cleared.  The device indicated is the onboard SCSI (Adaptec 7870).  A  check of resources using SCU shows no apparent conflicts with I/O ports, IRQ's, or memory locations.  When the onboard PCI SCSI is modified using SCU, the changes do not appear to be saved (SCU reports a save, but subsequent checks show values reset to prior settings).  A check using the PCI.EXE program also shows that the changes are not incorporated.  If the Token-Ring card is not installed using the SCU, the card attempts to perform the remote boot but fails with a trap error (000e) when trying to initialize the adapter.

Resolution:  By adding the line to the PROTOCOL.INI file specifying where the on-card RAM can be found the IBM TR II will remote boot. The line should lok something like this:

                                          RAM=0xD800

OS/2 displays phantom floppy drive B: icon 2154   - Closed 

Problem:  OS/2 2.11, 2.11 SMP, and Warp all display an icon for floppy drive B: in the Drives folder.  If invoked, the object accesses the A: floppy drive.

Resolution:  Closed: This is a feature, not a bug.  The BIOS allows access to the floppy via both A: and B:.  OS/2 simply provides icons for both available drives..

Screen blanked at  start  of network part of MP Stress Test 1835          - CLOSED

Problem:   Screen blanked and server went down after attempt to open another window and start   network part of MP Stress Test .  A portion of the Solaris 2.4 MP Stress test simultaneously reads from the CD-ROM and reads and writes from both floppies, tape, and parallel port while playing a sound file.  On the ALTServer system, this part of the MP Stress test started and initially ran successfully. When attempting to open another window and start the Network portion of the MP Stress Test, the screen blanked and the system went down.

Resolution: Test script issue.

Mouse movement and button presses misinterpreted after reboot  1381 - CLOSED          

Problem:  With UnixWare 2.0 Beta 2 on a multiprocessor server, mouse movement and button presses are misinterpreted after reboot.  The mouse cursor does not follow mouse movement and moves erratically in the upper left quadrant of the screen.

Resolution:  This affects only the Logitec serial mouse configured as a Microsoft serial mouse.  The Mouse Systems serial mouse and the Microsoft serial mouse have been tested and work fine.  Workaround: Press <ALT><SYS REQ><H> to exit to the console window.  Log in as root and then exit.

NFS clients lose connections with ALTServer running UnixWare 2.01 2199 - CLOSED

Problem:  The ALTServer has displayed unreliable test results when certain test routines that required the ALTServer to start seven processes that copy 16K to 500K files to and from the ALTServer before comparing the results. After a few moments, an error message stating that the server is not responding is displayed.

Resolution: Novell has been notified of this problem and recognizes that only AMD (with special drivers from Novell) will run properly with UnixWare 2.0x.  Novell is working on this problem.  A delay in the test script and a new VM driver from Novell fixed this issue.

Unixware data corruption  2203          - CLOSED

Problem:  Using a DPT 3224/90 PCI/SCSI card in the PCI bus as a boot device, data corruption occurs running the grind script.   HDW setup as follows:

               PCI0-2 DPT 3224/90 connected to ST31230W

               AIC-7870 SCSI-A connected to ST31230W

            Grind was run on all three adapters and data corruption occurred on each.  One to five data corruption usually occur, and the data size is between 8 bytes and 3 K (although most are under 512 bytes).  Data corruption shows no consistent signature.  Both updated and original DPT firmware were tried with similar results.  Both UW 2.0 and 2.01 were tried with similar results.

Resolution:   A patch from Novell for the VM system fixed this issue.

SCO rel 5.0 fails to install  2674           - CLOSED

Problem: Installation completes but when the system reboots to load the kernal, the HDD is corrupted. 

Resolution:  This is due to a problem in the BIOS.  It has been fixed in BIOS 1.00.11.BI0 and later releases.

ALTServer POST(BIOS) can not detect newly installed EISA card   2454 - CLOSED           

Problem:  ALTServer POST(BIOS) can not detect the new EISA card that is installed in the EISA slot 6 and does not shows the POST 0043 error.  Other EISA slot shows the ""0043: EISA Invalid configuration for slot"" POST error when new card is installed in the slot. However, If EISA card is removed from slot 6, POST can detect this change and shows the ""0043"" POST error

Resolution:  This problem has been proven to be a core BIOS issue and it has been tested using an alpha version of the new BIOS.  The results were positive and will be implemented in the next release of the BIOS.  Fixed in BIOS 1.00.11.BI0

Disabling the 2nd serial and the parallel port, OS/2 WARP locked up  1580 - CLOSED

Problem:  After running the SCU to disable the second onboard serial port and the onboard parallel port, OS/2 WARP locks up or crashes when entering a DOS or Windows Full Screen or Windowed session if OS/2 has filled all real memory and has expanded to the virtual swap file.

Resolution:  Load DOS and Windows sessions during startup, before the swap file is expanded. Problem only occurs with Adaptec AIC7870.ADD OS/2 driver. Problem does not occur with IBMINT13.INT driver. Problem does not occur with IDE drives. Determined this failure happens on system whether SCU is executed or not.  Problem no longer occurs on BIOS 1.00.11.BI0.

ALTServer SCU hangs installing EtherExpress and TokenExpress EISA cards together  2116 - CLOSED      

Problem:  ALTServer SCU hangs installing EtherExpress and TokenExpress EISA cards together. When installing the TokenExpress 32 into the ALTServer system, with the Flash32 card already installed, the SCU (ver. 3.07 overlay 27) will request the TokenExpress 32's configuration file !INT1201. 10/08/93))).  The SCU should read this .CFG file and install the TokenExpress 32 card.  However, while reading the file, the system will hang. At this point the system requires a "warm- boot" key sequence to restart the system.  If the TokenExpress 32 card or the Flash32 is installed in the system alone, the installation functions normally.  If an attempt is made to install the Flash32 card !INT1010.CFG (4/19/95)) after the TokenExpress 32 is installed, the system will again hang when reading the !INT1201.CFG file.  The following configurations were also tested and found to be successful:

            TokenExpress 32 and 3COM 3c579 & Flash 32 and Proteon 190

                                    Flash32 chipset=PLX 9032

                                    INT=10 SLOT=3

                                    TokenExpress 32 chipset=j9312

                                    INT=9 SLOT=5 DMA=6

 Resolution:  This is no longer an issue as of SCU 3.11 / 39, BIOS 1.00.11.BI0

Server hangs during loading if a DPT EISA SCSI Controller is in the system  2118             - CLOSED

Problem:  ALTServer - SCU ovl 27 hangs with EISA DPT 2122 SCSI controller.  The previous version of the overlay, 00.26 does not hang, and the system can be configured properly.

Resolution:  The AMI SCU has a memory management bug that sometimes causes the SCU to hang.  You must run the SCU from the SCU diskette so that there is as much conventional RAM available as possible.  Intel is currently working with AMI on this memory allocation problem. SCU overlay 31 will allow this board to be configured, due to increased availability of memory resources.  One dcs entry will be created to consolidate the SCU memory allocation issue.  As is, the SCU will allow a maximum of 4 EISA cards to be configured without running out of memory. There is no work-around for this problem.  The best we can do is shrink the size of the baseboard overlay to free up more memory.  OVL 00.31 has been shrunk for ALTServer.  SCU 3.08 implements a paging system that may help alleviate this problem in certain scenarios.  Fixed in SCU 3.11 / 39.

IBM token ring can't be installed with SCU, can without  2164 - CLOSED      

Problem:  The ALTServer board fails to configure an IBM Token Ring II card using the SCU program due to the inability to select the A20 I/O port.

Resolution:  This is an ISA card. The process is to not attempt any card configuration using the SCU and instead just install the card with the settings at IRQ 3, I/O A20, RAM at D800 and ROM at DC00 as per adapter card documentation.  Config file supplied by vendor works if user selects from the PCI directory.

BIOS Setup & SCU differ on IDE sectors per block  2231 - CLOSED

Problem:  BIOS offers: Auto / 4 / 8 sectors per block.  SCU offers: Auto / 8 /16 sectors per block.

Resolution: This problem has been verified with an alpha version of the next SCU release.  The results were positive and will be included in the new SCU that accompanies the next BIOS release.  Fixed in SCU 3.11/ 39 and BIOS 1.00.11.BI0

BIOS setup sometimes implies 2 onboard SCSI devices  2233 - CLOSED     

Problem:  The BIOS setup displays two in peripheral setup: SCSI A BIOS Scan? SCSI B BIOS Scan?

            Sometimes see it say just SCSI A, sometimes just SCSI B. This may also be seen as Channel B.

Resolution:  Fixed in  BIOS 1.00.11.BI0

SCU hangs at various times for memory issues  2360 - CLOSED        

Problem: Error condition with SCU - requires reboot to clear. BIOS 1.00.7, SCU 3.08 ovl 31

            ERROR An error occurred while processing the overlay file. hit ESC,( or F10 or RETURN)

            says:

            ERROR Out of memory. Must Abort configuration. hit ENTER,ESC or F10

            says:

            ERROR Out of memory. Must Abort configuration and the user can't get out of that condition.

Resolution:  Fixed in SCU 3.11 / 39.

SCU does not copy required *.OVL file when copying *.CFG file  2398 - CLOSED

Problem:  SCU does not copy required *.OVL file when copying *.CFG file.  Using BIOS 1.00.07.BI0 and SCU 3.08 OVL 31, an Adaptec 2740 EISA card was installed in the system.  Upon running the SCU the following error message was received:  'OVL file not found.'  An inspection of the SCU diskette showed that the CFG file had been copied, but the OVL file had not. The SCU now correctly handles the situation where it must copy a *.CFG file from a third-party disk to the SCU disk, but it does not also copy an accompanying *.OVL file and the configuration attempt later fails when that file cannot be found.  This was observed with an Adaptec 1740.

Resolution:  Fixed in SCU 3.11 / 39.

SCU references "Memory Above & Below 512M" system only supports 256M  2399 - CLOSED

Problem:  Confusion may exist but there are no functional difficulties with this.

Resolution:  Fixed in SCU 3.11 / 39./

SCU will not correctly configure 2 DPT 2122 SCSI RAID controllers  2473 - CLOSED        

Problem:  To duplicate this problem:

1)  Place 2 DPT 2122 SCSI Raid controllers in any EISA slots.

2)  Clear CMOS.

3)  Configure one controller for IRQ15, BIOS address C8000, floppy disabled

     and WD1003 mode disabled

4)  Configure the other controller for IRQ15, BIOS disabled, floppy disabled,

    and WD1003 mode disabled,

SCU will report a conflict and place WD1003 mode to enabled.  This is incorrect.

The system will not boot. The same procedure performed with the MCS ECU will work painlessly.  In fact it will occur automatically.  The system will boot.

Resolution: Initial inspection leads to a core problem in the AMISCU that does not allow sharing of resources based upon adapter type.  Will work with AMI to resolve.

BIOS - EISA CFG errors don't give <F1> wait message  2392 - CLOSED        

Problem:  Insert or remove an EISA card without manipulating SCU first.  System will display the ""EISA Config Error..."" message but no longer gives user the option to enter setup <F1> or <ESC> to continue, it just continues on booting.  Previous BIOS' would pause on this error.

Resolution:  Install the card in the SCU before physically installing card. This problem has been proven to be a core BIOS issue and it has been tested using an alpha version of the new BIOS.  The results were positive and will be implemented in the next release of the BIOS 1.00.11.BI0.

Adding EISA cards with the manual add in the AMISCU can cause defaults  2426 - CLOSED      

Problem:  When the user adds an EISA card via the manual add feature of the AMISCU,  the selections for other cards may be set to defaults (all selections, not just resource oriented selections).

Resolution: Fixed in SCU 3.11 / 39.

Adaptec Driver not using config data in CMOS  2461 - CLOSED           

Problem:  The UnixWare Driver, and maybe others, tries to get the configuration data from SEEPROM attached to AIC-7870, if there is no SEEPROM, the driver will use default values, ie Wide, Sync @ 10MB/s, Disconnect, no start unit, etc. which will cause some drives/configurations to break.  Additional problems will appear with devices that do not perform up to what the actually negotiate to.  Some drives may say they transfer at 10MB/s but cannot handle that for sustained periods.  On boards with REV B AIC-7870 parts, this is more of a problem, since 10MB/s setting has an actual rate of 10.5MB/s - several drives cannot handle that

Resolution:  New Adaptec Driver version 1.10s3 fixes this problem.

IBM DFHS52F HDD makes loud noise at cold boot 2884                                CLOSED

Problem:  Using an IBM DFHS52F Hard Disk Drive in an ALTServer system seems to make lots of noise.

Resolution:  IBM has supplied new firmware for the drive that corrected the problem

DPT configuration program fails to run w/ on-board SCSI drive attached  2471 - CLOSED           

Problem:  To replicate this problem:

1)   Place DPT 2122 SCSI Raid controller in any EISA slot.

      Place a SCSI disk on the on-board 7870 SCSI interface.

2)  Clear CMOS

3)  Run SCU and configure DPT2122 for INT 15, BIOS C8000, disable

     WD1003 boot, disable floppy

4)  Save configuration and reboot

5)  Run vendor supplied DPTMGR from floppy  to configure controller.

6)  Software will report that ""SmartRom has not been detected,"" and cannot

     configure a controller in the system. This is the problem.

7) If the drive attached to the on-board controller is removed, DPTMGR will

    run correctly and can identify the 2122 controller.

Resolution:  The BIOS was looking at the shadowing default locations for option ROMs.  The default state was set incorrectly to not shadow which destroyed the DPT SCSI BIOS after bootup. The DPT BIOS and onboard SCSI BIOS appear to both hook int 13 and disable the onboard drive.  The Adaptec and SCSI BIOS do not appear to agree on how to hook int13. The new BIOS (1.00.11.BI0) will correctly shadow the area.

SCU - Second Processor Status=Pass w/out processor present  2390           - CLOSED

Problem:  SCU 308 / 31, fab 4 -3 baseboard, bios 1.00.07.  Run the SCU, SCU indicates that 2nd processor is not present, further down it says the 2nd processor status  is a PASS.

Resolution: Fixed in SCU 3.11 / 39

SCU-Internal PCI resources can be removed in Add/Remove boards  2405 - CLOSED

Problem:  SCU allows you to think you've removed video in the add/remove section.  You can delete/save/exit.  Of course the device comes back when you reboot, but the ability to remove these devices is confusing.

Resolution:  Fixed in SCU 3.11 / 39.

Restoring Configurations from Backup CMS does not restore baseboard  2519 -CLOSED

Problem:  When using the ""Restore Configuration from Backup CMS File"", the restore option restores all configurations except for what is under the ""Baseboard Configuration"" including SCSI BIOS scan, serial ports, and IDE enable.  All of the baseboard options are left at the current value.

Resolution:  Fixed in SCU 3.11 / 39

Fujitsu keyboard not detected with bios 1.00.07  2525 - CLOSED

Problem:  Fujitsu 4700 and 4800 model keyboards not detected with either kbd controller

1.22 or 1.28 and BIOS 1.00.07. 

Resolution:  Fixed in the next release of the BIOS.  1.00.11.BI0

System board configuration file erros  2561            - CLOSED

Problem:  The AMI SCU may indicate that the system board configuration file contains errors when attempting to add an EISA or ISA card to the system.  This message is a ""false"" message and will be changed to indicate that the SCU simply could not add an adapter card due to irresolvable conflicts.

Resolution:  Fixed in SCU 3.11 / 39

AMI SCU conflicting configuration  2562 - CLOSED

Problem:  The AMI SCU allowed a configuration that had conflicts.  When adding a card, the AMI SCU indicated that the card could not be added.  On a second try to add the card, the SCU allowed the addition but placed resources in conflict.

Resolution:  Fixed in SCU 3.11 / 39.

Automatic/Manual Configuration labels misleading  2563           - CLOSED

Problem:  The ""Automatic"" and ""Manual"" labels for PCI and PnP devices are misleading.

Automatic --> Current Configuarion

Manual --> User/SCU supplied alternate configuration for next boot.

Resolution:  Next release of SCU has changed these labels to say:

""Current Configuration"" and ""Manual Configuration""".  In SCU 3.11 / 39

NetWare 3.12J abends after about 9 hours of LAN stress test   2059   - CLOSED

Problem:  NetWare3.12J abends after about 9 hours of the LAN stress test with following error message:

            Abend: Partition object not found in Partition Mapping Table OS version: NOVELL NetWare v3.12(250 user) 8/12/93

            Running Process: Interrupt Service Routine (nested count 1)
Interrupt Process: Polling Process

            This problem happened twice with EE32 and once with Fujitsu's LAN card.  Intel's Network Products Division and PLX Technology says that this is a known bug with any Intel NIC card that uses PLX's EISA 9032D used in Intel's PRO/100 EISA and FLASH32 EISA bus master adapters.  This configuration will result in server malfunction or data compare errors in Intel's server-based PCI/EISA systems.  PLX is now revising the EISA 9032D to correct this problem.

Resolution:  This is a known problem with the PLX chip as implemented on many Intel network cards; use different network controllers.  Refer to #1371 in the "Common to All Operating Systems" section of this document.

NetWare drops SCSI drive volumes with ST3390N drives  2488           - CLOSED

Problem: This occurs on both NetWare 3.12 and 4.10.  Error has been narrowed down to occurring with Seagate ST3390N and Quantum narrow SCSI drives.  Does NOT fail using Seagate ST31230W drives in the same configuration.  The system also is NOT failing with the Seagate ST3390N drives when the transfer rate is set to 5 MB in the AIC-7870 configuration utility. 

Resolution:  Using Seagate's ST31230W or ST3390N drives and setting the transfer rate to 5 MB,  the same configuration has been successfully accomplished.  Seagate is being contacted to check for firmware upgrades or drive limitations. This is an Adaptec Driver issue and has been verified at Adaptec.  Fixed in latest adaptec drivers.

PCI bridge cannot be configured conveniently  2145 - CLOSED           

Problem:  To read server's video memory from LANDesk Server Monitor Module, using ISA bus mastering, requires setting bit 2 in the PCEB register 48h.

Resolution: Video memory is now accessable from EISA bus in BIOS 1.00.11.BI0 and later.

Adobe* Acrobat* Reader fails on system without Adobe Type Manager  2149 - CLOSED 

Problem:  The ALTServer system does not ship with printed manuals.  The Adobe Reader utility is supplied to read both the SCSI and system manuals.  If you don't have Adobe Type Manager (ATM), you can't read the manual.

Resolution:  Hardcopy manuals being supplied.

Problems with Password protection in CMOS Setup  2160  - CLOSED

Problem:  The password protection in CMOS setup allows the user to backspace over the last character of a correctly typed password and still boot.  After entering a password via CMOS setup on the ALTServer baseboard, and subsequently rebooting, if the correct password is entered, then the [BACKSPACE] key is pressed once, then the [ENTER] key is pressed, the password is accepted.

Resolution:  Does not affect normal operation.  Fixed in relaese 1.00.11.BI0 and later.

System I/O Ports need defined in SCU  2196           - CLOSED

Problem:  All system baseboard I/O Ports need to be defined in the SCU base board CFG file.   In particular, video I/O Ports are not defined.  All ports should be verified.

Resolution:  Resolved in SCU 3.11 Overlay 39

Secure mode enabled on bootup with keyboard controller ver. 1.22  2202 - CLOSED

Problem:  With certain manufacturer's keyboards and version 1.22 of the keyboard controller, the system will come up automatically in secure mode.  This locks out the front panel power and reset switch until the system boots.  In secure mode, this also blanks the video immediately upon bootup if selected in CMOS.

Resolution:  This issue was fixed with the implementation of the 1.28 KB controller cut into the fab 6 baseboard.  Intel PBA number 630958-203 and later.  If you see a problem, swap the keyboard and mouse connectors.  A new keyboard controller will be available beginning June 1995.  You can also press the <ESC> key to continue booting up to DOS.  Here is the list of keyboards that have ben tested an their results:

·              NMB RT 101 INTEL

            result;   detected but security is on until dos boots when plugged  in kbd port (bottom one). Security is off when plugged in mouse port. (top ps2 connector)

·              NCR H0-150-std RS3000

            result;  fails to be detected except when plugged in alone on the mouse port (top connector)

·              Cherry AT European 102 key

            result;  works fine in any port

·              Keytronics EP3435XTAT

            result;  works fine in any port

·              NCR and Cherry keyboards violated reset timing specs

FAST IDE PIO modes & DMA modes not functional  2241          - CLOSED

Problem:  Customer reports only mode 0 works.

Resolution:  Default in SCU is CHS, if drive is LBA, system will not recognize full HDD capacity. FAST IDE PIO mode is not supported with our disk drive controller on the isa/eisa bus (AIP).  This feature will be removed from setup and the scu in the next Implemented BIOS/SCU.  BIOS 1.00.11.BI0 and SCU 3.11 / 39.

Unreliable XMS Memory Error with HIMEM.SYS  2484 - CLOSED       

Problem:  The problem seen was caused by forcing a .CMS file with a larger memory config. over one with less memory actually available. Bios reported the actual memory size, but did not report a memory decrease (which it does with Rel 1.00.06). When Himem.sys was loaded, it produced an error message;

        ""Possible unreliable XMS Memory Location at 4100004h"" (68,157,444d).  No CMOS error was reported, and the Bios did not prompt the user to run setup due to a memory size decrease. Was only able to clear this by clearing CMOS. Running the SCU and flashing up the BIOS did not clear this problem.

Resolution:  Fixed in SCU 3.11 / 39.

SCSI BIOS gives 2nd Data Drive > 1G Warning Message  2538 - CLOSED

Problem:  SCSI BIOS v1.19s6 gives a Data Driver > 1GB Warning message with BANYAN 6.0 disk drives that are bigger than 1GB.

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 1.00.11.BI0.

SCU does not manage IDE IRQ properly  2555 - CLOSED          

Problem:  When re-enabling IDE (after disabling IDE to test Server Monitor Module(SMM) IRQ14 usage), SCU does not indicate IDE and SMM are both assigned to IRQ14.  Allows configuration; does not appear to impair IDE operation when not using SMM interrupts.  SCU indicates IDE is still disabled, but system boots from IDE.  SCU does not allow automatic configuration.  Only changing SMM's interrupt allows SCU to use automatic peripheral configuration and (from user's viewpoint) re-enable IDE.

Resolution:  Fixed in SCU 3.11 / 39, make sure to disconnect drive from IDE cable to get IRQ released.

LCD Display comes up enabled after CMOS clear  2585  - CLOSED

Problem:  According to the SCU, the LCD Display comes up enabled after CMOS clear, should be disabled.

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 1.00.11.BI0.  LCD is now disabled by default (when cmos/nvram  is cleared).  You now must enable it with the SCU (ie for Magellan).

SMIs occurring with SMP configuration creates system hangs  2619  - CLOSED

Problem:  When an SMI occurs with 2 processors installed in the system, a hang condition may ossur.

Resolution:  Fixed in Fab 7 baseboard.

PCEB register 46h initialized with 64K hole at 1Meg  2624 - CLOSED 

Problem:   Under inverstigation.

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 1.00.11.BI0.

Orchid Kelvin EZ PCI video adapter incompatible on ALTServer 2737- CLOSED

Problem:  This particular video adapter has known problems on numerous Intel platforms.

Resolution:  Intel has contacted the manufacturer for an analysis and upgrade. These cards are non-compliant and will not be supported.

ALTServer fails to recognize the #9GXE 64 or #9 FX Motion 531 video cards 2738 - CLOSED

Problem: When the #9GXE 64 or the #9 FX Motion 531 PCI video cards are installed in an ALTServer system, the system returns an audible error that indicates no video cards present.

Resolution: These video cards do not decode the address bus correctly whenever the video RAM and ROM are assigned 4xx0000h apart in physical memory.  These cards are non-compliant and will not be supported.

Undetected data corruption in on-board SCSI  1625 - Closed

Problem:  The "Disk grind" test ran 85 hours over the long weekend with a wide Seagate drive on each of two NCR 8251S PCI SCSI cards, one on each PCI bus, and a narrow drive on each of the on-board AIC-7870's.  The test loop consists of copying some files, then comparing them twice, repeated indefinitely.  One instance of this test ran between the two wide drives on the NCR cards, and another independent instance ran between the two narrow drives on the 7870's.  After about 60 hours, data corruption occurred during one of the compare operations between the 7870's.  One file was garbled starting at an offset of 32769 bytes from the start of the file (at a sector boundary) for a length of at least 20 bytes.  The immediately-preceding comparison of the same two files had correctly found them identical.  No OS or hardware error report appeared in the test log.

Resolution:  This was resolved with improvements in the testing S/W and new drivers from the vendor.

Customer-supplied soft reset program locks ALTServer  1632 - CLOSED     

Problem:  Any customer-supplied routines that perform port 64 and port 92 soft resets will lock system when run.  When the system hangs, an interrupt is pending at the processor input but is never serviced.  It seems that the probable cause is the local APIC not being initialized correctly.

Resolution:  Investigation revealed the test program was not designed for MP systems.  They do not reprogram the processor apic before soft reset.  They also use the stack which cannot be used in soft reset.  Customer rewrote there code.

Windows* 3.1 with #9GXE, screen garbled  1739 - CLOSED      

Problem:  When running in Windows 3.1 with #9GXE video card, on-screen characters and images are garbled and distorted.  Found in setups of  800x600x256 & 1152x870x256.

Resolution:  We will not fix

Some SCSI devices cannot support 10.5 MB/s transfer rate  573 -CLOSED  

Problem:  Per Adaptec, this is a 7870 REV B part problem that will hang the SCSI bus.  A baseboard that uses a 42MHz crystal means that instead of 10MB/sec transfer rate, they're actually trying to run at 10.5MB/s (which most Quantum drives cannot handle). 

Resolution:  REV C 7870 parts which require a 40MHz crystal will fix this problem. The ALTserver product rolled the REV. C part into Fab 7.  Prior to this Fab, the work around is to set transfer rate to 8MB/sec maximum.

Quantum 1080S does not work at 10MB/sec transfer rate, does work correctly at 8MB/sec transfer rate.

Additional SCSI Devices which have had problem at the 10 MB/s setting:

Quantum 1080S 1GB Hard Disk                                                BIOS fails

Fujitsu M2694ESA 1GB Hard Disk                                            Netware Fails

Some Maxtor XT4000 Series (5.25"" FF, depends on F/W)        BIOS fails

Some Maxtor XT8000 Series (5.25"" FF, depends on F/W)        BIOS fails

Seagate ST31200N 1GB Hard Disk                                             SCO fails

Some Conner CFP1060E drives may fail in fully configured systems.

Onboard parallel port does not show up when external port installed  1054   -
CLOSED
Problem: If the onboard parallel port is enabled in BIOS Setup (Auto or Manual), and an offboard parallel port card is installed to a different IRQ, address, etc., the off-board port shows up as LPT1 and the onboard one does not show up at all.

Resolution:  The AIP has a bug in it where it does not latch data sent to it.  The BIOS checks the status on bootup to see if the port is in use and puts the I/O address in the BIOS data area.  This checking has been removed so that if something is on the port while we are going through POST it does not fail the readback and remove it from the BIOS data area.  This resolution will be rolled into the release of the BIOS 1.00.11.BI0.

Adaptec* 1532P resets to IRQ6 each time server is rebooted   1542              CLOSED

Problem:  Errors occur when using Plug-and-Play Adaptec* 1532P SCSI controller card because it is reset to IRQ 6 each time the server is rebooted.

Resolution:  Closed: This turns out to be an ADAPTEC 1532P problem since the switch for disabling the floppy controller on the card does not free IRQ 6 and/or ports for floppy controller. After extensive discussions with Adaptec regarding the 1532P, a low cost ISA Plug-n-Play card.  This card fails to install properly on ALL Intel platforms.  Specifically, every time a system re-boots, the card resets itself to default values. Because of low volume shipment of this card, Adaptec would prefer not to spend time finding the problem nor implement a fix.  Therefore this card will not be supported on Intel platforms and we recommend the use of the Adaptec 1542CP card as a  replacement.

PCIDiag test reports Orphan Vendor and Device ID   1573 - CLOSED 

Problem:  PCIDiag test reports an Orphan Vendor and Device ID when run on the server with a 100MHz Pentium® processor.

Resolution:  This is a Cirrus Logic*  video BIOS  problem. This BIOS  was designed to be used by several different Cirrus Logic devices, and responds with a device ID for one of the other devices in the family.  This is a functional consideration for this product and has no effect in any known operation.

Zynx 312 diagnostic prints nonsense on ALTServer  2040 - CLOSED

Resolution:  The Cirrus video BIOS ver 1.22 does not have enough space to fit the 8x16 font which vga mode 12h uses.  You must first load the tsrfont.com program from Cirrus to be able to see these fonts.  This file is on the Cirrus Driver diskettes (disk 2 of 2) shipped with the ALTServer systems.

Test Time for Windows NT Tape Test takes a long time  1829 - CLOSED

Problem:  The system passes the Windows NT 3.5 HCT suite on all three tape I/O tests, one each for QIC 117 (floppy controller), QIC SCSI, and SCSI DAT drives.  The test time takes 50% to 100% longer on ALTServer than on a 486-based system.

Resolution:  Bad test script.

SONY CDU55S CD-ROM hanging using UnixWare 1.02S driver  565  CLOSED         

Problem:  This issue may be related to Adaptec UnixWare driver - driver does NOT use config data for device initialization, but uses chip default values - WIDE SCSI, Sync 10MB/s xfer, disconnect/reconnect.  Many CD-ROMs report at rates that they cannot support, i.e., 5MB/s when they can only do Async transfer, etc. Using version 1.02S of Adaptec's 7800 UnixWare driver, the driver was hanging in initialization while downloading the microcode, and after some fumbling, the problem was caused by the presence on the SCSI bus of a Sony CDU55S CD-ROM reader. Evidently something about the download is customized to the particular set of devices found on the bus, and this driver does not know how to handle this particular model of CD-ROM drive.  The hang occurred earlier with the Sony's SCSI ID set to 1 than when it was set to 5. 

Resolution:  Re-installed using Adaptec driver 1.20s, installation proceeded to completion. System operated normally after installation

Adaptec 1542CP requesting wrong interrupt  1298            CLOSED

Problem:  Requesting IRQ5 for floppy, need to use IRQ6.

Resolution:  Currently the use of IRQ6 does permit the floppy drive to operate.  Adaptec has been notified.

Network adapters using the PLX 9032D chip may fail  1371 CLOSED 

Problem: When an EtherExpress 32 card configured with netconfig to IRQ10, connector type BNC, and Flash Memory Range D000-D1FF was installed, UUT could not connect to a remote system with rlogin or ping commands, and remote systems did not recognize the UUT.  Intel's Network Products Division and PLX Technology says that this is a known bug with any Intel NIC card that uses PLX's EISA 9032D used in Intel's PRO/100 EISA and FLASH32 EISA bus master adapters.  This configuration will result in server malfunction or data compare errors in Intel's server-based PCI/EISA systems.

Resolution: Intel's Network Products Division and PLX Technology says that this is a known problem with any NIC card that uses PLX's EISA 9032D. Currently this devices is used in Intel's PRO/100 EISA and FLASH32 EISA bus master adapters.  This configuration may result in a server malfunction or data compare errors in Intel's server-based PCI/EISA systems. Do not use NICs that use this PLX device as their LAN controller.

NDIS driver causes Lantastic to lose connection during first 1 MB file transfer  1537 CLOSED   

Problem:  With NDIS, Lantastic 6.0 (Peer To Peer) and Intel TokenExpress Pro ISA (tpro.dos,v1.01), the network loses connection during the first 1 MB file transfer, first iteration.

Resolution:  Intel's Network Product Division is aware of this problem and recommends use of Intel TokenExpress 16 ISA (olitok.dos,v4.0) and Intel TokenExpress Pro EISA (olitok32.dos,v4.01).

Intel SMM does not allow shared memory use, interrupts, and DMA  1614 CLOSED         

Problem:  The current .cfg file for the Intel Server Monitor Module does not allow shared memory use, and interrupts and DMA are not working.

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 15, SMM software release 1.2

DTC2290 EISA IDE controller causes an unresolvable resource conflict  1919 CLOSED 

Problem:  The DTC2290 EISA IDE controller causes a ""Static Device Resource Conflict"" at system startup.

Resolution:  Hardware not available.  Vendor no longer manufactures nor supports this card.

3-mode floppy failure when IDE not plugged in  2101        CLOSED

Problem:  If an IDE hard drive is not plugged in, then the 3 mode floppy fails.

Resolution:  Closed: Microsoft's 3-mode floppy driver, 1024FD.EXE, is broken.  A new driver, 1025FD.EXE, is now available which fixes the problem.

PCI bridge resource allocation problem above 1 gigabyte  2102              CLOSED

Problem:   If a resource requires more than 1 gigabyte of memory on a PCI bridge, it will not get it.

Resolution:  Closed: Under investigation, currently we know of no cards with this requirement. Fixed in rev. 1.00.05 of the BIOS and passed our compatibility run on 4/28/95.

120 Mhz CPu speed reported incorrectly in setup  2138   CLOSED

Problem:  120 Mhz processors are identified as wrong speed in setup.

Resolution:  BIOS 1.00.15.BIO correctly reports processor speed up to 166MHz.

ISA bus mastering to PCI video fails when using LANDesk® Server Monitor Module  2140            CLOSED

Problem:  Using a LANDesk® Server Monitor Module board, when attempting to read the video memory on an ALTServer using ISA bus mastering, every even-numbered byte was read correctly but odd-numbered bytes were returned as FF.  LANDesk Server Monitor Module is an 8-bit ISA bus master.  When attempting to write to video memory, seemingly random bytes are written, others are not.

Resolution:  Use "View Console" rather than "Get DMA image" from SMM management console. 

PCI arbitration problem   2446 CLOSED

Problem:  While running the Exchange test on NetWare3.12J, using a Toshiba PCI LAN card that's using AMD's PC net LAN controller, then results show Memory Error on ALTserver that's used as a client. ALTserver is used for both server and client. Exchange test is a test that's included in the LAN adapter certification test kit from Novell. The root cause of this problem was found to be to be the PCEB's PCI arbiter being set to fixed priority mode. It seems that the CPU has a priority in this mode. If the CPU accesses the CL5430 VGA chip and the LAN card asserts REQ, then the GNT signal is not asserted until about 53-55 usec.  If the PCEB's PCI arbiter is set to rotating priority mode, this delay reduces to about 500nsec.

Solution:  Investigation has shown that rotational priority doesn't have any negative side effects like errata or performance.  Therefore this priority change will be implemented in the next release of the BIOS. 1.00.15.BI0

ALTServer baseboard fails password selections portions of the BIOS test  2508 CLOSED         

Problem:  The ALTServer baseboard fails the password selections portions of the Intel BIOS confidence test. After entering a password via CMOS setup on the ALTServer baseboard, and subsequently rebooting, if the correct password is entered, then the[BACKSPACE] key is pressed once, then the [ENTER] key is pressed, the password is accepted.  In CMOS setup, the password is entered and confirmed.  The system is re-booted, and the user is prompted for the password.  If the correct password is entered, and than the backspace key is pressed, one less ""*"" than the correct password is displayed. But, if the [ENTER] key is pressed at this point, the user will still be allowed to access the system.

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 1.00.11.BI0.

ALTServer Testview (CPU) Anomaly  2314 CLOSED      

Problem:  Testview reports the 100 MHz CPU at 220+ MHz. This is a recurring error, but it does happen only 0.34% of the time. Note that this error has been seen only on one unit out of 30 units. The percentage value was computed  from 13 errors out of 3733 runs of the mentioned unit.

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 1.00.11.BI0.

ECP parallel port needs selectable DMA  2250 CLOSED

Problem:  At this time, ECP mode is not supported by our BIOS.  As soon as a fix is implemented for the BIOS we will provide the needed setup selections in the SCU

Resolution:  It will be in Fab 7, BIO 1.00.15.BI0

ALTServer IBM TR II will not initialize (NDIS driver problem) 2287 CLOSED

Problem:  Using LANtastic 6.0 (Peer To Peer) the IBM Token Ring II ISA will not initialize. This problem has also been seen in Net BIOS and Banyan.

Resolution:  Currently it has been discovered that additional configuration must be performed to resolve this conflict. Once you've installed Lantastic with the NDIS driver that comes with the TR II card, go in and edit the PROTOCOL.INI to modify the I/O base address. At boot time Lantastic sees the TR II card, configures without error, then sits waiting for the client to come on-line without attaching to the MAU itself. Since this card works with other drivers, the NDIS driver that ships with the card is suspect at this time.

SCU Can't Lock EISA Resources  2256 CLOSED 

Problem:  The MCS configuration utility provided the ability to 'Lock' the resources of EISA devices.  The AMI SCU does not have this ability.  From EISA SPECIFICATION, Version 3.12, from BCPR Services "The EISA Configuration Utility allows users to lock boards so that the selected choices (and resources) of a board are not changed when new boards are added to the system. ....""

Resolution:  Fixed and verified Fab 7, SCU 3.11 / Overlay 39, BIOS 11

Cannot boot from Future Domain PnP 1630 SCSI  2345 CLOSED

Problem:  Also difficult to get the card recognized. Had to install it on another system just to get it's PnP software to recognize it. Future Domain PNP 1630 SCSI Controller. The Future Domain PNP 1630 SCSI Controller failed to work with the Intel ALTServer. At first we couldn't get the card to be recognize by the ALTServer. The server failed to boot up and hang out the server so we downloaded from Future Domain the utility ""PNPCFG.EXE"" The Future Domain PNP 1630 SCSI Controller card Default settings are as follows:

            Base Memory Address: CA000H  ===> Alternative: C8000H, CE000H, DE000H. Interrupt: IRQ 5  ===> Alternative: IRQ 10, 11, 15.

            Base I/O Address: 150H  ===> Alternative: 140H, 160H, 170H

Resolution:  Fixed and verified Fab 7, SCU 3.11 / Overlay 39, BIOS 11

SMI not active on ALTServer  2295 CLOSED         

Problem:  System Management Interrupts caused by the system monitoring block in INCA are not enabled for Hobbes detection; SMI needs to be enabled in INCA and ESC.

Resolution: Fixed in Fab 7.

3COM TokenLink III will not initialize 2288 CLOSED

Problem: Using LANtastic 6.0 (Peer To Peer) the IBM Token Ring II ISA will not initialize. This problem has also been seen in Net BIOS and Banyan. Using AI-NDIS (AILANBIO to NDIS) driver V2.14 (C) Copyright...problems were seen during the reboot sequence just after the LANtastic configuration takes place.  The error message that appeared looked like this: ERROR: Unable to bind to module TLNK3_NIF

Resolution:  This is an NDIS driver problem.

STB Velocity 64 PCI adapter fails at boot  2389 CLOSED

Problem:  The adapter will hang the system immediately after POST is initiated. The system passes the initial 64k RAM test, before it hangs the system.  The STB Velocity 64 PCI adapter utilizes a S3 Vision 968 graphics chip. STB Powegraph works with no problems and utilizes a S3 Trio 64 graphics chip. The customer reported that The STB Horizon works with no problems.

Resolution:  Video solutions based on the S3 Vision 968 chip are not compatible with this system.

ECP Parallel option inoperable 2630 CLOSED

Problem:  Selecting the ECP Parallel port option in the BIOS setup has no effect.

Resolution:  Fixed in Fab 7 (PBA# -30x) BIOS 15.

SCU and OVL may produce dead-lock when resolving conflicts 2768  CLOSED

Problem:  In an attempt to resolve a add-in card resource conflict, the ALTServer system goes into a endless loop due to some unresolvable conflicts.  If an on-board devices request a resource in-use by another device the SCU will has trouble resolving the conflict.

Resolution: Fixed in SCU 3.21 / OVL 1.01

PCI devices getting assigned pre-allocated memory 2875 CLOSED

Problem:  It has been noted that the BIOS is inadvertently placing the VGA device in a conflict with the ESC/IOAPIC. This was discovered in a clearing of CMOS and an attempt to view the VGA's Current Configuration.

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 15.

Static Device Resource Conflicts 2883 CLOSED   

Problem:  Using the ALTServer System Configuration Utility, 3.11.39,  to add a card that has RAM memory and ROM memory in the same 16K block, the BIOS will display a "static device resource conflict".  If the 16K memory block has shadow enabled, this is a valid error.

Resolution: Fixed in BIOS 15

Removing an EISA card may delete ISA entries  2427 CLOSED           

Problem:  Removing an EISA card physically from the system may cause ISA cards previously added to be ignored.  The ESD data for the ISA card is still in the NVRAM but it appears that the AMISCU ignores it if it finds an invalid configuration for an EISA slot.

Resolution:  Fixed in SCU 3.21 / 1.01

Thomas Conrad TC4045 fails NWTEST in Netware 4.10  2407 CLOSED

Problem:  The LAN driver for the card would load and IPX would bind to the card. The client could attach to the TC4045 without difficulty. Upon starting NWTEST, Read errors would immediately appear during the Read/Write portion of NWTEST. The errors would continue until the maximum of 50 errors was reached. At that point, NWTEST would halt.. This occurs using either of the listed drivers for the card.

Resolution:  To fix this problem, the card's driver needs to be configured for under 16MB manually and it is not documented as seen in Compatibility Test.

Removing EISA video card causes system to hang  2248            CLOSED

Problem:  Compaq Q-Vision card installed through SCU.  Remove card before removing via SCU and the system won't boot to on-boards video.

Resolution:  Fixed in BIOS 15

Failed to recognize several video cards  2526  CLOSED

Problem:  Using the following cards; #9 GXE 64 CS=S3 86C968-P. #9 Motion 531 CS=S3 86C868-P. STB PowerGraph 64V CS=S3 86C765-P.  Digital Bahama 64 CS=S3.  Theses cards listed above failed to be recognized by the system. An audible no video beep code was heard and no video was produced.

Resolution:  Video solutions based on the S3 Vision 968 chip are not compatible with this system.

General Product Information

Product Order Code List

Packing lists

Orderable Spare Parts

ALTServer Platforms User-Installable Upgrades

iPTL Tested Product List

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Configuration Tips

Setup information

Installation Instructions

Product Order Code List

C1F90A2M16                -  Columbus chassis, ALTServer baseboard, 256k Async cache, 16MB memory, 1-90 Mhz processor, 230W Power Supply

C1F75A2M8                              -  Columbus chassis, ALTServer baseboard, 256k Async cache, 8MB memory, 1-75 Mhz processor, 230W Power Supply

C1F100A2M16                                   -  Columbus chassis, ALTServer baseboard, 256k Async cache, 16MB memory, 1-100 Mhz processor, 230W Power Supply

C1F120A2M16                                   -  Columbus chassis, ALTServer baseboard, 256k Async cache, 16MB memory, 1-120 Mhz processor, 230W Power Supply

C1F133A2M16B                                -  Columbus chassis, ALTServer baseboard, 256k Async cache, 16MB memory, 1-133 Mhz processor, 300W Power supply

RISERWEXTBLK           - Wide external SCSI I/O connector card (10 pack)

RISERNEXTBLK            - Narrow external SCSI I/O connector card (10 pack)

RISERATBLK                - All headers except PS/2 Keyboard external & Narrow internal SCSI (10 pack), no cables

RISERWINTBLK            - Wide internal SCSI I/O connector card (10 pack)

ALTCPUKIT                   - Second processor heatsink assembly upgrade kits (10 pack)

SERVERMON                           - Server Monitor Module, Netware 3.1x, 4.1x agents and Workstation Monitoring Console

XXPCIRAID4                              - 2 channel PCI RAID controller with battery backup, 4MB cache, fault and LED cable

OEMGLDA                    - All software and manuals, electronic copies

Packing lists

Columbus System

Magellan System

Columbus System

            Altair Baseboard with memory & CPU as per order code

            3-1/2" Floppy Drive & Cable

            Hard Drive Bay (6-1" HDD)

            230W Power Supply

Accessory Kit - Columbus

Country Kit - Columbus

Magellan System

            Altair Baseboard with memory & CPU as per order code

            3-1/2" Floppy Drive & Cable

            Wide SCSI cable from I/O Riser to hot swap bay

            Narrow SCSI cable from baseboard to upper peripheral bay

            Plastic Hard Drive Carrier for Hot Swap Bay (6)

            525W Power Supply

Accessory Kit - Magellan

Country Kit - Magellan

Orderable Spare Parts

Spares - Columbus

Spares - Magellan

Spares - Columbus

P/N                        Description

C1F616843      CHASSIS ASSY,INTEL - "Columbus"      

C1F202123      230 WATT BABY AT Power Supply    

C1F628699      300 WATT BABY AT Power Supply

C1F634425      PBA,SYS FRONT PANEL

C1F620311      Cable Assembly,FLOPPY

C1F629290      FAN,ASSY,VARSP,100CFM,RD 

C1F621980      RISER CARD,I/O, WIDE SCSI EXTERNAL

C1F621981      RISER CARD, I/O, Narrow SCSI EXTERNAL

C1F621982      RISER CARD, I/O, AT F2 - Header connectors only except for Keyboard

C1F629183      RISER CARD,I/O,INTERNAL WIDE SCSI - Comes standard with sys.

C1F620323      OPT,ACCESSORY KIT,PRPHL - Drive rails, cables, etc