Note: All default settings are listed with an asterisk "*".

This option determines the host adapters IRQ channel for non Plug and Play adapters. The default is 11.

This option determine the DMA (Direct Memory Channel) for non Plug and Play adapters. The default is 5.

This option sets the host adapter's SCSI ID. The default setting is SCSI ID 7, which gives the host adapter the highest priority on the SCSI bus. It is recommended that you leave the host adapter set to SCSI ID 7.

This option determines whether the host adapter verifies the accuracy of data transfer on the SCSI bus. The default is Enabled. You should disable SCSI Parity Checking if any SCSI device, connected to the host adapter, does not support SCSI parity.

This option determines the DMA transfer rate for ISA bus mastering host adapters. The default is 5.0 MBytes/sec. [Note: Leave this option set to default unless the computer documentation clearly states that it supports higher DMA transfer rates. Running the host adapter faster than the computer can cause intermittent errors. Always backup your data before increasing the transfer rate.]

This option sets termination on the host adapter. The default, on most host adapters is Automatic. Other host adapters will list Host Adapter SCSI Termination as Enabled.

Enabled - Internal devices only.
Enabled - External devices only.
Disabled - Internal and external devices.

 
LOW  HIGH 
On   On      68-pin internal connector only 
On   On      68-pin external connector only 
Off  Off     68-pin internal and 68-pin 
                external connectors 
On   On      50-pin internal connector only 
Off  On      50-pin and 68-pin internal 
                connectors 
Off  On      50-pin internal and 68-pin 
                external connectors 

The Boot device Settings allows the user to specify the device they wish to boot the system from.

Boot target ID: This option specifies the SCSI ID of the device to boot from. The default setting is SCSI ID 0. The SCSI ID selected here must correspond to the ID configured on the boot device.
Boot LUN Number: If the boot device has multiple LUNs ( Logical Unit Numbers) and Multiple LUN support is enabled, this option allows the user to specify which LUN to boot from your boot device. The default is 0.

This area define configuration settings that are specific only to the SCSI ID of the device in question. Settings changes of one device will not effect the operational characteristics of another device.

This option determines whether synchronous data transfer negotiation (Sync Negotiation) between the device and host adapter is initiated by the host adapter. The default is Yes. Synchronous negotiation is a SCSI feature that allows the host adapter and its attached devices to transer data in synchronous mode. Synchronous data transfer is faster than asynchronous data transfer. The host adapter always responds to Sync Negotiation if the SCSI device initiates it. If neither the host nor the SCSI device initiates Sync Negotiation, data is transferred asynchronously. [Note: Some older SCSI-1 devices do not support Sync Negotiation. This may cause your computer to operate erratically or hang if Initiate Sync Negotiation is set to yes. Set Initiate Sync Negotiation to No for these devices.]

(For Adaptec host adapters with wide capabilities only) This option determines whether the host adapter attempts 16-bit data transfer (Wide negotiation) instead of 8-bit data transfer. The default is Yes. [Note: Some 8-bit SCSI devices may have trouble handling Wide Negotiation, which may result in erratic behavior or a hang condition. For these devices, set Initiate Wide Negotiation to No.] When set to Yes, the host adapter attempts 16-bit transfer. When set to No, 8-bit data transfer is used unless the SCSI device itself requests Wide negotiation. The effective transfer rate is doubled when 16-bit data transfer is used because the data path for Wide SCSI is twice the size of normal 8-bit SCSI.

This option sets the maximum data transfer rate that the host adapter supports. If the host adapter is set not to negotiate for synchronous data transfer (that is, Initiate Sync Negotiation is set to no), then the maximum synchronous transfer rate is the maximum rate that the host adapter accepts from the device during negotiation. (This is standard SCSI protocol.)

(AHA-154XCF and AHA-154XCP) This option sets the maximum data transfer rate that the host adapter supports. The default settingis No on the AHA-154XCF and Yes on the AHA-154XCP. If the host adapter is set not to negotiate for synchronous data transfer (that is, Initiate Sync Negotiation is set to no), then the maximum synchronous transfer rate is the maximum rate that the host adapter accepts from the device during negotiation. (This is standard SCSI protocol.)

This option determines whether the host adapter allows the SCSI device to disconnect from the SCSI bus (sometimes called Disconnect/Reconnect). Enabling disconnection allows the host adapter to perform other operations on the SCSI bus while the SCSI device is temporarily disconnected. The default is Yes. You should leave Enable Disconnection set to yes if 2 or more SCSI devices are connected to the host adapter. This optimizes SCSI bus performance.

This option determines whether the Send Start Unit Command is sent to the SCSI device at bootup (most devices do not require this). The default setting is No. Setting this option to yes reduces the load on the users computer power supply by allowing the host adapter to start SCSI devices one at a time when you boot your computer. [Note: If the Send Start Unit Command is set to yews for many devices, the boot time will vary depending how long it takes each device to start.]

This option allows the user to determine which device the host adapter is to use as a boot device. The Default is Yes. To utilize this option the Host Adapter BIOS and Dynamically Scan for SCSI Devices must be enabled.

This area defines global configuration settings that effect the entire host adapter and the SCSI devices connected to them.

(AHA-154XCP only) With Plug and Play technology resources are usually assigned from the lowest to the highest values. However, some computers do not function when IRQ 9 and DMA 0 are used, so the host adapter will not function. The default is Disabled.

This option determines whether the host adapter automatically assigns SCSI ID's to the SCSI devices with the SCAM protocol. The default is Enabled. The device must be SCAM-compliant, meaning their SCSI ID can be set via SCAM software commands. The user should disable this option if there is a non SCAM compliant device on the SCSI chain.

This option enables or disables the host adapter BIOS. The default setting is Enabled. If the user is booting from a SCSI disk drive connected to the host adapter, the BIOS must be enabled. The user should disable the host adapter BIOS if the peripherals on the SCSI bus (for example CD-ROM drives) are all controlled by device drivers and do not need the BIOS.

By default this setting is Enabled. On restart and bootup some older systems send a command to system interrupt 19h only, which assumes that the boot device will be an IDE type floppy or fixed hard disk drive. This effectively disables any non IDE drives as boot devices.

The host adapter intercepts the message and routes it to interrupt 13h, the more up to date, non device dependent way to order a system reset. Most of today's PC's call interrupt 13h from 19h for system reset, so enabling or disabling this option will not effect most computers. The user may disable this option if the system uses interrupt 13h for system reset. As long as this option is enabled, the host adapter will detect the system's interrupt and will manage booting.

Enable this option to access and boot from a disk drive from SCSI ID 0 - 6. When this option is disabled the boot drive must be SCSI ID 0. The default is Disabled.

This option, when enabled, makes it possible for computer benchmark testing programs to return valid results when testing SCSI devices. The default is Enabled.

This option controls which removable media drives are supported by the host adapter BIOS. The default setting is Boot Only. The following choices are available:

Boot Only: Only the removable media drive designated as the boot device is treated as a hard disk drive.

All Disk: All removable media drives supported by the BIOS are treated as hard disk drives.

Disabled: No removable media drives are treated as hard disk drives. In this situation, software drivers are needed because the drives are not controlled by the BIOS.

[Note: If a removable media SCSI device is controlled by the host adapter BIOS, do not remove the media while the drive is on or you may lose data! If you want to be able to remove media while the drive is on, install the removable media device driver and set this option to Disable.]

This option determines whether extended translation is available for SCSI hard disks with capacities greater than 1 GByte. The default setting is Enabled. [Note: If the user decides to change the translation scheme, backup your disk drive first! All data is erased when you change from one translation scheme to another.] Extended BIOS Translation is used only with MS-DOS 5.0 or above. It is not necessary to enable this option if you are using operating such as Novell NetWare, OS/2, Windows NT, or UNIX.

This option determines whether the Press for SCSISelect(tm) Utility! message appears on the users screen during system bootup. The default setting is Enabled. If this option is disabled, you can still invoke the SCSISelect utility by pressing after the host adapter BIOS banner appears.

This option determines whether booting from a SCSI device that has multiple LUNs, or a SCSI device with LUNs is supported. The default setting is Disabled.
[Note: On some host adapters this setting is in the SCSI Device Configuration area. In which case the default setting would be No.]

This option determines whether the host adapter BIOS provides support for more than two, and up to eight, hard disk drives. The default setting is Enabled.

If two IDE drives are installed on the computer's hard disk controller, the user can install up to six SCSI drives (supported by the BIOS) on the host adapter, making a total of eight drives.

This option determines whether the host adapter BIOS provides support for booting from a CD-ROM drive. The default is Enabled.

This option determines whether the host adapter BIOS supports disks with more than 1024 cylinders. The default is Enabled.

This option determines whether the host adapter supports the fast transfer rates of Ultra SCSI devices. The default setting is Disabled. [Note: On some host adapters this setting is in the SCSI Device Configuration area. In which case the default setting would be No.]