Is there a SCSI Doctor in the house???

[Vincent22]

Hi all..this is a message I posted in Tech support with ni response...thought

I am using the single slot PCMCIA SCSI card readers, one from Minolta and the other from Microtech. They are identical and each has the same problem. When I go to import an image file or drag and drop one for that matter they are slow. I also have a card reader that is ISA and it is much faster than the SCSI ones. They are not drastically slow but for a SCSI device to be outperformed by an ISA device is upsidedown.
The system is a Pentium II400 P6L Deuchutes in a Super micro P6SBU with SCSI2LVD, AHA2940U/AHA29402W onboard adapter
384MB SDRAM in three double banks. The SCSI ID is correct, It loads properly during boot. Sandra gives it high marks but it is just slooooow. The cables are those supplied wity the device. Could this be a wide to narrow issue where either the high byte or low byte has to be terminated in a special adapter?? Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you in advance
Sincerely
Vincent
someone in here could help unravel this mystery?

[Axel]

Do you have any other devices on the SCSI chain? - Do any of them self-terminate?
If none of them do - do you have a terminator to end the chain?

Also - you might check the home page of the adapter manufacturer and see if there is a SCSI bios update you could download and install.

Otherwise, Sandra doesn't usually screw up too bad, but then it's just another benchmark program and a different one will tell you something different about your system.

Lastly, have you performed a scandisk & defrag after uninstalling the image software and then reloaded the image software? - Might possibly be a hard drive issue.

By the way - with that much RAM, please tell me you're using NT. Otherwise, why have that much RAM? - It might actually be causing you problems if you are on 95 or 98SE which effectively use 64 and 128 respectively.

So - let us know what OS you are using - Also - how much RAM does your video card have - that might be the hold up.

[theCorvetteDoctor]

The terminator may be "active" or "passive" check with the mfg. of the units involved to be sure you get the correct one. There is obviously some issue causing this problem, I've got a couple of scanners on a HP SCSI chain and they are superfast.. much luck DrVette

[Vincent22]

Greetings again and thanks for responding.
All the termination is correct amd there is a terminator at the end of the chain. I have the latest bios and yes iI did do a defrag after loading the image file...is that a problem?
I am dual booted on a Quantum 9 gig(7200)scsi running Win98 and NT. I use Photoshop in NT and 98, but have devised a way to print to two identical printers simultaneously at full speed with no conflicts, but that only works in 98.
I have a Viper770-16MB card.External modem, no sound...I needed the rsources. Just today I hooked up a Microtech USB card reader and it also outperfoms the scsi ones. I am really puzzled by this and if you have any other suggestions please. On a final note there seems to be no lag time for the in use light activating on the drive from the time I select a file from the drive but then the aquisition into photoshop of the file seems broken up into three or four progressionsor segments rather than a smooth process.In otherwords is kinda jumpy. Specs say it should be 3MB sec. It's more like1MB every four seconds.

Thanks again for your help http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Vincent

[BEOR999]

I guess you are using Asynchronous mode.
This is a slow way to transfer data from the SCSI controller to the SCSI device. The maximum data transfer rate is 3 Megabytes per second in this mode, which is decreased substantially! by even small increases in cable length.
Try and use a shorter cable and see if that helps

[Axel]

There is the chance that the non-USB software s**ks. Isn't the first time I tried to solve a "system issue" just to find it was just disappointing software performance.

Also - unless you have extremely long 3rd party SCSI cables, or perhaps a damaged cable, I'd say your best bet would be to follow up on the synch/asynch settings and to read the fine print on both the SCSI adapter and the peripherals.

Lastly, does your adapter have an external SCSI port? - In my experience, the external port on some cards might have to be jumpered to terminate it, or, the settings in the internal SCSI chain has to be terminated in a certain way because there is an external port. - I.E. - external ports can complicate things.

Hope that helps.

[Vincent22]

Greetings,
Thank you to all who responded I am learning more about this "Great SCSI Mystery" everyday. Turns out I may have an inappropriate cable adapterhttp://www.adaptec.com/support/configuration/connect.html
Oh well I can give that a shot when it gets here and get back to you all with the results.

thanks again

Sincerely
Phillip

PS Is it true that running more than 128MB of SDRAM in Win98 results in "thunking" and actually slows down your unit? I thought that 98 used memory in a linear fashion such as NT or MAC??? Any input there?