User`s manual

27
Installation Issues
(Capacity, Booting)
Q: Why are some drives recognized by the MBFastTrak133 Lite Array Setup utilities with only
partial capacity?
A: Some hard drive models are shipped with a jumper that reduces the addressable capacity of the drive to
prevent problems with older systems which won’t support larger drives. Consult the documentation
accompanying the hard drive to set the jumper appropriately in order to utilize the full capacity of the
drive.
Q: How can I change the system boot sequence in order to boot from the MBFastTrak133 Lite array?
A: The boot sequence is controlled by the system BIOS. As far as the system BIOS is concerned, the
MBFastTrak133 Lite controller and defined arrays are categorized as a “SCSI” device (even though the
BIOS will not attempt to access the MBFastTrak133 Lite as any type of SCSI device). This allows you to
set the boot sequence in your BIOS CMOS setup utility to boot from “SCSI” (an add-in controller like the
MBFastTrak133 Lite) first, rather than “IDE” (an IDE controller built onto the motherboard or one which
effectively replaces it). If there are multiple SCSI add-in controllers in the system, then the boot
sequence among them will be determined exclusively by their PCI slot priority. PCI slot #1 will be first,
slot #2 second, etc. Put the MBFastTrak133 Lite controller in the PCI slot where it will be accessed
ahead of other SCSI controllers if you want to boot from the array.
Q: How can I change the boot sequence between a PCI SCSI card and the MBFastTrak133 Lite RAID
array?
A: Since all PCI devices are all PnP, it is difficult to determine which device is addressed first. Some newer
motherboard BIOS may use advanced options that identify devices and allow you to select which device
will be assigned resources first. Otherwise you may have to physically switch the device on the PCI bus
so that the boot device is in the highest priority slot number (see previous question). If you do not
require the MBFastTrak133 Lite BIOS to boot from an array and it is only to be used through a driver
under the O/S, one simpler solution would be to disable the MBFastTrak133 Lite BIOS so that it does
not affect the boot sequence at all.
Post-Installation
(Memory Managers, FDISK)
Q: Why does my system reboot after the QEMM driver loads from CONFIG.SYS?
A: The problem lies in The QEMM “Stealth” feature. This feature places the drive information from the DOS
System area into the upper reaches of RAM where Windows resides. This causes the MBFastTrak133
Lite to lose track of its drives when asked to execute the next line in the CONFIG.SYS file. This forces
the reboot that you see. Disable Em’s stealth feature to correct this problem.
Q: Why can’t I see the drives on the MBFastTrak133 Lite under FDISK?
A: The MBFastTrak133 Lite controller is dedicated to RAID array management and does not provide any
means of addressing individual hard drives through the Int 13h interface used by FDISK. In order to
access drives on the MBFastTrak133 Lite from MSDOS at all, you must first create a RAID array.