Adaptec 2906: (-69) Bus Error When Accessing PowerDomain Control Utility

[Concorde1993]

Awhile back, I purchased one of these Adaptec SCSI cards for my B&W G3. The card itself works perfectly fine and I can mount all of my external SCSI hard drives in OS 9.2.1 without issue.

The problem I'm facing is when I open the PowerDomain control utility, I get two error messages - the first is "One or more buses cannot currently be changed" and the other is "An internal error (-69) occurred which prevents changes to the settings on this bus." Both messages then prompt me to contact Adaptec technical support for further help (and just for shit-and-giggles, I did, and somebody from Adaptec actually replied, and they stated they couldn't help since the product was too old and no longer supported. No shit).

For those not familiar with the PowerDomain software, it allows the user to adjust certain SCSI settings, like termination, speed, ID, and so on. Not a big feature to not have working but it would be nice to find out why I'm getting this unusual error. I've already tried the following troubleshoot methods, one of which involved installing the 2906 card in another PCI port. I also tried two different versions of the PowerDomain software - 6.1.1 (available online through Adaptec) and 5.0 (which came with the original 2906 install CD for the PowerMac series). Neither version made any difference and I still get the same bus error message.

Thoughts? Here's some pics of the error messages:

 

[Concorde1993]

Really? So nobody here has dealt with these Adaptec SCSI cards? C'Mon Man!

 

[Byrd]

Try another slot; it's likely wanting a "bus master" PCI slot; but I can't work out is bus mastering is as important in B&W G3s as it was in older PowerMacs. The bus master slot was usually PCI #1, which on the B&W is named the bottom/end card, however on older Macs it was usually top down (in this case PCI #3 next to the 66Mhz PCI video card slot).

 

[Concorde1993]

I tried the 2906 card again in slots #2, 3, and 4 - I still get the -69 error when opening the PowerDomain utility.

For some reason slot #1 is facing the wrong way on the motherboard. If I install the 2906 card there the SCSI port on the card will be inward and not outward. Anyone know why that’s the case with slot #1?

 

[Phipli]

I tried the 2906 card again in slots #2, 3, and 4 - I still get the -69 error when opening the PowerDomain utility.

For some reason slot #1 is facing the wrong way on the motherboard. If I install the 2906 card there the SCSI port on the card will be inward and not outward. Anyone know why that’s the case with slot #1?

It's just keyed differently, it's a 3.3V slot.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jMLAommL68Y/ThB9Jgi-jnI/AAAAAAAAAG4/JbLHdDfywgM/s1600/backward+pci+slot+5v+vs+3.3v.png

Do not plug it in backwards.

 

[mikes-macs]

-69 badCksmErr addr mark checksum didn't check

Macintosh Error Codes https://www.public.asu.edu › macs › mac_errors

 

[mg.man]

FWIW, I'm pretty sure the 2906 is a "dumb" card, it was commonly bundled with scanners. Is there anything (a readme) for the PowerDomain utility that states which cards it supports?

 

[Concorde1993]

Is there anything (a readme) for the PowerDomain utility that states which cards it supports?

Well they should be compatible - they were both included in the Adaptec 2906 install disc for the PowerMac series.

Anyway, I've uploaded the readme for the PowerDomain utility. On Page 19 it shows under "About PowerDomain" the 2906 card as being compatible hardware for the PowerDomain software. Here's a snippet from Adaptec's own readme file confirming the same thing:

 

[mg.man]

Well they should be compatible

Yeah, seems so. Are you running the PowerDomain Utility from a HD attached to the 2906? No idea if that's a problem, but might be worth trying it from somewhere else? The other thing that might be worth trying if you've not already is enabling only the "Base" + 2906 Driver with Extensions Manager.

 

[Concorde1993]

Are you running the PowerDomain Utility from a HD attached to the 2906?

I'm using the B&W's main Quantum HD. I could run the software on one of my external SCSI drives but I'd need to install an OS first.

The other thing that might be worth trying if you've not already is enabling only the "Base" + 2906 Driver with Extensions Manager.

Hopefully it's not an extensions conflict. Those can be a PITA to resolve.

Funny thing is the SCSI Probe software works perfectly and I can mount any external drive in 9.2.1 with the 2906 card. It's great for transferring software to the IIfx.

 

[Byrd]

Have you tried to upgrade the firmware? V1.3 is available, some random info here:

the adaptec 2906 SCSI card (1998)

the adaptec 2906 SCSI card (1998)

macos9lives.com

 

[Concorde1993]

So I downloaded version 1.3 of Adaptec's 2906 driver from their Microchip website, and version 6.1.2 of the PowerDomain control utility. Same problem as before - the Adaptec driver works perfectly (it recognizes my external SCSI drives and mounts them to the desktop) but the PowerDomain software still shows the -69 error, although it now reads this way: "A checksum error (-69) has occurred for the nonvolatile ram belonging to the SCSI host adapter (2906)." Not sure why it's bitching about NVRAM in version 1.3. I reset it using the control-option-p-r method; no change. My clock battery is in good shape and I'm not experiencing any significant software bugs with my clean install of OS 9.2.1

I also farted around with extensions manager - no change running in Base mode.

Thoughts before I give up on this and leave it as-is:
(1) There's a fault with the 2906 card - I don't have another one so I can't confirm this now
(2) Something's goofy with my 400MHz G4 logic board - again I don't have another PowerPC board from that era to test this theory out
(3) Adaptec can't write proper software to save their lives

 

[mdeverhart]

"A checksum error (-69) has occurred for the nonvolatile ram belonging to the SCSI host adapter (2906)."

I don’t know what’s on the card, but I could read that as NVRAM on the card itself, rather than the system PRAM. If that’s the case, I have no idea how you would go about resetting it.

It looks like there might be a EEPROM or SPI flash installed at U3, so maybe reflashing the firmware would clear the issue? Did you try the firmware upgrade that @Byrd linked? I see that you installed the v1.3 driver, but wasn’t sure if you tried the firmware upgrade.

 

[Concorde1993]

I’m pretty sure version 1.3 came included with the updated firmware. I didn’t see a separate link to update just the firmware.

 

[Concorde1993]

Did some more reading and found reference to Firmware V1.1 here:

Unfortunately Adaptec's link no longer works and a Google search provides no direct download for this Firmware revision. Also interesting is the last bullet point, which notes that optional SCSI cards in some G4 computers are not compatible with Pro Tools due to lack of NVRAM to store the desired SCSI transfer rate. Not sure if that's causing my problem with the PowerDomain utility software, but interesting nevertheless.