Tekram DC-395u PCI SCSI adapter issues

[LouChaos]

Hello,

We recently got a new Tekram DC-395u card to talk to one of our pieces of scientific equipment. On install the card enters it's BIOS, and tells you to press a key to enter the configuration menu. But when you press the key, nothing happens. Keyboard is working fine, ctl-alt-del restarts the machine. Nothing in the documentation helps. Since the card takes over the boot process you can't troubleshoot it because it never hands control over to the OS. Any Thoughts?

 

[CliveB]

Hi Lou --
Was this ever resolved? A Tekram DC-395U was just suggested to me by Molec Devices as a replacement for an AdvansSys SCSI card for a Digidata 13xx and pClamp.
--Clive

Hello,

We recently got a new Tekram DC-395u card to talk to one of our pieces of scientific equipment. On install the card enters it's BIOS, and tells you to press a key to enter the configuration menu. But when you press the key, nothing happens. Keyboard is working fine, ctl-alt-del restarts the machine. Nothing in the documentation helps. Since the card takes over the boot process you can't troubleshoot it because it never hands control over to the OS. Any Thoughts?

 

[jpdyson]

Just hopping on to provide an answer, at least from my experience. I provide computer support for a group that uses a Digidata 1322 (I believe) and a pClamp rig. We, too, were advised to get the Tekram DC-395U to go with a Win7 (32-bit) setup on a Dell Optiplex 990 mini-tower. I ran into the following:

1. Upon boot, the SCSI card BIOS would advise that you press F2 or F6 to set up. It appeared to be non-responsive.
2. No other bootable HDDs were detected after installing the SCSI card.

Resolutions:

1. Use, if a available, legacy BIOS modes and a PS/2 keyboard. This seemed to work for me. As an alternative, I *believe* you could put the card into an older system, if you have such a thing sitting around, and configure the card there and simply transfer it.
2. Be sure that the HDD operation mode is set to ATA, and not AHCI. Again, this seemed to work for me. If you've installed and configured the OS on the drive in AHCI mode, this will require Startup Repair as an additional step. Perhaps even re-installing the OS from scratch.

I have not yet attached this system to the rig, but I was at least able to get the machine to boot into Windows 7 and recognize SCSI devices. I assume the digitizer will be no different, but will report otherwise.

 

[LouChaos]

Sorry I'm late in responding, but it turns out they sent us a faulty card. Once we got the replacement card in, it fired right up no problem.