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Guys, I have a 8 gig SCSI Barracuda boot drive with Win2k pro. In the last 3 days when the pc boots and it comes to the SCSI initialize screen, it fails to boot because it says "failed to send start command". Does this mean the drive is going south? It's not a cable or loose connection as I've already checked those, and obviously it's not a Windows problem. The pc has been working just fine with no problems.

Hmmm...did you try putting it on another connector on the same scsi cable or changing the scsi ID? Not sure if it helps, but something to try at least. In the scsi configuration screen, does it detect it as being present?

Originally posted by plucky duck
Hmmm...did you try putting it on another connector on the same scsi cable or changing the scsi ID? Not sure if it helps, but something to try at least. In the scsi configuration screen, does it detect it as being present?

Yeah it does detect it, but after I power on/off the pc 3 to 5 times. I also noticed while trying to get into the configuration screen that it locks up the pc. I'm suppose to use the arrow keys to move between the fields, but it locks up in the configuration screen within 2 seconds on entry. The drive option screen is ok though. Really weird. The SCSI bios is built into the mobo.

I've disconnected all cards and all SCSI devices with the same reults going into the SCSI bios setup.

I would say try the following......

1. throw a meter on your PSU to make sure you still have good 5v/12v. Try it with the drive, and without.
2. Maybe try a new terminator. (I doubt it, but worth a shot)
3. When you disconnect all the SCSI devices, do you leave the cable attached? If so remove the cable, and try to get into the BIOS.
4. Does the drive sound different? When it gives you the error, is the drive spinning up?

I all else fails

5. Backup everything on the drive, and buy a new one.

good luck
Mike

I moved my 3 scsi HDs and scsi card to the new mobo today. The first couple of times, it randomly detected only 2 of the 3 drives. After a couple reboots it detects fine. But my dynamic software raid0 is gone though. Had directory services on the raid as well. Kaput to everything, had to reinstall.

I just started the pc up this evening, and it was detected on boot the first time, but I still can't get into the SCSI BIOS settings "Configure/View Host Adapter Settings". Once I get into this screen, the entire pc will lockup as I can't move between the fields with the arrow keys. The other option was "SCSI Disk Utilities", and this option works just fine. I'm able to move between all the fields, but a soon as I go back and select "Configure/View Host Adapter Settings", the pc will lockup.

I sent Super Micro tech support an email about this, and they said it might be a controller failure on the mobo, which means I would have to send it in for repair.

Well, that is somewhat of a good news, at least you know where the trouble lies. Maybe they'll even send you a more upscale mobo with scsi onboard.

Funny thing happened, reinstalled W2K and it couldn't see the software raid0 on the pair of X15-36LPs. Just installed XP Pro and it could see the software raid :; Fun. At least I can retrieve the files now and move it elsewhere before it goes south on me.

Well, I finally solved this problem. You will never believe what it was: a bad stick of ram!

Yesterday, I was having problems with the drive booting up again and displaying the failed to send start command. So I pulled out the drive and had it laying on the bench. When it started and launched Win2k, it froze with a screen dump about not being able to load a problem in memory. After playing around with all the 3 sticks of ram, I found the defective one and removed it from the system. Now I'm able to go into the SCSI bios setup screen with no problem.

Is that strange or what?

A bad stick of ram preventing entrance into scsi bios?? That is indeed wierd. Ram troubles are sometimes the hardest to troubleshoot as it may not be obvious.

Was the error "Start unit request failed "?

For that one, usually you need to run the SCSISelect Utility and disable the Send Start Unit command for the device.


It probably wasn't the ram, as I've had that happen on many many many many seagates, since we used something like 800 of them. Just some weird fluke we never got around to figuring out, but it was usually a bad scsi card for us. Just my 2 cents

Originally posted by Judg3
Was the error "Start unit request failed "?

For that one, usually you need to run the SCSISelect Utility and disable the Send Start Unit command for the device.

No, it was "failed to send start command" or something along those lines. It was the ram because I tested it with that DocMem utility and it failed. It's been running great since removing that ram stick. I did not change any of the settings in the SCSI bios. They are all on default values. While in there, I did notice one option about enabling the "send start command". It's currently set to "yes". Should it be set to NO?

You can try it, if it doesnt work the scsi card will report "Drive Not Ready"

Usually there's a jumper on the drive that basically tells it to spinup on power up.
If you have that on, then you dont need it to send a start unit request.
Just like it sounds, your scsi drives dont spinup right away like IDE drives (Mainly for Hot-swap applications is why, one drive will remain down until needed) and sometimes can be delayed a couple of minutes.
That's why the card sends a start unit request, because it's basically saying "I'm going to try to access you and get some info, please power up"

I'm not to sure about the Bara's, since I use Cheetah's, but odds are it spins up right away and doesnt need a start unit request, so give it a shot.