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Hardware: Adaptec 29160, Seagate Cheetah X15, Compaq (OEM) Cheetah X15 and Granite Digital LVD 160 SCSI cable w/Ultra 3 active terminator.

I had a 160 connection until "upgrading" the SCSI adapter BIOS and damaging a cable. A replacement cable failed to achieve the 160 connection and I noticed some slightly bent pins - due to the ham-handed installer - me - forcing the connections. Due to some other hardware problems, I did not address the SCSI problem at that time. Now I have resolved the other problems and moved to the SCSI issue. I have yet another (brand new) Granite Digital LVD 160 cable and I still am unable to achieve 160. The Seagate is listed (during boot) as an 8-bit 40Mb connection and the Compaq as a 16-bit 80Mb connection. Removing the Seagate from the line drops the Compaq to an 8-bit 40Mb connection (which really puzzles me), and of course the Seagate by itself still has the 8-bit 40Mb connection. All 29160 BIOS settings are correct - as they were when it had previously worked properly. I am at wit's end and am about to start buying new drives. But before doing that, I am asking for assistance from this and a few other forums.

Any ideas?

TIA!

Adaptec controllers sometimes get crossways while apparently all the settings are fine. Go into the 29160 bios and choose reset to defaults. Then change the defaults back to the settings you want. This works for the 2940UW and the 3950U2B so I figure it may work for you.

Mr Bill wrote:

Adaptec controllers sometimes get crossways while apparently all the settings are fine. Go into the 29160 bios and choose reset to defaults. Then change the defaults back to the settings you want. This works for the 2940UW and the 3950U2B so I figure it may work for you.

Thanks, maybe I should try re-flashing the BIOS too.

Mr Bill wrote:

Adaptec controllers sometimes get crossways while apparently all the settings are fine. Go into the 29160 bios and choose reset to defaults. Then change the defaults back to the settings you want. This works for the 2940UW and the 3950U2B so I figure it may work for you.

Thanks again for the suggestion, but it did not change my connection speed. I may try reflashing the BIOS, but somehow I think I have some hardware issues.

Did you get your problem resolved? If not...
(1) Have you changed any jumpers on the SCSI drives?
(2) Have you added a slower device to the SCSI bus?
(3) Did you flash the right BIOS for the controller?
(4) Maybe the New BIOS needs an updated driver?

Mr Bill wrote:

Did you get your problem resolved? If not...
(1) Have you changed any jumpers on the SCSI drives?
(2) Have you added a slower device to the SCSI bus?
(3) Did you flash the right BIOS for the controller?
(4) Maybe the New BIOS needs an updated driver?

Funny you should ask. I finally bought a new card and new drives, keeping only the cable (which was new to begin with). I swapped one component after another until I achieved a 160 connection. Then I swapped BACK the old gear one component at a time. When I was done, I had all my original gear back in AND had a 160 connection. This leads me to believe there was a physical connection problem with the cable, but I had moved, wiggled and re-inserted that @#$% cable many times before buying new gear. Grrr. Anyway, thanks for asking!