Updated: 24-SEP-2003 (Use your browsers' Reload button to ensure you're viewing the most recent version)
ALPSCSI04_061 Alpha V6.1 PKxDRIVER/SCSI ECO Summary
Copyright (c) Digital Equipment Corporation 1996. All rights reserved.
PRODUCT: OpenVMS Alpha
COMPONENTS: DKDRIVER
MKDRIVER
PKCDRIVER
PKEDRIVER
PKJDRIVER
PKTDRIVER
SCSI
SOURCE: Digital Equipment Corporation
ECO INFORMATION:
ECO Kit Name: ALPSCSI04_061
ECO Kits Superseded by This ECO Kit: AXPSCSI01_061 (AXPSCSI)
AXPSCSI02_061
ALPSCSI03_061
AXPDRIV04_061 (AXPDRIV)
ALPDRIV10_061 - PKEDRIVER.EXE
PKTDRIVER.EXE
ECO Kit Approximate Size: 864 Blocks
Kit Applies To: OpenVMS Alpha V6.1, V6.1-1H1, V6.1-1H2
System/Cluster Reboot Necessary: Yes
ECO KIT SUMMARY:
An ECO kit exists for the PKxDRIVERs and SCSI Drivers on OpenVMS Alpha
V6.1. This kit addresses the following problems:
Problems Addressed in ALPSCSI04_061:
o Some SCSI devices that provide parameters cannot be used. They
cause controller errors when in fact nothing is wrong.
o The buffers within DKDRIVER that contain SENSE data have been
made large enough to support the amount of information
returned under the SCSI2/SCSI3 specification. Several
non-Digital disk vendors support the extended SENSE data
feature. When their disks are currently used with OpenVMS,
customers are not able to boot from them or use them. This is
because the data buffers in the class driver could not handle
the extra data.
This problem is corrected in OpenVMS Alpha V6.2
o During backup the TLZ6L (TLZ06 with autoloader) and TLZ7L can
take so long to rewind current tape, and load the next tape
that a SCSI command timeout error occurs, and the backup
aborts.
o PK$RESET_SCSI_BUS routine tries to increment the
SCDT$L_RST_CNT field of the SCDT (SCSI Connection Descriptor)
after issuing the reset. However, sometimes the routine can
be invoked when no connection to a device (and hence no SCDT)
exists.
This problem is corrected it OpenVMS Alpha V6.2
o If the SCDT address is zero and data is being written to the
error log file the system can crash.
This problem is corrected it OpenVMS Alpha V6.2
o DEC 4000-600 machines with REV H IO boards were not able to
run in FAST mode.
This problem is corrected it OpenVMS Alpha V6.2
o There is a timing window problem that causes RZ28Bs, RZ25Ls
and RZ26Ms to go into Mount Verification when the devices were
used in FAST mode.
This problem is corrected it OpenVMS Alpha V6.2
o SYS$PKEDRIVER.EXE in versions V6.1 and V6.1-1H1 of OpenVMS
Alpha does not correctly handle device that do not support
extended messages. For example, the system would hang if an
attempt was made to INITIALIZE or MOUNT a TZK09 tape. If a
SCSI bus analyzer were placed on the bus, you would see that
the tape drive would reject the extended message and the port
driver would reject the reject. This was an endless loop.
This problem may not be frequently encountered because it
tends to be older devices that do not support the extended
message bytes.
This problem is corrected it OpenVMS Alpha V6.2
o A third party device provided an incorrect transfer period.
PKEDRIVER and PKTDRIVER are able to work around this problem
and use a reasonable value. However, an informational error
message was passed to the class driver which simply converted
all messages to fatal controller errors - thus preventing the
use of the device. This problem only occurred when the SCSI
bus was functioning in SCSI SLOW mode. The symptom was that
the device could not be INITIALIZED or MOUNTED which always
resulted in a fatal controller error.
This problem is corrected it OpenVMS Alpha V6.2
o A device initiated SCSI bus reset can crash the system in
SYS$PKJDRIVER when the bus reset detected is reported by the
Adaptec controller as an AEN (asynchronous event
notification).
This problem is corrected it OpenVMS Alpha V6.2
Problems Addressed in ALPSCSI03_061:
o When a user application requests data from a SCSI device by
issuing a QIO, the driver forms the proper SCSI command and
sends it to the device via the PKCDRIVER. If the SCSI device
has no information to return, fatal controller errors occur
and multiple errors are written to the error log.
Problems Addressed in AXPSCSI02_061:
o Based on the SCSI2/SCSI3 specification, several non-Digital
disk vendors support the extended SENSE data. When their
disks are used with OpenVMS, customers cannot boot from or use
those disks because the data buffers in the class driver can
not handle the extra data. This fix makes the buffers within
DKDRIVER, used to contain SENSE data, large enough to support
the amount of information returned under the SCSI2/SCSI3
specification.
o The SCRIPT code for PKEDRIVER and PKTDRIVER had a small timing
problem. The ACK signal was cleared too early in the SCRIPT
reselection code path. This allowed the disks to send data
prior to the correct number of ACKs being sent. Eventually
the devices would go into Mount Verification. This happens
when the job being reselected is running a different transfer
speed than the job that was last active.
It also fails with SCSI set to slow and trying to do an
install from RRD43 (which runs async) to an RZ28B that is
running at 5mb synchronous.
The new PKDRIVER will allow RZ28B drives on the 810 SCSI
controller, however one will not be able to install the OS
from the 6.1 CD onto an RZ28B because the CD has the old
driver.
Problems Addressed in AXPDRIV01_061:
o DEC 4000-600 systems are not able to run in FAST mode. Prior
to this fix, the system was unable to boot because the system
disk would hang in mount verification. Additionally, a MOUNT
or INITIALIZE of a Fast SCSI-2 disk resulted in the following
message:
MOUNT-F-CTRLERR, fatal controller error
o When an error log entry is made for which the SCDT is zero,
DEC 4000-600 and DEC 2100 Server systems will crash.
Problems Addressed in AXPSCSI01_061:
o When performing multi-volume backups using data
compaction, after the first volume completed, the
compaction switch was turned off on subsequent volumes of the
save set. This fix checks to see if compaction is enabled
rather than checking for a specific device type. The drive
characteristics are then saved and the compaction stays
intact for subsequent media.
This problem is corrected it OpenVMS Alpha V6.2
Problems Addressed in AXPDRIV07_061:
o SYS$PKEDRIVER.EXE in versions V6.1 and V6.1-1H1 does not
correctly handle devices that do not support extended
messages. For example, the system will hang if an
attempt was made to INITIALIZE or MOUNT a TZK09 tape.
Problems Addressed in AXPDRIV02_061:
o The LK411 rev B01 keyboard is not recognized by the device
driver, and certain keys (function keys, editing keys) fail to
function, or function incorrectly.
RELATED ARTICLES:
Detailed articles describing the problems listed above may exist in
the OPENVMS and STORAGE databases. To view these articles, open
the appropriate product database and perform a query using either of
the following search strings: 'ALPSCSI04_061' or 'ALPSCSI'.
ECO KIT ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS:
If after an evaluation you wish to obtain this kit, request it
electronically using the appropriate Advanced Electronic Services
(AES) Service Tool. If you are not familiar with how to request
kits electronically, open the DIA, WIS or DSNLINK database and
review the article entitled:
[AES] How To Electronically Request ECO Kits Using Service Tools
INSTALLATION NOTES:
In order for the corrections in this kit to take effect, the system
must be rebooted. If the system is a member of a VMScluster, the
entire cluster must be rebooted.
==========================================================================
| Table of Kit Image Information |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| | Overall | Image File | Image Link |
| Image Name | Checksum | Identification | Date/Time |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| SYS$DKDRIVER.EXE | 7A418D10 | X-3 | 24-MAR-1996 |
| | | 13:41:20.54 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| SYS$MKDRIVER.EXE | C65F44E0 | X-3 | 24-MAR-1996 |
| | | 13:46:51.05 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| SYS$PKCDRIVER.EXE | F96B86F8 | X-3 | 24-MAR-1996 |
| | | 13:44:33.42 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| SYS$PKEDRIVER.EXE | 95BB792A | X-3 | 24-MAR-1996 |
| | | 13:48:32.71 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| SYS$PKJDRIVER.EXE | 715B3893 | X-3 | 24-MAR-1996 |
| | | 13:46:45.53 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
| SYS$PKTDRIVER.EXE | 5E0C5132 | X-3 | 24-MAR-1996 |
| | | 13:47:53.65 |
+----------------------------+----------+-----------------+--------------+
|
