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Release notes for the Adaptec ASC-58300, ASC-48300 and ASC-44300 SAS 
HostRAID Controllers dated: AUGUST 2, 2007
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This release notes contains the following:

1. Description of the release
2. Supported hardware
3. Supported Operating Systems
4. Major functional changes
5. Prerequisites of using the Software
6. Tested Configuration
7. Known Issues
8. Windows Registry Parameters
	
	

1. Description of the Release:
---------------------------------

Date of release: August 2, 2007

This is the official software release containing the list of software components
listed in the section 3 of the release note.

2. Supported Hardware:
--------------------------

The software release supports the following hardware listed below:

Adaptec ASC-58300 SAS HostRAID Controller
Adaptec ASC-48300 SAS HostRAID Controller
Adaptec ASC-44300 SAS HostRAID Controller

3. Supported Operating Systems:
------------------------------------

Windows Driver 32-bit and 64-bit (AMD & EM-64T) 	- 1.5-0 Build 11685

            	
- Windows 2003 Server, Standard, Enterprise, Web Edition, and x64 Edition
- Windows XP Professional, and x64 Edition
- Windows Vista Ultimate, Home, Business

Linux Driver  - 32 bit                         		- 1.5-0 Build 11685
Linux Driver  - 64 bit                         		- 1.5-0 Build 11686
		
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0, IA-32 and x64
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0, IA-32 and x64
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.0, IA-32 and x64 
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.0, IA-32 and x64
        
Netware Driver                                 		- 1.5-0 Build 11683
- Netware 6.5 SP5


3.1 Adaptec Storage Manager:
---------------------------------

Adaptec Storage Manager and HRCONF            		- 5.10.0 Build 17173
	
Supported OS:
- Windows IA-32 and x64 
- Linux IA-32 and x64
- Netware 6.5
- SCO OpenServer 6.0
- SCO UnixWare 7.1.4
	
3.2 BIOS and DOS Tools:
----------------------------

1. Expansion ROM BIOS (for all hardware)			- 2.0-0 Build 1918
2. Adaptec Flash Utility (AFU.EXE) 				- 2.0-0 Build 1918

4. Major Functional changes:
--------------------------------
	
1. Greater than 2TB logical drive supported.


5. Prerequisites of Using the Software:
-------------------------------------------

- BIOS and the driver should use above stated software version.

6. Tested Configuration:
---------------------------

The software was tested with the Hardware Supported list on the motherboard with
the IBM PC/AT compatible PCI-X platforms. These are the various components used
during the testing:

- IBM x86 PC/AT compatible platform with Intel Xeon 
- Tested with direct attached SATA-I and SATA-II drives 
- Adaptec Storage Enclosure 335SAS enclosures with SATA drives


7. Known Issues/Limitations:
--------------------------------

7.1 Windows 

- All Windows
	- Drive Letter may disappear after Medium Error on a Simple Volume
	Drive Letter may disappear after Medium Error on a Simple Volume: 
  	On a simple volume with Medium error, the error is reported to the Windows OS. 
  	All the error handling is done by the operating system. The expected behavior 
  	is intermittent and sometimes drive letter disappear.

	- OS Caching cause invalid data in file copy from Medium Error locations in 
	specific conditions:
	When read medium error occur in simple volume or RAID-0 or a good member of a 
	degraded RAID-1/RAID-10, file copy in Windows Explorer will fail the first few  
	times but will pass on the later attempts; however, the file gets copied has 
	invalid data in the section where the medium error was. This happens because 
	if the Windows OS caching invalid data.

	- System wakes up from S1 standby and may hang with BSOD or at Windows   
	Splash Screen with NVIDIA Video Card GeForce 6200
          
	- Using the "Load Driver" option to replace a same-name inbox driver (adp94xx) 
	fails silently on first attempt.

- Windows XP (32-bit)
  	On a Dell Precision 670, Adaptec Storage Manager logfile shows "commands are 
  	not responding" error when the system comes up from S3 sleep state with IO on 
  	Optimal/Rebuilding R10. The controller will be added after several minutes.

- Windows Vista 32-bit   
	When you are updating the driver adp94xx by loading it from a floppy or USB in 
	Windows Vista 32 bit, the system will crash. Restart the system to start the 
	controller. This problem will re-occur if the controller is moved to another slot.
	The permanent fix for this issue will be part of the Longhorn Server/Vista SP1.

7.2 Linux
 
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (32-bit)
	Kernel Panic Screen after OS Upgrade from RHEL 4 to RHEL 4 QU3 on a Dell PE 
	1800/HP ML 370. This is a Linux algorithm issue. 

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 QU3 (32-bit)
	Mismatch in order of the drives during POST and disk partition screen with 
	RHEL 4 QU3 if during the installation the boot device was modified. 


7.3 Netware 6.5

- In Netware 6.5 SP4, when operating RAID functionality using ASM utility  
  (raidman.nlm), switch to server console and reboot, the system will get ABEND 
  during reboot. This is a Java compatibility issue. 

- Netware installation on a RAID 10 device may show the controller name as ASC 
  48300 instead of ASC 58300 if the driver is loaded from floppy.


8. Windows REGISTRY PARAMETERS:
----------------------------------------------

8.1 Driver Specific Registry Parameters

 
WARNING: Altering or adding these driver parameters incorrectly can render your
system inoperable. Use them with caution.

Follow the instructions below to enter registry values that affect the configuration
information for the adp94xx driver. Note that all HostRAID adapters supported by the
installed driver are affected by the values you enter here.

 
The key used for this HostRAID release is "adp94xx". To enter driver-specific parameters,
follow these steps:

1) Select Run from the Start button.

2) Type "regedt32" and press Enter.

3) Open the registry list to the following location: 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\adp94xx

If the \Parameters\Device\ keys already exist, skip to step 6 to begin
entering parameters. If the keys do not yet exist, follow steps 4 and 5 to
create them.

4) Click on the adp94xx key. Select "New -> Key" from the Edit menu, type
"Parameters" in the "New Key #1" edit box, and press Enter. 

5) Click on the Parameters key. Select the "New -> Key" from the Edit menu, type
"Device" in the "New Key #1" edit box, and press Enter. To specify a specific host
adapter, append Device with the number of the host adapter. For example, type "Device0"
for the first host adapter, "Device1" for the second, etc. If you omit the host adapter
number, the configuration information will apply to all supported host adapters.

6) Go to the Parameters\Device key. Select "New -> String Value" from the Edit menu,
type "DriverParameters" in the "New Value #1" box, and press Enter twice. The Edit
String text box appears. Enter valid parameters in the text box. Use a semicolon
to separate multiple parameters. For example:

<Parameter1>=<Value1>;<Parameter2>=<Value2>;
MaximumSGList=17;PK=1;

NOTE: Changes made with the Registry Editor do not take effect until you reboot your
computer.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Option: Performance/Compatibility Settings

Definition: This registry option tunes the setting for performance purpose. This
registry option modifies the maximum number of I/Os and maximum number of scatter
gather elements or number of physical breaks. The setting can be set as high or
normal. When set to high it modifies the maximum I/Os to 255 and maximum scatter
gather list to 33. In this mode, system hibernation may not work. Use the following
parameter and value to modify the driver behavior.

To run driver in high performance:
Use the registry file HIGHPERF.REG.

To run driver in normal mode:
Use the registry file WHQL.REG.

Follow these steps to change the settings:

1) Select Run from the Start button.
2) Browse to the folder containing above mentioned version of the HostRAID driver,
select file "HIGHPERF.REG" or "WHQL.REG" and click OK.

NOTE: The default value for this parameter is normal mode and it supports system
hibernation.

                    
Possible Values: Normal Mode - High Performance Mode
Default Value: Normal Mode

----------------------------------------------------------------

Option: ExposeEnclosure

Definition: This registry option changes the appearance of enclosure management
devices to the operating system. One can directly edit the registry and apply
the required changes to this option as explained in section 8.1.

There is another way to reflect expose enclosure change using the "ENCLOSURE.REG"
file. Follow these steps to change the settings:

1) Select Run from the Start button.
2) Browse to the folder containing above mentioned version of the HostRAID driver,
select file "ENCLOSURE.REG" and click OK.

Note: If you use the second option to expose enclosure, then use the 
"Performance/Compatibility Settings" option to bring driver to Normal Mode
using "WHQL.REG" file.

Possible Values: 0-1 (0=do not expose enclosure, 1=expose enclosure)
Default Value: 0

----------------------------------------------------------------

8.2 Windows Specific Registry Parameters

NOTE: This setting applies to Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.

The only Windows-specific parameter that you can currently change is the
TimeOutValue. This registry option increases the timeout for all disk class devices
(in contrast to the driver-specific registry parameters that affect only your HostRAID
adapter).

The default TimeOutValue is 10 seconds. Follow these steps to increase this value to
60 seconds:

1) Select Run from the Start button.
2) Browse to the folder containing above mentioned version of the HostRAID driver,
select the file "TIMEOUT.REG" and click OK.

Note: Changes made with the Registry Editor do not take effect until you reboot your
computer.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
(c) 2007 Adaptec, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

This software contains the valuable trade secrets of Adaptec or its 
licensors. The software is protected under international copyright 
laws and treaties. This software may only be used in accordance with 
the terms of its accompanying license agreement.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval 
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, 
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior 
written consent of Adaptec, Inc., 
691 South Milpitas Blvd.,Milpitas, CA 95035

