Cannot Use Multiple Instances of Some Adaptec Controllers

 Last reviewed: April 10, 1996
Article ID: Q125754
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 3.5
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.5

You cannot use two or more SCSI adapters that use the SPARROW.SYS device driver under Windows NT version 3.5.

The Adaptec AHA-1510, AHA-1520, and AHA-1522 adapters use the SPARROW.SYS device driver under Windows NT. Since the Windows NT 3.5 SPARROW.SYS device driver requires that the SCSI adapter be configured for interrupt (IRQ) 11, there will be IRQ conflicts, if you use more than one adapter.

NOTE: See section 15.6 of the Windows NT 3.5 README.TXT file for more information.

This was not true under Windows NT version 3.1. Therefore, when you upgrade from version 3.1 to version 3.5, you may experience hardware problems that did not exist under your previous installation of Windows NT.

To work around these issues, make sure all your Adaptec adapters (AHA-1510, AHA-1520, and AHA-1522) are configured for IRQ 11 and remove multiple instances of these adapters from your Windows NT configuration.

KBCategory: kbhw
KBSubcategory: ntdriver nthw ntsetup
Additional reference words: prodnt 3.50

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Last reviewed: April 10, 1996
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