From: "Ben Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2003 11:25:05 -0000
I have heard from different people that the PC version of the adaptec 2940 can be flashed to Mac, however I have heard that it could not be from other people. Is there any truth to the card being able to be flashed?
See: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/tips/adaptecConvert.html for details of how to do this. Ben.
If you use the Firmware Version 4.1 and corresponding flash utility then it is not necessary to do the hardware modification to the card. At the time that the above article was written, version 3.1 was the latest release.
The first several folks to tell me that the 4.1 firmware flashed without replacing the smaller EEPROM also later developed data corruption problems. Hence, the suggestion/rumor that one will experience data corruption if one flashes the card without installing the higher capacity chip. However, many more people have now used the 4.1 firmware without any hardware modification and have reported proper operation. So the early reports were probably just user error of the normal SCSI variety.
One other note. If doing the hardware modification, the easiest way is to cut the pins on the PLCC chip, remove it, desolder the pins one at a time, and install the DIP chip at U5. This method was suggested in teh article, but at the time I hadn't tried it. I ahve since used it a few times (and numerous reports from others) and it works great.
The hardware modification also works on the 2940U2B, but there is no position on that board for a DIP Flash chip, so one must carefully remove the existing PLCC chip and solder in a larger capacity PLCC chip of the appropriate type. The 2940U2B firmware is from Apple, not Adaptec. I'm not sure if it is still available on Apple's site so you may have to hunt for it.
I have had reports from two people that the same modification works on the 29160 and 39160 (was that it, not sure about the model number now) but I've never tried it myself.
Jeff Walther
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