Regional Settings
The Control Panel’s Regional Settings applet (shown in Figure 5.47) lets you configure locale-related information about your Windows NT system. It is an expanded version of the International applet found in the Control Panel of Windows 3.x and Windows for Workgroups, and it controls how country-specific information is displayed within Windows NT and Windows applications, such as time, date, currency, and other settings.
The five tabbed sections in the Regional Settings applet are described in Table 5.6.
Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) Adapters
Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) is a broadly supported specification for hardware peripherals that can be extremely useful, especially in the Windows NT environment. This applet lets you add, remove, configure, and view SCSI host adapters in Windows NT 4.0. The SCSI Adapters applet is shown in Figure 5.48.
Most SCSI host adapters let either 7 or 15 intelligent peripherals, either internal or external, be attached in a daisy-chain fashion to the SCSI host adapter. The SCSI is used by a wide variety of peripheral devices, including hard disks, CD-ROM and optical drives, floppy drives, scanners, tape drives, and other devices. Several SCSI specifications have evolved over the years, including Narrow SCSI (SCSI-1), Fast SCSI (SCSI-2), Wide SCSI, Fast/Wide SCSI (SCSI-3), and Ultra/Ultra Wide SCSI. Each of these specifications carries its own set of rules, data transfer rates, and device capabilities. However, all are capable of being used under Windows NT, as long as a native Windows NT 4.0 device driver for the host adapter exists.
The SCSI specification also lets devices operate simultaneously and independently of one another and the host system’s CPU, which translates to better overall system performance. Because of its multitasking and low CPU usage features, SCSI is the preferred mass storage system for Windows NT computers. Windows NT, designed with SCSI in mind, fully exploits SCSI’s advantages.
You may recall that as part of the installation process, Windows NT attempted to determine what types of mass storage adapters were installed in your computer (or you may have specified them manually). At this time, you or Windows NT may have added support for one or more SCSI host adapters as part of the mass storage configuration step of Windows NT Setup. To manage the configuration of your SCSI (i.e., mass storage device) adapters after the Windows NT installation, you would use the SCSI Adapters applet.
Special Note to Windows NT 3.x Users: The SCSI Adapters configuration option has been relocated from the Windows NT Setup program found in previous versions of Windows NT.
The SCSI Adapters applet has two tabbed sections, Devices and Drivers. The Devices section displays a list of all currently installed SCSI Adapters and their attached peripherals. When a “+” appears next to an adapter name in the window, you can double-click the adapter name to expand the tree and view the devices attached to that adapter.
You can also use the Properties button in this tabbed section to view the properties of the currently selected SCSI adapter. This opens an adapter properties window, which in turn contains several tabbed sections displaying information about the adapter name, manufacturer, Windows NT 4.0 driver used for the adapter, and resource settings used by the adapter such as the Interrupt Request Line (IRQ), Input/Output base address, and Upper Memory addresses.
The Drivers tab lets you add and remove SCSI adapter drivers in Windows NT 4.0. To add a SCSI adapter to your Windows NT configuration, follow these steps:
Install and configure the new SCSI host adapter in your system using the manufacturer’s installation instructions provided with the adapter.
Boot Windows NT.
Run the SCSI Adapters applet in the Control Panel.
Click the Drivers tab and choose the Add button.
Now select from the list of SCSI adapter manufacturers and models provided (shown in Figure 5.49). If your adapter is not listed but you have a disk containing a Windows NT 4.0 driver for the adapter, choose the Have Disk option and install the driver from the manufacturer-supplied disk.
Once Windows NT has finished installing the driver, you will need to shut down and restart your system for the adapter support to take effect.
Tip: As strange as it may seem, you need to use the SCSI Adapters applet if you are trying to enable support for dual-channel IDE PCI-based adapters, such as those found on many Pentium PCI-based computers. The option appears under the SCSI Adapter window at right when you choose the Standard SCSI Adapters option in the Manufacturer’s window. This option installs a driver that enables special support for such dual-channel IDE adapters and their connected devices.
Every SCSI adapter you install has a corresponding Windows NT 4.0 device driver that is automatically installed and configured when the device is added to the system. This driver is added to the list of drivers appearing in the Control Panel’s Devices applet and configured with a startup type of Boot (the highest priority). This configuration ensures that the driver will be among the first loaded so that Windows NT can boot properly.
For More Information: For more information about the Devices applet and device startup types, see the description of the Devices applet.
Problems and Answers:After upgrading my Windows NT system’s hard drive to a SCSI-based drive and host adapter, I now receive an error at startup telling me that a device failed to load. When I check the Event Viewer system log, it says the Atdisk driver isn’t loading. What can I do about this?
If you are receiving this error message, you no longer have a hard disk in your system requiring the Atdisk device driver. If this is the case, then you can use the Control Panel’s Devices applet to set the startup type of the Atdisk device to Disabled instead of Boot (for more information, see the description of the Devices applet). This should stop both the error message and entries in the Event Viewer log.
If, due to specific circumstances, you must remove a SCSI adapter from your Windows NT 4.0 installation, select the adapter in the list and choose the Remove button. Windows NT 4.0 will then ask you to confirm the removal of the device.
Caution: WARNING! Removing a SCSI adapter driver from your Windows NT 4.0 configuration should only be done in specific circumstances. Be very sure about what you are doing. If the removal is done prematurely or improperly, your system may not boot. If you are removing a SCSI driver in relation to changing SCSI cards, be sure to read the section below, “Changing Your SCSI Host Adapter,” before proceeding.
Changing Your SCSI Host Adapter
If you wish to to replace or upgrade a SCSI host adapter in your Windows NT 4.0 system, be aware that this is one of the most potentially hazardous operations you can perform. If the operation doesn’t go as planned, it can easily render the system unstartable — especially if the Windows NT computer’s boot drive is controlled by the adapter being changed. Have a good game plan in place before you perform the installation or make any changes to the SCSI Adapters applet.
If you need to change SCSI adapters on your Windows NT computer, make sure you have both a current backup and an updated Windows NT Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).
For More Information: For more information about creating and updating the Windows NT ERD, see “Repairing Windows NT with the Emergency Repair Disk,” Chapter 7.
You should add the new SCSI adapter using the SCSI Adapters applet. However, leave the old adapter setup in the applet’s configuration screen until you are confident the new adapter and its driver are functioning properly. Leaving the old adapter in place means you’ll get an error message at startup (because the device driver for the old SCSI adapter failed to load), but this is a minor side effect and should not affect the system’s functionality. The advantage is that, if for any reason the new SCSI adapter does not work properly, you can always reinstall the old adapter in the computer and still be able to boot your Windows NT system.
Once the new adapter is verified as working properly and all other SCSI devices are also working properly, you can safely “pull the plug” on the old adapter by removing it from the SCSI applet’s configuration screen. Windows NT 4.0 will stop attempting to load the device driver for the old adapter, which should eliminate the startup error message. If you had removed the original SCSI adapter from the SCSI Adapters applet (and therefore your Windows NT 4.0 configuration), you would not be able to boot your system and would be forced to try using the ERD or the Restore Last Known Good Registry option to get the system to boot again.
For More Information: For more information about advanced troubleshooting methods such as Restoring the Last Known Good Registry, see “Managing the Windows NT Registry,” Chapter 7.
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