Adaptec 2920C boot problem

[Roger H. Levy]

I'm relatively new to Linux and completely new to building Linux
kernels.  However, there is an application that I want to run which I
obtained from NIST (US Gov't) that requires kernel hacking via patches
they supply.  I don't think my problem has anything to do specifically
with these hacks.

The machine that was available to me is a 200MHz Micron with an Adaptec
2920C SCSI adapter, Seagate ST32171N (2G) drive and Toshiba XM-5701TA
SCSI CRROM.  Note that contrary to the AIC7xxx README, the 7920C does
use a 7xxx chip - the AIC7856 (Perhaps earlier 7920s did not use 7xxx
chips??).  The NIST distribution specified a 2.0.27 - 2.0.33 kernel
which corresponds to Redhat 5.0 (2.0.32 kernel).  My configuration
(SCSI, low level) specified Y for 7xxx support and N for all other SCSI
adapters.

After figuring out the errors in the NIST instructions, I was able to
build the kernel and application.  Following the kernel HOWTO, I did a
"make zdisk" and the system booted well from floppy and after installing
a NIST module, the application started.  However, the same kernel panics
after it is installed on the hard disk and booted.

The messages preceding the panic are:
aic7xxx: <Adaptec AIC-7850 SCSI host adapter> at PCI 17
aic7xxx: Warning: detected auto-termination.  Please verify driver
         detected settings and use manual termination if necessary.
aic7xxx: BIOS enabled, IO Port 0xf800, IO Mem 0xfdeff000, IRQ 9
aic7xxx: Single Channel, SCSI ID 7, 3/3 SCBs, QFull 8, QMask 0xf
scsi1 : Adaptec AHA274x/284x/294x (EISA/VLB/PCI-Fast SCSI) 4.1/3.2
scsi : 2 hosts
scsi1 : Scanning channel A for devices.
Kernel panic: aic7xxx: AWAITING_MSG for an SCB that does not have a
waiting message.
In swapper task - not syncing.

Note that I believe I see a very similar or identical set of messages
without the panic sweeping across the screen about 35 lines earlier in
the boot.

So, why does this happen when booting from the HD but not from the FD? 
How can I correct this?

Roger Levy

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