So, my 3Ware Escalade 7450-4LP arrived today.
I install it on my L7S7A2 board and boot it up.
Hangs at POST.
I try a few more PCI slots.
Hangs at POST.
I try the card on my K7S5A board.
Same.
This is nuts.
I hit 3Ware’s site, which has a motherboard compatibility list that’s two years old and of little use. They recommend updating to the latest BIOS for your mainboard. That sounded good, so I grab my trusty boot floppy and stuff it into my file server. Nothing. It won’t floppy boot!? After fifteen minutes of troubleshooting that nonsense, I burned a boot CD. My Windows 95B boot disk is now immortal!
Now it’s time to flash the board…