AHA-154xB and ASPI4DOS.SYS

The other day I had a pressing need" to examine the behavior of Adaptec 154x and compatible SCSI HBAs and their DOS drivers. I found the hard way that the AHA-154xB does not work with Adaptec's last DOS drivers from circa 1999. That includes the drivers still available for download (ASPI4DOS.SYS version 3.36), as well as the driver shipped with OEM versions of Windows 98SE (ASPI4DOS.SYS version 3.36S).

The error message is far from enlightening; effectively the driver acts as if there were no HBA at all.

It turns out it's an incredibly interesting story.