*NEW* SiI3x12: Serial ATA (SATA) RAID/IDE BIOS v.4250 Released

[EQuito]

No documentation available.

[csimon]

thanks equito.
is this for the controller on the nf7-s v2.0?
I'm not at home right now to check.

[EQuito]

You're welcome! yeah, for the NF7-S v2.0

[Spinner]

Thanks EQ', flashed and working fine.

[Simon6795]

Hey Fellas, I've got a GigaByte GA-7N400 Pro2 (Rev2) M/B with a 3200+ XP Athlon. My Sil 3512 on Board RAID controller is showing 4.2.33 BIOS is there any way of updating this? It seems GigaByte don't update the RAID BIOS in there M/B BIOS. Lastest BIOS for my M/B is FI. Cheers, Si.

[EQuito]

Hey Fellas, I've got a GigaByte GA-7N400 Pro2 (Rev2) M/B with a 3200+ XP Athlon. My Sil 3512 on Board RAID controller is showing 4.2.33 BIOS is there any way of updating this? It seems GigaByte don't update the RAID BIOS in there M/B BIOS. Lastest BIOS for my M/B is FI. Cheers, Si.here you go: modified bios v.FI with latest SATA bios v.4347 for the Si3512 RAID controller.

I have no way to test this bios so use at your own risk! or visit this link (http://www.freewebs.com/tmod/cbromtutorial.htm) for instruction on how to do it yourself.

Good luck!

[Spinner]

here you go: modified bios v.FI with latest SATA bios v.4347 for the Si3512 RAID controller.

I have no way to test this bios so use at your own risk! or visit this link (http://www.freewebs.com/tmod/cbromtutorial.htm) for instruction on how to do it yourself.

Good luck!He shoots... he scores! :Rocker:

A response within 30 minutes with a modified BIOS to boot (if you excuse the pun). That beats even my record. Smooth EQ'. :respect:

[EQuito]

Thanks, I appreciate your kind words and right back at you!

:cheers:

[Simon6795]

Ok Cheers, EQuito. i'll give it a bash. Dunno why GigaByte don't keep up to date like other manufacturers but think its a common complaint about them!!

[Simon6795]

cheers guys, i've updated successfully!! Thanks for the help/advice and modded BIOS, i'll have a read of the guide so hopefully i can do it myself next time!

[EQuito]

Ok Cheers, EQuito. i'll give it a bash. Dunno why GigaByte don't keep up to date like other manufacturers but think its a common complaint about them!!You're welcome! glad to be of help.
Abit is like that too, it takes them 1 or 2 months to update their bios.

[TheSmJ]

So, what's this do? Faster timings? Bug fixes?

[Simon6795]

Improved compatability, bug fixes, slighty improved performance. Depends of course on your particular hardware. Updating to the lastest BIOS makes sure your getting the best out of your controller and hard disks

[Simon6795]

Oh yeah remember to keep up to date with the drivers as well, lastest one is 10051 see EQ's other thread in this forum

[TheSmJ]

Does anyone have the NF7-S BIN file already modified with it? If so, could they please post it?

[kot]

here you go: modified bios v.FI with latest SATA bios v.4347 for the Si3512 RAID controller.

I have no way to test this bios so use at your own risk! or visit this link (http://www.freewebs.com/tmod/cbromtutorial.htm) for instruction on how to do it yourself.

Good luck!

Can I beg you for a similar binary for the GA-SINXP1394 motherboard? Also known as GA-8SQ800 Ultra2 (http://www.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-SINXP1394(GA-8SQ800 Ultra2).htm)? As you can see from the link, Gigabyte last updated this BIOS 18 months ago, and the on-board SiL-3112A does not see either of my two new SATA drives :-(

I don't even have a DOS nor Windows machine to perform the steps documented at the cbromtutorial link :-( My existing boxes run FreeBSD and this new machine has no OS at all...

Thanks!

[Spinner]

Can I beg you for a similar binary for the GA-SINXP1394 motherboard? Also known as GA-8SQ800 Ultra2 (http://www.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-SINXP1394(GA-8SQ800 Ultra2).htm)? As you can see from the link, Gigabyte last updated this BIOS 18 months ago, and the on-board SiL-3112A does not see either of my two new SATA drives :-(

I don't even have a DOS nor Windows machine to perform the steps documented at the cbromtutorial link :-( My existing boxes run FreeBSD and this new machine has no OS at all...

Thanks!
There you go.

[kot]

Wow! That was quick and, actually, helped! Unbelieveable... We all owe you, guys, much gratitude, and Gigabyte owes you much money. Thanks!

[Mike McAlea]

Bios Beg, please can someone create a version of the bios for my motherboard. :o

I have a Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro with sil3112A and my brand new Serial ATA Drive is not working it is not been detected on boot :confused: already removed all my IDE Drives and my other Serial ATA drive is working, tried swapping cables etc, am getting desperate is it possible for a bios fix for the Serial ATA raid bios??
Am presuming other people must have this problem, i have a work around it involves plugging the SATA cable into the drive after the system has 'beeped' but this is totally impossible to maintain. Otherwise it is not detected from boot :(

[Spinner]

Bios Beg, please can someone create a version of the bios for my motherboard. :o

I have a Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro with sil3112A and my brand new Serial ATA Drive is not working it is not been detected on boot :confused: already removed all my IDE Drives and my other Serial ATA drive is working, tried swapping cables etc, am getting desperate is it possible for a bios fix for the Serial ATA raid bios??
Am presuming other people must have this problem, i have a work around it involves plugging the SATA cable into the drive after the system has 'beeped' but this is totally impossible to maintain. Otherwise it is not detected from boot :(Presuming your mobo is exactly the model you specified and not 'Pro 2' or 'Pro 2 revision 2', then the below is the latest bios revision for your board modded with the latest SI3112A controller BIOS. Try it then post back.

Cheers

[Mike McAlea]

woohoo! Cant try it now, at work :(. i dont have the pro II version or anything, got my board a while ago, will try it :) Thanks Spinner

[machine-elf]

I have a GA-K8N Pro with SI-3512 SATA RAID BIOS 4.3.47 and F12 motherboard bios. Can someone tell me if 4.3.47 is the latest bios for my raid controller and if not what is the latest and how do i update it, i have updated my m/b bios from F11 to F12 but i am not sure if the SI-3512 BIOS is updated with the F12 bios or if you need to update it seperately. I am having some stability problems since updating to XP SP2. Thanks

[Simon6795]

yeah 4.3.47 is the lastest BIOS for your controller, i'm running a GA-7N400 Pro2 and that has the same controller, from my experience GigaByte don't seem to update the SATA BIOS in there M/B BIOS updates. To check for lastest version go to www.siimage.com/home.asp . Enter 3512 in the product search box on the left and it should take u to the lastest BIOS/driver updates for your controller. You can use the lastest drivers on your controller with no problems but to update your M/B with future 3512 BIOS's you'll need to modify GigaBytes M/B BIOS

[machine-elf]

thanks for the quick reply Simon, you answered my questions. I wouldnt know how to modify the gigabyte m/b bios to include future 3512 bios updates, so i think i will just have to rely on gigabyte to hopefully include them in their bios updates.

[Simon6795]

This web site www.freewebs.com/tmod/cbromtutorial.htm contains a tutorial on how to modify your main M/B BIOS to include the new SATA BIOS. As anything to do with updating/modifying BIOS its done at your own risk, so if your not confident then it may be best to ask Spinner or EQ if they could do a modded BIOS for u.

[Spinner]

...it may be best to ask Spinner or EQ if they could do a modded BIOS for u.
Yes, and we'd be more than happy to do it. So don't hesitate to ask in the future.

Cheers :thumbsup:

[daveh]

Hi Spinner

Would it be any trouble to mod a bios for the GA7n400 Pro2 board?
Pity your mods aren't on the Gigabyte website! But maybe that would lose someone a job.

Thanks in advance.

[Spinner]

Hi Spinner

Would it be any trouble to mod a bios for the GA7n400 Pro2 board?
Pity your mods aren't on the Gigabyte website! But maybe that would lose someone a job.

Thanks in advance. There you go. One is for revision 1 of your board, the other is for revision 2. Make sure you use the appropriate one.

Regards

Spinner

[daveh]

There you go. One is for revision 1 of your board, the other is for revision 2. Make sure you use the appropriate one.

Regards

Spinner

Thanks, I will give this a try.
Regards
David

[cabeachbum]

Spinner can you forward me that new bios you made for the 7n400 Pro2 version 2 that includes the latest SI 3512 drivers. Thanks very much.

[cabeachbum]

Spinner. Opps. Nevermind. When I first looked at the thread I wasn't a member so I couldn't see the attachement. Thanks.

[Spinner]

Spinner. Opps. Nevermind. When I first looked at the thread I wasn't a member so I couldn't see the attachement. Thanks.No problem mate. If you need any other BIOS's modded, then PM me or preferably just post in this forum.

Cheers :thumbsup:

[ChompOnThis]

No problem mate. If you need any other BIOS's modded, then PM me or preferably just post in this forum.

Cheers :thumbsup:

Wow, I have been searching for this the whole month, week, evening and night ;D
I've had some serious trouble (just like every one else in this topic) with my Silicon Image SiI SATAlink 3112 Controller with a Maxtor Diamond Max 9 200 GB for over a month now :shakehead .
I kept on having errors like "g:\$mft" (or something) and "Delayed Write Failure" (blah blah)

I tryed lots of things..... a WHOLE lot of things. I reinstalled XP pro with and without Service Pack 2/1 to begin with, didn't work.
Then i read somewhere it could maybe have a IRQ conflict with something else, so I uninstalled my 5.1 soundcard (Terratec Aureon 5.1 fun) and disconnected it from my Motherboard (GA-7VRXP rev 2.0) I restart windows and start testing by watching large movie files (from the 200 gb) and copying at the same time from the 200 GB to the 80 gb i already had, and it worked.... but without sound. :scratch:
I tryed to put my 5.1 card into different slots of the Motherboard, and also my SATAlink controller, I tried every possibility..... didn't work. later i tryed to manual change my IRQ but.... that didn't work.
Later i read that it might has something to do with my ATI (radeon 9700) Catalyst drivers, everything before catalyst 4.10 and 4.11 was good. So i downloaden Catalyst 4.9 and installed it..... didn't work . Then i thought: If it has something to do with the ATI card i'll just disconnect my card. still the same errors......
Then on the ATI website i found this article:

Data corruption may occur if the Large System Cache feature is enabled in Windows XP.

For complete details see; http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4217.html

So i checked out the details and how to fix it but that was still not the problem.......
So at this point i suspected it had nothing to do with my ATI card or my Soundcard.
While I was reading all this information on forums like:
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/22061/?o=20
http://www.abxzone.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-68049.html
I noticed people where thinking it had something to do with the BIOS, because of messages like these:
i needed to have the RAID controller set to enabled in my bios, and my SATA controller set to "raid", and not set to "Base" in my bios for the SIL 3112 drivers to work and not hang XP at the logo screen...
But as i was testing with that, it also..... didn't work.
So i when to www.gigabyte.com.tw and downloaded the latest bios for my Motherboard which is named: Bios_7vrxp_f12.exe
I had installed F11 so i was getting really excited, maybe I had solved it! I did NOT solve it! :bawling:
Then later this night i found on the site www.siimage.com the new SiI3x12: Serial ATA (SATA) RAID/IDE BIOS v.4250 Bios update :D I knew for sure I solved it, but i couldnt update my bios with the new 4250 files :mad:
I followed the tutorial on: http://www.freewebs.com/tmod/cbromtutorial.htm
But when i was in "dos" and typed: Cbrom 4250.bin /d to see what was in the 4250.bin files i only saw one big list with squares that continued for 1 minute and then stopped without a result......didn't work.
Then after some google searching I found this site :) I couldn''t believe what I read, that Gigabyte still hadn't solve this problem for their Motherboards while it's been there for so long..... But I also read about SPINNER and the big help Spinner was in this topic for all these people with Gigabyte Motherboards in combination with SiI 3x12 Serial ATA. :thumbsup:

So you can feel my question coming Spinner :D If it is no problem for you, could you mod a bios for the GA-7VRXP Motherboard ?
I will be so happy if it finally works ;D

And i've been on a lot of other forums this month/week/evening/night, could i (if it's okay with Spinner and other people from this forum) inform those people from other forums with the information/help I found here. I would like to help them out to in anyway, because i know now how frustrating it is to not be able to get something to work while you keep trying and trying and trying.

Well that's it for this long story...... but after all this trouble it's kind of a relief to write it all down :)


Many thanks and respect in advance,

Greetings,

Robin Mastertman

[Spinner]

Wow, I have been searching for this the whole month, week, evening and night ;D
I've had some serious trouble (just like every one else in this topic) with my Silicon Image SiI SATAlink 3112 Controller with a Maxtor Diamond Max 9 200 GB for over a month now :shakehead .
I kept on having errors like "g:\$mft" (or something) and "Delayed Write Failure" (blah blah)

I tryed lots of things..... a WHOLE lot of things. I reinstalled XP pro with and without Service Pack 2/1 to begin with, didn't work.
Then i read somewhere it could maybe have a IRQ conflict with something else, so I uninstalled my 5.1 soundcard (Terratec Aureon 5.1 fun) and disconnected it from my Motherboard (GA-7VRXP rev 2.0) I restart windows and start testing by watching large movie files (from the 200 gb) and copying at the same time from the 200 GB to the 80 gb i already had, and it worked.... but without sound. :scratch:
I tryed to put my 5.1 card into different slots of the Motherboard, and also my SATAlink controller, I tried every possibility..... didn't work. later i tryed to manual change my IRQ but.... that didn't work.
Later i read that it might has something to do with my ATI (radeon 9700) Catalyst drivers, everything before catalyst 4.10 and 4.11 was good. So i downloaden Catalyst 4.9 and installed it..... didn't work . Then i thought: If it has something to do with the ATI card i'll just disconnect my card. still the same errors......
Then on the ATI website i found this article:

Data corruption may occur if the Large System Cache feature is enabled in Windows XP.

For complete details see; http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4217.html

So i checked out the details and how to fix it but that was still not the problem.......
So at this point i suspected it had nothing to do with my ATI card or my Soundcard.
While I was reading all this information on forums like:
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/22061/?o=20
http://www.abxzone.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-68049.html
I noticed people where thinking it had something to do with the BIOS, because of messages like these:
i needed to have the RAID controller set to enabled in my bios, and my SATA controller set to "raid", and not set to "Base" in my bios for the SIL 3112 drivers to work and not hang XP at the logo screen...
But as i was testing with that, it also..... didn't work.
So i when to www.gigabyte.com.tw and downloaded the latest bios for my Motherboard which is named: Bios_7vrxp_f12.exe
I had installed F11 so i was getting really excited, maybe I had solved it! I did NOT solve it! :bawling:
Then later this night i found on the site www.siimage.com the new SiI3x12: Serial ATA (SATA) RAID/IDE BIOS v.4250 Bios update :D I knew for sure I solved it, but i couldnt update my bios with the new 4250 files :mad:
I followed the tutorial on: http://www.freewebs.com/tmod/cbromtutorial.htm
But when i was in "dos" and typed: Cbrom 4250.bin /d to see what was in the 4250.bin files i only saw one big list with squares that continued for 1 minute and then stopped without a result......didn't work.
Then after some google searching I found this site :) I couldn''t believe what I read, that Gigabyte still hadn't solve this problem for their Motherboards while it's been there for so long..... But I also read about SPINNER and the big help Spinner was in this topic for all these people with Gigabyte Motherboards in combination with SiI 3x12 Serial ATA. :thumbsup:

So you can feel my question coming Spinner :D If it is no problem for you, could you mod a bios for the GA-7VRXP Motherboard ?
I will be so happy if it finally works ;D

And i've been on a lot of other forums this month/week/evening/night, could i (if it's okay with Spinner and other people from this forum) inform those people from other forums with the information/help I found here. I would like to help them out to in anyway, because i know now how frustrating it is to not be able to get something to work while you keep trying and trying and trying.

Well that's it for this long story...... but after all this trouble it's kind of a relief to write it all down :)


Many thanks and respect in advance,

Greetings,

Robin MastertmanHi mate. Well I've had a quick try at modding that BIOS for you, but for some reason I've had a bit of trouble with it. I understand why you;ve had problems doing it yourself. Don't fear though... I've PM'd SM's resident experto BIOS modder Equito and I'm sure he'll get back to us a bit later on.

For now though, can you just confirm something for me?

When your soundcard is physically removed from your system, does the problem with your HD remain?

[ChompOnThis]

Oh yes, Thank you so much for responding so quickly :D

and yes, when i remove the soundcard physically from the system, the problem is over.
If you and anyone else need more info, please ask! :)

Greeting, Robin

[Spinner]

Oh yes, Thank you so much for responding so quickly :D

and yes, when i remove the soundcard physically from the system, the problem is over.
If you and anyone else need more info, please ask! :)

Greeting, RobinGet your hands on another PCI soundcard, not a Creative one, and try it out. You know, borrow one if you can. At this point it would seem pretty clear it's your soundcard that your system doesn't get on with, not your SI controller.

You might also however want to make sure you've got the latest drivers installed for your card. It's a Creative SB Live 5.1 right?

So yeah, try another soundcard, just so we can confirm it's an incompatiblity with your mobo/mobo chipset, and of course also make sure the card has the latest drivers installed.

Do all that if you can, and then post back.

[ChompOnThis]

My system was running great (also with the TerraTec Aureon 5.1 Fun soundcard) until I bought and installed the Maxtor Diamond Max 9 200 GB with the Silicon Image Sil 3112 SATAlink Controller from Sweex.
-I installed the drivers from the CD I got (3112A_x86_win_idvr-11052)
-Then when windows XP Pro started and i was copiyng or whatever, the write failure things where starting.....
-later I found the latest driver for the Silicon Image Sil 3112 SATAlink Controller (3112A_x86_win_idvr-12057) But still the same problems.

Everything else on my System has the latest drivers installed. Soundcard, videocard, motherboard etc. etc.

I find it strange that my system first was good without the 200 GB and SATAlink controller. But like you say and what i also kinda suspected, it really looks like my system can't handle the soundcard in combination with the new 200 GB and SATAlink Controller.

I will try to get my hands on a other soundcard from a other brand as soon as i can and will check of the problems stay the same. I will post a message when i know more.

Greetings, Robin

[EQuito]

I installed the drivers from the CD I got (3112A_x86_win_idvr-11052)
later I found the latest driver for the Silicon Image Sil 3112 SATAlink Controller (3112A_x86_win_idvr-12057) But still the same problems.You're using the wrong drivers. Those are for non-RAID add-on PCI SATA controllers.

[Spinner]

You're using the wrong drivers. Those are for non-RAID add-on PCI SATA controllers.I've just realised by what you said Chomp' that you're not using an onboard SATA 3112 controller. I thought you were. A modded BIOS would have done you no good, because you're using a PCI card solution for your SATA, not an onboard one, correct?. Your motherboard is a KT333 board correct? and it comes with a Promise PATA RAID controller but no onboard SATA ability correct?

Can you confirm the above information please? Sorry for the confusion. I can tell you how to flash you PCI card BIOS, it's done in a completely different way to how you would update a controller integral to the motherboard.

[ChompOnThis]

I've just realised by what you said Chomp' that you're not using an onboard SATA 3112 controller. I thought you were. A modded BIOS would have done you no good, because you're using a PCI card solution for your SATA, not an onboard one, correct?. Your motherboard is a KT333 board correct? and it comes with a Promise PATA RAID controller but no onboard SATA ability correct?

-Yes I'm using a PCI Card solution for my SATA, I don't have an onboard one.
-My motherboard is a KT333 board. (I don't know if it comes with a Promise PATA RAID controller, but it has no onboard SATA ability)

[ChompOnThis]

I have also send a email to SWEEX with my problem about their 2 Port Serial ATA PCI Card I have from sweex. I hope they give me a serieus answer.....

[ChompOnThis]

New Info:
A Friend of mine has a Audigy soundcard also compatible with 5.1 and I hang his card in my system, guess what?? I'm watching a video right now and copying from the 200 GB without any kind of problems! :D :thumbsup:
So now it's clear that my Terratec Aureon 5.1 soundcard was the problem in combination with my 2 Port Serial ATA PCI Card. But why??? :confused:
I still hope this can be solved somehow, guess a new soundcard is pretty expensive, and this soundcard is just like 5 months old. I'll inform Terratec about the problem and see if they have a solution, otherwise i've gotta sell this one and buy a new soundcard. Spinner or EQuito if have any other suggestions in things I can try please let me know. I wanna thank you for your help, time and suggestions you have given me. Nice to know there are people like you who try to help the "less skilled" with their computer problems. :) :thumbsup:

[konilio]

Hello, can anything be done with my Asus a7v880?

[Spinner]

New Info:
A Friend of mine has a Audigy soundcard also compatible with 5.1 and I hang his card in my system, guess what?? I'm watching a video right now and copying from the 200 GB without any kind of problems! :D :thumbsup:
So now it's clear that my Terratec Aureon 5.1 soundcard was the problem in combination with my 2 Port Serial ATA PCI Card. But why??? :confused:
I still hope this can be solved somehow, guess a new soundcard is pretty expensive, and this soundcard is just like 5 months old. I'll inform Terratec about the problem and see if they have a solution, otherwise i've gotta sell this one and buy a new soundcard. Spinner or EQuito if have any other suggestions in things I can try please let me know. I wanna thank you for your help, time and suggestions you have given me. Nice to know there are people like you who try to help the "less skilled" with their computer problems. :) :thumbsup:Well I'm glad you now know the cause of your problem. Some components just don't like working with each other, nothing you can really do apart from replace them. There are always little things you can try but more often than not it's just easier and simplier and more efficient to just swap out the troublesome component.

Keep us posted.

[Spinner]

Hello, can anything be done with my Asus a7v880?I imagine if you put a CPU and some memory in it, there's a lot you could do with it! ;D

Seriously though ;), what's seems to be your trouble?

[gorro]

Hi there, i have got a 7N400Pro2(rev.2) (bios FJ) with Sil3512A 4.3.33, is there a way to have the newest sil bios 4.3.47 together the latest MB bios FJ?

[Tmod]

Hi there, i have got a 7N400Pro2(rev.2) (bios FJ) with Sil3512A 4.3.33, is there a way to have the newest sil bios 4.3.47 together the latest MB bios FJ?

Not sure if I should put this here, But here you go.

I also enabled some toggle options that were not enabled by the manufacturer.

UNTESTED/USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

[gorro]

Thanks, but since i saw that u r new here (1 post), r u sure that this bios is good? Is it based on FJ? How can i know if it works wihtout damaging my mobo? And what have u enabled?

[Tmod]

I can NEVER guarantee that nothing will go wrong. That comes with the territory of flashing and modding.

I can say that I have never had a problem with any of my modded bios's besides the user that was flashing it wrong.

Yes it is based on the FJ.

I would have to recheck on what options I enabled, I did not change the options just enabled them.

If you feel like waiting for Equito or Spinner I understand.

Tmod

[gorro]

I rather wait for their verison, but hey! THANK YOU man!

[konilio]

The problem with a7v880 is that when i raise the fsb from 133 to 150 i get data corruption and not accessible partitions on my sata hard drive. When i raise it to 166 it works perfect but with a slight drop in memory performance. I didn't have this problem with my previous pata hard drive. So i believe that vt8237 controller is responsible for that. Don't tell me to lock pci frequency because i have already done this without success. I have also flashed with the last bios.

[EQuito]

I rather wait for their verison, but hey! THANK YOU man!Go ahead and use Tmod's bios with confidence. :thumbsup:
He's an expert in the field. He may be new here but he has been moding bios for years.

[gorro]

OK, i trusted u and i flashed my mobo with Tmod bios, it seems to work greatly!!!! THANK YOU Tmod. :D

[Tmod]

gorro,

Glad it worked for you.

Tmod

[Spinner]

The problem with a7v880 is that when i raise the fsb from 133 to 150 i get data corruption and not accessible partitions on my sata hard drive. When i raise it to 166 it works perfect but with a slight drop in memory performance. I didn't have this problem with my previous pata hard drive. So i believe that vt8237 controller is responsible for that. Don't tell me to lock pci frequency because i have already done this without success. I have also flashed with the last bios.Forgive me but, why do you want to run your BUS at 150?

[Spinner]

OK, i trusted u and i flashed my mobo with Tmod bios, it seems to work greatly!!!! THANK YOU Tmod. :DYeah, you can always trust Tmod, he's the BIOS modding guru grandfather of the web's fraternity. :thumbsup:

[konilio]

Because my memory modules are pc2100 and i can't expect an fsb over 160 without performance drop. With the pata hard disk i had the best performance at 158mhz.

[LowLife]

Presuming your mobo is exactly the model you specified and not 'Pro 2' or 'Pro 2 revision 2', then the below is the latest bios revision for your board modded with the latest SI3112A controller BIOS. Try it then post back.

Cheers

I have the GigaByte GA-7N400 also. I just bought my first serial ATa drive. I bought a new Maxline 3 (300 Gigabyte) ATA150 . It is not even detected by the bios. I installed the one that was linked in the above post. Nothing happening! I tried two different cables. I made sure he drive was getting power. I can feel it spinning. I have it set to base mode, not raid, in the bios (since i only have one) I have 3 other regular IDE drives. 2 (200 gigabyte) and 1 (160 gigabyte) I unplugged them just to see if the bios would recognize it. What can I do. Any help is appreciated. DO I need a serial ata card instead of the onboard Serial )Please help.
LowLife-

[LowLife]

If you look on their website it says it has several Serial ata 2 functions. If that matters I do not know. During boot up it says it is a SI3112A controller. (So the controller shows up, but not the drive. DOes that mean the drive is bad? It is brand new.Any advice is welcomed.

[Tmod]

LowLife,

Do you have the SATA option enabled in the bios?

[LowLife]

LowLife,

Do you have the SATA option enabled in the bios?
Yes

Although I did not know what all the different options for serial ata were. I just picked "Normal" mode (base)

[Tmod]

I am assuming you are running windows XP.

Did you install the drivers for it or are you saying the drive doesn't even show up on the boot screen?

You should see a seperate screen for the SATA portion of the board during the boot cycle.

[LowLife]

I am assuming you are running windows XP.

Did you install the drivers for it or are you saying the drive doesn't even show up on the boot screen?

You should see a seperate screen for the SATA portion of the board during the boot cycle.

Yes the drivers for the controller (onboard) are installed. I used the ones included on the motherboard driver cd.

It looks for the drive during bootup, but says no drive found . It is xp pro.

[LowLife]

I tried unplugging all my hard drives except one and the new serial drive, just to see if I needed more power. My power supply is 480 watts. It is an Antec power supply. Thatmade no difference.I do not know what to think.

[Tmod]

Well if you have power to the unit and the cable plugged into the socket it should recognize the drive.

The only other option is a setting in the bios or a dead drive.

Although I have never heard of someone getting a hard drive that is not even recognizable in the bios bootup screen.

[LowLife]

The drive worked on fiends PC. I odered a new controller.

[Spinner]

The drive worked on fiends PC. I odered a new controller.I probably don't have to tell you how notoriously bad those Gigabyte boards are for SATA, but I would always suggest you run your controller in RAID mode, not base. That essentially just means it's fully turned on, it doesn't mean you have to have two disks and be running a RAID array. But either way, let us know how you get on with your new controller.

You want it like Tmod said, so you can see the SI3x12 BIOS dialogue pop up during post, just before it starts searching for a boot CD/floppy/parition. If you can see that dialogue flash up, that means you're running the controller in RAID mode.

Keep us posted.

Cheers.

[LowLife]

alrght now, what t hell! I got a new controller and it still isnt even recognized! Remeber that it works in a friends computer. All I can think of is that m power supply isnt supplying proper requirements. I ordereda i serr power adapter. My power supply only has 1 serial power plug. I am going to try using a known good ide power plug. Any other suggestions are very welcome, I am beginning to get frustrated!

[LowLife]

In reference to the above post; putting it in raid mode still makes no difference . I must either have something that is defective or I am just being ignorant....

[ArmondoGates]

I have noticed that serveral people have been helped on this forum and I thought I would give it a try. I have the dreaded Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro 2 Rev 2 Motherboard. I currently have the FK bios installed. My Serial ATA is enabled and set to BASE. I have my boot options set to cdrom first and scsi second. I downloaded some drivers from Silicon Images Website and used them to install windows on a Western Digital Raptor 10,000rpm -36.7GB drive. The drivers allowed me to see the drive from Windows 2000 Setup utility and to format the drive and copy over the installation files. I believe that my SIL 3512A chipset bios is at version 4.3.33. When I reboot my machine after going through the windows 2000 setup process the computer doesnt boot the hard drive. I get a blinking cursor like its ready to boot but doesnt. The drive is showing up in the bios when the Silicon Images screen comes up in serial ata device 0. Does anyone know why I can make the first step of the Windows 2000 process see the drive but after that it would boot from that drive? Any help would be greatly appreciated. After reading this forum I believe I will need to use tmod or spinners modded bios for the motherboard. Then couple that with the newest windows drivers from the downloads section here at Short-Media. Which ones do I want to use for the onboard chipset on the GA-7N400 Pro 2 Rev. 2? Thanks for the help.

ArmondoGates

[Tmod]

I am not familiar with that board but doesn't it have a SATA device in the boot order selection?

Or does the SCSI select SCSI as well as the SATA drive?

[ArmondoGates]

I does not have a SATA option in the order selection. To tell you the truth I am not sure if scsi includes SATA or not. I would need to do some research to see if scsi does or does not include SATA. I was under the impression from other posts and forums that SCSI was the correct option to choose when using SATA, I will look for some documentation on it.

[ArmondoGates]

It looks like there is another boot option called:
scsi/raid control boot order
where the only thing listed is the Silicon Image Raid Controller Card
Then choosing SCSI trys to boot from this list I am assuming.

[Tmod]

Try the following settings

Onboard H/W Serial ATA= Enabled
Serial ATA function= Raid
Onboard H/W Raid= Enabled
GigaRaid function= Raid

[Spinner]

It looks like there is another boot option called:
scsi/raid control boot order
where the only thing listed is the Silicon Image Raid Controller Card
Then choosing SCSI trys to boot from this list I am assuming.Yeah that's right. For a start I would flash to the latest BIOS for your board, with the latest SI 3512 BIOS, see attached.

After you've flashed, try running the setup from scratch, but this time using these drivers : http://www.short-media.com/download.php?d=326. v1.0.0.51.

Obviously make sure everything is as it should be in your BIOS like Tmod suggested. Make sure like you said to associate your SATA controller with the SCSI boot option, and make sure it's second only in the boot order to the CDROM.

Try all the above and then post back.

Cheers

[Spinner]

alrght now, what t hell! I got a new controller and it still isnt even recognized! Remeber that it works in a friends computer. All I can think of is that m power supply isnt supplying proper requirements. I ordereda i serr power adapter. My power supply only has 1 serial power plug. I am going to try using a known good ide power plug. Any other suggestions are very welcome, I am beginning to get frustrated!Make sure 'boot from a third party controller' is enabled in your mobo BIOS.

With this PCI card SATA solution, do you see a device listing dialogue associated with this new controller upon post? or do you just get nothing clarifying the card or the drives existence?

Did you use a different SATA cable when you tried your drive in your friends system?

[ArmondoGates]

Turns out to be a driver issue, I emailed Giga-byte my issue and they sent me thier drivers for the SATA chip on the motherboard. I went ahead and used Tmod's modded BIOS for KJ on the 7N400 Pro 2 Rev 2. Thank you guys so very much for all the help and quick responces. It was greatly appreciated.

[LowLife]

I tried both of my cables that I have, on his pc ,and his cables. It worked with all of them on his. WHen I installed drivers for the onboard raid controller, it showed the controller during boot process and listed it under device management. The same with the pci card I bought. I cant even get the drive to be recognized at all in disk management or buring boot process , (or bios for that matter).

[DieHard]

Ack! I wrote a really long thing and lost it all. Sigh.

Very short version of what I had originally typed...

I have a GA-7N400 Pro2 revision 1 board. I got a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200gb 16mb cache SATA drive and tried to use it. It didn't work and kept freezing Windows 2003 Server before getting to the startup screen. After lots of fiddling, and loading the BIOS Spinner did here, I found a way to actually use the drive, but it is a long and complex process that isn't what I want. This is the only way it will work from a hard shutdown however.

a) unplug the drive
b) go into BIOS and select BASE
c) load the system using a saved profile with the SATALink drivers (note: the drive does NOT get recognized in the SATALink BIOS screen)
d) once the system is logged in and running, plug the drive in
e) restart the computer via Start menu
f) go into BIOS and select RAID
g) load the system using a saved profile with the SATARAID drivers (note: the drive IS detected in SATARAID BIOS screen when this is done)
h) use the system fine with the drive

Now, things to note are that when the system is shut down and cold booted, it doesn't matter which setting it is on, (BASE or RAID,) the SATA BIOS doesn't recognize a drive at all, meaning there is no way I can boot from that drive, (which is what I want.) Once the drive is recognized in windows however, I can restart and it will then be recognized in the SATA BIOS and start up fine so long as I have it set to RAID, (setting it to BASE will freeze it still, as will setting it to RAID and then trying to plug it in when cold booting.)

Does anyone have any ideas as to what it can be and if there is a way to fix this? What I really want to do is boot from the SATA drive, which I technically could do now, but if I have to shut the computer down for whatever reason, I wouldn't be able to boot it back up, which obviously is no good.

[Tmod]

Ok this may be a stupid question but is the partition active on the SATA drive?

[DieHard]

I created 2 partitions on it, one for an OS, and yes, that partition is active.

[Spinner]

I tried both of my cables that I have, on his pc ,and his cables. It worked with all of them on his. WHen I installed drivers for the onboard raid controller, it showed the controller during boot process and listed it under device management. The same with the pci card I bought. I cant even get the drive to be recognized at all in disk management or buring boot process , (or bios for that matter).Make sure you disable the onboard solution in the mobo BIOS so you know exactly what you're looking at upon POST.

Also, remove any PCI cards (with the exception obviously of the SATA controller), and also try the PCI SATA card in a few PCI slots as well.

Have you managed to confirm yet whether the drive is recieving power? Can you hear it spin up? (forgive me if you've already answered that).

Have you got a SATA to PATA adapter you can use to test the drive on the standard onboard PATA controller? That would be usefull to clarify exactly what the problem is. You can pick them up for a few quid if you haven't.

[Spinner]

Does anyone have any ideas as to what it can be and if there is a way to fix this? What I really want to do is boot from the SATA drive, which I technically could do now, but if I have to shut the computer down for whatever reason, I wouldn't be able to boot it back up, which obviously is no good.The thing is, what you are trying to do is such a simple thing, the problem is your motherboard... in fact, let me re-phrase that... the problem is GIGABYTE.

As I've said before, look around these forums alone and you'll see that 99% of all SATA related issues are when using this controller type on GIGABYTE boards. I've setup dozens of machines using the same chipsets and SATA controllers and various motherboard models and makes and all without a hitch.

GIGABYTE consumer level motherboards are very poor quality and are ridddled with problems like this, basic fundemental problems which shouldn't ever happen.

As we are doing, we can try and find some quirky way to get the damn thing working for you, the way it should, but at the end of the day, this isn't an end user issue (i.e. your not not doing things right), this is a hardware issue. It's not the Silicon Image controllers, it's not the mobo's chipset, it's GIGABYTE, the people who connect those two things together.

The day they stop putting monkeys and soldering irons in the same room together is the day they'll start making useable motherboards.

[LowLife]

I am getting sick of this board anyways. I think my cpu is about to go south anyways. I have had this board and a barton 400 fsb 3000+ since they first came out. I had it clocked up to 2.6 . My temps are dramatically higher lately. Having it clocked normal, its temps are 54 celcius. I even went and bought a swiftech mcx462-v with a 92 mm tornado fan for it. It didnt help temps one bit and is louder than ever. What are peoples opinions on either an FX53 or an amd 4000? What are peoples suggestions for boards for these? I am really not trying to spend a ton on DDR2 right now. I am wanting to just use my 1gig of corsair dualchannel ddr400. Any suggestions? I would want the board to work with the aforementioned Maxline 3 (300gig sata 150 drive) I have been having problems with. I see that the 4000 go fo 689 US dollars on newegg right now (oem)

[Spinner]

I am getting sick of this board anyways. I think my cpu is about to go south anyways. I have had this board and a barton 400 fsb 3000+ since they first came out. I had it clocked up to 2.6 . My temps are dramatically higher lately. Having it clocked normal, its temps are 54 celcius. I even went and bought a swiftech mcx462-v with a 92 mm tornado fan for it. It didnt help temps one bit and is louder than ever. What are peoples opinions on either an FX53 or an amd 4000? What are peoples suggestions for boards for these? I am really not trying to spend a ton on DDR2 right now. I am wanting to just use my 1gig of corsair dualchannel ddr400. Any suggestions? I would want the board to work with the aforementioned Maxline 3 (300gig sata 150 drive) I have been having problems with. I see that the 4000 go fo 689 US dollars on newegg right now (oem)My mobo recommendations would be just to stick with MSI, ABIT or ASUS, as in my opinion you can't go far wrong with them. The most important thing to remember though is... don't buy GIGABYTE.

If you want recommendations for new gear then please start a new thread in general hardware. You'll get a better response and wider opinions that way. Thanks mate. :)

Sorry we seem to have struck a dead end with your HD detection problem. Try a few of the things I suggested above though, we're not totally out of options yet.

Cheers

[Tmod]

LowLife,

If you haven't done so already try making a small partition (10gb) on the SATA drive and make it active.

I may have asked already but is the drive on channel 0?

Tmod

[LowLife]

The drive is not recognized at all! So , I cant make a partition...(at least I cant any way I know how)

[Tmod]

Ooops sorry I am getting posts from DieHard and you mixed up. :(

[LowLife]

is ok. I appreciate the fact that people offered suggestions. I am going to try it on my asus server when I can get out to it on monday. (It is located at another house 30 minutes away)

[DieHard]

My problem is that I need the features. Other boards don't seem to offer all the features that Gigabyte offers, which is why I changed from ASUS and Abit to them many years ago. Other than this issue, I've never had a problem with them either. As it stands, I can't afford to upgrade and won't be able to for months at the very least. None of the other AthlonXP boards offer everything that I need, (I need at least 10 hd slots, etc, which although some of the new Althon64 and Intel boards offer, I haven't seen any others for the AthlonXP that do, along with everything else I need, USB, Firewire, etc,) which is why, at least for the time being, I really want to try to find a solution to this. When the new NForce4 or VIA boards are actually released with the ability to use NCQ, (which are supposed to be out like 1st quarter this year or something,) then hopefully by then I'll have enough money for a new CPU/motherboard, (most likely I'll need to buy new DDR2 RAM and PCI-E video card too, which is totally lame.) But that won't be till later unfortunately.

As for the drive, yeah, it is on channel 0.

[Tmod]

Lowlife & DieHard,

I need one of you to try out a different bios for me. I have the drivers with the bios flash and I ask that you use them.

Either of you game?

You must be using the internal SATA controller.

Tmod

[DieHard]

Another version of F11?

At the moment I'm using the one Sinner posted that is the modded version of F11 with the SATA BIOS upgrade.

What totally doesn't make sense to me is why it won't recognize it from a cold boot in the SATA BIOS, but after windows loads and it is plugged in and recognized, it will see it on the SATA BIOS so long as you reboot, but turning on and off the computer at any time will again have it vanish. I've never seen or heard of this problem before, as it sounds like most other people with the problem have gotten it to work by switching to RAID or haven't gotten it to work at all...

[Tmod]

The bios I have is the FK and it is for the 7n400pro2 Rev2 board.

Ahhh i just noticed you have the rev1 board. Never mind then.

Tmod

[LowLife]

I would definately try a new bios but mine as you stated isnt that version. It is actually 7n400pro. I tried the one posted towards the beginning of this thread to no avail. Giagabyte bios's are terrible,

[LowLife]

Could the reason the drive isnt working be the typr of drive it is. See article http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2094&p=3 . and http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2094&p=4 .The native command queue obviously wont work with my motherboard, but shouldnt it work without that? Anybody knowledgeable in this area?

[moz2k4]

Hi, im pretty new to this site i have downloaded the gigabyte 7n400pro2 rev1 bios for my mobo, the one that spinner made with the latest silicon 3512a hoping to fix the error that i keep getting "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER" but this did not work, it used to load the siliconLINK 3512a bios then detect the drive on the main screen before locating my drive but now it does not, i am running a 120gb maxtor SATA drive as a main drive could sum1 please help me ? :(

thanx a lot in advance

[Tmod]

It seems that a majority of the problems here involve the Maxtor drives.

I found this cruising the Silicon Image site.


When using the Marvell SATA-IDE adapter with a Maxtor ATA133 HD, there is a compatibility issue between the Maxtor drive and the Marvell bridge chip that does not allow it to operate at ATA133 when using SATA. You must make sure that the Marvell SATA-IDE adapter is configured for ATA100/UDMA5. If it is set for ATA133/UDMA6, the hard drive will not work.

I know you may not be using any adapter but it is worth a try to get the drive working on the SATA channel. Just use the Maxtor tools to set the drive to ATA-100 UDMA5.

[moz2k4]

I think that it is just the bios, could spinners have been made wrong? Is any1 elses working? the si3512a loading thing that usually detects the hdd does not come up like on my old bios and i dont have my old bios to put back, it mite sound a silly but does anyone have an original bios where the si3512a bios screen actually comes up? i really want my PC working again :confused:

[EQuito]

It seems that a majority of the problems here involve the Maxtor drives.
I found this cruising the Silicon Image site.
I know you may not be using any adapter but it is worth a try to get the drive working on the SATA channel. Just use the Maxtor tools to set the drive to ATA-100 UDMA5.
Hi Tmod,

Yes it does seem that way but two things:
1. My Maxtors work perfectly at ATA133/UDMA6 on a Serillel adapter.
2. You can't change modes on nVIDIA based boards using Maxtor utilities.

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Support/Software%20Downloads/ATA%20Hard%20Drives&downloadID=22

Note: PowerMax v 4.09 will not detect ATA or SATA hard disks connected to embedded or add in RAID controllers, NVIDIA Force 3, Force 4, VIA KT 600 and KT800 chipsets.

[Tmod]

Hi Tmod,

Two things:
1. My Maxtors work perfectly at ATA133/UDMA6 on a Serillel adapter.
2. You can't change modes on nVIDIA based boards using Maxtor utilities.

Well that blows that idea out of the water then.

I think we are running out of options here.

[Tmod]

I think that it is just the bios, could spinners have been made wrong? Is any1 elses working? the si3512a loading thing that usually detects the hdd does not come up like on my old bios and i dont have my old bios to put back

I don't think Spinner made any mistakes on that bios.

Just download the version you had and give it a try again with a stock bios.

Tmod

[moz2k4]

I think i kno what is wrong now, would anyone be able to make a gigabyte ga-7n400 pro 2 (rev1) bios that has just the standard (base) controller and not the raid i run a sata drive as the main drive ?

[EQuito]

If your board has a RAID controller, you have to flash the correct bios.
Whether you use a single drive or a RAID array it doesn't matter, the correct bios has to be used.
I'm pretty confident Spinner used the correct bios so your problem could be your HD, cables or bios configuration related.

[Tmod]

I think i kno what is wrong now, would anyone be able to make a gigabyte ga-7n400 pro 2 (rev1) bios that has just the standard (base) controller and not the raid i run a sata drive as the main drive ?

If you know where to locate the bios for the non-raid I will give it a shot.

Tmod

[EQuito]

It won't work Tmod. If you use the non-raid bios aka PCI SATA bios the drive won't boot. It has been tried before at Abit Forums.

[Tmod]

It won't work Tmod. If you use the non-raid bios aka PCI SATA bios the drive won't boot. It has been tried before at Abit Forums.

Well that shoots that down as well.

I know there is a different bios for RAID & NON RAID on the PCI card so I figured there might be different version for the onboard as well.

Back to the drawing board. :D

[Tmod]

Here is what a Asus board owner had to do to get his maxtor recognized in the bios. May help you I don't know.


OK...I tried a number of things, but I believe this is what did it...

I disconnected all drives, powered up, entered BIOS setup.

On the MAIN screen where all the drives are listed [all NOT DETECTED @ this point obviously], underneath is an option for IDE CONFIGURATION.

I selected this and was taken to another screen with many options...there is one that defines HOW the drives are detected...

The selected value was QUICK. The only other option for this was NORMAL.

I switched it to NORMAL, powered down, plugged in the 300GB drive on its' own, powered up. After about 30 seconds of scanning, was able to enter BIOS [PC did not freeze], on the MAIN screen was able to see the drive!

Powered down, plugged in original drive to SATA1 and new drive to SATA2, powered up, entered BIOS, able to see BOTH drives !!!

Exited BIOS, proceeded to boot into Windows without any problem. Under Disk Management, drive shows up as 279.47GB.

Restarted machine, entered BIOS, changed IDE detection setting back to QUICK, exited/saved BIOS, PC booted up and detected both drives without problems.

From Maxtor (Some will not apply to you)

# Faulty Data Cable
The BIOS will not detect a hard disk if the data cable is damaged or the connection is incorrect. Maxtor recommends using UDMA cabling with a maximum length of 18 inches. UDMA cables have color coded connections which require proper orientation when connecting. The blue connector always connects to the motherboard. The gray middle connector is used for slave devices on the cable. The Black connector is used for Master device connection. Always inspect the motherboard, and hard disk connections for bent or misaligned pins. Folding, crimping, pinching, or creasing data cables can cause the wires to break inside the insulation, leaving the exterior of the cable looking normal. When in doubt of data cable condition replace it.

Picture of an Ultra ATA data cable.

# No Power to drive (drive is not spinning up)
If the drive is not receiving power or an incorrect level of power (12v) it will not spin up. To check to see if this is the cause of the BIOS not detecting the hard drive follow these steps.

1. With the system turned off, open the computer case and remove the data cable only from the hard drive. This will stop any “power saving” commands from being sent to the drive.
2. Turn on the system. Check to see if the hard drive is spinning. If you touch the side of the drive you should feel a slight vibration. If you do not hear or feel the hard drive spinning you will need to find out if the drive is getting power.
3. In some cases it is necessary to remove the drive from the case and physically hold it in your hands, due to system fans vibrating and making too much noise to observe the drive spinning while mounted.
4. If removing the drive is necessary, be sure to use a grounding strap, and do not hot plug power to the drive. Hold it in your hand, connect the power cable, and then power the system on.


If the drive is not spinning please visit the Warranty Information Page.

# Incorrect jumper settings on the drive
All Maxtor hard disks supporting the Cable Select jumper option should be configured as Cable Select. If your computer system was built prior to October 1998 and does not support UDMA 66 or greater you will be required to use the Master/Slave jumper settings.

When using Cable Select jumper settings, all devices connected to the UDMA cable must also use the Cable Select setting. The cable decides master/slave device detection when cable select jumper settings are used. The black cable connector always detects the device as master. The gray connector always detects the device as a slave. Please consult the Jumper Setting Page for further instructions.

# Capacity of the hard drive is too large for the BIOS to support
Computer systems built prior to October of 1998 typically hang or freeze while auto detecting large hard disks during system startup. Common BIOS capacity barriers include 528 MB, 2.1 GB, 8.4 GB, and 32 GB. There are multiple solutions to work around BIOS capacity barriers, always disconnect the ATA and power cables first before entering the BIOS, to keep the system from hanging.
To troubleshoot this problem follow these steps.

1. Restart and enter the system BIOS to set the drive parameters manually. (Entering the system BIOS is usually accomplished by pressing F1, F2, or DEL right after powering the system on. Look for an on-screen message stating which key to press.)
2. Set the BIOS parameters for the drive from Auto-Detect to None, or Off.
3. Save settings, exit setup, and power the system off.
4. Save BIOS settings and exit.
5. Reconnect the power and ATA cables, power the system on and boot to the MaxBlast CD or Floppy.
6. When the system boots to the MaxBlast program, choose the Utilities option and select Set Drive Size.
7. MaxBlast will register the maximum LBA the system BIOS can accommodate. Agree to the recommended settings MaxBlast has supplied, and finish the process.
8. Restart, enter the system BIOS, and set the drives parameters back to Auto-Detect.
9. Save settings, exit setup and reboot to the MaxBlast CD or Floppy and run the normal install. When finished partitioning and formatting the drive, follow the instructions to install Windows.

Alternate Settings: Steps 1 and 2 above will not work on some system BIOS’s. This will be noticed by the system still hanging at startup or MaxBlast being unable to detect the drive after the BIOS has been set to none.

1. Try setting the drives parameters to a User Definable Type with 1024 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors.
2. Set the LBA to Normal, Standard or Disabled, Write Pre Comp (WpCom) and Landing Zone (LZ) settings; can be set to zero.
3. Save settings, exit setup, and power the system off.
4. Reconnect the power and ATA cables, power the system on, and boot to the MaxBlast CD or Floppy.
5. Perform the MaxBlast normal install without using the set drive size feature.

If MaxBlast doesn't detect the drive and you followed all the troubleshooting steps above you may need contact your motherboard manufacturer for a BIOS upgrade or purchase an Ultra ATA PCI adapter card. Maxtor's online store, www.MaxStore.com, offers a complete line of Ultra ATA PCI cards that provides support for large capacity drives.
# Faulty Hard Drive If after all the above checks and procedures have been performed, you are still having trouble installing the drive, or O/S. It is recommended to run the PowerMax, drive diagnostic utility, to determine if the drive is defective. If PowerMax returns an error code please proceed to the Warranty Information Page.

[EQuito]

Sorry to be the party pooper but the problem is that ALL onboard controllers are RAID so flashing the IDE non-raid bios to it screws up the booting process.

[Tmod]

Sorry to be the party pooper but the problem is that ALL onboard controllers are RAID so flashing the IDE non-raid bios to it screws up the booting process.

No party pooping going on here, Just taking stabs in the dark.

[EQuito]

Here is what a Asus board owner had to do to get his maxtor recognized in the bios. May help you I don't know.
Good find Tmod! :thumbsup:

[moz2k4]

cheers lads, ill giv that a bash :)

[killrtech99]

OK, thought I would throw in my input on problems I have been having. My goal was to get use 2 16mb 300 gig Maxtor's to run as a Raid 1 on my rig. I was going to Ghost my existing build to 1 300gig and then Raid it from there. Well, that did not happen. The 2 drives are 16mb 300gig Maxtor's with different manufacturing dates of Sep. 04 and Oct. 04 with a small difference in PCBs which tells me they are distinctly different manufacturing runs. My main rig is Abit NF7-S Ultra, latest BIOS with .50 controller BIOS and I also tested with a Gigabyte 7N400 Pro 2 rev. 1 board and a Foxconn 865M01-G-6ELS (Intel board with Serial controller integrated to Southbridge). I want to note that although some things involved being in Windows, all the later testing (on both boards) was purely seeing whether the SI bios would detect the drive as if it did not see it, Windows sure as heck wasn't going to. Also note that both the Abit and Gigabyte boards use the SI 3112 controller.

The Abit will detect but it is flaky detection city: First drive made it all the way through a full format in Windows and a Ghost 2003 clone operation before starting to be flake. After the clone operation I attempted to boot and got about half way through before a "unmountable boot volume" error. Upon reboot, the SI Bios does not detect the drive. Reset-button: finds then drops again. Reset again: drive gone. Reset again: still gone. Full power off: still gone. Reset button: It's back but then errors out and upon reset: gone.

Unplug drive and plug in previous drive (250 gig Maxtor 8mb that has never given me problems). Boot up into Windows plugin hot:Windows sees it for a second but cannot fully mount the drive (I get a blank drive letter with a red x in explorer which tells me Windows did briefly see the drive). Reboot and it shows up. F8 to prevent windows startup and reset button and (no) Surprise: gone. Rinse lather and repeat through all manner of cable (both serial and power) swap outs. The only thing consistent is on and off detection.

Try other drive. This one makes it to 100% format in Windows then crashes system. Hard reset: drive is gone. Another reset: drive is there. F8 to halt boot up and reset: drive gone. Hmmmm, can we say Deja Vu?

Bust out the 7N400 Pro 2 rev. 1 and no detect at all on boot up (SI BIOS). That is as much as I tested as I was thoroughly disgusted at this point. I imagine that if I kept fiddling with the 7N400 I would probably be able to get it to eventually detect and then drop ala the previous problems.

OK, Foxconn time: No problems. None. Detects every time through numerous full power downs, hard resets and soft Windows reboots. Rock steady, cannot get the drive to drop.

Being a glutton for punishment, I see that CompUSA has the 250gig 16mb Maxtors on sale for $150.00 so I go get one. Manufacturing date of Sept. 04. Full format in Windows no problems. Variety of full power, soft and hard resets: No problems, cannot get the drive to drop. Ah computers.... :scratch:

So the working hypothesis at this point is that there is early hardware revision flakiness on the part of Maxtor's 300 gig drives and the SI 3112 controller. My only guess as to why the 250gigs don't have a problem would be that the 250gig architecture overall is more mature and stable although I think earlier in this thread somebody was having problems with a 200gig drive and that would blow my theory. It's a tough call to conclude much more than that as I would like an additional motherboard with a 3112 controller to test with as we all know how crappy the SATA is on these 7N400 boards and one may experience all manner of problems with an otherwise problem free drive. But I don't have any other mobo with a 3112 controller on it.


Barring another SI BIOS release in the next few days (that fixes everything), I'm planning on RMAing the 2 300 gigers back to Newegg and getting another 250gig from CompUSA and proceeding with my RAID plans with those. There simply isn't anything else to try and no other option that I see. :shakehead

[gensem]

Does anyone knows if SiI3112a with bios 4250 supports ncq?

[EQuito]

Does anyone knows if SiI3112a with bios 4250 supports ncq?
No it doesn't, not matter which bios version.

[gensem]

=/
Looks like u r the guy Equito.
So I ll ask one more thing.
Does ncq really improves performance in a desktop comp?
Planning about a Maxtor 300GB 7200RPM SATA
(i know im abit of topic here)

Anyway, thnx for your help, this forum rox.
And bios mod was damn nice and easy to use on my gigabyte mobo(Looks like u all hate GB).


Cheerz

[hobbes]

:) :)

A Big Thank You to Spinner and Tmod. I used the repackaged FK version of the driver for the Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2 Rev 2 found on this notice board (http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=14116) it fixed all the issues with using SATA RAID and Windows XP hanging whilxt booting. It also fixed Ghost32 problems withing Windoes PE.

Never thought I would have to download a BIOS from a notice board and use on my main PC.

Thanks again Guys....

p.s. Last Gigabyte Motherboard I buy....

[EQuito]

Looks like u r the guy Equito.
Does ncq really improves performance in a desktop comp?
Anyway, thnx for your help, this forum rox.
Thanks but I'm not "the guy", you should talk to Tex, he's "the one"... :D
I don't have any experience with NCQ drives so I couldn't tell you much except that I heard they transfer faster.

Glad to be of help. :cheers:

[gensem]

heheh

sounds like matrix.

im pleased.

[Spinner]

Thanks but I'm not "the guy", you should talk to Tex, he's "the one"... :D
I don't have any experience with NCQ drives so I couldn't tell you much except that I heard they transfer faster.

Glad to be of help. :cheers:Tex' may be "The One" but you're certainly "Morpheus" mate. ;D

[parker13]

Hi,

I have found the BIOS version 4.2.50 (r4250.bin) for my PCI card controller SATA 3112 RAID.
Actually, my BIOS is in the version 4.2.47.

I have the software "UpdBIOS" and "UpdFlash" too.

Unfortunately, this operation didn't function :

updflash r4250.bin -a -d -v -ID3112



Otherwise, i don't understand the syntax of "updbios" : updbios input_file output_file R

What must i type ? updbios r4250.bin xxxx R



Regards

My Motherboard is an EPOX 8K3A+ (no SATA controller)

[Spinner]

Hi,

I have found the BIOS version 4.2.50 (r4250.bin) for my PCI card controller SATA 3112 RAID.
Actually, my BIOS is in the version 4.2.47.

I have the software "UpdBIOS" and "UpdFlash" too.

Unfortunately, this operation didn't function :

updflash r4250.bin -a -d -v -ID3112



Otherwise, i don't understand the syntax of "updbios" : updbios input_file output_file R

What must i type ? updbios r4250.bin xxxx R



Regards

My Motherboard is an EPOX 8K3A+ (no SATA controller)Just to clarify...

Copy the 'updflash' to a floppy disk as well as the 'r4250' bin file.

You then need to boot into DOS using a floppy boot disk. You can download one from the SM downloads section if necessary.

Once in DOS type 'a:' to access the floppy drive. (If you're not already there)

Then type 'updflash r4250.bin'

That should work. Your original command line should also have worked, but typically you would only use the IDxxxx line if you had more than one PCI card and didn't want to be prompted as to which one you wanted flashing. The other parameters were also only optional, for the sake of simplicity leave them out for now.

Try the above again, and then post back. The 'updbios' utility is for creating your own custom BIOS files... I think.

Cheers

[parker13]

Unfortunately, it doesn't work.

When i type 'updflash r4250.bin', this message appears :

Updflash v3.19 (06292004)

This utility is for flash chip used on PC add-on card only !
This utility is not for flash chip in MacOS add-on card or onboard chipset!
Continue? (Y/N)

Flash memory status is dh
Check for variable sector flash chips

The flash memory chip in use is not one of the following:
SST SST39SF010, SST39VF010, and SST39SF020
AMD Am29F010B, Am29LV010B, Am29F040B, Am29LV400B
STMicroelectronics M29F010B, M29W040B, M29W400B
SANYO LE28C1001DT
WinBond W29EE011 and W29EE512
Atmel AT49BV512, AT49LV040, AT29LV010

Select flash memory type:
1. AMD 29F010B/29LV010B 1Mb compatible
2. AMD 29F040B 4Mb compatible
3. AMD 29LV400B 4Mb compatible
4. SST 39SF010 1Mb compatible
5. SST 39SF020 2Mb compatible
6. WinBond 29EE011/Sanyo LE28C1001D 1Mb compatible
7. WinBond 29EE512 512Kb compatible
8. Atmel AT49BV512 512Kb compatible
9. Atmel AT49LV040 4Mb compatible
10. Quit

Command:


"What must i type ?"


And if i type "updbios", this message appears :

UpdBIOS V2.3 (02212003)
UPDBIOS <input file> <output file> <B/R>

"What must i type ?"


Best regards

[Spinner]

Unfortunately, it doesn't work.

When i type 'updflash r4250.bin', this message appears :

Updflash v3.19 (06292004)

This utility is for flash chip used on PC add-on card only !
This utility is not for flash chip in MacOS add-on card or onboard chipset!
Continue? (Y/N)

Flash memory status is dh
Check for variable sector flash chips

The flash memory chip in use is not one of the following:
SST SST39SF010, SST39VF010, and SST39SF020
AMD Am29F010B, Am29LV010B, Am29F040B, Am29LV400B
STMicroelectronics M29F010B, M29W040B, M29W400B
SANYO LE28C1001DT
WinBond W29EE011 and W29EE512
Atmel AT49BV512, AT49LV040, AT29LV010

Select flash memory type:
1. AMD 29F010B/29LV010B 1Mb compatible
2. AMD 29F040B 4Mb compatible
3. AMD 29LV400B 4Mb compatible
4. SST 39SF010 1Mb compatible
5. SST 39SF020 2Mb compatible
6. WinBond 29EE011/Sanyo LE28C1001D 1Mb compatible
7. WinBond 29EE512 512Kb compatible
8. Atmel AT49BV512 512Kb compatible
9. Atmel AT49LV040 4Mb compatible
10. Quit

Command:


"What must i type ?"


And if i type "updbios", this message appears :

UpdBIOS V2.3 (02212003)
UPDBIOS <input file> <output file> <B/R>

"What must i type ?"


Best regardsWhat I said and what you originally tried should work. I have no idea why it isn't working. Try unplugging any drives attached to the controller. Otherwise, I'm stumped by this one. :scratch: I have no idea what flash memory type to select.

EDIT: Is your card made by anyone? I mean I know the chipset is Silicon Image, but what manufacturer actually built the card?

[Tmod]

Look on the bios chip on the card and remove the little sticker and see what number is on the flash chip.

Then just select that number from the list.

Also what size is that bin file you are trying to flash?

Tmod

[storm79]

Hello there! I've got very similar problems to others described in this thread, but with a twist.

I've got an Epox 8RDA3+ motherboard, which has a Phoenix AWARDbios and SATARaid SiI3112 bios. I've also got 3 hard disks. One IDE 30gig, one Maxtor 120gig SATA and one Maxtor 200gig SATA.

The Phoenix BIOS detect the IDE drive without any problems, the SATARaid system then scans for my SATA drives. It finds the 120gig drive without any problems but cannot find the 200gig drive.

Now I've tried all sorts of combinations, having different disks in at different times, using different cables, using different ports, flashing the phoenix part of the bios, but no matter what I do I can't get the 200gig drive to detect.

This is really puzzling as the first time I added the 200gig drive to the machine it detected it and worked fine (could see it in Windows etc). However, after a reboot it's like the drive is invisible. Note, I've tried the drive in another machine, and it works fine.

I'm really begging for advice here. Would flashing the SATARaid section of my BIOS help me? Is it even possible to just flash that bit (I'm not used to the concept of there being two different sections)? Thanks in advance for your help.

[EQuito]

I'm really begging for advice here. Would flashing the SATARaid section of my BIOS help me? Is it even possible to just flash that bit (I'm not used to the concept of there being two different sections)? Thanks in advance for your help.You cannot flash the SATA bios section alone, it has to be done together with your board bios.

Here's an updated version of the latest bios for your board.
I have no way to test it so use at your own risk! or visit this link (http://www.freewebs.com/tmod/cbromtutorial.htm) for instructions on how to do it yourself.

Good luck!

[storm79]

Thanks mate!

Do you have any idea if this bios update address any SATA issues, or even makes any changes to the SATARaid section of the bios?

[EQuito]

I updated the SATA bios from 4212 to 4250 thus the name change.
There's a good chance this bios will detect your new drive but if not, let us know and will look into it further.

[storm79]

Many thanks EQ.

I'll perform the update (at my own risk) and report back and let you know how it went regardless of whether it worked or not.

Thanks again.

[EQuito]

You're welcome. :thumbsup:

[storm79]

Hmm... still no dice I'm afraid. The update worked fine and I can confirm that I'm now running 4.2.50, but it is still only detecting the one 120gig drive.

Is there any chance I could be doing something *really* stupid here? There are no jumper settings on SATA drives are there? I don't have to select any special options in the bios to run multiple drives do I?

Thanks again for your help.

[EQuito]

Did you swap cables and/or try the drive on the other port?

[storm79]

Yeah, I swapped the cables, tried the HDD in both ports, with both cables. Also tried with and without the other HDD.

Um... I'm saying that the update worked as it shows version 4.2.50, but none of my bios settings were changed - boot order still the same, CPU config not changed, etc. etc. Shouldn't an update have reset this information?

Also, I got an error upon first reboot warning me that something had tried to write to the bios, but it didn't state whether the changes were sucessful or not.
:scratch:

[EQuito]

It would have changed if there is a clear CMOS switch on the executable or if you do it manually. Also remember that you're using the same bios as before except for the new SATA bios. If you see the new bios version during SATA bios screen everything is fine.

About the HD, I'm not sure at this point. Can you see the drive if you enter SATA bios menu? maybe is one of those models that have trouble with this particular controller or you just have a bad drive.

[storm79]

No, I can't see it when I enter the controller.

I don't think it's a bad drive as it works fine in my other PC, I've just tried putting it in an older machine to act as a fileserver.

I appricate you trying, chief. Thanks for your help.

It looks like I'm going to have to give up.

Anyone want to buy a 200gig hard disk? :bawling:

[EQuito]

Sorry I couldn't do more. I don't know why but the big Maxtors have had trouble with this controller since the beginning.
There is a huge thread at Abit forums about it.

/edit: the solution used to be to downgrade them to UDMA5 but Maxtor discontinued their utility and no other software can do it. If you can find a way to do it using the SiI RAID Management Tool on another board you can fix it the problem.

[storm79]

Sorry, but back in my day a hard disk was just a hard disk.

What are these different modes you speak of? What mode will the drive currently be in? Will there be any other issues with changing the mode?

Thanks once again!

[EQuito]

It's been always like that. The modes refer to the transfer speed: UDMA5/ATA100 = 100MB/s, UDMA6/ATA133 = 133MB/s and every new generation of HD's is backwards compatible.

Your Maxtor (even though is a SATA drive and in theory should be called UDMA7/ATA150, another subject altogether) shows up as UDMA6/ATA133 but it'll run at the same speed if set to UDMA5 w/o issues.

[cs75]

New Info:
A Friend of mine has a Audigy soundcard also compatible with 5.1 and I hang his card in my system, guess what?? I'm watching a video right now and copying from the 200 GB without any kind of problems! :D :thumbsup:
So now it's clear that my Terratec Aureon 5.1 soundcard was the problem in combination with my 2 Port Serial ATA PCI Card. But why??? :confused:
I still hope this can be solved somehow, guess a new soundcard is pretty expensive, and this soundcard is just like 5 months old. I'll inform Terratec about the problem and see if they have a solution, otherwise i've gotta sell this one and buy a new soundcard. Spinner or EQuito if have any other suggestions in things I can try please let me know. I wanna thank you for your help, time and suggestions you have given me. Nice to know there are people like you who try to help the "less skilled" with their computer problems. :) :thumbsup:


I have the same m/b rev 1.0 (7vrxp) and i just bought a terratec aureon 5.1 fan sound card and guess what? My pc freezed.
I do not have a pci sata controler but i'm using the onboard pata controler (not in raid mode).
Windows is a fresh install and i get no error messages, hardware conflicts or driver issues.
Any ideas?

[CYBER<O>EYE]

Hi Fellas,

I have read all the threads of this problem, i unfortunately bought a Maxtor SATA 200 gig NCQ HD (with out the knowledge of the problem) and im having the same problems..... silicon image 3512 is not detecting my hard disk. i just wanna know should i sell the hd? or is there still hope for a fix to this problem. i have tried all the bios on this topic and non have solved the prob.

im considering to update the actual silicon image bios but just wanna know if ill be wasting my time.

I am sufering from headaches and hair loss over this problem can someone give me a sign of hope or put me out of my misery.... :banghead:

[CYBER<O>EYE]

sorry fellas forgot to mention my mainboard..... its.... the one and only....

GA-7n400 pro2 rev2

im such a lucky bloke..... :bawling:

[bradley]

Hi all...

I have a problem and would like some advise if possible...!

I have recently purchased a Maxtor 300Gb diamond max 10 HD, the problem is i cant get the bios to recognise it...! My other Seagate 160GB sata's detect fine but the maxtor is refusing...

I was wondering if updating the bios on the siI3112 would solve it?

my mobo is the Gigabyte GA-7NNXP rev 1.0 and the onboard siI3112 is rev 2

any advice would be highly appreciated

Regards

Bradley

[Nefius]

Maybe i can help some of you and i also hopy you can help me, because i have a similar problem with a Maxtor SATA 160GB DiamondMax 10 and a Siil3112A Controller PCI card.

Both are on an Epox 8RDA+ (Nforce) motherboard.

After inserting the controllercard and booting, XP detected the controller perfectly, so no problems.
Then connected the maxtor to the controller and it was detected correctly by the controller and also XP found the drive.
Then the problems started.
With the diskmanagement, i couldn't format the drive or make partitions. Crap.
So i did a low level format in the Sil3112 bios, which worked (after formatting it for about 1.5 hours) :D

Then i tried to make partitions in XP (diskmanagement) and that didn't work.
After that, i begun to expierence the problems with the sil3112 controller who'm couldn't find the maxtor anymore after a cold start. But it did recognized it when the computer was running for a couple of minutes.
So i tried to do a low level format again... negative. It just stays @ 0%... damn!

Started to browse through several forums and tried many things (connecting to the other SATA port, tried it in another computer, etc) still didn't work.
The last things i tried are upgrading my bios from the motherboard (EPOX), nothing.
Then i upgraded the Sil3112 bios to the latest 4.2.50 (with some problems), but that went good.. but still the drive isn't recognized after a cold start.
And if it is recognized after a while, i can't low-level format it.
In XP, the drive is available, but when i start diskmanagement, it can't find the maxtor anymore.. only my normal ATA disks..

So i did pretty much everything in my knowledge, even tried it on another motherboard with intel chipset and intel cpu (i have AMD on the Nforce Epox), but the same problems.

So according to my above findings, i think it has something to do with the Sil3112a chipset and the new DiamondMax 10 drives (and maybe drives using the same technology).

Pretty f*cked up :rolleyes:

Hope someone can help me with above or can advise other things...

[parker13]

Hi Nefius,

"Then i upgraded the Sil3112 bios to the latest 4.2.50 (with some problems), but that went good"

How do you upgrade the Sil3112 bios to 4.2.50 ?

Best regards
Parker

[Nefius]

Hi Nefius,

"Then i upgraded the Sil3112 bios to the latest 4.2.50 (with some problems), but that went good"

How do you upgrade the Sil3112 bios to 4.2.50 ?

Best regards
Parker

I went to the Silicon Image website and downloaded the latest bios for it.
Together with the flashprogram.

I first had the problem that the flashable bios wasn't recognized, but after i looked on the bios, i did see it was a ST M29W010B bios.
That one isn't in the list of supported bioschips, but after i searched a bit on the internet, i did see that the bios as technical the same as the AMD AM29LV010B.
That one was in the list of the Flashprogram, so i used that one.

It worked fine... but still my problem isnt solved :bawling:

[Spinner]

Maybe i can help some of you and i also hopy you can help me, because i have a similar problem with a Maxtor SATA 160GB DiamondMax 10 and a Siil3112A Controller PCI card.

Both are on an Epox 8RDA+ (Nforce) motherboard.

After inserting the controllercard and booting, XP detected the controller perfectly, so no problems.
Then connected the maxtor to the controller and it was detected correctly by the controller and also XP found the drive.
Then the problems started.
With the diskmanagement, i couldn't format the drive or make partitions. Crap.
So i did a low level format in the Sil3112 bios, which worked (after formatting it for about 1.5 hours) :D

Then i tried to make partitions in XP (diskmanagement) and that didn't work.
After that, i begun to expierence the problems with the sil3112 controller who'm couldn't find the maxtor anymore after a cold start. But it did recognized it when the computer was running for a couple of minutes.
So i tried to do a low level format again... negative. It just stays @ 0%... damn!

Started to browse through several forums and tried many things (connecting to the other SATA port, tried it in another computer, etc) still didn't work.
The last things i tried are upgrading my bios from the motherboard (EPOX), nothing.
Then i upgraded the Sil3112 bios to the latest 4.2.50 (with some problems), but that went good.. but still the drive isn't recognized after a cold start.
And if it is recognized after a while, i can't low-level format it.
In XP, the drive is available, but when i start diskmanagement, it can't find the maxtor anymore.. only my normal ATA disks..

So i did pretty much everything in my knowledge, even tried it on another motherboard with intel chipset and intel cpu (i have AMD on the Nforce Epox), but the same problems.

So according to my above findings, i think it has something to do with the Sil3112a chipset and the new DiamondMax 10 drives (and maybe drives using the same technology).

Pretty f*cked up :rolleyes:

Hope someone can help me with above or can advise other things...What driver version are you using? Is your controller card using the IDE or RAID BIOS?

[Spinner]

I was wondering if updating the bios on the siI3112 would solve it?Being the fact that it's a Gigabyte board, I doubt it, but it's the first thing to try.

I've made you a BIOS up containing the latest SI3112 controller BIOS. Give it a try.

Cheers

[bradley]

Being the fact that it's a Gigabyte board, I doubt it, but it's the first thing to try.

I've made you a BIOS up containing the latest SI3112 controller BIOS. Give it a try.

Cheers

Thanks Spinner...

I have already put one together myself and am currently running one of preachers bios's...

Still no joy though...

Any other ideas i could try?

I have mailed Gigabyte over a week ago and have had no reply... They dont seem to give a s**t

Regards

Bradley

[Nefius]

What driver version are you using? Is your controller card using the IDE or RAID BIOS?

Also the latest drivers, but looking at the fact that my Maxtor isn't recognized in the bios of the Controller, i don't think thats the problem
:)

Anyhow.. i got a Raid bios.

[Nefius]

Update..

Just tried the Maxtor on another mobo with an Intel SATA controller and that one also didn't see the Maxtor.
Looks like the Maxtor died... :(
Although i'm not sure if the Sil3112 is responsible for it..

[EQuito]

I'd say the low-level format via SiI3112 bios probably killed it.
Try another format but use Maxtors's utilities this time and run a diagnostic first. You'll have to do it on another board though because the utilities do not work on nVIDIA based boards.

[Nefius]

I'd say the low-level format via SiI3112 bios probably killed it.
Try another format but use Maxtors's utilities this time and run a diagnostic first. You'll have to do it on another board though because the utilities do not work on nVIDIA based boards.
...which is weird, because i used Powermax and Maxblast (maxtor utilities) and they recognized the disk..
tried to format and test it, but it gave errors...

Let's see what the store says..

[EQuito]

...which is weird, because i used Powermax and Maxblast (maxtor utilities) and they recognized the disk..
You're right, that's weird...
Note: PowerMax v 4.09 will not detect ATA or SATA hard disks connected to embedded or add in RAID controllers, NVIDIA Force 3, Force 4, VIA KT 600 and KT800 chipsets.

[Nefius]

Brought it to the store yesterday, the guy connected it to a testsystem and the drive wasn't recognized there also (boottime of the pc had a big lag also).
Anyhow.. he concluded the drive was gone to a place where it had a better life :D

Now i hope i get a new one soon..

But stil, i'm not sure what coused the dead of my baby... :scratch: Sil3112?

[parker13]

I want to flash the BIOS (from 4.2.47 to 4.2.50) of my PCI card SATA Controller Silicon Image 3112 RAID

When i type 'updflash r4250.bin', this message appears :

Updflash v3.19 (06292004)

This utility is for flash chip used on PC add-on card only !
This utility is not for flash chip in MacOS add-on card or onboard chipset!
Continue? (Y/N)

Flash memory status is dh
Check for variable sector flash chips

The flash memory chip in use is not one of the following:
SST SST39SF010, SST39VF010, and SST39SF020
AMD Am29F010B, Am29LV010B, Am29F040B, Am29LV400B
STMicroelectronics M29F010B, M29W040B, M29W400B
SANYO LE28C1001DT
WinBond W29EE011 and W29EE512
Atmel AT49BV512, AT49LV040, AT29LV010

Select flash memory type:
1. AMD 29F010B/29LV010B 1Mb compatible
2. AMD 29F040B 4Mb compatible
3. AMD 29LV400B 4Mb compatible
4. SST 39SF010 1Mb compatible
5. SST 39SF020 2Mb compatible
6. WinBond 29EE011/Sanyo LE28C1001D 1Mb compatible
7. WinBond 29EE512 512Kb compatible
8. Atmel AT49BV512 512Kb compatible
9. Atmel AT49LV040 4Mb compatible
10. Quit

Command:

"What must i type ?"


On my PCI card, i see "HT27C010-70"

Best regards

[Nefius]

Difficult.
You have to seek the internet, maybe your chipset (HT27C010-70) is compatible with one of the supported chipsets.

I had the same problem with another chipset, but after i searched, i found out that the chipset was technical the same as the AMD chip..

Good luck finding..

[EQuito]

Did any of you ever tried flashing from the 'properties' menu? it doesn't work for built-in controllers but maybe it works for PCI add-on cards.

[pricelessuk]

Did any of you ever tried flashing from the 'properties' menu? it doesn't work for built-in controllers but maybe it works for PCI add-on cards.

Hi all @ ShortMedia

I have recently brought a Silicon Image Sil 3112 SATARaid Controller(SATA2000) card and a 200gb seagate hard disk. I have installed the card and hard disk fine, and on boot up the harddisk was detected and the drive is present in windows xp sp2 showing a 200gb drive. I have partitioned the drive but when it does the format it fails to complete and i can not access the drive. I have tried using windows disk management and also partition magic using different partition sizes etc...

I have formated the drive on another system and the drive formats sucessfully and it will read and write, i have also tested the drive with seagates diagnostic tools and drive has no probs.

However, when i put the drive back into the system with the Silicon Image Sil 3112 SATARaid Controller it is detected but windows can't seem to see a filesystem and wants to format it, if i format it, it always fails.

Please help, its driving me insane.

I'm using Silicon Image Sil 3112 SATARaid Controller driver version - 1.0.0.51
Chip Type: Winbond W29C011A
Don't know what bios version.

OS: Windows XP(sp2)
Motherboard: KX7-333 with latest bios

Thanks in advance
Matt

[parker13]

I have a PCI card 3112 RAID, and i can't flash my BIOS from the 'properties' menu.

[K-Boom]

Spinner or EQuito, it would be great if any of you could post the way or method you use to upgrade/mod the bios rom (file).

It all starts from http://www.freewebs.com/tmod/cbromtutorial.htm

I think it is a good idea to explain or teach everyone how to mod the bios file, since the methods used at the original Bios Modding site are very specific or not everyone seems to understands it.... perhaps u could give me (anyone out there) a short but good step by step guide. :mullet:

Thanks for yall collaborations. :cool:

PS: *Knowledge is for all*

[Johnr2]

Thanks for a fantastic forum!

I've been trying to recover from a harddrive failure for over a month and I'm getting fed up! I had a Maxtor SATA Diamond Plus 9 200GB drive fail and Maxtor replaced it with a Diamond Plus 9 250GB drive. I was running a RAID 0 using a SiI3112A controller and two 200 GB Maxtor drives. Since they sent me back a 250GB I decided to update my other 200 to a 250. I picked up a SATA DiamondMax 10 250GB because the store had not seen the old Plus 9's for a couple of months. The MB is a GA-7N400 Pro2 rev 1. Of course the DiamondMax 10 did not work with the controller until I found Spinner's post here for an updated SiI3112A bios (thank you!).

SYSTEM SPECS:
MB: GA-7N400 Pro2 rev 1
RAM: 1 GB DDR333
IDE drives: two Maxtor Diamond Plus 9 80GB
SATA drives: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9 250GB
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB
OS: WinXP Pro sp1

PROBLEM:
I've been running with the updated bios for about two weeks now and suddenly the DiamondMax 10 drive is gone again! The RAID controller recognizes the Diamond Plus 9 250Gb drive, but the DiamondMax 10 says "no device". I ran the powermax utility and it says the same.

From other posts in this forum it appears that the SiI3112A controller is unreliable. Is this true? Has it got to do with the DiamondMax 10 using second generation SATA stuff? Should I stop wasting valuable time and buy a MB with none Silicon Image RAID controller?

Help :scratch:

[Spinner]

PROBLEM:
I've been running with the updated bios for about two weeks now and suddenly the DiamondMax 10 drive is gone again! The RAID controller recognizes the Diamond Plus 9 250Gb drive, but the DiamondMax 10 says "no device". I ran the powermax utility and it says the same.

From other posts in this forum it appears that the SiI3112A controller is unreliable. Is this true? Has it got to do with the DiamondMax 10 using second generation SATA stuff? Should I stop wasting valuable time and buy a MB with none Silicon Image RAID controller?

Help :scratch:There is nothing wrong with the Silicon Image controllers, at least as far as I am aware, possibly some Maxtor drives have issues with the SI controllers, but that could be just as equally Maxtors fault as it could be Silicon Image's. You do bring up a good point however about the '10 using a slightly newer SATA standard, but I can't really comment on that without reading up on it.

However, this entire thread is littered with SATA problems with varying makes and types of drives, the only thing binding all the problems together in a relating bag of annoyance, is the fact that 99% of all the motherboards people have these problems with are made by Gigabyte!

I would hate for you to have to get another motherboard mate, but if you did, you're better off just getting another make of mobo rather than a motherboard that doesn't use the SI SATA controller chips.

My advice for your current problem regardless would be to try the '10 in another rig to test it still works, and if it does, make sure your PSU isn't on the way out. You could try to test this by unplugging all your optical drives to take the stress off the PSU and see whether that then allows the '10 to be detected.

Try that then post back.

Thanks mate.

[Tmod]

since the methods used at the original Bios Modding site are very specific or not everyone seems to understands it

What is it that you don't understand from my tutorial?

When I created it I had a person that had never even thought about modding a bios go through it and mod a bios according to it.

Tmod

[Strider9]

Wow!..... I think I'll just take my PA-2013 out and just bury it ;D I'm amazed it even runs XPpro having read this lot!
Will definetly be back when I build my first Pc shortly and maybe give a certain mobo make a miss considering the 99% of "problems".
Great site, great advice, Thanks ppl :thumbsup:

[Johnr2]

My advice for your current problem regardless would be to try the '10 in another rig to test it still works, and if it does, make sure your PSU isn't on the way out. You could try to test this by unplugging all your optical drives to take the stress off the PSU and see whether that then allows the '10 to be detected.


I'm using an Enermax 465W power supply which is supposed to be a good one. However, I tried your suggestion and unplugged the optical drives and nothing changed. I also just bought a SiI3112A RAID controller PCI card. I plugged this into the GA MB, disabled the MB Sil3112A, plugged the drives into the PCI card, and got the same results. I did notice that the PCI card's chip is using ver 4.2.12 whereas, thanks to you Spinner, the MB chip is using ver 4.2.50. I looked on the www.siimage.com web site for the updated bios but all I could find was the flash programs (and I search many many different ways... 3512, 3112, 4250.bin, bios, etc. etc.). Where is the bios upgrade? After I flashed the MB chip, the system worked for a couple of weeks... I'm hoping that I can get the system working long enough to get our last project off the drives.

I've recommended and used GA boards for many years and they've always been good, til now. Since downtime is money, I'm strongly leaning toward coughing up some dollars and switching to a Asus A8V-E deluxe MB that has a Promise RAID controller and selling the GA board to someone that does not need RAID. Anyone have any thoughts on the Asus board? :banghead:

[Nefius]

Don't forget i have an Epox Nforce2 board and also have the problems (with PCI Sata controller, not embedded).

I still think it is a combination of the 3112 chip and maxtor drives..

[Spinner]

I'm using an Enermax 465W power supply which is supposed to be a good one. However, I tried your suggestion and unplugged the optical drives and nothing changed. I also just bought a SiI3112A RAID controller PCI card. I plugged this into the GA MB, disabled the MB Sil3112A, plugged the drives into the PCI card, and got the same results. I did notice that the PCI card's chip is using ver 4.2.12 whereas, thanks to you Spinner, the MB chip is using ver 4.2.50. I looked on the www.siimage.com web site for the updated bios but all I could find was the flash programs (and I search many many different ways... 3512, 3112, 4250.bin, bios, etc. etc.). Where is the bios upgrade? After I flashed the MB chip, the system worked for a couple of weeks... I'm hoping that I can get the system working long enough to get our last project off the drives.

I've recommended and used GA boards for many years and they've always been good, til now. Since downtime is money, I'm strongly leaning toward coughing up some dollars and switching to a Asus A8V-E deluxe MB that has a Promise RAID controller and selling the GA board to someone that does not need RAID. Anyone have any thoughts on the Asus board? :banghead:You need to confirm the drive still works by putting it in an other system. Until you do that, we can only speculate as to what the problem might be. The drive could be dead, you need to confirm it isn't before you start spending money.

ASUS have always served me well even though for my personal rigs I choose ABIT. Every make of motherboard will have its quirks, but my opinion is if you stick to my prefered recommendations, MSI, ASUS or ABIT, you have the best chance of buying a quality piece of kit, with any quirks being resolved through regular and effective BIOS updates. ABIT certainly hold the crown for BIOS updates.

I can't comment specifically on the A8V-E but at first glance it seems to be a worthwhile investment. Don't buy anything though till you know exactly where the problem lies with your current kit.

With regard to finding a BIOS update file for your PCI card, that's a good question. Silicon Image recently re-designed their whole website and since they did that I haven't been able to obtain or find BIOS downloads for the 3x12 controller chip. The BIOS package you're looking for should contain three files, one for use when modding a motherboard BIOS plus a RAID bios file and a IDE bios file for use with a PCI card. I'll post links if and when I find a new download source.

Cheers

[Spinner]

Don't forget i have an Epox Nforce2 board and also have the problems (with PCI Sata controller, not embedded).

I still think it is a combination of the 3112 chip and maxtor drives..You may well be right, but as I said earlier, that could be just as much Maxtor’s fault as it is Silicon Image's. But a fair statement none the less, there is certainly evidence to support that possibility.

[Tmod]

With regard to finding a BIOS update file for your PCI card, that's a good question. Silicon Image recently re-designed their whole website and since they did that I haven't been able to obtain or find BIOS downloads for the 3x12 controller chip. The BIOS package you're looking for should contain three files, one for use when modding a motherboard BIOS plus a RAID bios file and a IDE bios file for use with a PCI card. I'll post links if and when I find a new download source.

Spinner,

Just go to the support section and then go to resource center and click on Launch CRC at the bottom then click on downloads and then the bios section and finally the SiL3112A.

Tmod

[Spinner]

Spinner,

Just go to the support section and then go to resource center and click on Launch CRC at the bottom then click on downloads and then the bios section and finally the SiL3112A.

TmodMy hero. :thumbsup:

[Johnr2]

You need to confirm the drive still works by putting it in an other system. Until you do that, we can only speculate as to what the problem might be. The drive could be dead, you need to confirm it isn't before you start spending money.

ASUS have always served me well even though for my personal rigs I choose ABIT. Every make of motherboard will have its quirks, but my opinion is if you stick to my prefered recommendations, MSI, ASUS or ABIT, you have the best chance of buying a quality piece of kit, with any quirks being resolved through regular and effective BIOS updates. ABIT certainly hold the crown for BIOS updates.

I can't comment specifically on the A8V-E but at first glance it seems to be a worthwhile investment. Don't buy anything though till you know exactly where the problem lies with your current kit.

With regard to finding a BIOS update file for your PCI card, that's a good question. Silicon Image recently re-designed their whole website and since they did that I haven't been able to obtain or find BIOS downloads for the 3x12 controller chip. The BIOS package you're looking for should contain three files, one for use when modding a motherboard BIOS plus a RAID bios file and a IDE bios file for use with a PCI card. I'll post links if and when I find a new download source.

Cheers

Spinner and Tmod, Thank you very very much :)

I found the bios for the SiI3112A PCI card and flashed the bios. I had moved the PCI card to the my HP box and now I've moved the DiamondMax 10 250GB drive to the PCI card it it works! I now moved both 250GB drives to the PCI card and I'm copying the data as I type!

After looking around the net, it appears that wasn't anything negative about the Asus A8V-E MB so I took the step and bought it. I'll be putting it together Wed.

Thanks,
John :)

[pricelessuk]

Hi all @ ShortMedia

I have recently brought a Silicon Image Sil 3112 SATARaid Controller(SATA2000) card and a 200gb seagate hard disk. I have installed the card and hard disk fine, and on boot up the harddisk was detected and the drive is present in windows xp sp2 showing a 200gb drive. I have partitioned the drive but when it does the format it fails to complete and i can not access the drive. I have tried using windows disk management and also partition magic using different partition sizes etc...

I have formated the drive on another system and the drive formats sucessfully and it will read and write, i have also tested the drive with seagates diagnostic tools and drive has no probs.

However, when i put the drive back into the system with the Silicon Image Sil 3112 SATARaid Controller it is detected but windows can't seem to see a filesystem and wants to format it, if i format it, it always fails.

Please help, its driving me insane.

I'm using Silicon Image Sil 3112 SATARaid Controller driver version - 1.0.0.51
Chip Type: Winbond W29C011A
Don't know what bios version.

OS: Windows XP(sp2)
Motherboard: KX7-333 with latest bios

Thanks in advance
Matt

I have now worked out that i can format the drive if i have no other PCI cards installed, but as soon as i put them back in i have problems again.. With a PCI card installed i can format as FAT but NTFS fails, why?

Please help

[The One]

I have a problem with my 2xSATA HDD (Samsung SP 1213C) on a EPOX 8RDA3+
which has the Sil 3112 onboard
I have the latest BIOS for my moab which has the 4247 BIOS for the SATA controller
My problem is that the OS hangs for about half a minute while accessing the HDDs doesn't matter if they are RAID or not
could it be that i dont have the 4250 BIOS for the controller :scratch:
please help me!!!!

any help greatly apreciated

[jgoltc]

He shoots... he scores! :Rocker:

A response within 30 minutes with a modified BIOS to boot (if you excuse the pun). That beats even my record. Smooth EQ'. :respect:


I'm having trouble Modding the FK BIOS, please help, thanks.

[Tmod]

I'm having trouble Modding the FK BIOS, please help, thanks.

What exactly are you having problems with?

Tmod

[Nefius]

You may well be right, but as I said earlier, that could be just as much Maxtor’s fault as it is Silicon Image's. But a fair statement none the less, there is certainly evidence to support that possibility.

--Update--
I just received a new 160GB Maxtor, the old one has died a hard dead..
:D

So i inserted the PCI SATA controller again.. plugged in the maxtor... and prayed... alot..

Conclusion: All went wickedly well.. installed it, formatted it (in XP), no problems at all. :p

Have copied loads of crap to it.. no problems.

So i'm a happy man now... So it looks like it might have been a defect disk, or maybe a serie of disks (other chipset or something?) which gives these problems...

[zok]

Have funny problem with Maxtor Diamond 10, 160 GB SATA disk on
7VAXP Ultra Gigabyte motherboard. Disk needs 5 minutes to be
recognized by onboard Sil 3112A SATA controller. I can reset it
quickly or just wait 5 minutes after turning computer on and then reset,
in any case disk will not be recognized before, but after 5 minutes
works fine.
(Disk works without any problem on some Matsonic MB, no need
to wait and reset there)
Have see on this forum, the guys here made bios upgrade (which should
be Gigabyte's job, but obviously they don't care) for Gigabyte's MB's. Did
anyone do that for 7VAXP Ultra?
Should disk work properly if i buy PCI-to-SATA controller?

[Borg Number One]

Hi.

1.)
Is it this one?
http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-7VAXP%20Ultra.htm


2.)
The "3112A controller" does not seem to be supported by http://www.siliconimage.com anymore. :(

->Looking for: "http://www.siimage.com/products/sii3112.asp" on the web archive
( http://web.archive.org ) does not seem to help too.

3.)
After removing the old embedded Sil 3112A BIOS (ver. 4.1.36C 2002) from the 7VAXP Ultra BIOS,
the new Sil 3112A BIOS (ver 4.2.47 2004) from this/these link(s):
http://short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?p=123762 ->
http://short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7677 cannot be added.

CBROM (ver. 1.15, 1.17, 1.19, 2.20, CBROM32) brings an error message:
Adding 4247.BIN ..... 51.5%
7VAXPU.F7 have not enough space for adding ROM. (Over 028Ah bytes).

There is the same problem with this one:
http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?p=242089 ->
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=14881
Sil 3112A BIOS (ver. 4.2.50 2004)

Adding 4250.BIN ...... 44.7%
7VAXPU.F7 have not enough space for adding ROM. (Over 01C8h bytes)


Either I remove some unused modules such as: epa logo module
or I/we/someone have to look for a Sil 3112A BIOS which suits into the free (compressed) space inside the BIOS file.


<hr></hr>
<fieldset style="border: 4px solid rgb(255, 0, 0);"><legend style="font-weight: bold;">This is the module content of/from your BIOS:</legend>CBROM32 V1.40 [04/30/04 release] (C)Phoenix Technologies 2001-2004

******** 7VAXPU.F7 BIOS component ********

No. Item-Name Original-Size Compressed-Size Original-File-Name
================================================================================
0. System BIOS 20000h(128.00K) 13798h(77.90K) 7VAXPU.BIN
1. XGROUP CODE 0ACB0h(43.17K) 07A02h(30.50K) awardext.rom
2. ACPI table 03D02h(15.25K) 01503h(5.25K) ACPITBL.BIN
3. YGROUP ROM 05F20h(23.78K) 03F5Eh(15.84K) awardeyt.rom
4. GROUP ROM[ 0] 059B0h(22.42K) 0248Eh(9.14K) _EN_CODE.BIN
5. PCI ROM[ A] 10000h(64.00K) 09DEDh(39.48K) RAID133.ROM
6. PCI ROM[ B] 04000h(16.00K) 02524h(9.29K) ATA133.ROM
7. EPA LOGO 00B64h(2.85K) 00425h(1.04K) dbios1.bmp
8. OEM0 CODE 02419h(9.02K) 01A4Dh(6.58K) dbf.bin

Total compress code space = 36000h(216.00K)
Total compressed code size = 30C0Ch(195.01K)
Remain compress code space = 053F4h(20.99K)

** Micro Code Information **
Update ID CPUID | Update ID CPUID | Update ID CPUID | Update ID CPUID
------------------+--------------------+--------------------+-------------------</fieldset>

After converting the EPA logo into a common format you can see this:
http://bnobtc.pix-art.com/images/bioslogo/gigabyte-dualbios-dbios1.png

After removing this EPA logo module I am able to add every/(the new) Sil 3112A BIOS to the 7VAXP Ultra BIOS without any problems.


Now, I am waiting for your decision.

[zok]

tnx, Borg Nb.1

...but, huh, looks a bit risky.

1. yes, is that motherboard

2. found official updates on
- http://www.siliconimage.com/support/knowledgebase.aspx
- "launch C.R.C."
- DOWNLOADS/BIOS/Sil3112A
- SiI3x12: Serial ATA (SATA) RAID/IDE BIOS - Released (from 22/2/2005)

but they say: "The BIOS files attached here are intended for use with ADD-IN cards, not motherboards"

3. In what way is bios on links you wrote different than official Sil bios?

(Have never used awdflash before, so am not shure if i should take a risk.
But if i do, i will report how did it work...)

[Spinner]

BNO Silicon Image do still support the SI 3112A controller. You can find the latest BIOS files by following zok's above instructions.

zok, please find attached a modified version of the F7 BIOS for the GA-7VAXP Ultra motherboard. I've removed the EPA logo and the Promise controller BIOS rom to make space for the SI 3112A controller BIOS v4.2.50 which is the latest revision available. Your Promise RAID controller will no longer function using this BIOS file, however flashing back to the official un-modded BIOS will of course restore functionality if you decide you want to start using it.

Also, please find below a couple of links you may find usefull in troubleshooting your current drive detection issues.

http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29207
http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29398

Cheers

[Borg Number One]

Hi.

1.)
Thanks for the link to unsuppoerted/outdated Silicon Image files & documents.

2.)
Well, I wrote the suggestion and Spinner executed/accomplished it.
I "like" it to interfere/meddle/force. :thumbsup:

Well, thanks for the work. :)

It is important to not forget to add/mention phrases such as:
Use the modified BIOS file at your own risk.
I will not be responsible for any demages.

I am sure that it will not happen. :)


3.)
The 4.2.5.0 release which was added to the BIOS file is exactly the same like the one which can be download from:
http://12.24.47.40/display/2n/index.asp

That means it is the SATA BIOS file with the warnings:
The BIOS files attached here are intended for use with ADD-IN cards, not motherboards.

I am sure it will work with your mainboard too.

[Spinner]

Hi.

1.)
Thanks for the link to unsuppoerted/outdated Silicon Image files & documents.

2.)
Well, I wrote the suggestion and Spinner executed/accomplished it.
I "like" it to interfere/meddle/force. :thumbsup:

Well, thanks for the work. :)

3.)
The 4.2.5.0 release which was added to the BIOS file is exactly the same like the one which can be download from:
http://12.24.47.40/display/2n/index.asp

That means it is the SATA BIOS file with the warnings:


I am sure it will work with your mainboard too.BNO, go to http://www.siimage.com, click on Support the Resource Center and then C.R.C.

In that area you can download the latest official BIOS files for the SI controllers. The download zip file that is available for the SI 3112A controller contains three files. One PCI controller RAID BIOS file, one PCI controller non-RAID file and one file for use with onboard versions of the SI 3112A chip. It is this version that is designed for use and integration with motherboard BIOS files.

As far as I'm aware you can not use the two BIOS file types intented for use with PCI controllers with onboard incarnations. However because I used the BIOS file designed for integration with motherboard BIOS files, the BIOS I modded is perfectly safe to use and uses official and fully supported BIOS files. :)

What did you mean by "I like it to interfere/meddle/force"?

It is important to not forget to add/mention phrases such as:
Use the modified BIOS file at your own risk.
I will not be responsible for any demages.Yes of course, but I've only swapped out a controller ROM file, I haven't edited the actual BIOS code itself. The worst which could possibly happen is the SATA controller stops working. In that event, you can just flash back to the old one to get it working again. :)

1.)
Thanks for the link to unsuppoerted/outdated Silicon Image files & documents.No one has posted any links to un-supported or outdated Silicon Image files and documents. :scratch:

[Borg Number One]

Hi Spinner.

I know that the modified BIOS files with updated SATA/RAID BIOS (ver. 4.2.5.0) work,
but why does Silicon Image wrote such a warning:
<h1><span style="color: red;">Comments/Special Instructions:</span></h1>

<p class="MsoNormal">The BIOS files attached here are intended for use with ADD-IN cards, not motherboards. <b>To get the latest SiI3x12 BIOS for your motherboard, please go to your motherboard manufacturer's website for updates.</b></p>
?
Are they stupid? It seems to be. :)


No one has posted any links to un-supported or outdated Silicon Image files and documents.
http://12.24.47.40/display/2n/index.asp <- there you can download
documents and drivers which are not available on the "normal" homepage.

[The One]

Hi Spinner.

I know that the modified BIOS files with updated SATA/RAID BIOS (ver. 4.2.5.0) work,
but why does Silicon Image wrote such a warning:

?
Are they stupid? It seems to be. :)
If you hare read everything the wrote there,
you would have seen that they do post the BIOS for the
on board version (not ADD-IN card),
but they say it is not to be used by end users,
but by the motherboard's manufacturer,
which may modify the ROM for their motherboard,
and that is why you should get the BIOS from the manufacturer.
:rolleyes:

[Borg Number One]

Damned, damned, damned. :mad:

I overlooked following:
The third XXXX.bin file which has no letter in front of it is an abbreviated BIOS intended for use by OEMs for integration into system/motherboard BIOS. It is not intended for use by end-users.

[arch4]

hi, good forum

i have Abit KD7-G bios 1.5 motherboard with Sil3112 Raid bios ver :4.2.12
and sunix SATA2000 add-in card with Raid bios ver : 4.2.50
and Connectland S-ATA add-in card with Raid bios : 4.2.47 and ST M29W010B

i have found where a member said "ST M29W010B = AMD M29LV010B"
can i upgrade my card with this config ?

for my motherboard, is there any way for upgrade (utilities or other) my bios because Abit manufactor doesn't release new bios with last Sil3112 bios ?

thanks for your help
sorry for my english
Arch4

[Tmod]

Spinner,

Nice job on the bios modding!

You can copy some of the code for the Sata PCI controller card and make it into a file for the motherboard if the only bios you can get is the PCI add-in version.

Tmod

[Borg Number One]

Hi arch4.

Here you can download the updated BIOS file.
The old embedded SATA ROM (Version 4.2.12 2003) was replaced with the latest Version 4.2.50.

<fieldset style="border: 4px solid rgb(255, 0, 0);"><legend style="font-weight: bold;">Before modification</legend>CBROM V2.20 (C)Phoenix Technologies, Ltd 2001 All Rights Reserved.

******** KD7G_15.BIN BIOS component ********

No. Item-Name Original-Size Compressed-Size Original-File-Name
================================================================================
0. System BIOS 20000h(128.00K) 139CEh(78.45K) KD7G_15.BIN
1. XGROUP CODE 0BD30h(47.30K) 08373h(32.86K) awardext.rom
2. CPU micro code 02800h(10.00K) 0169Bh(5.65K) CPUCODE.BIN
3. ACPI table 03E19h(15.52K) 0173Eh(5.81K) ACPITBL.BIN
4. EPA LOGO 00642h(1.56K) 0022Bh(0.54K) AWARDEPA.BIN
5. YGROUP ROM 043C0h(16.94K) 02D00h(11.25K) awardeyt.rom
6. GROUP ROM[ 0] 042F0h(16.73K) 01F19h(7.77K) _EN_CODE.BIN
7. PCI ROM[ A] 0D000h(52.00K) 07929h(30.29K) b57pxe11.lom
8. PCI ROM[ B] 0C000h(48.00K) 05DFCh(23.50K) 4212.bin

Total compress code space = 34000h(208.00K)
Total compressed code size = 31083h(196.13K)
Remain compress code space = 02F7Dh(11.87K)

** Micro Code Information **
Update ID CPUID | Update ID CPUID | Update ID CPUID | Update ID CPUID
------------------+--------------------+--------------------+-------------------</fieldset>


<fieldset style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 255, 0);"><legend style="font-weight: bold;">After modification</legend>CBROM V2.20 (C)Phoenix Technologies, Ltd 2001 All Rights Reserved.

******** KD7G_15.BIN BIOS component ********

No. Item-Name Original-Size Compressed-Size Original-File-Name
================================================================================
0. System BIOS 20000h(128.00K) 139CEh(78.45K) KD7G_15.BIN
1. XGROUP CODE 0BD30h(47.30K) 08373h(32.86K) awardext.rom
2. CPU micro code 02800h(10.00K) 0169Bh(5.65K) CPUCODE.BIN
3. ACPI table 03E19h(15.52K) 0173Eh(5.81K) ACPITBL.BIN
4. EPA LOGO 00642h(1.56K) 0022Bh(0.54K) AWARDEPA.BIN
5. YGROUP ROM 043C0h(16.94K) 02D00h(11.25K) awardeyt.rom
6. GROUP ROM[ 0] 042F0h(16.73K) 01F19h(7.77K) _EN_CODE.BIN
7. PCI ROM[ A] 0D000h(52.00K) 07929h(30.29K) b57pxe11.lom
8. PCI ROM[ B] 0C000h(48.00K) 055FCh(21.50K) 4250.bin

Total compress code space = 34000h(208.00K)
Total compressed code size = 30883h(194.13K)
Remain compress code space = 0377Dh(13.87K)

** Micro Code Information **
Update ID CPUID | Update ID CPUID | Update ID CPUID | Update ID CPUID
------------------+--------------------+--------------------+-------------------</fieldset>

[Nefius]

Could also be your powersupply.. maybe it can't deliver the amount of power for all the parts of your PC when you start your computer.

[Spinner]

Spinner,

Nice job on the bios modding!

You can copy some of the code for the Sata PCI controller card and make it into a file for the motherboard if the only bios you can get is the PCI add-in version.

TmodExcellent, thanks for the info :). But for example in the SI 3112A's case, which PCI add-in BIOS rom would I want to use out of the two, obviously the RAID one, but would the non-RAID BIOS rom work for mobo integration too with the result being you were just no longer able to setup RAID?

[Spinner]

i have found where a member said "ST M29W010B = AMD M29LV010B"
can i upgrade my card with this config ?I can't vouch for that information, but as far as I'm aware if you select the wrong one it just won't flash. So I don't think you are at risk of causing your card any damage by trying that option.

[Tmod]

Excellent, thanks for the info :). But for example in the SI 3112A's case, which PCI add-in BIOS rom would I want to use out of the two, obviously the RAID one, but would the non-RAID BIOS rom work for mobo integration too with the result being you were just no longer able to setup RAID?

Spinner,

The bios I did a comparison of was the 3114 Silicon Image bios's.

Well looking at the 3112 bios's it seems Silicon Image changed a few things between the onboard bios and the PCI add-in bios's.

On a interesting note between the PCI add-in bios's only the last two lines of hex code make the difference in raid or non-raid.

I just removed my NF7-S from my system and I just might re-install it and find out if cutting the 3112 PCI add-in bios will work on a system bios.

Tmod

[Spinner]

Spinner,

The bios I did a comparison of was the 3114 Silicon Image bios's.

Well looking at the 3112 bios's it seems Silicon Image changed a few things between the onboard bios and the PCI add-in bios's.

On a interesting note between the PCI add-in bios's only the last two lines of hex code make the difference in raid or non-raid.

I just removed my NF7-S from my system and I just might re-install it and find out if cutting the 3112 PCI add-in bios will work on a system bios.

TmodInteresting. Let me know if you suceed.

The main reason I'm interested in all this is because I'm curious to find out what the effects would be of having say the non-RAID 3x12 PCI card BIOS integrated and used on a users motherboard where they're having trouble with detection and driver installation, like on all these Gigabyte boards people keep have trouble with. Because so far, just updating the BIOS to the latest version doesn't seem to really cure their problems on the integrated solutions.

Because BASE mode on integrated solutions, if I'm correct in thinking this, is not the same as say a SI 3x12 PCI card using the non-RAID BIOS. Allowing the integrated SI controllers on motherboards to be fully enabled (typically classed as RAID mode in the motherboard BIOS's) but to run a BIOS version that is tailored for single drive use (e.g. the PCI card non-RAID rom) might yield better results for some people.

Do you see what I'm getting at?

[Tmod]

Interesting. Let me know if you suceed.

The main reason I'm interested in all this is because I'm curious to find out what the effects would be of having say the non-RAID 3x12 PCI card BIOS integrated and used on a users motherboard where they're having trouble with detection and driver installation, like on all these Gigabyte boards people keep have trouble with. Because so far, just updating the BIOS to the latest version doesn't seem to really cure their problems on the integrated solutions.

Because BASE mode on integrated solutions, if I'm correct in thinking this, is not the same as say a SI 3x12 PCI card using the non-RAID BIOS. Allowing the integrated SI controllers on motherboards to be fully enabled (typically classed as RAID mode in the motherboard BIOS's) but to run a BIOS version that is tailored for single drive use (e.g. the PCI card non-RAID rom) might yield better results for some people.

Do you see what I'm getting at?


I think I am following you.

Do we have a person with a Gigabyte board that would test this out for us?

We can take the current PCI add-in bios either raid or non-raid as they are the same except for the last two lines and remove the section that we need for the system bios and place it in the motherboard bios.

Then see if it works for anyone.

I don't see any issue's from having a Sata bios that is incorrect besides the Sata portion not working correctly. So the danger is limited.

Tmod

[Spinner]

I think I am following you.

Do we have a person with a Gigabyte board that would test this out for us?

We can take the current PCI add-in bios either raid or non-raid as they are the same except for the last two lines and remove the section that we need for the system bios and place it in the motherboard bios.

Then see if it works for anyone.

I don't see any issue's from having a Sata bios that is incorrect besides the Sata portion not working correctly. So the danger is limited.

TmodWe'll just have to wait for the next Gigabyte or other relating forum member to ask for help. Then we can try it out then. It probably won't make any difference but it's worth a shot. I'll have a think about it and maybe start a testing thread next week for people to be guinea pigs.

Could you do me a copy of the SI 3112A PCI card non-RAID BIOS file then, prepped for use in a motherboard BIOS file? I'll then be able to test it on one of my ASUS nForce 2 boards early next week. :)

[arch4]

I can't vouch for that information, but as far as I'm aware if you select the wrong one it just won't flash. So I don't think you are at risk of causing your card any damage by trying that option.

Hi, Spinner
i have tested flash before search on ST web site and i have d/l compatibility doc. with other flash constructor ex : AMD
good news : ST M29W010B = AMD M29LV010B (equivalent and compatibility)

after flash, the card controler works fine with ver : 4.2.50

Thanks
@+
Arch4

[grippa]

Hi, could someone tell me if this BIOS will work for my SiI 3112 PCI controller (non-RAID card)? If so, how do I know which of the 3 images to flash? And finally, is there a utility with which I can back up the current BIOS in case anything goes wrong?

Thanks a lot

[Spinner]

Hi, could someone tell me if this BIOS will work for my SiI 3112 PCI controller (non-RAID card)? If so, how do I know which of the 3 images to flash? And finally, is there a utility with which I can back up the current BIOS in case anything goes wrong?

Thanks a lotOff the top of my head I don't know how you would extract and backup your current PCI card BIOS version, if the flash utility I've attached doesn't give you that option.

Regardless though, please find attached the latest non-RAID BIOS file for your 3112 PCI controller with the flash utility you'll need to use in DOS to update your card with the attached latest. Follow the instructions in the readme file contained.

Cheers

[Tmod]

Off the top of my head I don't know how you would extract and backup your current PCI card BIOS version, if the flash utility I've attached doesn't give you that option.

The flash utility does offer that choice.

Tmod

[Spinner]

The flash utility does offer that choice.

TmodExcellent. :thumbsup: Thanks for the clarification. It didn't mention anything in the bundled documentation, and I've got a memory like a goldfish. ;)

[zok]

Hi,

Spinner: thank you for modified 7vaxpu.f7 bios . Have installed it and works
ok. Also problems with Maxtor Diamond 10 Sata (160 GB) disk are reduced
a bit. Now disk is recognized at any start, still have sometimes (when disk
is cold) problems with reading MBR, but need just 1 or 2 resets (1 minute)
instead of 5 minutes. Maybe next SI 3112A controller BIOS update will fix it
completely :)
BNO: thanks for tips about bios utilities.

[grippa]

Thanks Spinner for bios & Tmod for info! Will give it a go :D

[Spinner]

Hi,

Spinner: thank you for modified 7vaxpu.f7 bios . Have installed it and works
ok. Also problems with Maxtor Diamond 10 Sata (160 GB) disk are reduced
a bit. Now disk is recognized at any start, still have sometimes (when disk
is cold) problems with reading MBR, but need just 1 or 2 resets (1 minute)
instead of 5 minutes. Maybe next SI 3112A controller BIOS update will fix it
completely :)
BNO: thanks for tips about bios utilities.You might also want to have a read through this thread: http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29207

Cheers

[zok]

Spinner:
Yes, have seen that. Also document from Maxtor, but did anyone actualy do what
djvga wrote ("Ground this pin to your case for example (to some screw)") ?
Or maybe, better start looking for cable that has pin 11 grounded....

[Spinner]

...but did anyone actualy do what
djvga wroteYeah, he did. ;) ;D

Obviously try his idea at your own risk, but going by what I've read, I think his method is sound. Follow his instructions to the letter and in theory it shouldn't put you ask risk of damaging any of your components. Essentially, you're only earthing a wire.

[arif]

Hi all
Im new here, ive search for this kind of problem and found this forum.
My problem is similiar with zok, with same mainboard (GA-7VAXP Ultra) and Maxtor Sata 120 gb.
My drive is recognize by the sata bios, but the system is unstable, sometimes i cant start windows. The drive is seems to work (i see hdd led is blinking) but the system not responding even i cant move mouse cursor. I need to restart or wait a long time.
I have tried the bios modded by Spinner but the problem is still there.
I think there is problem with the driver. Im using the latest raid driver -> 1.0.51 is it right?
Can anyone help me? or i need buy new mainboard :)

[DeNs]

Just to clarify...

Copy the 'updflash' to a floppy disk as well as the 'r4250' bin file.

You then need to boot into DOS using a floppy boot disk. You can download one from the SM downloads section if necessary.

Once in DOS type 'a:' to access the floppy drive. (If you're not already there)

Then type 'updflash r4250.bin'

That should work. Your original command line should also have worked, but typically you would only use the IDxxxx line if you had more than one PCI card and didn't want to be prompted as to which one you wanted flashing. The other parameters were also only optional, for the sake of simplicity leave them out for now.

Try the above again, and then post back. The 'updbios' utility is for creating your own custom BIOS files... I think.

Cheers

This alone is more than enough reason to love this place. I think i've learnt my lesson with flashing my controller's BIOS, or any BIOS for that matter. I don't know why, but I flashed the controller's BIOS through the inbuilt flash utility in the Driver's BIOS last night, with interesting consequences. It doesn't check to see if the input file is one designed for motherboards or add-in cards, and it incorrectly displayed the amount of memory the BIOS chip had, forcing me to use the only file that was below 64k (the mobo one).

I used updflash this morning without any luck using the following command:

updflash R4250.bin -a -d -v

I dunno why I didn't try the [updlflash R4250.bin] thing as it was, but it worked a treat. The board is now recognised again, but the real test will be to see if it's fixed my problem with my intermittent crashing when writing to my RAID0 array. I moved it over from a 3114 contoller integrated on my Abit IC7-Max3 board, and i'm now using a PCI addon card with a 3112 controller. I'd take it out of the RAID0 array if I could... Not enough space to backup my data :(

Anyway, thank you for your help. You guys are great!

---dens

[Kenno]

OMG. Thankyou. Thankyou. THANKYOU. You just saved my system. (Unfortunately I've already bought a new M/B)

What a great Forum.

Short History. I have a Gigabyte 7N400 pro2 M/B and recently tried to add a second 512mb ram to the system. Win XP kept crashing. So I went to the Gigabyte website for an updated BIOS. Unfortunatly I flashed the wrong revision (rev 1.0 instead of Rev 2.0) Now my Seagate SATA drive was unrecognisable and I could not reflash the correct version. After days of searching the web I finally gave up and ordered a new M/B. I woke up this morning and had one more try. Googling about forcing a BIOS update I found this website and this thread, and this link http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jefn/bootblock.html. With detailed descriptions of how to flash the bios.

Using Jef's instructions I forced the correct version into BIOS and "Voila" Here I am. Fully functioning again with 1024MB Dual channel installed.

Thanks Again.

[Semental]

I still think it is a combination of the 3112 chip and maxtor drives..
Yes I agree

[Semental]

Hi,

Spinner: thank you for modified 7vaxpu.f7 bios . Have installed it and works
ok. Also problems with Maxtor Diamond 10 Sata (160 GB) disk are reduced
a bit. Now disk is recognized at any start, still have sometimes (when disk
is cold) problems with reading MBR, but need just 1 or 2 resets (1 minute)
instead of 5 minutes. Maybe next SI 3112A controller BIOS update will fix it
completely :)
BNO: thanks for tips about bios utilities.
I am in the same case the system it works perfectly alone it fails the first seconds of the outburst.

GA-7Vaxp Ultra f7 bios and Sil3112A Bios Ver 4.1.36.
Double Maxtor 6B200M0 Raid MegaRaid stripping.

I see the problem very undoubtedly it is since silicon image the system it works Gigabyte correctly it is an esamblador and as all the assemblers they put component echos for other makers.
Other makers have also suffered therefore the same problem it is an error to accuse an assembler and to exalt to the other ones, when the culprit of this situation is Silicon. Something that my name is the attention is that ochre removes of its you paginate web all information and relating drivers to the pattern 3112a as if tries to hide its existence.
On what one speaks of the order of outburst of SATA RAID SCSI it is indifferent since the board starts up equally in anyone case. In the event of having another disk with another win an automatic menu it is believed being able to consent to anyone of the two facilities.
I believe that if you can nag to the fabriantes it is that they don't contribute the solution but quickly. However perhaps it is not you in their hand the solution due to the non understanding on the part of Silicon.
A problem that if I found it is the sil3112a incompactibilidad with the card Avertv studio since both they used the irq 18 if I don't remember bad and the problem solves it microsoft in winupdate he/she brings the controller's sil3112a update.
I was looking at that homemade Bios the 4.2.50 that there are I toss but the truth without having the original bios the 4.1.36c doesn't go arriegar a board without being able to return the bios to the original state.
Does Alquien know where to get the Bios of he/she manufactures to be able to recover in the event of the new one it doesn't work?

[Semental]

Spinner:
Yes, have seen that. Also document from Maxtor, but did anyone actualy do what
djvga wrote ("Ground this pin to your case for example (to some screw)") ?
Or maybe, better start looking for cable that has pin 11 grounded....
This is interesting it is possible that this it is the problem of most of all.
In my case io I don't have feeders SATA use adapters of type molded-SATA but nose if they are with pin11 or without them but if it fails me the outburst cold debit side to be that I use those that are not.
Although it is also possible that it changes my feeding source because already flaw something a fan anklebone thinking of pilllar this.
http://www.thermaltake.com/purepower/w049atx12v/w0049atx12v.htm
Will this have the SATA of 11 pins not?

[cochy]

Hey!
I need updflash.exe for motherboard (flash chipset, not add-on-card)!
I have GA-7N400 Pro2 (Rev 1.x) mboard.
I can't flash my bios, in windows is unknown chip and bios.
Thank you!

[playtimer]

Hey guys!
I stumbled to this place after 2 weeks of searching for solution of the problem I have. After banging my head :scratch: , I really need some help.

I have an Epox 8RDA3+ (rev.3.x) mobo, with the nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset and the famous SiI3112A onboard SATA controller. It worked just great with my 120GB ultra ATA HD, but then I sold it and got new western Digital WD1600JD 160 GB SATA drive. No matter what I did, i just couldn't format the partition and install Windows XP (SP1), so I figured out the problem is in SATA controller since this new HDD worked perfectly on Abit NF7-S mobo (with the very same chipset and the same SATA controller).

I emailed Epox about this problem, and they have sent me modified BIOS containing new 4.2.50 SATA controller BIOS. You can find it attached below for Your reference.

But this helped only partially. Using Western Digital's Data Lifeguard Tools I was able to create and format NTFS partition. The system and BIOS sees the WD drive, but when I started installing Windows, it lasted almost forever. After about an hour, installing was finished but the system takes about 2 or 3 mins to boot into Win XP, if it ever boots. Most of the time I get the message "The system cannot be started because the directory (blah blah) ..WIN32/SYSTEM can't be found. You can attempt recovering using Microsoft Recovery Console".. and so on. Once I was able to log on, I tried to install latest nVidia chipset drivers, and drivers for my Ati radeon 9200 VIVO graphic card, but then the system crashed. Now it's dead. :mad:

I am using only this single SATA drive in my machine, would like to make 2 X 20 GB and 2 X 60 GB partitions ,and finally make this thing work! :(

Now I know You guys posted some modified BIOS for EP-8RDA3+ here too, but I don't know should I try this one instead of one Epox sent me? Would it make some difference?

And finally, thanks for the great work here, but I really need some help. If anyone has some ideas what to do, please post a reply.

Best regards,
Pete

[matose]

Hi Guys!

I have a Shuttle AB60R with Silicon Image 3112 integrated on it. I want to ask you if you can send me a modded bios with Sil3112 4250 bios;)!

P.S: I wonder if Sil3112 supports NCQ (through software)?

Thank you.

[Fortigurn]

Here's my story. I'm on an Asus K8S-MX motherboard, with 2GB DDR 400 RAM, and an Athlon 64 3200, if that helps.

I installed a WD74G Raptor. This Raptor is caused my system to lock up every 5 minutes or so. Everything froze for about 30 seconds, and then unfroze again. Apart from the fact that this was incredibly annoying, it meant that I couldn't even format the drive.


I then took the driver CD which came with my motherboard, and from it I installed the Silicon Image drivers in Windows. Everything looked fine, and I formatted it without hassles, and could now use the drive.


I then attempted to use PartitionMagic 7 to copy my C partition onto the WD, so that I could start using it as a boot drive. The partition copy seemed to work (according to PM7), but when I rebooted I could see no files on the WD.


I then attempted to reformat the drive using PM7. It managed to get through 20% of it, and then hung.

Back to square one.

This is my Device Panel:

http://omnipotens.ath.cx/Images/Devices.jpg

This is my IDE driver:

http://omnipotens.ath.cx/Images/IDE.jpg

This is my RAID driver:

http://omnipotens.ath.cx/Images/RAID.jpg

I am wondering if I need to update any of these drivers. I have already updated the BIOS on my motherboard to the latest K8S-MX BIOS from Asus.

Is there a BIOS for the SATA controller on the motherboard which I need to update?

[Fortigurn]

Well, I checked it all over again, and it seems that a loose power connector may have been the problem. With the plug in firmly it formatted no problems, and I've been using it fine ever since.

Fingers crossed. ;)

[Fortigurn]

I'm going to have to check everything again. I ran HDTach successfully on it twice last night, and the third time the drive locked up. Rebooted, used the drive succsessfully for a while, and then the folder which was open in that drive locked up again.

After nearly two weeks of this, I'm growing a little weary.

[Squuiid]

This card will NOT WORK with an SBLive 5.1!

I remove the card and all works perfectly, re-insert (any PCI slot) won't even boot. Defo hardware and not software issue.

Anybody experience the same issue?

[wishmix]

:thumbsup: Hello Spinner,

I was wondering if you could help me out with modding my 8knxp's rev 2's bios with the latest bios update for Sil 3112- I would truly appreciate that!

The files have been attached-

Many thanks,

WishMiX

** UPDATE **

Just wanted to let you know that without any gutts there's surely no glory- I managed to update the bios with the latest Sil 3112 4250 ... Works like a charm...

Thanks-

WishMiX :thumbsup:

[Spinner]

:thumbsup: Hello Spinner,

I was wondering if you could help me out with modding my 8knxp's rev 2's bios with the latest bios update for Sil 3112- I would truly appreciate that!

The files have been attached-

Many thanks,

WishMiX

** UPDATE **

Just wanted to let you know that without any gutts there's surely no glory- I managed to update the bios with the latest Sil 3112 4250 ... Works like a charm...

Thanks-

WishMiX :thumbsup:Glad you got it sorted. :)

[cbr1100]

Does any one know if there is a bios out there for a Gigabyte 8INXP that includes the new sata bios This board uses the sil 3112 chip. If not is it very hard to make one? Thanks

[Spinner]

Does any one know if there is a bios out there for a Gigabyte 8INXP that includes the new sata bios This board uses the sil 3112 chip. If not is it very hard to make one? ThanksThere you go. Use at your own risk.

Cheers

[Natural Building]

This may be an old subject, but Asus never added the sil3x12 ver4.2.50 RAID bios for the A7n8x-E Deluxe Mobo. This newer raid bios migh solve my raid failures.

If you could mod the bios, or direct me to the proper instructions so I can give it a try, it would be greatly apreciated.

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe bios ver. 1013 modded to include Sil3x12 ver 4.2.50

Asus 1013 bios attached.

[enki3600]

Excellent, after much searching and playing/failing by myself, finally have the updated SATA BIOS installed and running much more smoothly! (and much faster booting too!)

Is there anyway to coax someone into possibly updating the ITE Raid BIOS as well?

I've got a 7N400 Pro (NOT Pro2 or Pro2r2), and it has an ITE controller on it listed as IT8212. I tried the flashing utility from their website, but it said it couldn't find a controller.
My current BIOS on it is 1.41, and it looks like the newest one is 1.7.1.94
as indicated at:
ITE BIOS Page (http://www.iteusa.com/software_download/software_download2.asp#IT8212 ATA133 Controller)
or just the actual file itself (http://www.iteusa.com/product_info/file/pc/Bios_8212Raid_094040-01.zip)

It says on there "for PCI card" and mine is integrated, not sure if that's a big problem?

Any help or advice or anything would be much appreciated! thanks in advance!

[Tmod]

It says on there "for PCI card" and mine is integrated, not sure if that's a big problem?

Any help or advice or anything would be much appreciated! thanks in advance!
When you have a PCI card bios and you want to embed it into the system bios usually you have to mod the PCI bios so it will fit as well as still work.

The still work part is the kicker as anyone can remove some bytes from a file to make it the same size but what code is removed and where is the key.

I have done it with other Raid and/Or Sata bios's but I have never even looked at the ITE Raid bios's.

Tmod

[Spinner]

This may be an old subject, but Asus never added the sil3x12 ver4.2.50 RAID bios for the A7n8x-E Deluxe Mobo. This newer raid bios migh solve my raid failures.

If you could mod the bios, or direct me to the proper instructions so I can give it a try, it would be greatly apreciated.

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe bios ver. 1013 modded to include Sil3x12 ver 4.2.50

Asus 1013 bios attached.There you go, use at your own risk. :)

[enki3600]

When you have a PCI card bios and you want to embed it into the system bios usually you have to mod the PCI bios so it will fit as well as still work.

The still work part is the kicker as anyone can remove some bytes from a file to make it the same size but what code is removed and where is the key.

I have done it with other Raid and/Or Sata bios's but I have never even looked at the ITE Raid bios's.

Tmod

Thanks for the response. I have no idea how to understand the machine code... if I were given all the proper literature on it and enough time, I'm sure I could, but it's likely that it's not publicly available :D

[lohi19]

Hi Spinner:

Would it be posible to get a modded bios for the Gigabyte GA-8KNXP Rev 1.0?
It has the SI3112 Sata Host Link Controller version 4.1.36C.
The latest bios F13 is attached.

Thanks in advance.

[Spinner]

Hi Spinner:

Would it be posible to get a modded bios for the Gigabyte GA-8KNXP Rev 1.0?
It has the SI3112 Sata Host Link Controller version 4.1.36C.
The latest bios F13 is attached.

Thanks in advance.There you go bud. Use at your own risk. :)

[lohi19]

There you go bud. Use at your own risk. :)

Thanks man. Very much appreciated! :)
Updated. Boots fine. So far no problems.

Cheers.

Ken :thumbsup:

[Tmod]

I had noticed that Silicon Image had two new 3112 bios's released for the PCI Add In card so I modded them so they are able to be embedded in the system bios.

So Spinner here you go.

4.2.66 (http://www.biosmedic.com/files/4266.rar)

4.2.70 (http://www.biosmedic.com/files/4270.rar)

EDIT: Here are some images from ATTO comparing the 4.2.50 to the 4.2.66.

I ran scandisk and defrag before each ATTO run.

This is also on a Add In PCI card on my DFI Ultra Infinity NFII.

http://www.biosmedic.com/images/4.2.50.jpg

http://www.biosmedic.com/images/4.2.66.jpg

I would say it was a worthwhile upgrade.

Tmod

[raoul_duke]

hello! i'm new to this forum
i have an embedded sil3112 (bios version 4.2.50) sata controller on my asus A7N8X-E deluxe mobo and i'd like to know if is available a v1013 bios with 4.2.66 or 4.2.70 sata bios, thanks!
another question: on this mobo, is it better to use v 4.2.66 or 4.2.70 ?

[Tmod]

hello! i'm new to this forum
i have an embedded sil3112 (bios version 4.2.50) sata controller on my asus A7N8X-E deluxe mobo and i'd like to know if is available a v1013 bios with 4.2.66 or 4.2.70 sata bios, thanks!
another question: on this mobo, is it better to use v 4.2.66 or 4.2.70 ?

I haven't seen anyone mod the 1013 yet using either of those SATA bios's.

Well the only version that I have tried was the 4.2.66 and it is the bios that is flashed on my 3112 PCI Add In card.

Tmod

[raoul_duke]

in this webpage (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/michael.mcclay/) it's available a modded v 1013 bios with 4.2.50 bios for embedded sata, but it's impossible to contact the webmaster :scratch:
maybe it's only a question of time...

[venious]

All,

I just purchased a sil-3112 PCI card (syba sd-sata150r), and I am trying to update the card's bios to 4.2.66 from 4.2.47. I have the updflash utility, but I am stuck on which flash memory type to use. The utility basically says that none of the supported flash memory chips were found, but I can select one for it to use. Has anyone updated one of these cards?

Thanks!

[venious]

All,

I just purchased a sil-3112 PCI card (syba sd-sata150r), and I am trying to update the card's bios to 4.2.66 from 4.2.47. I have the updflash utility, but I am stuck on which flash memory type to use. The utility basically says that none of the supported flash memory chips were found, but I can select one for it to use. Has anyone updated one of these cards?

Thanks!

Update: I used the #1 option with updflash and all worked flawlessly.

[r00tcracker]

Hi guys,

I guess my post is relevant to this if not, please delete..

I am having this strange problem.. here it goes!..

I bought a 300Gigs Seagate SATA HDD to add as a second hard drive (I already have an 80gigs IDE), installed it, drivers, everything.... so far so good, no problems at all.

The drive was working for a week with no problems!!

Today I turn the computer on, BIOS recognizes the SATA hdd , then goes to boot windows... I get the windows logo with the progress bar moving.. after that, the screen goes black, i get a little of HDD activity and after 20 seconds the Windows logo apears with the blue screen behind (like when you get the users to sign in) bit instead of the user sign in screen, it says.... Windows is starting up......... and it stays there FOREVER!!!.

If I go to the BIOS and disable the onboard sata, windows boots normally!!.

WTF is going on?!?!? How come this is happening!?!?!?. I really need help.

This is what I tried.....

Reinstalling sata drivers,
Changing cables.
Unplugging IDE devices.
Reinstalling windows
Updating Bios
I also run the Seagate Tools(the one that boots on DOS) to see if the drive is defective, but its not, it reads it properly, and tested 100% right

And when I tried to install Windows with the SATA drive connected, it will freeze.

Another thing (i don;t know if its relevant), when I installed the drive I made it dynamic, and I REALLY dont want to format because I have a LOT of files there.
Is there ANY possibility to get that SATA drive recognized on DOS so I can copy my files to the other HDD??

And I think thats about it.

I have Windows XP pro SP2
AMD Athlon 3000+
Gigabyte GA7n400 Pro2 Rev2 Motherboard
Seagate 80 gigs IDE (BOOT DRIVE)
Seagate 300gigs SATA

Any help would be appriciated!
Thanks in advance.

[xprtm]

ok i have a question...
i have an asus p4g8x deluxe and it has a built-in Sil3112 sata controller.
i have the 1.0.0.53 drivers and when i go to the flash tab it says
Chip, Size, Bios and Date are Unknown and i dont have an option to flash the bios, its grayed out!

why is this?

thanks!

[Spinner]

ok i have a question...
i have an asus p4g8x deluxe and it has a built-in Sil3112 sata controller.
i have the 1.0.0.53 drivers and when i go to the flash tab it says
Chip, Size, Bios and Date are Unknown and i dont have an option to flash the bios, its grayed out!

why is this?

thanks!Because the SI 3x12 controller is built into your motherboard, the BIOS for your SATA controller is part of your motherboard BIOS and isn't seperate, so it can't be flashed independently, like say, a PCI card version of your controller. So the only way to update your onboard SI3x12 controller BIOS is through flashing your motherboard BIOS to the most recent version, or if that doesn't contain the most uptodate SI 3x12 controller BIOS, you could mod the latest BIOS for your motherboard with the most recent BIOS for your SI 3x12 controller manually, and then flash it.

But if you haven't got any problems, I wouldn't worry about it. :)

Cheers

[ducon]

hi, guys, first sorry for me english ( i'm french ), does it work on windows 98 SE ? i've a hold cpu PII 400 Mhz!

[volvoben]

I'm not sure if anyone can help me here, but I have a tyan 1854c trinity 400 motherboard and i'm trying to get a new sata hdd on a sil 3112 pci sata card to boot. The OS is on an ata drive, i just wanted to use this older computer as a server with a few newer hdd's that are modern enough to be used in later machines.

The card is recognized in both linux and windows, with driver installed, but 99.9% of the time it hangs on boot right after verifying dmi data pool (or after boot from cd etc. depending on boot order). I got it to load once, formatted the drive in suse linux 10.0, restarted and haven't been able to get to an OS since. Disconnecting the drive allows successful boot.

If I use a boot cd such as knoppix, it works no problem, and knoppix sees the sata hdd. I've tried boot order changes, which worked once but not again.

I'm assuming my old (2000) BIOS on the tyan 1854 is just too old to mesh with sata, but i'm very hesitant to pay the $60 www.esupport.com wants for a new BIOS...I just want a place to put new hard drives before I piece together a newer 'server'. Any help would be fantastic!

[Raider]

Sorry to ask- but can you help once again?

First - I know what you did works - because I have been using your bios for over a year.

Second - I have to confess my techy skills fall short with what you are able to do, so please forgive me if this request is a waste of your time and simply un-necassery.

Since your last adapted bios there are new drivers for the 3x12 (v1.1.0.52) and a new bios for the 7N400 Pro2 (FK).

Please could you work your magic again so that I can use the latest driver?
If you think this isnt worth doing please say, and I will fully understand.

Links
Bios for 7N400 Pro2
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=1756

Direct link for latest bios (download)
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=BIOS&FileID=11307

Drivers for 7N400 Pro2
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ClassValue=motherboard&ProductID=1756&ProductName=GA-7N400%20Pro2

Direct link for latest 3x12 driver (download)
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/Motherboard/Driver_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=Driver&FileID=909

As a subnote - i read through all 13 pages of replies to your original 2004 post. I am now confusing myself between my motherboard bios, the driver I need to use with the bios - and wether i need to do anything to the SATA bios on my motherboard. I was simply going to use your adapted (if you can provide) FK bios with the 1.1.0.52 drivers. If i need to flash my Sata bios too please let me know, and I am sure i can figure it out as long as I know I need to do it. Cheers again!

[Raider]

As a note to volvoben - maybe try booting the machine with the SATA drives powered but not connected by SATA cord. The test is to see if your computer can not power this many devices. If it fails with all the drives powered but not plugged into the sata controller, then maybe it is your power supply unit that needs changing? Sorry I am not techy enough to help on your problem if it is software releated.

[abu]

Hi all,

First of all, thx for this forum. I should have read it earlier :(

I have an Epox 8RDA3+ Mobo with latest bios and 4.2.27 Sil3112 bios version. I bought a Maxtor SATA DiamondMax Plus 10 200GB (6L200MO) which worked fine for 1 week: detected flawless by Sil3112 (embedded), installed Win XP Pro with no problems while partitioning/formatting. After the 1st week the system started to freeze while the HDD was making some strange noise (like reapeated power ups). I run PowerMax 4.22 which diagnosed the HDD as defect. So I went to the store to replace it. At the store they performed a full stress test on it. The HDD passed it with no problems :|. But they still replaced it. The new drive worked fine for 2 weeks. Now i have the same problem: XP starts booting and then a blue screen appears. The error is 0x00000024 which appears also when i boot from my ATA drive with the SATA MAxtor connected. It sais smth about the ntfs.sys driver. I tried to solve the problem using the instructions on the MS site related to this error. But before the winxp repair console to load i get the same error. I tried to boot the system form another SATA HDD (SeagateBarracuda 7200.7 120GB) and it works just fine. I tried to upgrage SIL3112 bios (from the driver tab and also with the updflash utility): no success :(. (running on coffee now ... 27h uptime and i'm desperate :sawed: ). TMod's website seems to be on the move ... :((
Please help. Thx!

[Spinner]

After my last thanks for this post, I thought everything was sorted.

I have upgraded to two Raptor 74GB drives that I wanted to strip.

Again problems emerged when the Raptors were set to strip (or mirror) and I wanted to then install on the "stripped" drive.

My windows CD would not recognise this array, (or the previous WD 160G mirrored array), but only see individual drives. This is wierd, as I am sure it worked before.

After some further research (which brought me back here) I found the following (and also repeating what others have said).

Check the bios version and driver version are the same - I can verify that using the wrong drivers on a floppy to the bios version will not allow you to recognise the drives correctly.

Change WinXP disk - I have many disks - and the one I was using seems to be without the right driver (?)

I am going to see if I can ask nicely on the other board RE modded bios to see if I can ask for a bios including the new 1.1.052 driver and the latest release bios. If you have a 7n400 Pro2 rev2 may want to see if i get a reply.

http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20543 (look for page 13 reply 242)

Thanks again to all those who have helped highlight this problem, and kept it here for me to refer back to (many times) from http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25495

Sorry to ask- but can you help once again?

First - I know what you did works - because I have been using your bios for over a year.

Second - I have to confess my techy skills fall short with what you are able to do, so please forgive me if this request is a waste of your time and simply un-necassery.

Since your last adapted bios there are new drivers for the 3x12 (v1.1.0.52) and a new bios for the 7N400 Pro2 (FK).

Please could you work your magic again so that I can use the latest driver?
If you think this isnt worth doing please say, and I will fully understand.

Links
Bios for 7N400 Pro2
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=1756

Direct link for latest bios (download)
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=BIOS&FileID=11307

Drivers for 7N400 Pro2
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ClassValue=motherboard&ProductID=1756&ProductName=GA-7N400%20Pro2

Direct link for latest 3x12 driver (download)
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/Motherboard/Driver_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=Driver&FileID=909

As a subnote - i read through all 13 pages of replies to your original 2004 post. I am now confusing myself between my motherboard bios, the driver I need to use with the bios - and wether i need to do anything to the SATA bios on my motherboard. I was simply going to use your adapted (if you can provide) FK bios with the 1.1.0.52 drivers. If i need to flash my Sata bios too please let me know, and I am sure i can figure it out as long as I know I need to do it. Cheers again!Your motherboard BIOS contains the SATA controller BIOS for your 3512 controller. You can use whatever driver versions you like as long as they correspond with the mode your controller is set to run in. If you're running the controller in BASE mode you use the IDE version of the driver (e.g. 3x12 SATA IDE Windows Controller Driver v1.3.63.0 (http://www.short-media.com/download.php?d=527)) and if you're using the controller in RAID mode (as you should be regardless of whether you're using RAID or a single disk) you use the RAID version of the driver (e.g. 3x12 SATA RAID Windows Controller Driver v1.0.0.53 (http://www.short-media.com/download.php?d=528), or the one from Microsoft Update carrying the version number v1.0.56.0.)

The v1.1.0.52 drivers are old IDE drivers and will not work with your controller when using RAID (or in RAID mode rather). You should be using the RAID version of your controller driver. There are two different types of drivers for your controller, an IDE version and a RAID version. As I've just indicated, the IDE version should only be used when the controller is in BASE mode (i.e. the controller BIOS dialogue doesn't show up on POST) and the RAID version of the driver should be used when running controller in RAID mode (essentially when the controller is fully enabled).

However, within those rules, even though it is recommended that you use the latest controller BIOS version and the latest driver version, it is not essential for you to have the latest version of both. You just need to be using the correct driver type (not version) e.g. IDE or RAID.

Now, to your problem...

1) Flash the attached BIOS for your motherboard (GA-7n400pro2[rev2.x] vFK modded with the latest SI3512 controller BIOS v4347).
2) Download these drivers: http://www.short-media.com/download.php?d=528 (3x12 SATA RAID Windows Controller Driver v1.0.0.53)
3) Extract the contents of the .zip file straight to a freshly formatted floppy disk.
4) In your motherboard BIOS (CMOS) make sure your controller is enabled and set to RAID mode (not BASE).
5) Upon POST (when your computer initially starts up) enter the SATA 3512 RAID controller BIOS and setup your RAID 0 array (striping). (Obviously make sure both your SATA hard drives are plugged in and have power.)
6) In your motherboard BIOS (CMOS) make sure CDROM is your first boot, in your boot order, and your RAID controller is second.
7) Insert your floppy disk (with the drivers on)
7) Run your Windows XP installation CD from POST.
8) At the very start of the installation press F6.
9) When prompted choose the Windows XP driver version.
10) You should then be prompted to partition and format your RAID array.

To sum up, I think the only problem you were having was that you were trying to use the IDE driver when you should have been using the RAID driver.

Let me know how you get on. Use the attached BIOS at your own risk.

Cheers

[firbc]

Hi guys, I have problem with updating silicon image 3112A BIOS on giga-byte 8INXP motherboard, and I have no idea how to combine motherboard BIOS and Silicon BIOS. Can anyone help me?

Thx.

[Borg Number One]

Hi firbc.

1.)
In the attachment below, there is the GigaByte 8INXP BIOS file with updated Silicon Image 3112A BIOS module.

8INXP BIOS version F5 was used:
http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=1597&ProductName=GA-8INXP
...and the Silicon Image BIOS (4.1.36C) was removed and the the Silicon Image BIOS (4.2.76) was inserted.

2.)
The GigaByte 8INXP BIOS also contains a FastTrak RAID Controller BIOS:
"FastTrak133 (tm) "Lite" BIOS Version 2.00.0.20 -- 1995-2001 Promise Technology"

If you whish, I can check for FastTrak RAID Controller BIOS updates too.


3.)
To update your BIOS you can take the flash utility from the original BIOS update package and here are the instructions for a BIOS update:
http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/FileList/NewTech/old_motherboard_newtech/tech_qflash.htm
http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/FileList/NewTech/old_motherboard_newtech/tech_a_bios.htm
http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/HowToReflashBIOS.aspx


Use the attached BIOS at your own risk.

[Raider]

Let me know how you get on. Use the attached BIOS at your own risk. Cheers

Once again, Many thanks, really appreciated.
All is fine, for now....

[NT78stonewobble]

@ Abu

Also having problems with the 8rda3+. I've had one sata diamondmax10 160 gb running fine for months. Now I've added a second one (not in raid or anything) and the darn controller only recognizes it once in a while and wont format it at all.

Read my thread to see my story :S

Hope your problem gets fixed :)

[firbc]

Thx for fixed BIOS. Borg Number One, can i ask how are you combine those BIOS files. Thx again!