SATA HD woes
I have GA-7N400 Pro 2 (rev 2.0), and a Seagate SATA150 80GB hard disk.
I've had a sneaking suspicion that something wasn't quite right, experienced some slight pausing during some games, but the crunch came when i tried to install CoD (having only had this computer a month) and it just not playing ball.
Anyway, upon checking the event viewer i found a few "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk0\D." Errors, and a truckload of "An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0\D during a paging operation." Warnings.
So i get SiSoft Sandra to check out my hard disk, and what do I find? It's having a lot of trouble writing to the disk. Basically the drive should be transferring at ~50MB/s, and while the read speed is very similar to that, the write speed are down at 4/5 MB/s.
Initially I thought the drive may be a bit faulty, but a quick trip round a mates house pointed my suspicion towards the Silicon Image 3512 SATALink Controller (either the chip or the driver), or the motherboard itself.
Mobo Bios version = FB
SiI3512 Bios version = 4.3.33
SiI3512 Driver version = 1.1.0.52
Now according to the Giga-Byte website I have the latest Drivers (although they seem to have just brought out a new Mobo BIOS), but the Silicon Image website has 4.3.47 BIOS version, but it says it's for the ADD-IN cards and not for mobo chips.
1: Can I use this latest SiImage BIOS safely?
2: Can anyone think of anything else I could try?
3: Should I be worried that the Hard Disk is called a "ST380013AS SCSI Disk Device" in the device manager?
[edit] I'm using normal BASE sata option *not* raid [/edit]
I've had a sneaking suspicion that something wasn't quite right, experienced some slight pausing during some games, but the crunch came when i tried to install CoD (having only had this computer a month) and it just not playing ball.
Anyway, upon checking the event viewer i found a few "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk0\D." Errors, and a truckload of "An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0\D during a paging operation." Warnings.
So i get SiSoft Sandra to check out my hard disk, and what do I find? It's having a lot of trouble writing to the disk. Basically the drive should be transferring at ~50MB/s, and while the read speed is very similar to that, the write speed are down at 4/5 MB/s.
Initially I thought the drive may be a bit faulty, but a quick trip round a mates house pointed my suspicion towards the Silicon Image 3512 SATALink Controller (either the chip or the driver), or the motherboard itself.
Mobo Bios version = FB
SiI3512 Bios version = 4.3.33
SiI3512 Driver version = 1.1.0.52
Now according to the Giga-Byte website I have the latest Drivers (although they seem to have just brought out a new Mobo BIOS), but the Silicon Image website has 4.3.47 BIOS version, but it says it's for the ADD-IN cards and not for mobo chips.
1: Can I use this latest SiImage BIOS safely?
2: Can anyone think of anything else I could try?
3: Should I be worried that the Hard Disk is called a "ST380013AS SCSI Disk Device" in the device manager?
[edit] I'm using normal BASE sata option *not* raid [/edit]
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"Silicon Image Mass Storage Controller" I have "ITE1RAID Controller" also.
Going to see what happens now after install
Please read this thread: http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9342&page=3&pp=20 It has a lot of discussion relating to your motherboard and its SATA controller.
I've attached a modded BIOS for your board based on the latest release from Gigabyte 'FC' but with the latest Silicon Image SATA BIOS v4.3.47. (The BIOS files posted on Silicon Image's website are for PCI card use only yes, but the package does also contain what's called an OEM Bios file for integration with a motherboard BIOS, which is what I've done with the attached motherboard BIOS) You should flash this before you do anything else. If you're having problems flashing, reset your CMOS and pull out the BIOS battery and PC power chord for a couple of minutes before attempting a flash (obviously plug them back in before you try and flash). Have a read of this PDF flashing guide from Gigabyte to confirm you're doing everything correctly: http://tw.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Support/BIOS/HowToReflash/pdf/flashbios_dos.pdf
The latest driver version for your SATA controller is v1.0.0.47, which can be obtained from the Short-Media downloads section. It's is listed as 'Silicon Image 3x12 SATA controller driver'. That is the driver you should be using.
All that being said though, I recommend you visit Seagate’s website ( http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html ) and download a diagnostic utility and test your hard drive for hardware faults. Just to make sure.
You also want to test your memory for faults, just to rule that out. You can download 'Docmemory' from the SM-Downloads section.
Once you've verified your basic hardware components, e.g. you memory and your hard disk, are hardware wise, working fine. You should probably re-install Windows. As it seems your OS is in a bit of a state right now. Please read this post http://www.short-media.com/forum/showpost.php?p=117706&postcount=8 to offer you some good install order tips.
Post back after you've tried the things I've suggested. Please also post your full system specs. Thanks.
I don't think so no. It's perfectly normal for SATA devices to show up as SCSI. I don't think you have anything to worry about with that.
Actually the latest driver for the 3512 Sata (non-raid) driver is 1.1.0.52 (on the GigaByte webby and the silicon Image webby)
I've tested my hard disk, both using Seatools and also using it in a friends computer and it tests fine.
I've also read that thread you mentioned and had already tested your modified FB+4347 bios, but have since tried the FC normal and the FC+4347 bios, but with all three I get blue screens during setup (if it even gets that far) and even when they do seem like working they have extreme trouble communicating with optical and floppy drives
Have tested the memory also and it checks out fine.
I'm now reinstalling windows using the method in your linked post, but i think i'm just going to return the mobo as faulty if it still has trouble writing to the drive afterwards
The non-RAID drivers might work (if you're not using RAID) but it is best to keep the driver most closely matched with the hardware capabilities of your controller. Just because you use the RAID driver doesn't mean you must use RAID.
I know there is a lot of problems with your motherboard in general with SATA, but before you start sending it back, you should try what I believe to be the best drivers to use for it. The RAID ones.
I'm a bit puzzled as to why Gigabyte actually supply their customers with the non-RAID driver, as most other motherboard manufactuers, ABIT for example, only supply you with the RAID version for people using motherboards with the 3x12 controller.
Try the RAID driver and see how you get on. However, if you're getting BSOD's during the setup of Windows XP, I think you have more problems on your plate than using the incorrect SATA drivers. I still sounds like the memory is suspect. Still, let me know how you get on.
I'll do a reinstall though with the raid drivers in a moment though.
It just seem bizarre for me to use the raid ones when they supply non-raid one :confused2
Oh well, I'll let you know what happens
The first time I tried it, the mass storage controller device appeared with a warning, so i told it to update the driver and told it to look at the 3112r.inf file that comes with the 1.0.0.47 drivers. Surprise here; it installs a driver with version 1.1.0.52 - it must think this is the correct driver
So I installed windows using them again but this time I update the driver and tell it to use the 1.0.0.47 driver.
As soon as windows thinks about loading it resets.
I know you think it may be memory related, but if that were the case then why did it all work fine (except the poor write speeds) for two weeks without a single crash? (and now work again with the non-raid drivers I used before)
Anyway, I'm returning the board as faulty now.
On one I'm running two Seagate 40Gb on the IDE connectors in RAID 0 and on the other 2 x 35Gb Raptors on the SATA ports as RAID 0.
No problems at all.
Only prob I had with this board was not setting the fsb correctly for the CPU, I had it on 166 instead of 133 for an XP1900. It wouldn't even POST. Solution was to set switch on board to 100 (200), boot into Bios and reset fsb. Then switch onboard switches all to auto and it was fine.
Not sure if that's relevant or helpful, but thought I'd mention it.
Like I said, the non-RAID drivers should work, but I've always found the RAID ones themselves work equally as well, if not more so. I admit, I myself am I bit hazy about the differences between the two driver sets.
Nevertheless, installing a driver, wrong or right, shouldn't make your system reset.
You said after re-installing Windows again, you tried to update the driver to v1.0.0.47. Does that mean you didn't use v1.0.0.47 from the beginning? (e.g F6 at the start of the setup) If you didn't, then you need to try installing Windows using v1.0.0.47 and only v1.0.0.47. That might not help, but you need to try it that way. If you already haven't that is. Once you've told Windows to use one driver, it can be quite stubburn when asked to use another.
But like you said, something doesn't seem right with that board. Floppy' makes a good point however, is your memory and CPU etc, running as the correct speed? Let us know how you get on though when you get a replacement.
Cheers
no no, I was using the 1.0.0.47 drivers both times during installation (pressing F6 - my hard disk doesn't register without). Both times though, the driver would not be installed after completion of installation, I had to manually go in and click 'update driver',
The first time I pointed it to the 3112r.inf (from the 1.0.0.47 driver set) and told it to choose an appropriate driver - it proceeded to install the 1.1.0.52 driver.
The second time i specified which particular driver to install (I had to manually choose 3512 from a choice of 2 - the other being 3112) windows told me that this driver was probably not the right one, but i installed it anyway to see if it would work. It didn't.
And yes, everything is running at the speed that it should. I'm not overclocking.
The computer is running fine again now (playing intensive games), with stock FB bios and the 1.1.0.52 non raid satalink driver. Only problem is the same stuttering when something needs to write a lot of stuff to the disk due to very low write speeds. I have to conclude from this that there is definately something wrong with the board (most likely the controller). I've tried everything I can think of (and more) for the whole of the last 3 days with no success. Considering it should work 'out of the box' and no-one else seems to have this particular problem, I think I've pretty much exhausted every avenue. You have to draw the line somewhere and say "it's just not going to work properly"
I've drawn the line.
Sadly, I think you may be right mate
After reading all this thread, I think it's time to get that RMA number. Bummer.
I think if anything this troubleshooting session has highlighted a few hazy spots with regard to those Silicon Image controllers. What is the best driver to use for single drive setups on the SI 3x12 RAID controllers? What are the differences between the two driver types?
I'm going to make sure I put some serious time into researching what the correct answers to those questions are. It's all very well speculating and recommending by experience, but it would be nice to have some hard facts to present to people.
Cheers