NF7-S v2 Sata help

JAZ

Hi, ok I have a problem with my NF7-S v2 Sata raid controller, I've just installed XP on a new Sata WD200gb drive & I have another WD120gb using the 2nd port with that ide/sata convertor thing.
Everything installed ok but when ever I install that silicon 3112 driver it wants me to restart & as soon as I do this I cant get back into windows as it just sits on the winxp load screen & the progress bar stops & starts but never gets anywhere & I have to reset & choose "last settings that worked" option.
I just used that ATTO prog to see what speeds I was getting without that driver as it seemed rather slow & the 200gb gets a max of 12mb read/write & the 120gb maxes out at less than 3.5mb which is frankly pathetic.
Sandra gets the same speeds & says Im running my drives at below optimum settings (which I assume means Im not running them DMA or whatever but dont I only have the option to change that when the s3112 in device manager?)
I got the latest bios for my mb to see if that helped but no, I tried the only couple of that 3112 driver I could find but no good with either, this comp was working fine booting from the 120gb drive the otherday before I put the new 200gb in..
Thanks if you can help

EQuito

Try this:
Go here , download the latest SATA driver v.51 and update your existing driver.
Then go here , download bios v.26 with built-in SATA bios v.50 and flash your board.

Good luck!

JAZ

Hi EQuito thanks for the reply, I grabbed that new modified bios from your 2nd post on the Abit forum & it went on ok & says I now have the Sata version 50 in the boot up sequence but installing the driver in windows still gives the same problem after rebooting.
This XP install Im using was made from that Nlite program that lets you strip things you dont need from XP, would you think that could be causing this problem?
I dont think I removed anything important from it just things like windows help & games & drivers for devices I dont use & I added sevice pack 1 & the modified uxtheme to it.
The only other things I have put on the system so far is the longhorn transform pack (just for the extra themes), dx9.c, latest Nvidia chipset drivers, latest 9800 drivers, XP updates but not SP2.
Anymore Ideas ?

Jimborae

How old is the 120gb drive and is the seriall adaptor a version 1 or 2. I & other people have had probs with WD drives & the Seriall adaptor. The Seriall 2 adaptor solved some of problems with the drive not being recognised but i had one WD 40g that just wouldn't be recognised & caused hangs. It was due to the firmware on the drive.

JAZ

Well Jimborae the 120gb is from this year sometime (6 months or so old) & the adaptor is the Serillel2 version.
I thought that could be causing it as well & so just after I updated my bios & tried the things Eq suggested I removed the 120gb & tried updating with just the proper sata 200gb in but that didnt help, it just sat on the xp load screen as well, it doesnt hang completly as the progress bar stops & starts but doesnt go into windows (I left it for 10 mins).
Now Ive thought about it I am sure the last sil update didnt work for me on this comp before the format (I remember it allways showing up on w-update but I didnt update it as the time I did try updating it didnt work & I had to go back to the last version I had installed that worked)
Does anyone have an older version of that 3112 that I could try ?

JAZ

Ok I think I have found a work around to stop my drives being stuck in PIO mode, I tried putting the earliest version of the Sata driver on I could find which was on my NF7 cd & allthough they didnt work either they did install a utility that has let me choose UDMA for the drives (200gb now gets 50mb or thereabouts read/write which I can live with & 120gb slightly less)
This is no longer a priority but if anyone has any more ideas please reply..
Thanks EQ & Jim for the help though