Help! Need to update GA-8KNXP Ultra 64 BIOS

Recommended by Wim's BIOS...

Hi, first time posting and looking for some help. I'm a virtual newbie but have been trying to learn how to update my BIOS to support SATA Raid 5. The issues's I have are that the current version F7 Gigabyte BIOS flash doesn't recognize my SATA Raid configuration using the 4 SATA Raid ports. I'm using 1 TB Seagate Barracuda drives on each of the SATA Raid ports. With the F7 BIOS as supplied by Gigabyte, the MB doesn't "see" the drives. During post it hangs at the point where it hardware identifies the first 1TB drive. I need to disconnect all the SATA Raid drives to get past that point. All is set up correctly in the current BIOS so no problems there. The computer works perfectly otherwise once it boots without the SATA Raid disks in the loop. I'm currently running XP Pro SP3 with all drivers current.

What I've figured out so far is this. If I use cbrom215 to install the version 5.0.73 of the Legacy BIOS from Silicon Image for the SiI3114 chip that's used for SATA Raid into the Award v6.00pg BIOS that's on the MB, I can boot through fully and set up the Raid configuration by doing the F4 setup routine. I can install the legacy drivers all the way up to 1.0.21.0 and everything is fine. However, and this is where the problem is, I want to use the newest BIOS and driver for the Silicon Image SiI3114 which supports the Raid level 5 incarnation. Now this is a software only Raid level according to Silicon Image and I confirmed with them that there is no hardware limitation why this can't be implemented on the GA-8KNXP Ultra 64 MB. It just needs to be supported in the write of the Gigabyte portion of the BIOS in the modular v6.00pg chip. Speaking with Gigabyte seems to yield very little results. Its like they don't care to write a version F8 to support the new BIOS codes that are available now from Silicon Image as well as probably Adaptec and others that are also on this board. Of course that is just speculation on my part but I feel its pretty accurate.

So I used cbrom215 to release the old PCI [C] location of the SiI3114 Legacy BIOS and installed the SiI3114r5 version 5403 of the Raid level 5 supported BIOS into the Award v6.00pg BIOS chip and tried that. It works great! I can F4 into the Raid setup screen, configure a Raid 5 on the 4 hdd and all looks sweet. It boots up to the OS fine as well. However, going into Device Manager shows a yellow exclamation point. Now no matter how hard I try to get the OS to take the new version 1.5.15.0 driver supplied by Silicon Image, it just won't go! It just keeps looking for the old legacy driver 1.0.0.1 up to the current legacy driver of 1.0.21.0! So the only way it knows that this is what it wants is from information it is getting out of the F7 version of the Gigabyte BIOS, or at least that's what I'm being led to believe.

Can anybody suggest a way of going into the Gigabyte part of the BIOS and changing it to not want to go looking for the SiI3114 driver, but instead the newer SiI3114r5 driver? I've tried using Hex Workshop and Neo to view it but I guess it's compiled and not readable. So I tried decompiling it but no luck there either as I don't know what language was used to build it and the decompiler I was trying just kept crashing on me.

Silicon Image told me a little info in that besides the SiI3114 to SiI3114r5 changes that need to be done, the manufactures ID needs to be modified from 6114 to 7114 as well where it appears. I've found some of these components as well as a vendor number of 1095. Of course I'm assuming that if any changes can be made, a new checksum will also need to be created. I don't know how to do that part either just yet but hope to learn it.

Sorry for the long post but I thought I'd give you as much info as possible to define the problem. I hope it's not too confusing! I probably left out things that needed to be here, but if there is something I missed that someone might need, please ask and I'll do my best to see if I can give you what you ask.

Any an all help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

[cp]

why messing around with vendor ids in roms and checksums? why not modifying the drivers instead? any links to the different driver versions?

Hi CP,

Thanks for the suggestion. I've thought about that as well and actually did try a few things with the driver but since I'm no expert in that department either, I wasn't successful. I loaded the Gigabyte Legacy driver and compared files from the new driver that I wanted to install, replaced the ones that looked to be needing changing and then tried getting it to install. Unfortunately there obviously is more involved as somewhere it found a script to run and once again installed the legacy SiI3114 driver! I had removed the .inf, .cmd, .sys, .cat, .cpl, and maybe a few more and replaced them with the new file, but it still didn't work. There's something else in the Legacy Gigabyte driver that calls out gets what it needs to go about installing the old driver instead of accepting the one I want stuck in. I just thought that if I was able to modify the BIOS for the Gigabyte it would fix the driver problems as well as be fixed to go to the windows update site in the future and always get correct updates. This way if a year or more from now something crashed, I wouldn't have to go reinstalling hacked drivers again.

It's just too bad Gigabyte won't take the time to look at their BIOS and make the necessary changes to bring this about. I've been a big supporter of their products and have spend many thousands of dollars personally and probably twice as much through my company on their products and the one time I ask for a little bit of help they don't come through. Kind of leaves me wondering......

Here are some links to the drivers and bios's from Silicone Image and Gigabyte.

Driver download page. I need the 1.5.15.0 driver for SATARaid 5
http://www.siliconimage.com/support/sea ... cat=3&os=4

Silicon Image BIOS download page. I need the 5.4.0.3 BIOS
http://www.siliconimage.com/support/sea ... at=15&os=0

Gigabyte's Legacy F7 driver download page
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Moth ... uctID=1772

Thanks for all your help.

[cp]

patched bios

patched driver

flash the bios first, then install the driver. please report back with the results.

Hi CP,

Wow! Thanks for being so quick coming up with a BIOS and driver patch. You must have burned the midnight oil on it!

So here are the results after I put in the BIOS and driver.

I used the BIOS installer utility to install the reworked original Gigabyte F7. It installed fine. I did a reboot and the first thing I noticed is that the SiI3114 SATA Raid set up request screen did not pop up as it usually does. So I let it continue on and the computer came up okay. I went to the device manager and it showed a Raid controller with the question mark. So, I tell it to install the driver that you also sent me. It starts to install and then throws up the "Hasn't passed Windows Verification" screen. I click past that and it installs files. Then it pops up a window and it says "hardware is not found. Device cannot start. Code 10" Device manager shows that it has the SATARaid5 software installed for the Silicon Image 3114.

I check disk manager and it doesn't see the 4 hard drives either. So.... this one didn't work. I shut down again and went to the setup in the BIOS screen thinking that "maybe" the SATA Raid feature had gotten turned off and needed turning back on. Afraid not, all was good in there. Restarted and as before, the BIOS start up screen for the SATA Raid feature of the SiI3114 didn't come up. Guess it's not starting for some reason now. Something is still not set up correctly in the Gigabyte script I'm guessing.

So, I uninstalled everything and put it back to the legacy version and it all came back up as it was when I first started.

What I did get though CP, is the latest unpublished BIOS and Driver set from Silicon Image for the SiI3114! It's the one that the OEM's get to implement into their BIOS scripts for them to write updates for their motherboards. Its apperently not on the Silicon Image web site yet as they didn't really see a need to put it there yet I'm told. Is this something you could use to help try to get this going? If so, I'll try to include it here somehow as I don't really know how to add attachments yet. Never done that!

Well I tried but no luck so I think I don't have privelages to put attachments in my posts. Or else I just don't know how to do it. Oh well....

Thanks again so far CP, if you can think of any other reasons as to why this isn't working, please let me know.

Albert

[cp]

okay, i already feared that the bios won't work the way intended. i just uploaded a different version, you might try that one. link is the same, just the file has changed. i included the latest sata bios but i don't know if it has the required RAID features implemented.
i don't think that the driver will work with the new bios either but it's still worth a try.

Hi CP.

Well once again, thanks for taking a swing at this issue.

I installed the second BIOS you sent me and tried it out. It again installed fine but this time the SATA Raid setup option screen popped up and allowed me to get into the settings where it was still showing a Raid 5 setup. Rebooted and got to windows where it discovered new hardware and asked how I wanted to install the driver. So, I told it where the second driver was that you sent me and it popped up two screens during install. First was the common "Windows not passed screen" which I clicked through. Then the second one was that it couldn't find the .sys file in the folder. SO I directed it to that one and clicked continue. It showed it was copying files and then it popped up the final third screen once again saying that the hardware had a problem and could not start (code 10). It shows it again as being a SATA Raid 5 but it doesn't start up and see the hard drives in disk manager.

I'm sure you're close! Somehow something in the vendor ID , and the other ID settings seem to need to be changed I think. At least that is what the Silicon Image fellow told me. Of course I'm sure there are other issues in Gigabyte's part of the BIOS code that must also jive but I have no idea where to start on that one!

So thanks for trying up to now but just no go yet! Again, much appreciated for your help.

Albert

Hi

In first excuse me for my low level in english, i try to be clearly as must as i can.

well, this a an old problem for me too (since mid 2005)
I make my own bios mod with Award tools and ALL IS FINE IF:

1) you use the SiL3114 RAID Bios 5.3.14.
2) you modify the driver like this : (i do the same thing for Abit IC7MAX3,i suppose CP do this too) :

; This INF file installs the Silicon Image Serial ATA Raid 5 driver
; for the SiI 3114 controller on systems running Windows 2000, Windows XP
; and Windows 2003.
;
; Copyright (C) 2006 by Silicon Image, Inc.
; All rights reserved

[Version]
Signature="$Windows NT$"
Class=SCSIAdapter
ClassGuid={4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Provider=%SI%
CatalogFile=Si3114r5.cat
DriverVer=02/05/2007, 1.5.15.0

[SourceDisksNames]
1=%DISKNAME%,Si3114r5.sys,,

[SourceDisksFiles]
Si3114r5.sys = 1
SilSupp.cpl = 1
SiWinAcc.sys = 1
SiRemFil.sys = 1

[DestinationDirs]
DefaultDestDir = 12
DllFiles = 11

[DriverFiles_NT_2K]
Si3114r5.sys,,,0x20

[DriverFiles_XP]
Si3114r5.sys,,,0x20
SiWinAcc.sys,,,0x20
SiRemFil.sys,,,0x20

[DllFiles]
SilSupp.cpl,,,0x20

[Manufacturer]
%SI%=SI_HDC,NTx86.5.1

[SI_HDC]
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_71141095
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_71148086
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_81361043
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_81671043
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_902A1695
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_310215BD
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_052FA0A0
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_104A147B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_104B147B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_B0041458
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_71001462
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_71251462
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_72291462
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_471015D5
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0C25105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CC1105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CCA105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CCB105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CCC105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CCD105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CCE105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CCF105B

*************************************************

%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_61141095

*************************************************
[SI_HDC.NTx86.5.1]
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_71141095
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_71148086
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_81361043
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_81671043
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_902A1695
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_310215BD
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_052FA0A0
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_104A147B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_104B147B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_B0041458
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_71001462
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_71251462
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_72291462
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_471015D5
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0C25105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CC1105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CCA105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CCB105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CCC105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CCD105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CCE105B
%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0CCF105B

**************************************************

%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%=SI_3114_XP, PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_61141095

**************************************************

;; Windows NT4.0 and Windows 2000 install sections
;;
[SI_3114.NTX86]
Copyfiles=DriverFiles_NT_2K, DllFiles
CopyInf=sippd.inf

[SI_3114.NTX86.Services]
AddService=Si3114r5,0x00000002,SI_3114_Service_Install, Miniport_EventLog_Inst

[SI_3114.NTX86.CoInstallers]
Copyfiles=DllFiles
AddReg = SI_3114_CoInstall_AddReg

;; Windows XP install sections
;;
[SI_3114_XP]
Copyfiles=DriverFiles_XP, DllFiles
CopyINF=sippd.inf

[SI_3114_XP.Services]
AddService=Si3114r5,0x00000002,SI_3114_Service_Install, Miniport_EventLog_Inst
AddService=SiFilter,0x00000000,FilterService_Install
AddService=SiRemFil, 0, RemovableDevFilter_Install

[SI_3114_XP.CoInstallers]
Copyfiles=DllFiles
AddReg = SI_3114_CoInstall_AddReg

[SI_3114_CoInstall_AddReg]
HKR,,CoInstallers32,0x00010000,"SilSupp.cpl, CoInstHandler"

; This will assure the Class driver sends down a Sync Cache before writting the
; hibernation file.
[SI_3114_XP.HW]
AddReg=SI_3114_AddHackMask.AddReg

[SI_3114_AddHackMask.AddReg]
HKR, "Classpnp", "HackMask",0x00010001, 0x10


[SI_3114_Service_Install]
DisplayName=%SI3114.SvcDesc%
ServiceType=1
StartType=0
ErrorControl=1
ServiceBinary=%12%\Si3114r5.sys
LoadOrderGroup=Scsi miniport
AddReg=PnPSupport_AddReg
AddReg=PortConfigure_AddReg
AddReg=ProblemDeviceList_AddReg
AddReg=ChanConfigOverrides_AddReg
AddReg=SupportedSubSystemIds_AddReg

[FilterService_Install]
DisplayName=SATALink driver accelerator
ServiceType=1
StartType=0
ErrorControl=0
ServiceBinary=%12%\SiWinAcc.sys
LoadOrderGroup=Filter

[RemovableDevFilter_Install]
DisplayName=SATALink External Device Filter
ServiceType=1
StartType=0
ErrorControl=1
ServiceBinary=%12%\SiRemFil.sys
LoadOrderGroup="PnP Filter"
AddReg=RemovableDevFilter_AddReg

; Enable removable device filter to attach to disk and cd-rom class devices.
[RemovableDevFilter_AddReg]
HKLM, System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}, UpperFilters, 0x00010008, SiRemFil
HKLM, System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e965-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}, UpperFilters, 0x00010008, SiRemFil

; Mark device as supporting Plug & Play on the PCI(5) bus.
[PnPSupport_AddReg]
HKR,Parameters\PnPInterface,5,0x00010001,1

[PortConfigure_AddReg]
HKR,Parameters\Device,MaximumSGList,0x00010001, 33
HKR,Parameters\Device,NumberOfRequests,0x00010001, 124

; List of devices with known configuration issues.
[ProblemDeviceList_AddReg]
HKR,ProblemDevices
HKR,ProblemDevices, %ProblemDev1Name%, 0, %ProblemDev1Value%
HKR,ProblemDevices, %ProblemDev2Name%, 0, %ProblemDev2Value%
HKR,ProblemDevices, %ProblemDev3Name%, 0, %ProblemDev3Value%
HKR,ProblemDevices, %ProblemDev4Name%, 0, %ProblemDev4Value%
HKR,ProblemDevices, %ProblemDev5Name%, 0, %ProblemDev5Value%
HKR,ProblemDevices, %ProblemDev6Name%, 0, %ProblemDev6Value%
HKR,ProblemDevices, %ProblemDev7Name%, 0, %ProblemDev7Value%

; List of controller subsystem IDs to be supported by the Si3114r5.sys driver on
; NT/Win2K/XP systems.
[SupportedSubSystemIds_AddReg]
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc%,0x00010001, 0x71141095
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (Intel 8086)",0x00010001, 0x71148086
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (ASUS 8136)",0x00010001, 0x81361043
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (ASUS 8167)",0x00010001, 0x81671043
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (EPoX 902A)",0x00010001, 0x902A1695
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (DFI 3102)",0x00010001, 0x310215BD
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (Aopen 052F)",0x00010001, 0x052FA0A0
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (ABIT WI-1P)",0x00010001, 0x104A147B
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (ABIT SC-1P)",0x00010001, 0x104B147B

*************************************************************

HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (ABIT IC7MaX3)",0x00010001, 0x61141095

*************************************************************

HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (Gigabyte B004)",0x00010001, 0xB0041458
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (MSI MS-7100)",0x00010001, 0x71001462
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (MSI MS-7125)",0x00010001, 0x71251462
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (MSI MS-7229)",0x00010001, 0x72291462
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (Tatung 4710)",0x00010001, 0x471015D5
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (Foxconn 0C25)",0x00010001, 0x0C25105B
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (Foxconn 0CC1)",0x00010001, 0x0CC1105B
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (Foxconn 0CCA)",0x00010001, 0x0CCA105B
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (Foxconn 0CCB)",0x00010001, 0x0CCB105B
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (Foxconn 0CCC)",0x00010001, 0x0CCC105B
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (Foxconn 0CCD)",0x00010001, 0x0CCD105B
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (Foxconn 0CCE)",0x00010001, 0x0CCE105B
HKR,SupportedSubsystemIDs,"%PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114.DeviceDesc% (Foxconn 0CCF)",0x00010001, 0x0CCF105B

And i have a fully functional driver
Same thing with Gigabyte mobo WITH 5.3.14 bios

I must precise the IC7 max3 Mobo don't have problems with 5.4.03 RAID BIOS because the ABIT bios don't work like GIGABYTE one.

I try to explain why (i hope i will be clear!!!) :

Into the gigabyte bios in "integrated peripherals" section you can see 2 lines:

SATA RAID-5/ATA CONTROLLER : Disabled/enabled
SATA CONTROLLER FUNCTION : ATA/RAID5 (if i'm not make a mistake)

the second line inject a command to the raid bios,it works fine with all Sil raid bios to the 5.3.14 version.
the mobo have no problem with this module and you can use the lastest driver version without problem.

Now, if you replace the module with the 5.4.03, one strange behaviour occurs :

it seems there's a conflict between the raid module and the gigabyte bios.Like you said in your post, the 5.4.03 setup appears and you can go into to set RAID5, BUT, but.... the gigabyte bios force the RAID BIOS module to ATA !!!!! i can say if you have builded before a raid Array and you boot ONLY ONE TIME like this, the Raid5 definitively goes wrong !!!

i try all combination as i can, but 5.4.03 sil raid bios with gigabyte NEVER
works correctly :

if we want a functional bios with 5.4.03 bios module,i think the better way is to remove the gigabyte command, but i have no sufficient skill to mod it

I precise the abit ic7 max3 never had problems because the bios don't do anything or inject command to the raid bios module.

If CP can do this mod ,the dream will be true !

Best regards, Ray

Hi Ray,

First off, nothing wrong with your English!!! I'm sure it's alot better than my trying at whichever language is your native one!

Thanks for the informative comments to my problem. Seems like you went through all of this awhile back in 2005. I never tried the earlier version of the Silicon Image BIOS or drivers. Figured the latest one "should" be the better one! Obviously not in this case.

I as well don't have the experience or the tools to go mucking around in Gigabyte's BIOS! Don't have a clue were to start. As you say, if CP could use your suggestion and see if there was something in the Gigabyte BIOS with those commands telling the SIlicon Image BIOS module to not run in RAID 5, but to start up in ATA, well, then yes, that would be the "Peaches Cream"

On another issue, I received an email back from Gigabyte saying that they are now going to elevate my issue to someone out of the country! I'm assuming that maybe someone in the US decided to send my problem up the chain of command and it's on its way to Taiwan! Maybe there's hope yet that they re-visit this problem and fix it in a F8 BIOS revision!!!!

In the mean time, I'm going to try your fix Ray and see what happens for me. Hopefully I'll get it going and we'll all wait to see if Gigabyte comes through with a fix.

Thanks for everyones help so far!

Albert

Hi Ray.

Well I performed the modifications to the .inf file as you outlined and used the Silicone Image 5.3.14 BIOS Module in the version F7 of the standard Gigabyte BIOS. I modified the 1.5.15.0 driver and used it as the one for the driver request. Well,,,, it accepted it and "said" all was fine and happy! However, I don't see the hard drive Raid 5 that I created and formated using the utility within the BIOS when I pushed the F4 key! If I go to the driver properties and look at the devices, I can see all the four drives there and they display correctly as to what they are, but, I can't see them or find them under the disk manager utility! Seems strange. What I did find out though is that the hard drive activity indicator light was flashing almost continuously! I figured that"maybe" the system was trying to format or identify the 4 drives now as it's new Raid 5 drive cluster. Well, I let it go like that for 24 hours and nothing changed! Computer worked fine otherwise, just that it didn't see the new Raid 5 configuration I had made the night before! SO, none the less, it didn't work fully! I don't know exactly why, but I'm sure there's something that I missed or its just slightly different on this GA-8KNXP Ultra 64 version of the motherboard. It's close, but just no cigar yet!

If you have any other ideas that may shed some light onto this problem, or another angle it should be approached on, please let me know!

Once again, thanks for your help Ray. It's real close I think!!!

Albert

Hi

Nice to see it's neeeaaarrrly OK!

The time to build a RAID5 with this model of SiliconImage controller can take a verrrrrrry looooong time.

We don't forget the fact than the Si3114 don't have an µP to calcultate the parity, like some Raid professional controller who have specially a processor to do that, (like Intel i960).

When i build the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) for my friend, i used 4 Maxtor 300Gb hardrive and i have the famous model with defective firmware I reflash the 4 HDD and all was ok and fine to build the R5.
(the ealier firmware make some CRC error when you use it in R5..... )


The first time i build the array, it take approx. MORE than 36 hours (!)
This why the hard drive activity indicator light was flashing almost continuously!

You can use immediately and format it, BUT, But.... the more you use it, the more it take time to finish and the R5 have a SLOW speed during this process !

if Gigabyte send you a new release : DON'T USE IT !
Why ? because Gigabyte remove the PCI prefetch due to a patent process and law suit between nVidia and Opti, The result: very bad pci performance

see here:
http://www.google.fr/search?hl=fr&q=pci ... idia&meta=

This is why Gigabyte was forced to update all socket 939 MoBo Bios in October 2008 but they don't update or rework the bios i think Gigabyte Bios engineer have too much work with the new mobo, who have various, numberous and serious problem when you "powerused" them


Best regards,Ray

P.S :
verify if your HDD don't have an updated firmware BEFORE you build your R5

you can find some HDD firmware update here :
http://files.hddguru.com/download/Firmware%20updates/

Hi Ray,

Thanks for the update!

I still haven't gotten the box going properly. I let it run for three days and still the same thing! Figured it should have been able to get figured out in that time but still the HD light was going nearly full tilt!

I now found out that my four new Seagate HD's all fall in that firmware bug problem! Not good..... So, before I go to much further, I have to get new ones to replace the bad ones which go back to the dealer. Got to at least make sure the drives are working correctly before trying to build a RAID!

I don't think that the GA-8KNXP Ultra 64 M/B falls into the PCI prefetch N/Videa problem though. Maybe I'm wrong on that one but I can't see where N/Videa chip set would come into play on this M/B. It has no built in video, and it has Intel and Silicon Image for RAID. If I'm wrong on that, please let me know!

I received another driver from Gigabyte the other day but haven't installed it just yet. Still hoping to get your fix to work as it seems to be the closest one yet to allowing it all to come together! I'll keep you informed as to how I make out with it all once I get my new drives. I'm thinking that I may get the new Western Digital 2TB drives this go around but they still are fairly pricey compared to the Seagates. Also not quite in the distribution channel fully either yet.

Thanks
Albert

Oupppss ! shame on me !!!

GA-8KNXP Ultra 64 have InteL chipset eheh yes ! No prob for PCi