Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - I need to replace my RAID SATA PCI Controller card with a non-RAID Card

Jerold · 01-13-2007, 08:09 PM

Success!!!!!!

Firstly, thanks for all your assistance - your comments kept me thinking thru the problem until I solved it!

1. I used the PAM (Promise Array Management) Utility to delete Array 2 (2nd HDD). As a result, I was unable to access the 2nd HDD - Expected.

2. For some unknown reason, I kept going back into the system BIOS to figure out that F1/F2 issue. Turns out that Primary Drive 0 and Primary Drive 1 needed to be set to OFF. I don't know why, but Primary Drive 0 was set to UNKNOWN and that was causing the message since I had no IDE HDD;s installed.

3. I shutdown and installed the 2nd non-RAID SATA card. Upon Boot, I kept getting a BIOS not installed for the second card and it would go any further. Again, for no reason, I plugged in the 2nd SATA HDD cable into the 2nd SATA card and rebooted. It read the Maxtor HDD and went right into Windows.

4. Once in, it proceeded with the "New Hardware Wizard" and I downloaded and installed the latest drivers off the Promise site. Once the drivers installed, it immediately accessed the contents of the 2nd HDD.

5. I shutdown and removed the RAID card. It had a tiny cable that the manual states as some LED connector. The cord was too short to connect to the newly installed card, so I took it out of the motherboard.

6. Rebooted and it read both HDD's and booted right into Windows.

7. Uninstalled the PAM for the 1st SATA Card. I guess that the drivers for the 1st card are still in the machine somewhere, but I'm not going to hunt them down to uninstall. They shouldn't cause any problems.

This thread is solved!

01-13-2007, 08:09 PM	#8 (permalink)
Jerold Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 86 OS: WinXP Pro	Success!!!!!! Firstly, thanks for all your assistance - your comments kept me thinking thru the problem until I solved it! 1. I used the PAM (Promise Array Management) Utility to delete Array 2 (2nd HDD). As a result, I was unable to access the 2nd HDD - Expected. 2. For some unknown reason, I kept going back into the system BIOS to figure out that F1/F2 issue. Turns out that Primary Drive 0 and Primary Drive 1 needed to be set to OFF. I don't know why, but Primary Drive 0 was set to UNKNOWN and that was causing the message since I had no IDE HDD;s installed. 3. I shutdown and installed the 2nd non-RAID SATA card. Upon Boot, I kept getting a BIOS not installed for the second card and it would go any further. Again, for no reason, I plugged in the 2nd SATA HDD cable into the 2nd SATA card and rebooted. It read the Maxtor HDD and went right into Windows. 4. Once in, it proceeded with the "New Hardware Wizard" and I downloaded and installed the latest drivers off the Promise site. Once the drivers installed, it immediately accessed the contents of the 2nd HDD. 5. I shutdown and removed the RAID card. It had a tiny cable that the manual states as some LED connector. The cord was too short to connect to the newly installed card, so I took it out of the motherboard. 6. Rebooted and it read both HDD's and booted right into Windows. 7. Uninstalled the PAM for the 1st SATA Card. I guess that the drivers for the 1st card are still in the machine somewhere, but I'm not going to hunt them down to uninstall. They shouldn't cause any problems. This thread is solved! Last edited by Jerold; 01-13-2007 at 08:10 PM.