betyouaint

Okay, I've seen some posts from people having trouble running SATA HDDs on this board in both RAID and IDE mode. However, my problem is a little different so i won't hijack their posts....

In my case I am happily running 2 HDDs and 2 CD/DVD drives on the standard IDE and never even thought about SATA when I bought the board. However, from what I can gather, it is possible to run the Primary RAID IDE (not SATA) channel as a 3rd standard IDE, allowing a further 2 HDDs to be connected for additional storage. In my case I have connected another single HDD to the Primary RAID IDE. I have enabled the RAID controller in the BIOS and set the option to IDE mode (not RAID). Under XP I have installed the drivers for VIA Serial ATA Controller and for WinXP Promise FastTrak 378 Controller. However, although the 3rd HDD shows up in the boot screens it is not present once XP has finished booting. Under DEVICE MANAGER the WinXP Promise FastTrak 378 Controller has the yellow exclamation next to it and I am unable to successfully install the driver (finish hardware setup).

Give us a clue...?

clintfan

Hi betyouaint, and welcome to the forum!

Yes, but just bear in mind that the whole Promise PDC20378 chip runs on one mode or the other. In your case you have set the whole chip into RAID mode. So when you run the PRI_IDE port in IDE mode, the PRI_SATA and SEC_SATA ports will be in IDE mode also. You can't mix IDE and RAID modes on the same controller chip, and AFAIK all the popular chips work that way.


I think you have simply loaded the wrong driver. You can replace it fairly easily.

The VIA driver controls your SATA1 & 2 ports. This won't impact your problem with the PRI_RAID (or PRI_SATA, SEC_SATA) driven by the Promise.

For IDE mode on the Promise,you need to load the FastTrak "ATA" driver, also known as the Promise SATA378 Driver (ATA Mode). It's been my experience that Windows XP already has a copy of the Promise FastTrak RAID driver built-in, and unfortunately somebody misinterprets the Promise chip ID. As a result, if you allow Windows to load drivers "automatically", it always applies the RAID driver!

To get the SATA378 driver on there, you need to bypass automatic mode, and use a "Have Disk" method. With the Onbaord Promise Controller Operating Mode set to IDE, follow this procedure...

1. Download and unzip the driver to a known location.
2. Open Device Manager, find and right-click the Promise controller device and choose Update Driver.
3. In the Hardware Wizard which opens, on the first screen choose "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)" and click Next.
4. On the second screen, choose "Don't search, I will choose the driver to install" and click Next.
5. On the third screen, click the "Have Disk" button.
6. Click "Browse" and navigate to the folder where you put the driver. Go down the tree into the "WinXP" subfolder and highlight the UlSata.inf file. Click Open.
7. Back in Have Disk, click OK to confirm the location.
8. Devices available in the .INF file will be listed. Highlight the device named "WinXP Promise SATA378 (tm) IDE Controller" and click Next.
9. In the next screen, click Finish. The driver gets installed. I think there is one final confirmation screen after this.
10. Close Device Manager and reboot the PC.

Note that when you attach your extra drive, it might disturb your boot order. You might have to go back in and readjust it. But I doubt it, since it's way down on the PCI add-on controller, your boot drive probably won't get disturbed. Just keep it in mind just in case.


Once the right driver is set up to match the BIOS mode, use Administrative Tools- Computer Management- Disk Management or a similar tool to create a partition on your extra drive and format it. Then it will appear in MyComputer.

Hope this helps,

-clintfan

betyouaint

My BIOS is set up as follows:

OnBoard Promise Controller [Enabled]
Operating Mode [Inboard IDE Operate Mode]

I think I may have misled you when I said that I had enabled the RAID controller. I actually meant that I had enabled the Promise controller.

However, I downloaded and installed the Promise SATA 378 driver you suggested in place of the WinXP Promise FastTrak 378 Controller and instantly the additional drive appeared. No problems with boot sequence either as it has been assigned to drive letter I:

Thanks for your help. You have truly earned your status as guru...

cuz215

Hey guys, I found this thread and it's exactly what I"ve been having trouble with.

Basically I have two HD's setup on my VIA controller with no RAID setup. Now I have another HD that I wanted to connect to the FastTrack controller and use as a normal SATA drive (just how I have it setup and connected to the VIA controller). Well I completed the steps above, applied teh 378SATA drviers to the FastTrack controller, and to the FastTrack RAID controller, but I'm still getting the same error message during boot, the "No drive detected, ..... BIOS not installed" message, and when I go into Device Mgr, there is no additional drives for me to format and use. ANyone got any suggestions on what I can do, or if what I'm trying to do is even possible with thie MB. Oh, BTW, I got a K8V SE Delux.

Remember, I already have two HD"s connected to the VIA controller with no RAID setup. I just want to activate the FastTrack controller and connect another SATA drive to it to be used as I have on the VIA controller, with no RAID setup.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide guys, thanks!

cuz215

BlueDragon

How wonderful!!!...

...how a 4 1/2 year old thread can still be very helpful even today. With windows the slightest detail can make the difference between failure or success!

@cuz215: In the mainboard BIOS under Advanced--> Onboard Devices Configuration--> Onboard Promise Controller the Operating Mode must be set on IDE Mode. If the (new) HDD is connected to the SATA_RAID1 or SATA_RAID2 connector then it should work. The drive should be SATA I (1.5 GB/s) compliant as SATA II (3 GB/s) will not work with this controller chipset. Wheras the VIA VT8237 controller does NOTsupport autonegotiation the Promise 378 does support it for both my WD Scorpio 300GB drive as well as for my WD 1TB My Book Home Ed external drive. NB: some HDD manufacturer may allow to reduce the SATA speed to SATA I by means of jumpers or software utility.

ozjeebus

Hi folks,

Apologies for reviving an oooooold thread, but I just wanted to say thanks for this info - it saved my bacon.

riktor

Forgive me as well, however I've not been able to find a clear answer to a question regarding the promise drivers.

I have a a8v board with the same controller. If I plug my new 3gb/s drive into the VIA, it is undetected unless I set the jumper to 1.5gb/s.

However... When I plug into the promise, it actually does detect the drive. I am installing a fresh copy of XP on the drive and was curious if promise supports the 3gb/s speed. I have the floppy prepared with the VIA drivers, as I always used via in the past, but I do not have one for promise.

VIA is said to be the most stable on this board, but If I could get 3gb/s it would be worth it to use promise!

I would greatly appreciate the help if anyone knows!! :)

marcosaluzzo

Thanks for the info. Just what I have been looking for.

Riktor - SATA II (3 GB/s) will not work with this controller chipset, so you need to set to 1.5GB/s