Gigabyte GigaRAID setup (IT8212)

timk9 · 03-17-2006, 09:58 PM

Hey folks. I'm looking for another Gigabyte user (or someone bored enough to research for me) with some advice about GigaRAID. I've seen similar threads in this forum but my case is slightly different.

I'm using a GA-8GPNXP_Duo motherboard with an onboard ITE IT8212 RAID controller ("GigaRAID"). I have two SATA drives I wish to use as standalone (non-RAID) drives on port 0 and 2 (BIOS treats it as IDE1 ? ); two optical drives as master/slave on IDE0, and two IDE hard drives I wish to use in a RAID-1 array. The IDE drives are both master, alone on IDE2 and IDE3. I have SATA RAID disabled in BIOS, GigaRAID enabled.

The SATA drives work just fine and I can boot with them. THE PROBLEM IS: I'm not having difficulty configuring the array. Simply, the GigaRAID configuration screen is no longer an option! After the initial POST screen, ITE BIOS should tell me to press Ctrl-G to enter RAID setup but this screen no longer shows up! There are no error messages in its place, it just continues to the next screen.

I've followed all the instructions in the manual, and this setup worked just fine last summer (I disassembled and haven't used the machine in 6 months or so). I've since tried disabling GigaRAID, I've tried enabling it as standard ATA non-RAID, and they just won't show up. I've tried resetting to defaults within BIOS, and tried clearing CMOS via the jumper. I've upgraded BIOS to F7. Windows recognizes the RAID controller but will not automatically install the driver. I manually install the driver, and RAIDmgr program runs but doesn't detect a controller. BIOS and OS recognizes both hard drives as standalone drives if I move them to IDE0. I've tried various combinations of SATA modes in BIOS.

Any help would be appreciated. Hopefully I'm missing something simple. I emailed Gigabyte and they want me to RMA the motherboard because of a possible bad onboard controller. But I don't want to send it in, and it worked fine last year. Is there some way the controller is disabled/enabled separately from the controller's own BIOS? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!
Tim

**forcifer** · 03-17-2006, 10:14 PM

hmm. did it show anything at the bottom? maby you pressed it too late. try again, and try to press it sooner. there might be some lag between when you press it and when the card knows that you pressed it

timk9 · 03-18-2006, 04:34 AM

There is definitely no opportunity to hit the key, nothing at the bottom of the screen; it is supposed to be a full-screen message after the first POST screen, which waits 10 seconds for the key. Nevertheless I've tried it and nothing happens.

This is frustrating, it used to work just fine. Sitting idle for 6 months shouldn't kill it. The only thing different is that I installed a watercooler. I haven't noticed any problems resulting from that, everything runs pretty cool and stable. I hope I didn't whack something while installing it but I remember being very careful, I was grounded and everything.

Tim

**forcifer** · 03-18-2006, 05:39 AM

hmm thats wierd. if you can get to bios, disable quick-boot. that will slow it down.

timk9 · 03-22-2006, 10:55 AM

OK I've upgraded BIOS from F6 to F7 now (F2 to F6 at first post), no change. I've tried to download and update the IT8212 firmware from ITE's website but the site says that onboard controllers should be updated by the motherboard's own BIOS, and the update only works for the PCI card version. So I tried it anyway; the flash program refused to try it. Oh well...

Thanks for the suggestion forc, but I was looking for someone who has seen this problem with this board before (apparently other people have had a lot of problems with GigaRAID). I can get into system BIOS just fine, just not the controller BIOS. There is no quick-boot feature. I am POSITIVE that the screen is not coming up at all; not that it's just too fast for me.

My original question was whether it is possible for the controller BIOS to inadvertently become disabled, while the card itself is enabled in system BIOS. And how to reprogram the controller BIOS.

Thanks anyway dude, talk to you later.
Tim

timk9 · 03-22-2006, 11:50 AM

OK This time when I say *** I mean it in a good way! The controller just decided to start working again. I flashed F7 on top of F7 again and rebooted, with no change, but that's really the only thing that's different since the last time I wrote. The only thing I can think of is that I had powered off the whole thing via the switch on the PSU after turning it off with the power button. But that should have absolutely nothing to do with the problem or the solution.

I'm glad it has started working again, but I'm hella-frustrated cause I have no idea what caused or what fixed the problem. I'm gonna have to watch it for a while to make sure it stays good before I start relying on it...

Tim

03-17-2006, 09:58 PM	#1 (permalink)
timk9 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Lockport, NY, USA Posts: 58 OS: XPPro, XPPro X64, 98, DOS, MacOSX, various Linuxes	Gigabyte GigaRAID setup (IT8212) Hey folks. I'm looking for another Gigabyte user (or someone bored enough to research for me) with some advice about GigaRAID. I've seen similar threads in this forum but my case is slightly different. I'm using a GA-8GPNXP_Duo motherboard with an onboard ITE IT8212 RAID controller ("GigaRAID"). I have two SATA drives I wish to use as standalone (non-RAID) drives on port 0 and 2 (BIOS treats it as IDE1 ? ); two optical drives as master/slave on IDE0, and two IDE hard drives I wish to use in a RAID-1 array. The IDE drives are both master, alone on IDE2 and IDE3. I have SATA RAID disabled in BIOS, GigaRAID enabled. The SATA drives work just fine and I can boot with them. THE PROBLEM IS: I'm not having difficulty configuring the array. Simply, the GigaRAID configuration screen is no longer an option! After the initial POST screen, ITE BIOS should tell me to press Ctrl-G to enter RAID setup but this screen no longer shows up! There are no error messages in its place, it just continues to the next screen. I've followed all the instructions in the manual, and this setup worked just fine last summer (I disassembled and haven't used the machine in 6 months or so). I've since tried disabling GigaRAID, I've tried enabling it as standard ATA non-RAID, and they just won't show up. I've tried resetting to defaults within BIOS, and tried clearing CMOS via the jumper. I've upgraded BIOS to F7. Windows recognizes the RAID controller but will not automatically install the driver. I manually install the driver, and RAIDmgr program runs but doesn't detect a controller. BIOS and OS recognizes both hard drives as standalone drives if I move them to IDE0. I've tried various combinations of SATA modes in BIOS. Any help would be appreciated. Hopefully I'm missing something simple. I emailed Gigabyte and they want me to RMA the motherboard because of a possible bad onboard controller. But I don't want to send it in, and it worked fine last year. Is there some way the controller is disabled/enabled separately from the controller's own BIOS? Any other suggestions? Thanks! Tim Last edited by timk9; 03-17-2006 at 10:00 PM.

03-17-2006, 10:14 PM	#2 (permalink)
forcifer Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Kansas City kansas Posts: 3,619 OS: Vista Premium 32 My System Blog Entries: 1	hmm. did it show anything at the bottom? maby you pressed it too late. try again, and try to press it sooner. there might be some lag between when you press it and when the card knows that you pressed it __________________ now i remember

03-18-2006, 04:34 AM	#3 (permalink)
timk9 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Lockport, NY, USA Posts: 58 OS: XPPro, XPPro X64, 98, DOS, MacOSX, various Linuxes	There is definitely no opportunity to hit the key, nothing at the bottom of the screen; it is supposed to be a full-screen message after the first POST screen, which waits 10 seconds for the key. Nevertheless I've tried it and nothing happens. This is frustrating, it used to work just fine. Sitting idle for 6 months shouldn't kill it. The only thing different is that I installed a watercooler. I haven't noticed any problems resulting from that, everything runs pretty cool and stable. I hope I didn't whack something while installing it but I remember being very careful, I was grounded and everything. Tim Last edited by timk9; 03-18-2006 at 04:38 AM.

03-18-2006, 05:39 AM	#4 (permalink)
forcifer Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Kansas City kansas Posts: 3,619 OS: Vista Premium 32 My System Blog Entries: 1	hmm thats wierd. if you can get to bios, disable quick-boot. that will slow it down. __________________ now i remember

03-22-2006, 10:55 AM	#5 (permalink)
timk9 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Lockport, NY, USA Posts: 58 OS: XPPro, XPPro X64, 98, DOS, MacOSX, various Linuxes	OK I've upgraded BIOS from F6 to F7 now (F2 to F6 at first post), no change. I've tried to download and update the IT8212 firmware from ITE's website but the site says that onboard controllers should be updated by the motherboard's own BIOS, and the update only works for the PCI card version. So I tried it anyway; the flash program refused to try it. Oh well... Thanks for the suggestion forc, but I was looking for someone who has seen this problem with this board before (apparently other people have had a lot of problems with GigaRAID). I can get into system BIOS just fine, just not the controller BIOS. There is no quick-boot feature. I am POSITIVE that the screen is not coming up at all; not that it's just too fast for me. My original question was whether it is possible for the controller BIOS to inadvertently become disabled, while the card itself is enabled in system BIOS. And how to reprogram the controller BIOS. Thanks anyway dude, talk to you later. Tim

03-22-2006, 11:50 AM	#6 (permalink)
timk9 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Lockport, NY, USA Posts: 58 OS: XPPro, XPPro X64, 98, DOS, MacOSX, various Linuxes	OK This time when I say *** I mean it in a good way! The controller just decided to start working again. I flashed F7 on top of F7 again and rebooted, with no change, but that's really the only thing that's different since the last time I wrote. The only thing I can think of is that I had powered off the whole thing via the switch on the PSU after turning it off with the power button. But that should have absolutely nothing to do with the problem or the solution. I'm glad it has started working again, but I'm hella-frustrated cause I have no idea what caused or what fixed the problem. I'm gonna have to watch it for a while to make sure it stays good before I start relying on it... Tim