PCI Ultra ATA/133 IDE Controller Card: 2nd attempt at installing

[Sylvander]

It's an "SD-SIL680-RAID" as seen here www.allcam.biz/products/pci_raid.html
80 GB HDD is "Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9" Ultra ATA/133 HDD

The 1st time I fitted this I removed the DDO [using "MaxBlast 4"] BEFORE moving the HDD from the IDE connection to the Controller Card.
Couldn't get it to work properly and took it back to the shop.
Was told here at the PC Guide that I should have first connected the HDD to the card and THEN removed the DDO.
I'm wondering what the sequence of events should be.

There's a leaflet ["User Manual"] that gives installation instructions, but it makes no mention of DDO.
It says to move the HDD LED connector from the motherboard to the card, but that cannot be done easily because the wires from the LED are connected as part of a larger bundle to a large multi-wire connector.
Is it possible to buy a separate LED with 2 wires and connector fitted?
An 80-wire/40-pin cable was supplied with the card.

Should I:
1. Shut down?
2. Fit the card?
3. Connect the HDD?
4. The instructions say I should then restart and install the drivers supplied on the mini-CD.
Should I remove the DDO before allowing Windows to boot? Or after the drivers have been installed?

There are 2 sets of drivers = IDE or RAID.
I have no intention of using RAID, so should I install the IDE drivers?

[saphalline]

When you couldn't get it to work properly at first, which part didn't work? Did the drive not get seen in the BIOS or would Windows not load or what?

From a BIOS perspective, you can usually get access or at least "see" a hard drive connected to an expansion card. This depends on whether or not the chipset (in this case the Silicon RAID chip) has low-level support and/or bootable BIOS support.

From a Windows perspective, it's always a good idea to install an expansion card before you start connecting things to it. This is no different from trying to install a USB 2.0 PCI card while having a printer attached to it. Install the card first, using the IDE driver, and then you can attach drives to it.

As for removing the DDO... well, I guess I would keep trying until something works! But an IDE card with RAID support usually has a bootable BIOS of its own, so I would think you could do that at any time, as long as you don't get Windows involved.

[Sylvander]

" When you couldn't get it to work properly at first, which part didn't work?"
The drive was seen by the BIOS and Windows, but the G: partition wouldn't work correctly. I think the contents [folders & files] would not be seen and its size was being reported incorrectly in "properties". It was the opinion of others that this was due to DDO problems.

"so I would think you could do that at any time, as long as you don't get Windows involved"
I didn't get Windows involved when I did it 1st time around.
I was very careful about what & when things were done.
If I remember right I:
a. Shut down | restarted | booted from the "MaxBlast" floppy | removed the DDO | shut down | fitted the card | attached the HDD | started the PC | new hardware was detected | installed driver.

This time around [like last time], before beginning to fit the hardware, I'll be making up-to-date image file backups of all partitions and save them to the external USB HDD.
I'll also make a "Simple Backup" of C: to CD-RW disks.

[saphalline]

Ok, just for reference, what are the specs of the system in which you're doing all this?

And do you by chance know if this RAID card supports hard drives of 80GB? It probably does, but I'm just double-checking. And does the RAID card itself have any jumpers on it?

You can leave any drives attached to the RAID card while in the BIOS to fiddle around with things. As long as the drives are detected, you're good to go. In Windows, however, it's best to install the RAID card and its drivers before you connect any drives to it. Just making sure that's clear.

The DDO shouldn't have interfered last time, but anything is possible I guess. I have no experience with that particular RAID card, and of course I don't know the rest of your hardware. Have you tried the RAID card in a different PCI slot, by any chance?

[Sylvander]

Working from my older PC:

"what are the specs of the system in which you're doing all this?"
See http://developer.novell.com/yes/50553.htm [not detailed, but gives an idea. Ask if you need more.]
The HDD & CD-ROM have been changed.

"And do you by chance know if this RAID card supports hard drives of 80GB?"
I expect so. Asked the shop 1st time around [they confirmed], but not this time [identical card]. None of the info that comes with it mentions HDD size supported.

"does the RAID card itself have any jumpers on it?"
I believe not. Examined the card and noted the 2-pin connector for the LED. Wasn't looking for jumpers but would have noticed them if there.
I'll check again next time I open the box.

"In Windows, however, it's best to install the RAID card and its drivers before you connect any drives to it. Just making sure that's clear."
I noted when you said that and decided to do it.
1. Connected the card | booted into Windows [with the HDD still on the internal IDE controller] | hardware detected | driver installed ok.
Initially I tried to install the plain IDE driver [that + RAID driver are supplied on mini-CD], but it couldn't be found as a suitable driver, so I installed the RAID version. [This IS a RAID controller card, but I don't want to use the RAID functionality.]
2. Shut down | connected the HDD to the new card using the 80 wire cable [blue connector at the card end] | re-connected all cables | restarted PC | booted from HDD | at DDO banner, "error : DDO not loaded. Enter floppy & hit spacebar".
3. Booted from "MaxBlast 4" | Maintenance Option | DDO options not selectable. [Therefore couldn't remove the DDO] Should I repartition? HDD capacity not showing full size.
4. Disk info reported:
MBR Partition Table
Type = 55 | Bootable = True | Begin CHS = 0,0,10 | End CHS = 1022,254,63 | Size = 8.41 GB
Translation
Cyl = 4111 | Heads = 255 | Sect/Track = 63

5. fdisk reports:
Fixed Disk Drive : 1
Partition = 1 | Status = A | Type = Non-DOS | MBytes = 8025 | Usage = 25%
Total disk Space is 32,248 MBytes

The HDD is 80 MB, so neither are reporting capacity correctly.
I wonder if I should zero-fill the drive and re-partition it , but am worried that having done that the full capacity won't be seen by Maxblast or fdisk.
This time is an improvement on last time when fdisk couldn't see the drive at all [when I removed the DDO before switching the HDD to the new card].
I have image files for all partitions [including C:] plus almost identical "Simple Backup" of C: on CD-RW's.

[Sylvander]

Info found among...
Specifications
Supports 48-bit sector addressing (maximum HD size is 131,072 TB)

p.s. Should have typed 80 GB, not 80 MB for HDD size.

[Sylvander]

User Manual says...
Jumper Settings:
J3 - Primary IDE Connector (Blue)
J5 - Secondary IDE Connector (White)
JP2 - HDD Busy LED Connector

I'll look for those and report back.

[Sylvander]

False lead...
J3 & J5 are the large IDE connectors, not jumpers.

[Sylvander]

User Manual note...
BIOS Setup
If you already have a bootable hard disk connected to the mainboard's IDE controller but want to use the hard disk connected to the Ultra ATA/133 IDE Raid controller card as default bootable drive (Drive C), you need to set the mainboard's BIOS to boot SCSI first.

Since I only have this single HDD [connected to the card], then I assume this doesn't need to be done.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Try it anyway. It may be that booting to SCSI first makes the mobo look to the pci slots first instead of ide.

[Sylvander]

"It may be that booting to SCSI first makes the mobo look to the pci slots first"
Huh!?
It mystifies me why an IDE HDD would be classified as SCSI, and why telling the BIOS to boot SCSI 1st would make it look at the PCI slots.
But then, PC's are like that eh?

I looked in the BIOS Setup and there is no such option in the "Boot Option" list.
There's a "Network Boot" option, but selecting that appears to make no difference.
And there's no HDD listed with the 2 CD-drives [it was when connected to the internal IDE controller].
During Startup, if I hit F2 a boot options list shows HDD, FDD, CD-drive, Network Boot, and I can select any one of those. I don't know whether selecting HDD makes the BIOS look at the IDE controllers only or what.
I thought that the DDO banner was loaded from the HDD [where else?], and that is displayed, so surely the BIOS begins to boot from the HDD and then stops to display the error?
As instructed I booted from a floppy [holding PowerMax 4.21].
Ran tests to check for the presence of the HDD; all passed.
Detected all drives correctly; CD-drives correctly shown on the secondary IDE controller, and the only HDD correctly shown as not on the Primary IDE controller, but on what I assume to be the card, as follows:
CMD0680 | Primary Master | Maxtor 6Y080L0
Cylinders = 65530 | Heads = 16 | SPT = 63 | Max LBA = 66 050 244

Even this seems to be not showing the full 80 GB capacity of the drive.
Wish I understood what's going on.
Am I being too careful?
Why doesn't MaxBlast allow me to remove the DDO? That should be simple, but isn't. I was led to believe that was the thing to do.
Should I attempt to use "Powermax" to "Low Level Format" the HDD?
Or just zero-fill the drive?
Then re-partition?
Might wipe my drive then discover it still won't work with this controller card.
Unable to boot from a HDD connected to it because of BIOS limitations?

[Sylvander]

Found this http://tinyurl.com/abl2u explanation on how to remove the DDO [EZ-BIOS] software installed by "MaxBlast 4".
Seems pretty complicated, hope I can follow.

[Sylvander]

These http://tinyurl.com/e4oyv are the removal instructions for MaxBlast [3 or] 4.

Those above wouldn't work, don't know if these will.
Vital instruction:
"Remove the drive and install it into the new system. Auto-Detect the drive in the new systems BIOS."
Haven't found any way to auto-detect the drive whilst connected to the new card.

[Sylvander]

These instructions don't work with my system.
Having booted MaxBlast 4 and selected "Maintenance Options", all the DDO options are greyed out and unavailable.

Phoned the technician at the shop that sold the card and drive.
[Communication almost impossible, he's not native, speaks very poor English.]
He said I should repartition the drive.
Tried that; it looked like it was going to work, but reported only 33,816 MB available. At first it reported 8,000 MB, but when I opted to make a new partition table and begin afresh it showed 33,816 MB available.
I cancelled the partition arrangement after I'd allocated all available space.

How do I get the use of all 80 GB?

[Sylvander]

Here's the thread for the previous attempt http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread...ontroller+Card

[Sylvander]

I sent an email to Maxtor and they replied very promptly as below:

My reponses to you are in red.

80 GB DiamondMax Plus 9
Serial number: Y225K6AC
Model number: 6Y080L0
and/or GTLA number: Huh?

Motherboard make: HP Brio BA
and Model: D75xxA
System : D7599E
Serial No: FR91610187
Which UDMA mode does the motherboard support?
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode = UDMA 4 (ATA-66)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode = UDMA 2 (ATA-33)
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode = UDMA 6 (ATA-133) [With new Controller Card]

Processor: CPU Type = Intel Celeron-A, 366 MHz (5.5 x 67)
Chipset: Motherboard Chipset = SiS 620

Are you using an additional IDE controller? Yes = SD-SIL680-RAID PCI Ultra ATA/133 IDE Controller Card
If yes, what is the manufacturer/make/model? "Silicon Image" it says on the box.
Did this controller card come built-in to the motherboard as an additional controller or was it added at a later stage? Added a few days ago to an older PC.
Does this controller card support UDMA100/133? Yes.
Did you install any additional drivers for this card? Yes, they installed easily and successfully. Did that before shutting down and swapping the HDD connection to the card.

Do you have a SCSI card? Yes, but I disconnected it to free up one of the 3 PCI spaces to connect the IDE controller card.
If yes, what is the manufacturer/make/model?
SCSI/RAID Controller = Adaptec AHA290x/291x/294x/394x/4944/AIC78xx PCI SCSI Controller(NT 4.0)
SCSI/RAID Controller = SiS PCI MASTER IDE Miniport DRIVER
Are there any devices attached to this card?
Not now, since it has been removed.
What Operating System are you using (please include revisions and installed service packs)?
Win98SE [98.4.10.2222A] with latest critical updates.
How did you partition the drive? Yes, using "MaxBlast 3" I think. DDO has been updated to MaxBlast 4.
what file system was used (FAT32, NTFS)? FAT32 on C: D: E: F: G:
which program did you use (MaxBlast, fdisk, disk management, partition magic etc.)? Used the correct version of MaxBlast for the Windows version at the time.

Is this a new install or a problem with an existing drive? Existing drive has been working well since I got it some months ago. Wanted to eliminate the DDO.

What are the symptoms? Cannot get MaxBlast to remove the DDO When the drive is connected to the new card. It will remove when connected to the on-board IDE controller, but then there are many problems accessing some partitions in Windows, and fdisk cannot access either.
Are there any error messages? Yes.
If so, please give them in detail. Booting the HDD connected to the new card, at the DDO banner, get "Error: Dynamic Drive Overlay not loaded..."

Is the drive seen in the auto detection in your system BIOS? Not when connected to the new card, but is when connected to the on-board controller. Powermax sees everything correctly when HDD connected to new card, except reports "Max LBA = 66055244" for 80 GB HDD.
Is it seen with the full capacity? No
and which DMA Mode is displayed on boot? I don't see that. Where would it be displayed?

What is the boot sequence set to in the BIOS? | floppy | HDD | CD-ROM | Network |

Is the drive seen correctly in Device Manager (Windows only)? Yes, when HDD connected to on-board IDE Controller all's well; when connected to new card cannot boot from HDD or even load DDO, or remove DDO using MaxBlast.
and/or Disk Management (Win XP and 2000 only)? Does not apply.

Did you use Max*Blast ? Yes
What version? I can only say I carefully selected & used either version 3 or 4 to suit Win98 1st edition or 2nd edition.
If yes, was the EZDrive BIOS or DDO extension software loaded to your hard drive? Yes
i.e. do you receive a message on boot up starting with "EZBIOS initialising...." or a message relating to "Dynamic Drive Overlay (DDO)"? Yes, it says, "Starting Ontrack..." then displays the Maxtor DDO banner showing it is version 9.88.

Did you use a UDMA cable (80conductor, 40pin)? Yes, it was supplied with the new card, and it's properly fitted [blue plug to the Primary socket on the card and the HDD jumpered as master].
If you are using a removable caddy, please remove it and connect the drive directly to the UDMA cable. Already connected in that way without a caddy.

What is the...
When the HDD is connected to the new card the following is the arrangement [this is correctly seen and reported by Powermax].
New card
CMD0680: Primary Master: Maxtor 6Y080L0 [new location]
CMD0680: Primary Slave:
CMD0680: Secondary Master:
CMD0680: Secondary Slave:
On-board
On-board IDE: Primary Master: Maxtor 6Y080L0 [Normal location]
On-board IDE: Primary Slave:
On-board IDE: Secondary Master: HP CD-Writer+ 9300
On-board IDE: Secondary Slave: E-IDE CD-ROM 52X/AKH
If you are using a controller card or an additional onboard controller, please also list what is attached to it.

Describe the exact position of any jumpers which are set on each hard drive by stating the jumper position in relation to the IDE cable or the power connector and whether the jumpers are set in a vertical or horizontal position. Please do not just mention set to master/slave or cable select but describe the position of the jumper(s).

Jumpers set on the...
Primary Master: see http://service.maxtor.com/rightnow/i...%20jumpers.htm vertical, 1st position right of the IDE cable [like A2, not identical]
But my drive is mounted vertically with the ide cable at the bottom, then moving up, comes the jumper in the first position, then the unused positions, then up to the the power cable.
Primary Slave: none
Secondary Master: see http://tinyurl.com/d9d2l power is on the right, then left to IDE, then jumper in the 1st slot left of this.
Secondary Slave: power is on the right, then left to IDE, then jumper in the 2nd slot left of this
Again this also applies to drives connected to a controller card or additional onboard controller.

If you ran our diagnostic utility PowerMax, please let us know the results: the HDD on the new card passed all tests. Cylinders = 65530 | Heads = 16 | SPT = 63 | Max LBA = 66055244

Any other details that may be helpful:
See http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread...ontroller+Card
and http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=39957

Also include your daytime phone number in case we need to call you. UK = [Removed]

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us. In order to allow us to deal with all enquiries as efficiently and accurately as possible we would ask that you include any previous emails when replying to us.


Kind Regards,

Ian McHardy
Customer Support Team, Maxtor Ireland Ltd. Here's hoping you can help. Your response is impressive.

[Sylvander]

Instructions from Maxtor sent to me in an email:

"1.The drive should be connected to the IDE Bus when you remove the DDO
2.The MBR should be intact and the limitation jumper removed
3.Drivers for the PCI card will also have to be installed
4.There is no guarantee that these operations will be able to rebuild or recover the boot sector and allow normal booting into the operating system.
5.It is recommended that you have a full backup of your data before performing any of the following operations

6.Please follow the instructions below :

Boot your system to the MaxBlast 3 or 4 CD, or floppy.

From the main menu select "Maintenance Options".
At the "Select a maintenance option" screen, choose "Upgrade MaxBlast 3" or "Upgrade MaxBlast 4" (If greyed out go to the next restore option) and select Next.
When "Done" remove any CD's or floppies and boot into Windows.

If the above did not work, restart and boot to MaxBlast.

From maintenance options select "Update MBR Boot Code" then choose Next. All drives connected to your system should
display, select your boot drive and choose Next.
When "Done" remove any CD's or floppies and boot into Windows.

Final option: Always perform this one last.

From maintenance options select "Backup or Restore MBR" then choose Next.Select your boot drive then choose Next. The
"Backup / Restore" window displays.Highlight the latest time date stamp and select "Restore Backup" choose "YES" then
"Done". When "Done" remove any CD's or floppies and boot into Windows.

Note: If the time date stamp window is empty your master boot record was never backed up, or could be totally corrupted from a virus or physical media damage. Do not try to "Create New Backup" , this will only result in backing up a corrupted boot sector.

Warning: Choosing the "Restore Backup" option may require you to reload or repair some applications that were not installed prior to the last known good backup.

After trying everything mentioned above my system still
won't boot into Windows why?

You may have physical damage of the media, try running the Maxtor PowerMax utility to test the drive.
Your system could have been infected with a very nasty virus, and the restoration options were unable to clean it.
Surf the web for the latest boot sector viruses that may be circulating the internet.
Most of the time virus software companies may already have a fix that can be downloaded, and administered to the infected system via floppies.

Kind Regards,

Marc Paul
Technical Support Team, Maxtor Ireland Ltd.
"