A8N-SLI and WD Raptor problems

[sloppycode]

Hi all - I bought a A8N-SLI Deluxe a few months ago, and since been
unable to get my dual Western Digital Raptors (sata) to work with the
raid controllers.

At the moment I'm running with just 2 hard drives, as I've been
awaiting a technical support reply from Asus for the past 2 months! So
I'm hoping somebody here can help me.

The problem comes when I plugin in the hard drives, and try to access
the raid controller setup. The setup stays on a blank screen, doing
nothing from then on (the standard raid controller setup, not the
nvidia one). The nvidia one does something similar iirc.

My memory of it is a bit sketchy as it's been 2 months since I've done
anything with it, but is there something glaringly obvious that I'm
missing? The sata leads are connected up fine, and the disks were
working perfectly well with my old asus motherboard.

Thanks

 

[Paul]

Hi all - I bought a A8N-SLI Deluxe a few months ago, and since been
unable to get my dual Western Digital Raptors (sata) to work with the
raid controllers.

At the moment I'm running with just 2 hard drives, as I've been
awaiting a technical support reply from Asus for the past 2 months! So
I'm hoping somebody here can help me.

The problem comes when I plugin in the hard drives, and try to access
the raid controller setup. The setup stays on a blank screen, doing
nothing from then on (the standard raid controller setup, not the
nvidia one). The nvidia one does something similar iirc.

My memory of it is a bit sketchy as it's been 2 months since I've done
anything with it, but is there something glaringly obvious that I'm
missing? The sata leads are connected up fine, and the disks were
working perfectly well with my old asus motherboard.

Thanks

I've seen maybe one other report similar to yours,
but no specifics were given, like BIOS version.

You might try a later BIOS. This is a table of RAID
modules found in various BIOS versions (obtained
using a hex editor and a copy of LHA.exe):

BIOS NVRAID_BIOS SIL3114_RAID_BIOS
1001 4.76 5.1.39 11/10/2004
1002 4.76 5.1.39 11/10/2004
1003 4.78 5.1.39 11/10/2004
1004 4.81 5.1.39 11/10/2004
1006 4.81 5.1.39 11/10/2004
1007 4.81 5.1.39 11/10/2004
1007.004 (beta) 4.81 5.1.39 11/10/2004

It looks like any BIOS greater or equal to 1004
is good enough to get the latest versions of RAID
BIOS code.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Mercury]

I'd do a bit of a test to eliminate where the problem may be.
Firstly I would run under the assumption that raptors are ok with the
board - we would have heard here otherwise.
Check the board is not overclocked.
Check all cables and PSU connections.
Reseat everything.
Check board diagrams to ensure you know which SATA port is which. It does
happen that diagrams are mislabeled / ports are assumed to be one when they
are another.

For the purposes ofthis test, unplug everything that does not need to be
plugged in - add in cards, CD / DVD drives, Floppy etc. Ok, so you'll need
either a CD or Floppy...

So, some tests.

1. Prove each drive is ok in another machine - either format or run WD diags
would be OK.
Make a windows xp boot disc and use that, or a Win98 boot disc perhaps.
2. Prove each SATA port is ok in the SLI machine.
Set the controller into IDE mode - where the port being tested is mapped
as an IDE port.
boot off the above floppy and format / run diags.

If thats ok then progress.

Set the controller into RAID mode - consider disconnecting everything &
reboot. Some controllers require to see 2 devices before the RAID bios can
be entered. Plug in the drives and try again - check the SATA ports are the
right ones.

Now, unless there is an electronic fault, this should work.

- Tim