Aopen AX4C Max Onboard Promise 378 RAID controller conflict with PCI Promise TX controller

[Mark Taylor]

Hello

I have a Aopen AX4C Max motherboard with a onboard Promise 378 RAID
controller chip. I also have a Promise Fastrak TX2 PCI RAID card to which I
have a RAID 0+1 array attached with 4 x WD 80GB JB series PATA drives. I
uses Windows XP SP1 and the TX2 works fine as this is my boot device.
However the 378 is listed in the device manager but with a unable to start
error message code 10. I have a 200GB drive I use as a backup and at present
it is connected via a SATA-PATA dongle on one of the Promse 378 SATA ports
and it works fine. However if I connect it to the IDE3 connector, which is
basically what I want to be able to do, it is not picked up. Now if I set
the BIOS to boot from the 378 controller the hard drive is listed but then
when it finishes its BIOS display it tries to boot from this device which it
cannot and does not continue onto the TX2 controller to boot. Basically if
the TX2 boots first then the 378 BIOS does not appear at all.

I use the TX2 with the latest BIOS version 33 and the Windows XP driver
version 34. I have tried numerous configurations and BIOS settings but I am
unable to get this to work. I just want to use the IDE3 to add some
additional PATA devices such as this backup device. So it seems to me to be
a conflict between the two Promise controllers.

Would appreciate some feedback on this. I have scoured the user groups, the
Promise support FAQ and even posted to Aopen but so far I have been unable
to find any specific assistance on this problem. However I did see that
quite a few people are using the IDE3 port successfully but not any I can
see with another Promise controller. Some are using other brands of PCI RAID
controllers which do not seem to have this conflict.

If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate the feedback as it has really got
me stumped.

Thanks
Mark

 

[Rod Speed]

Hello

I have a Aopen AX4C Max motherboard with a onboard Promise 378 RAID
controller chip. I also have a Promise Fastrak TX2 PCI RAID card to which I
have a RAID 0+1 array attached with 4 x WD 80GB JB series PATA drives. I
uses Windows XP SP1 and the TX2 works fine as this is my boot device.
However the 378 is listed in the device manager but with a unable to start
error message code 10. I have a 200GB drive I use as a backup and at present
it is connected via a SATA-PATA dongle on one of the Promse 378 SATA ports
and it works fine. However if I connect it to the IDE3 connector, which is
basically what I want to be able to do, it is not picked up. Now if I set
the BIOS to boot from the 378 controller the hard drive is listed but then
when it finishes its BIOS display it tries to boot from this device which it
cannot and does not continue onto the TX2 controller to boot. Basically if
the TX2 boots first then the 378 BIOS does not appear at all.

I use the TX2 with the latest BIOS version 33 and the Windows XP driver
version 34. I have tried numerous configurations and BIOS settings but I am
unable to get this to work. I just want to use the IDE3 to add some
additional PATA devices such as this backup device. So it seems to me to be
a conflict between the two Promise controllers.

Would appreciate some feedback on this.

Very likely it is a conflict between the two Promise controllers.

Thats certainly been see when attempting to use two PCI card Promise
controllers and their only real response is to say that you cant do that.
Must be something rather ****ed by design to get that result.

I take that as a good reason to avoid Promise myself.

I have scoured the user groups, the Promise support FAQ and even
posted to Aopen but so far I have been unable to find any specific
assistance on this problem. However I did see that quite a few people
are using the IDE3 port successfully but not any I can see with another
Promise controller. Some are using other brands of PCI RAID
controllers which do not seem to have this conflict.

If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate the
feedback as it has really got me stumped.

Bet its the attempt to use two Promise controllers.

 

[Mark Taylor]

Hello

For those interested this is the official response from Promise on this
issue. Looks like the only way to solve this is to use a different brand of
PCI controller to the one onboard. That way different BIOS and driver so
should not conflict. This is what I had thought as I previously had a
Gigabyte 8KNXP which had the ITE IDE RAID controller and that worked fine
with my Promise PCI card.

Mark

Hi

The problem is that you will not be able to used both the FT100
TX2 and onboard FT 378 controller at the same time. Just one controller at a
time. By using 2 controllers you will encounter bios and drivers conflict.

Promise Technology, Inc

Reseller Technical Support

1745 McCandless Drive

Milpitas Ca, 95035

408-228-6302