Asus K8N-E Deluxe: How to update Si3114 BIOS?

[Jens Lenge]

Hello world,

I have an Asus K8N-E Deluxe with an onboard Silicon Image SiI3114 SATA/RAID
chip. The installed SiI3114 BIOS version is 5.0.39. I have some questions
concerning this chip:

a)
Silicon Image offers numerous BIOS versions on
http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=28&ptid=1. They point
out that I should always use the latest BIOS version and the latest drivers,
but I am confused which one is the latest that is intended for the onboard
chip of my Asus K8N-E Deluxe? Do I need separate BIOSes for IDE and RAID?

Is the SiI3114 BIOS included in the mainboard BIOSes available from Asus so
that I do not need to upgrade it separately? If not, how can I flash a new
SiI3114 BIOS to my mainboard?

b)
A similar question like above, but concerning the SiI3114 drivers: Silicon
Images provides so many drivers that I couldn't figure out which are the
latest IDE/RAID versions that are suitable for my mainboard and Windows XP.

Could someone please direct me to the respective latest BIOS and WinXP
drivers?

Thanks in advance,
Jens

 

[Egil Solberg]

Hello world,

I have an Asus K8N-E Deluxe with an onboard Silicon Image SiI3114
SATA/RAID chip. The installed SiI3114 BIOS version is 5.0.39. I have
some questions concerning this chip:

a)
Silicon Image offers numerous BIOS versions on
http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=28&ptid=1. They
point out that I should always use the latest BIOS version and the
latest drivers, but I am confused which one is the latest that is
intended for the onboard chip of my Asus K8N-E Deluxe? Do I need
separate BIOSes for IDE and RAID?

Is the SiI3114 BIOS included in the mainboard BIOSes available from
Asus so that I do not need to upgrade it separately? If not, how can
I flash a new SiI3114 BIOS to my mainboard?

The sil3114 BIOS is incorporated in your system BIOS. The BIOS-downloads at
www.siimage.com are for standalone controller cards with their own BIOS.
The chip can do both IDE-only mode or IDE-RAID. There are separate BIOSes
for those two modes, and they need separate drivers as well. With
RAID-functionality in BIOS, which I strongly believe that you have, you will
need to install the RAID-driver.

The latest BIOS at www.siimage.com is the same version as you report is
incorporated in your system BIOS. If at one time Asus stops incorporating
newer RAID BIOSs into system BIOS, there are tools to edit BIOS to allow for
new RAID BIOS incorporation into system BIOS. I run that kind of modded BIOS
for my A7N8X-Deluxe with sil3112A.

b)
A similar question like above, but concerning the SiI3114 drivers:
Silicon Images provides so many drivers that I couldn't figure out
which are the latest IDE/RAID versions that are suitable for my
mainboard and Windows XP.
Could someone please direct me to the respective latest BIOS and WinXP
drivers?

BIOS: currently no need. Check at Asus for later releases in the future.
Driver: http://12.24.47.40/utility/getfile.asp?rid=1930

 

[Egil Solberg]

The sil3114 BIOS is incorporated in your system BIOS. The
BIOS-downloads at www.siimage.com are for standalone controller cards
with their own BIOS. The chip can do both IDE-only mode or IDE-RAID.
There are separate BIOSes for those two modes, and they need separate
drivers as well. With RAID-functionality in BIOS, which I strongly
believe that you have, you will need to install the RAID-driver.

The latest BIOS at www.siimage.com is the same version as you report
is incorporated in your system BIOS. If at one time Asus stops
incorporating newer RAID BIOSs into system BIOS, there are tools to
edit BIOS to allow for new RAID BIOS incorporation into system BIOS.
I run that kind of modded BIOS for my A7N8X-Deluxe with sil3112A.




BIOS: currently no need. Check at Asus for later releases in the
future. Driver: http://12.24.47.40/utility/getfile.asp?rid=1930

Sorry, link does not work. Under support, choose "knowledge base",
downloads, to the left and you will find driver for 3114. I see that Asus
boosts RAID5 as a sales point, so SATARAID5 driver must be right.
I agree that the site seems very messy, more than I originally thought when
I started looking around.