Do I have the correct SATA controller installed ?

[NBouc]

I recently installed Windows XP Professional (with SP2) on a brand new computer (ASUS P5WD2 Premium motherboard - Intel 955X chipset - ICH7-R) with 2 SATA2 drives and a DVD burner, but I am not sure that the correct SATA controller for ICH7 was installed. The motherboard has:
- 1 IDE port on ICH7
- 4 SATA2 connectors on ICH7
- 1 IDE port on ITE 8211 controller
- 2 SATA connectors on Silicon Image Sil 3132 Controller

I attached the "Lite-On SOHW-1693S" DVD burner to the ICH7 IDE port (alone as Master)
I attached the 2 WD1600JS SATA2 drives on the ICH7 connectors (Master / Slave)
There is no device attached to the ITE or Silicon controllers.

During Windows installation, I used F6 disks for all 3 controllers and when it was time for the Intel Matrix Storage disk (5.0.0.1032), I had to choose between 2 types of controllers:
- ICH7 82801GR RAID
- ICH7 82801GB AHCI

Since I wanted to use the SATA2 drives in AHCI mode (as opposed to RAID), I selected the 82801GB AHCI controller and Windows continued to install without problem. After Windows installation completed, and all other drivers were installed (including the motherboard INF and Windows updates), I checked the drives status using Lavalys Everest Home Edition and they are listed under "ATA drive" with an active transfer mode of "UDMA-5 (ATA-100). Is this normal ? Shouldn't it be 150 or 300 ?

In device manager:
- 82801GB Serial ATA Storage Controllers and 82801GB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers appear under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
- ITE 8211 ATA/ATAPI controller and Silicon Image Sil 3132 SATALink Controller appear under SCSI and RAID controllers

I noticed that in the BIOS, SATA was configured as "Standard IDE". I changed it to "AHCI" but Windows would not start at all (Blue screen then computer turns OFF). I tried to install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager but it refused complaining of "Incompatible Hardware. This software is not supported on this chipset".

Did I choose the wrong controller (82801GB vs 82801GR) ?
If so, is there a way to install the proper drivers from the F6 disk without a full re-install of Windows ?
In any case, what would be the best course of actions to get my SATA2 drives to perform at 300 MB/sec in AHCI mode ?

Thank you for any input or advice on the matter,

NBouc

 

[Jerry]

You would probably get the best answer from the tech support people of the motherboard manufacturer.

I recently installed Windows XP Professional (with SP2) on a brand new computer (ASUS P5WD2 Premium motherboard - Intel 955X chipset - ICH7-R) with 2 SATA2 drives and a DVD burner, but I am not sure that the correct SATA controller for ICH7 was installed. The motherboard has:
- 1 IDE port on ICH7
- 4 SATA2 connectors on ICH7
- 1 IDE port on ITE 8211 controller
- 2 SATA connectors on Silicon Image Sil 3132 Controller

I attached the "Lite-On SOHW-1693S" DVD burner to the ICH7 IDE port (alone as Master)
I attached the 2 WD1600JS SATA2 drives on the ICH7 connectors (Master / Slave)
There is no device attached to the ITE or Silicon controllers.

During Windows installation, I used F6 disks for all 3 controllers and when it was time for the Intel Matrix Storage disk (5.0.0.1032), I had to choose between 2 types of controllers:
- ICH7 82801GR RAID
- ICH7 82801GB AHCI

Since I wanted to use the SATA2 drives in AHCI mode (as opposed to RAID), I selected the 82801GB AHCI controller and Windows continued to install without problem. After Windows installation completed, and all other drivers were installed (including the motherboard INF and Windows updates), I checked the drives status using Lavalys Everest Home Edition and they are listed under "ATA drive" with an active transfer mode of "UDMA-5 (ATA-100). Is this normal ? Shouldn't it be 150 or 300 ?

In device manager:
- 82801GB Serial ATA Storage Controllers and 82801GB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers appear under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
- ITE 8211 ATA/ATAPI controller and Silicon Image Sil 3132 SATALink Controller appear under SCSI and RAID controllers

I noticed that in the BIOS, SATA was configured as "Standard IDE". I changed it to "AHCI" but Windows would not start at all (Blue screen then computer turns OFF). I tried to install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager but it refused complaining of "Incompatible Hardware. This software is not supported on this chipset".

Did I choose the wrong controller (82801GB vs 82801GR) ?
If so, is there a way to install the proper drivers from the F6 disk without a full re-install of Windows ?
In any case, what would be the best course of actions to get my SATA2 drives to perform at 300 MB/sec in AHCI mode ?

Thank you for any input or advice on the matter,

NBouc

 

[Guest]

Youre going about it wrong.First,if not running RAID then only 1 hd must be
plugged in when installing xp,if you have 2 SATA drives,then configure RAID
in the BIOS,create a RAID set,then procceed to install xp.The RAID
configuration
is after the BIOS.Also,in F6,you need to select the controller youre SATA
drive
is connected to,RAID or single disk.Press S in F6,install floppy,select
controller,
select s again,controller,then press enter at next screen,then to xp
cd.Forget
about silicon image,unless you plug into that controller.Also,300 transfer
rate
is only on SCSI drives,not SATA.A RAID set will get you 150,IDE 100 or
133,133
is only on maxtor hds,the rest are 100.

 

[NBouc]

Hi Andrew,

My intention is to use the 2 SATA hard drives as stand alone drives, not
RAID. I was just concerned I might have choosen the wrong ICH7 controller
during XP setup. Anyway, I am awaiting a reply from ASUS technical supporton
the matter. Let's see what they will have to say.

Thank you for your time and specially for the explanation about SATA2
performance vs drive type. I was under the impression that I would get 300
MB/sec transfer rate automatically with those SATA2 drives. We learn
something new everyday.

Best regards,

NBouc

 

[NBouc]

Thank's Jerry,

I tought it had more to do with Windows drivers and setup than the mobo itself. I followed your advice and asked the question to ASUS technical support. I am now waiting for a reply from them.

Best regards,

NBouc
You would probably get the best answer from the tech support people of the motherboard manufacturer.

I recently installed Windows XP Professional (with SP2) on a brand new computer (ASUS P5WD2 Premium motherboard - Intel 955X chipset - ICH7-R) with 2 SATA2 drives and a DVD burner, but I am not sure that the correct SATA controller for ICH7 was installed. The motherboard has:
- 1 IDE port on ICH7
- 4 SATA2 connectors on ICH7
- 1 IDE port on ITE 8211 controller
- 2 SATA connectors on Silicon Image Sil 3132 Controller

I attached the "Lite-On SOHW-1693S" DVD burner to the ICH7 IDE port (alone as Master)
I attached the 2 WD1600JS SATA2 drives on the ICH7 connectors (Master / Slave)
There is no device attached to the ITE or Silicon controllers.

During Windows installation, I used F6 disks for all 3 controllers and when it was time for the Intel Matrix Storage disk (5.0.0.1032), I had to choose between 2 types of controllers:
- ICH7 82801GR RAID
- ICH7 82801GB AHCI

Since I wanted to use the SATA2 drives in AHCI mode (as opposed to RAID), I selected the 82801GB AHCI controller and Windows continued to install without problem. After Windows installation completed, and all other drivers were installed (including the motherboard INF and Windows updates), I checked the drives status using Lavalys Everest Home Edition and they are listed under "ATA drive" with an active transfer mode of "UDMA-5 (ATA-100). Is this normal ? Shouldn't it be 150 or 300 ?

In device manager:
- 82801GB Serial ATA Storage Controllers and 82801GB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers appear under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
- ITE 8211 ATA/ATAPI controller and Silicon Image Sil 3132 SATALink Controller appear under SCSI and RAID controllers

I noticed that in the BIOS, SATA was configured as "Standard IDE". I changed it to "AHCI" but Windows would not start at all (Blue screen then computer turns OFF). I tried to install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager but it refused complaining of "Incompatible Hardware. This software is not supported on this chipset".

Did I choose the wrong controller (82801GB vs 82801GR) ?
If so, is there a way to install the proper drivers from the F6 disk without a full re-install of Windows ?
In any case, what would be the best course of actions to get my SATA2 drives to perform at 300 MB/sec in AHCI mode ?

Thank you for any input or advice on the matter,

NBouc