Probem - Vista Ultimate won't install - SCSI/RAID Controller drivers

[GB]

Vista Ultimate stops the installation process and says to contact the
manufacturer of the RAID/SCSI Host Controller. I'll admit I'm WAY over my
head on this. The mother board is an ABIT BE6. Any help here will be very
much appreciated. I went to the ABIT-USA site and can't find anything about
updated drivers . . .

As far as I know, I'm not using RAID and have no SCSI devices.

I've been running the compatibility checker frequently for the past few
months, and as recently as yesterday, and have always gotten a clean bill
of health. Then, when I tried to install Ultimate it found a number of small
non-show stoppers, plus the controller issue, Huh? Not happy ! ! - Thank
you for the help - GB

 

[BobS]

GB,

I'll venture a guess here that you have an Ultra100 or Ultra133 board
installed most likely from Promise that allows you to use faster hard drives
and/or to just allow for additional hard drives. The operating system
treats the board as though it's a SCSI device or a RAID (multiple hdd
controller) board. I'll not try to explain either of those terms but you can
do a Google on them and get a zillion hits.....

Since Vista is installing, that tells me your C: drive is most likely not
connected to that board and that other hard drives are. If that is the
case, you could simply unplug the card from the motherboard for now to
complete the install (you loose the other drive/s that are connected to it
while the board is disconnected) and search for some updated drivers.

You may not find drivers for it and have to purchase a new controller board
that supports Vista if you want to keep those hard drives. I just checked
http://www.promise.com/support/download/download_eng.asp for both the
Ultra100 TX2 and Ultra133 TX 2 versions and no Vista updates are available.
Those two boards are about the same vintage as your motherboard - 1999. (
http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/ )

I'm not that familiar with the BE6 board so if it in-fact has an on-board
controller chip for SCSI or Raid then the Abit site would have the drivers
but I seriously doubt they'll have anything for Vista - that's just to old
of a motherboard. But if it's a separate card in the system (look for hard
drive cables going to a PCI slot card) then pull the card, look for manf
info and check their site.

If you've done any upgrades recently, it could also be a controller board
for installing SATA (serial ATA) hard drives. If the cables that go from
the card to the hard drives have thin cables (not the 40 or 80 wire ribbon
cables) then most likely they are SATA drives and there *should* be new
Vista drivers available or soon will be.

Without you looking inside the case and giving a better description of the
hardware or running a system audit program or looking at the device manager
(look for SCSII) to tell us more - the above is my best guess for now. Post
back if you can get some more info and we may be able to offer more detailed
help.

Bob S.

 

[GB]

Bob - Thank you so much for your very robust reply. The BE6 has UltraATA133
on-board controllers, Highpoint, I believe. I posted my problem on the ABIT
user group, and their response didn't hold out any hope of Vista compatible
updated drivers. I think it's time to build a new computer, or look at a
Dell ... etcetera. I know little technically, but this old box that I built
has run well for years (worn out a couple hard drives). I process hundreds
and hundreds of photographs, and have not been unhappy with the performance
of the BE6 with dual Pentium III, 1 GHZ processors.

By the way, the Vista installer only runs part way through the compatibility
check, then stops when it finds the controller issue. Interesting that the
stand alone checker finds none of the issues the installer does.

I found a DIY article on building a Vista compatible PC. Maybe you could
have a look and give an opinion. The author makes it look too simple ?

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2047287,00.asp

Thank you again for your copious reply. I'm located in the Great Pacific
Northwest, across the bay from Seattle. What part of the world are you in?
Best Regards - Grampa Bob

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. . . Email replies welcome, and appreciated ! Nostradamus 1550

 

[BobS]

GB,

Glad you discovered what the problem is and now giving thought to an
upgrade. I read the article, it's outdated - already. DX10 cards are
available now and are the Nvidia GeForce 8800GTS (768Mb memory) and the less
costly version is the 8800GTS (640Mb memory).

Asus is an excellent choice for a motherboard but so are others and you
can't go wrong with either the Intel or AMD CPU's - pick a price point you
can afford - buy it and plug it in - enjoy. Doesn't sound like you're into
overclocking or coaxing the last bit of speed out of a chip so think also
about pricing out a Dell system for comparison. Pro's and con's both ways
whether to build or buy - I do both depending on the project I'm working on.

You can certainly "role your own" with minimum technical risk. I think you
run more risk of having things go afoul by not purchasing components from
reliable sources. Low cost is a goal - not the holy grail... Low cost can
often get you some grey market items that aren't worth looking at. And if
you get a dud, what will the place do for you? So - best advice on doing
this is to purchase from those that have a proven track record, like NewEgg
or ZipZoomFly to name two.

Next is what do you plan to do with the system and how much money can you
throw at it? Take a look here http://www.pricewatch.com/ to get a feel for
prices. Then check out www.tomshardware.com and read the reviews and the
"Build Your Own" section and ponder the choices. You can Google and get a
zillion hits about how to build a computer but in the end - it boils down to
what your expectations are. Do you run any software that can benefit from a
64 bit Operating System? If so, Vista Ultimate x64 Upgrade (comes with both
the 32 bit and 64 bit versions on DVD's) for around $250.

If you want great graphics you'll also need a good monitor - maybe 2 or
more. Do you play games, are you a sim fanatic (MS Flight Simulator) then
you'll want good graphics and a reasonably powerful CPU (dual-core or even
quad) with a minimum of 2Gb of memory. As for the photo work, I don't know
what you use but I have Photoshop CS and it will use all your resources.

Things can add up quickly but if you use a computer day in and day out -
then invest in the best you can afford and only cry once. If not then go
buy a Promise Technology ATA133 TX2 PCI card (if it's Vista compatible) to
plug your drives into and disable the on-board Highpoint controller and call
it a day.

Good luck with the new system - if that's what you do,

Bob S.

 

[GB]

Wow Bob, thanks for taking the time to help me with my problem, and all the
information!

Did you mean I could install a "Promise Technology ATA133 TX2 PCI card" in
my existing setup, and bypass my current driver problem (if Vista
compatible)? If that's the case, I'd love the solution to get me by till the
dust settles. I emailed Promise to ask if their card is compatible.

The Windows Vista compatibility list shows the Silicone Image SiI 0680
ATA/133 controller, but not the Promise one. I don't think the Silicone
Image is availble at retail - GB

http://winqual.microsoft.com/HCL/ProductList.aspx?cid=1003





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. . . Email replies welcome, and appreciated ! Nostradamus 1550

 

[BobS]

GB,

I would have to look in the manual for the mb to answer your question - can
the on-board Highpoint controller be disabled? Should be an option in your
BIOS to turn it off / disable it and I would be surprised if there wasn't.
Be sure you have the latest BIOS for that mb and install it before
installing Vista.

I think you'll find that the Sil chip and drivers are branded by several
manufactures just as Nvidia makes the chips and drivers but not the cards
themselves.

Bob S.

 

[GB]

Bob and Others - I hope this isn't too off topic. but we might benefit from
some ideas. Here is an idea for a 'Vista Machine', opinions? Thank you - GB

Lian-Li PC-6070 plus II Case
MSI 965 Platinum Mother Board
Intel Core II Duo, E6600 Conroe @ 2.4 GHz Processor
Seagate Baracuda SATA Drives
MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E (768MB) Vidoe / Graphics Card
Plextor PX-7755SA SATA Optical Drive



--




. . . Email replies welcome, and appreciated ! Nostradamus 1550

 

[Hapkido]

Your proposed hardware looks fine except your video card is over-kill since
Vista will not take advantage of anything over 512 megs video RAM. However,
what you did not list and which is probably the most critical component is
RAM. The consensus is and to which I agree that although 1 gig or RAM is
adequate whereas 512 megs is inadequate, 2 gigs is preferred to really enjoy
Vista and run games and/or to do multi-tasking with Office applications,
etc.

You might benefit from reading this:
http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=2917

 

[GB]

Hapkido - I switched my video card choice to the MSI NX7600GS-T2D256EH for
the very reason you cited (I'm in the learning curve), and I neglected to
include (4) GB of RAM in my post. I'm getting very close to ordering these
components and building my Vista machine, and I'm excited - Thank you
for your help, GB

--




. . . Email replies welcome, and appreciated ! Nostradamus 1550

 

[Oxford]

Bob and Others - I hope this isn't too off topic. but we might benefit from
some ideas. Here is an idea for a 'Vista Machine', opinions? Thank you - GB

Lian-Li PC-6070 plus II Case
MSI 965 Platinum Mother Board
Intel Core II Duo, E6600 Conroe @ 2.4 GHz Processor
Seagate Baracuda SATA Drives
MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E (768MB) Vidoe / Graphics Card
Plextor PX-7755SA SATA Optical Drive

A Mac would be a better solution for this person...

# 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# 1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x512
# 250GB Serial ATA Drive
# ATI Radeon X1600/128MB VRAM
# SuperDrive 8X (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
# Apple Keyboard & Mighty Mouse + Mac OS X (US English)
# 20-inch widescreen LCD
# AirPort Extreme
# Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

$1,499

and since it's a Mac, it will hold it's value much better than a PC, if
you know how to deal with money, you go with a Mac every time.

you can buy the little mac gems here:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID

runs Vista, XP, Linux as well (if you are still stuck in the old IBM era)

it's the best deal in computing at the current moment.

 

[GB]

Though I've been tempted by 'modern' Apple systems, I will NEVER buy an
Apple computer, or any other Apple product. Back in the MAC II era, Apple
took serious advantage of me, rudely, and I'll NEVER forgive them - GB



. . . Email replies welcome, and appreciated ! Nostradamus 1550

 

[Maverick]

Though I've been tempted by 'modern' Apple systems, I will NEVER buy an
Apple computer, or any other Apple product. Back in the MAC II era, Apple
took serious advantage of me, rudely, and I'll NEVER forgive them - GB

Things have changed since then. I've seen a lot of people get taken by
Apple back then, but since the sugar water salesman Sculley left, Steve
Jobs has done a pretty good job. So don't drink Pepsi.