s.m.a.r.t. & Silicon Image IDE Controller

[Karsten Schell]

Hi there!

I bought an IDE controller with Silicon Image chip on it:
U-DMA133 RAID Controller SiliconImage-0680 0/1/0+1

Whenever I try to use a s.m.a.r.t. program like Speedfan or any other
accessing the "smart" features, I get a bluescreen in windows xp with
"machine check exception". I already installed the latest drivers from
silicon image which are some years old

1.0.0.12 1/24/2005 113 KB Description
SiI0680/0680A 32-bit Windows IDE Driver

It would seem they are fresh from 2005, but inside the file you find
outdated drivers from 2002 ! Is there any fixed driver somewhere for
this IDE controller or do I have to buy a new one?

cheers

Karsten

 

[Arno Wagner]

Hi there!

I bought an IDE controller with Silicon Image chip on it:
U-DMA133 RAID Controller SiliconImage-0680 0/1/0+1

Whenever I try to use a s.m.a.r.t. program like Speedfan or any other
accessing the "smart" features, I get a bluescreen in windows xp with
"machine check exception". I already installed the latest drivers from
silicon image which are some years old

1.0.0.12 1/24/2005 113 KB Description
SiI0680/0680A 32-bit Windows IDE Driver

It would seem they are fresh from 2005, but inside the file you find
outdated drivers from 2002 ! Is there any fixed driver somewhere for
this IDE controller or do I have to buy a new one?

Better buy a really old one where the drivers work....

Arno

 

[Karsten Schell]

Better buy a really old one where the drivers work....

Like from promise ? Is Silicon Image generally such trash? Their
support seems also not existent.

Karsten

 

[Arno Wagner]

Like from promise ? Is Silicon Image generally such trash? Their
support seems also not existent.

Well, Promise is not so great either, but the (non-S, non-RAID) ATA
controllers have not been changed in a long time and therefore
the drivers can work around the limitations of the controllers.
At least that is my observatiuon under Linux.

I had also a lot of problems (disks becoming disconnected)
with onboard Highpoint HPT374 controllers and have stopped
using them. I have several PCs running stable with
Promise 100TX2 and 133TX2 under Linux.

Arno

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Is Silicon Image generally such trash? Their
support seems also not existent.

I have always been able to speak to a knowlegdeable
support technician at Silicon Image who was sitting at a
desk in Silicon Valley. You have to pay for the long distance
call, though, and you have to go to the website to get SIIG's
corporate telephone no. and then copy down the support
no. that they give when you call. IOW, they weed out the lazy
people who will just waste their time. If you present an
"interesting" engineering question, the tech will even give
you his direct phone no. for future calls on the subject.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Karsten Schell]

I have always been able to speak to a knowlegdeable
support technician at Silicon Image who was sitting at a
desk in Silicon Valley. You have to pay for the long distance
call, though, and you have to go to the website to get SIIG's
corporate telephone no. and then copy down the support
no. that they give when you call. IOW, they weed out the lazy
people who will just waste their time.

Are you kidding me? The SMART functions are not working with THEIR
driver in XP. They not only fail to work, they also crash the whole
operating system (blue screen). Might this be interesting enough for
them to do something about it? They seem to not give a ****.

If you present an
"interesting" engineering question, the tech will even give
you his direct phone no. for future calls on the subject.

Well, a functioning driver for XP would be a good starting point. I do
not need expensive phone calls to the states, an email should also be
fine if they are interested in private customers at all. Otherwise, as
it seems now, I will not buy any silicon image part again and suggest
others do the same.

Karsten

 

[Timothy Daniels]

:



Are you kidding me? The SMART functions are not working
with THEIR driver in XP. They not only fail to work, they also
crash the whole operating system (blue screen). Might this be
interesting enough for them to do something about it? They
seem to not give a ****.


Well, a functioning driver for XP would be a good starting point.
I do not need expensive phone calls to the states, an email
should also be fine if they are interested in private customers
at all. Otherwise, as it seems now, I will not buy any silicon image
part again and suggest others do the same.

Karsten

I am not kidding you about anything. I have always gotten
good support and real information from the patient support
tech at SIIG. I *do* live in California, and my long distance
telephone charges for the call are minimal, but that does not
affect the truth of my statements. Might I suggest that SIIG
does not feel that their driver has to be compatible with
S.M.A.R.T. because S.M.A.R.T. is not a part of Windows XP,
and because of that they don't give such compatibility a high
priority? Have you given SIIG enough details of your
difficulty such that they could duplicate it, or have you been
approaching them with the same bellicosity that your exhibit
here?

*TimDaniels*

 

[Karsten Schell]

Well, Promise is not so great either, but the (non-S, non-RAID) ATA
controllers have not been changed in a long time and therefore
the drivers can work around the limitations of the controllers.
At least that is my observatiuon under Linux.

Linux is not used by me as a workstation, only on servers, I only need
a plainIDE Controller for 2 harddisks without raid functions in xp. Do
you know any ? What I can buy locally is Highpoint, Silicon Image(oh
no), promise, Adaptec

I had also a lot of problems (disks becoming disconnected)
with onboard Highpoint HPT374 controllers and have stopped
using them. I have several PCs running stable with
Promise 100TX2 and 133TX2 under Linux.

They are recommendable?


Karsten

 

[Karsten Schell]

Have you given SIIG enough details of your
difficulty such that they could duplicate it, or have you been
approaching them with the same bellicosity that your exhibit
here?

= No, I asked quite friendly & technically why S.M.A.R.T does not
function. I did neither get an answer nor any question about more
details. I really would like to solve this issue if they would show
some activity on their side.
As I said I used the email adress, not the phone. Perhaps I'll try
that. What annoys me is that it not only does not support S.M.A.R.T ,
but crashes the whole running system when trying to use any S.M.A.R.T.
monitoring tool. That should interest them ?!

Karsten

 

[Arno Wagner]

Linux is not used by me as a workstation, only on servers, I only need
a plainIDE Controller for 2 harddisks without raid functions in xp. Do
you know any ? What I can buy locally is Highpoint, Silicon Image(oh
no), promise, Adaptec

Sorry, I don't use any IDE controller (except the mainboard
integrated) under XP.

They are recommendable?

See above. Linux: Fine today, XP: no idea.

Arno

 

[Timothy Daniels]

"Karsten Schell" replied:

I asked quite friendly & technically why S.M.A.R.T does not
function. I did neither get an answer nor any question about
more details. I really would like to solve this issue if they
would show some activity on their side.

It's quite possible that they didn't know and didn't want
to reply with such a lame answer, and not wanting to
burden the engineering staff with the question, they
didn't reply at all. I imagine getting out products that
meet required specs takes precedence over making
existing (already designed and marketed) products
meet un-required specs. Think of the man-hours and
expense of developing a new version of the BIOS,
testing and announcing and distributing it, for compat-
ibility with a monitoring utility that most of their customers
never heard of. For instance, my Dell Dimension
(made in 1999) has a motherboard BIOS that has
never heard of S.M.A.R.T., and I haven't seen a whole
lot of postings in the Dell NG that bemoan that fact.

As I said I used the email adress, not the phone. Perhaps
I'll try that. What annoys me is that it not only does not
support S.M.A.R.T., but crashes the whole running system
when trying to use any S.M.A.R.T. monitoring tool. That
should interest them ?!

If you can afford the phone call(s), that's the best way.
(Expect to hear Taiwanese accents of varying degrees.)
The tech who answers the phone (there might only be one)
knows more than the average tech support guy and he
seems to have been involved in testing as well as using the
products, and he has good communication with the engin-
eers if he needs to ask them a question. Sometimes it
requires a 24-hour wait, though. I've found that they are
interested in hearing system and circumstantial details if
the information is extensive enough to expand their own
knowledge of their products' real world behavior. That is,
if you can become a colleague and more than just a
frustrated customer, you'll find them to be very cooperative.


*TimDaniels*

 

[John Turco]

I am not kidding you about anything. I have always gotten
good support and real information from the patient support
tech at SIIG. I *do* live in California, and my long distance
telephone charges for the call are minimal, but that does not
affect the truth of my statements. Might I suggest that SIIG
does not feel that their driver has to be compatible with
S.M.A.R.T. because S.M.A.R.T. is not a part of Windows XP,
and because of that they don't give such compatibility a high
priority? Have you given SIIG enough details of your
difficulty such that they could duplicate it, or have you been
approaching them with the same bellicosity that your exhibit
here?

*TimDaniels*

Hello, Tim:

I believe that you're a bit confused, here. SIIG <http://www.siig.com> is
a manufacturer of IDE controller cards (among other computer/electronic
products), whereas Silicon Image <http://www.siimage.com> makes semiconductors,
including chipsets.

The companies' contact information, taken from their respective Web sites:

SIIG Inc., General Business -

6078 Stewart Avenue
Fremont, CA 94538-3152
Business Hours: M-F 8:00AM-5:00PM PT

----

Silicon Image, Corporate Headquarters -

1060 East Arques Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
Phone: (408) 616-4000
Fax: (408) 830-9530

Any questions? ;-)


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Hello, Tim:

I believe that you're a bit confused, here. SIIG <http://www.siig.com> is
a manufacturer of IDE controller cards (among other computer/electronic
products), whereas Silicon Image <http://www.siimage.com> makes
semiconductors, including chipsets.

The companies' contact information, taken from their respective Web sites:

SIIG Inc., General Business -

6078 Stewart Avenue
Fremont, CA 94538-3152
Business Hours: M-F 8:00AM-5:00PM PT

----

Silicon Image, Corporate Headquarters -

1060 East Arques Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
Phone: (408) 616-4000
Fax: (408) 830-9530

Any questions? ;-)

Well, right you are! I confused SIIG (Suntek Information
International Group), maker of (among other things), IDE
controller cards - http://siig.com/productList.asp?catid=4 -
with Silicon Image, maker of (among other things) IDE
controller cards -
http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=31&ptid=1

Note that the above web page, which describes the SiI 0680A
PCI-to-ATA Host controller card, says:

"Important Support Note: Silicon Image does not offer support
for end users of board-level products."

Sorry, Karsten.


*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

.... Silicon Image, maker of (among other things) IDE
controller cards -
http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=31&ptid=1

Note that the above web page, which describes the SiI 0680A
PCI-to-ATA Host controller card, says:

"Important Support Note: Silicon Image does not offer support
for end users of board-level products."

Sorry, Karsten.

Correction: The SiI 0680A is a controller-on-a-CHIP, not a card.
And in reviewing the thread, there does seem to be some confusion
between SiI and SIIG by others, as well.

*TimDaniels*

 

[John Turco]

Well, right you are! I confused SIIG (Suntek Information
International Group), maker of (among other things), IDE
controller cards - http://siig.com/productList.asp?catid=4 -
with Silicon Image, maker of (among other things) IDE
controller cards -
http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=31&ptid=1

Note that the above web page, which describes the SiI 0680A
PCI-to-ATA Host controller card, says:

"Important Support Note: Silicon Image does not offer support
for end users of board-level products."

Sorry, Karsten.

*TimDaniels*

Hello, Tim:

Sorry, but, you need to read more carefully. <g> Silicon Image only
supplies the >chips< that are mounted on "IDE controller cards," not
the cards, themselves.

Its support section <http://www.siliconimage.com/support> explains
everything, thusly:

"Silicon Image is committed to providing high quality service and
support to its customers. Our technical support is limited to Silicon
Image’s line of branded chip products. In cases where OEM manufacturers
use Silicon Image chips on their board products, Silicon Image is
unable to support these products and recommends contacting the
manufacturer of the board for support issues."

Further, didn't you notice the image of a black chip, on the top-left
area of the Web page, whose URL you provided? >That< is the "SiI 0680A
Ultra ATA/133 PCI-to-ATA Host Controller." It happens to be the one my
own cheap, generic card contains, in fact.

Any >further< questions, man?


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

 

[Karsten Schell]

Well, right you are! I confused SIIG (Suntek Information
International Group), maker of (among other things), IDE
controller cards - http://siig.com/productList.asp?catid=4 -
with Silicon Image, maker of (among other things) IDE
controller cards -
http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=31&ptid=1

"Important Support Note: Silicon Image does not offer support
for end users of board-level products."

Well, that explains some of the different experience we had with the
support Thanks anyway !
I will find out the OEM manufacturer through the PCI subid, I hope
they exist.

cya


Karsten

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Any >further< questions, man?

Yeah. Did you bother to read my follow-up posting?


*TimDaniels*

 

[John Turco]

Yeah. Did you bother to read my follow-up posting?

*TimDaniels*

Hello, Tim:

Unfortunately, your follow-up didn't appear on my ISP's (Concentric)
news server, until a number of hours after I'd posted my previous reply.
The server has behaved a little flaky, these past several days,
actually.

Regardless, I apologize if I did anything to embarrass you. (I'd
imagined that Folkert Rienstra was just itching to give you a
cyber-whack, up the side of the head, for your apparent stupidity! <G>)


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>


PS: Speaking of the devil, I wonder where ol' Folksy has been,
lately? :-J