Assigning HD In Fast Build Promise Utility

Hi there, and welcome back.
I found this site and was wondering which driver from here I should try.
My card is identical to the one on display a combo and it is the Promise SATA 150 but my BIOS v is 1.00.0.21 and there are drivers here up to v39. But I also see a Promise Array Management.
From all accounts that I have found I need to be able to create a 1+0 Single Disk Array. So far I have not been able to do that it is always Stripe or Mirror.

http://www.station-drivers.com/page/promise.htm

 

That link doesn't work for me but you might want to try these drivers. http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/ide/pdc20378/378raid_100137.zip

I'm trying to flush out a couple of things and have read that you may get better luck by formatting from within the RAID controller's menu or formatting from within Windows as opposed to using a HDD mfg's disk. Can't necessarily say this makes a whole lot of sense to me but I will say I never use HDD mfg disks to format either.

 

Hmm I wonder why that link is not working for you it works from my end.
Well I did try with a later version of the Promise FastTrack and exactly the same result.
I have the SATA drive in My Computer and Disk Management and did a Format from there it shows up as Basic, Active, Online and Healthy, but when I try to install XP onto it Windows can not detect it.
My hunch still is my inability to change the Raid setup, as it is Raid 1+0 Stripe and Performance, if I delete that setup Windows can not see the drive. I have tried any combination of keys that I can think of to change that to 1+0 Single Disk Array but I can not move it off Performance.
In the Promise Manual it just states to use the Floppy and install " Win XP Promise FastTrack 376/378 Controller" I do that it reads the Floppy ok installs the drivers. Then instead of Installing Windows it states Windows can not detect any hard drive.
Most likely something very simple, but what.
I go to bed now and sleep over it again.
cheers
hawk22

 

Hawk,
Just so I am clear on this - Am I correct in assuming you have disconnected all other hard drives, are then booting from the XP installation CD and are tapping F6 a few times when it asks if you need to install any manufacturers or third pary drivers. It should then continue until you get prompted again to select S for those drivers which need to be extracted and on a floppy (note: they have to have already been extracted in order for windows to use them). This should permit you to then select the appropriate drivers from a menu in the setup screen and continue with Windows recognizing your hard drive.

 

Hi, yes that is correct.

 

Hawk,
There is a SATA150 TX2plus and a SATA150 TX4. Can you further differentiate your card? Thanks.

 

OK, there appears to be a drive recognition problem that was corrected with BIOS 1.00.0.33 - that was for the TX2Plus, so we will still need exact card information before going any further.



edit: Bios download link for your card if its TX2Plus

 

Hi Rockster, not sure on that, all it says it is PDC20376 plus a few other numbers on the chip but no mention of TX2plus or TX4. There is one little cap and on top of that it reads TXC 20.Dq6BF the Dq I am not sure of too small and unclear but the rest is right.
hope this helps
hawk22

I have already downloaded that .33 BIOS but not installed as I was going to wait for more info from you, there also was a question regarding the flashing I needed to ask you, I did read the flushing instructions and was unclear on something have to read it again.

 

OK that was the question it states to boot with a floppy boot disk, I don't have a Floppy boot disk for XP, not sure if the old 98SE will work.

 

OK, the BIOS file referenced above is identical for both the TX2Plus and the TX4 so, as long as your card has been correctly identified as the SATA150, there are no other possibilities. Now for the disclaimers, warnings and cautions.

I've flashed countless system BIOS chips and have only been beaten once. That cost me a couple of days and $25 for a replacement from Jack@badflash.com so all is not lost, even with a bad flash. Having said that, I've never flashed an add-on controller card so this is a first for me too. It doesn't appear to be a daunting task but we would be naive to call it a "piece of cake ". I grabbed these instructions off the same Promise site and they appear to be universal.

Before attempting this, you may want to try grabbing the most recent controller drivers for the TX2Plus off the Promise site and trying those with your Windows installation. If no go, repeat the same with the TX4 drivers. One point of interest that I did run into was a reference to selecting JBOD instead of a RAID configuration in the later BIOS versions. Now, it is also possible that you have a RAID instruction written to that drive that still needs to be removed. I used to run into this with some of the older HighPoint controller IDE RAID setups and my old failsafe when nothing else worked was to FDisk a drive with this problem in a different machine to clear this. I'm not advocating you do this, I just want you to be aware of the possibility that we could still encounter this problem.

Having said all of that, I guess the question becomes .......... did you get a good night's sleep and do you feel up to the task? There is no need to rush into anything and a little more homework isn't going to hurt either. I'm not sure what other options you have on this, but it might be worth sleeping on for another night or two.

Regards,

 

Thanks, now before I go any further I have to check with you,
I created a bootable disk unzipped the BIOS update to it. Booting will bring me to A:\ >type dir and I am presented with 3 Files:
375BIOS BIN 16,384 07-11-03 9:44a
PFLASHB8 EXE 31569 11-13-02 1:53p
README TXT

If I am correct then I would need to type: A:\pflashb8 /f 375bios.bin

this is an extract from the Readme txt file:

Upgrade the SATA150 BIOS

a. Insert the SATA150 BIOS Utility Disk into the floppy drive.

b. At the A:\> prompt, type DIR and press Enter to see the name of the
BIOS upgrade (.bin) file.

c. At the A:\> prompt, type the following:

pflashb8 /f XXXbXXXX.bin

Where XXXbXXXX.bin is the name of the upgrade BIOS file, identified in
step b, above.

d. Press Enter. The utility will report the following:

Updating card 0 ....OK.

Like you say there is no hurry, as long as it works in the end
cheers
hawk22

 

That sure looks correct to me Hawk.

 

thanks Rockster,I just checked the System BIOS and there are newer versions available.
I have downloaded the MSI Live Update, what experiences have you had with MSI Live Update?? Probably would not hurt to have a later version BIOS might help to see SATA drives.
cheers
hawk22

 

I don't use any of those live update tools to Flash a system BIOS. I'm very cautious and old fashioned in that regard and use DrDOS, a flash utility like AWDFlash and the appropriate bin files. In the case of your Promise controller, I don't think your system BIOS is going to have any impact one way or the other on your drive recognition. I believe this is a Promise Issue and it runs from its own BIOS.

 

howdy, well I attempted the BIOS Flash for the Promise 150, booted into A:\ and typed the line as in previous post windows reads the Floppy then then tells me "Controller Not Found ". Yet Windows is listing the controller on the startup
screen as RAID Controller with IRQ11 and the FastTrack Utility is there as well.
Sure likes playing hard to get.
haw22

 

Hard to get is an understatement. Running out of thoughts here but ..........
Are we 100% certain that this is a SATA150 TX2plus or SATA150 TX4 controller? Is this by any chance in PCI slot #1? If you have an AGP video card and are trying to use PCI #1 - don't.

Assuming above answers are yes followed by no, then I'd move on to speculative unknown turf. Disconnect any HDDs and opticals so floppy is the only drive connected to either the board or the card. Try flashing the controller card again. If card can't be found - its either a different model than that listed above or its defective.

One more thought. Since your Promise utility is just a software program designed for easy configuration from within Windows, uninstall it. You can always re-install it but it doesn't do anything that can't be done from within the Promise BIOS itself. Access to the promise menu at startup should be something like Control C, Control S, F2 or similar - again, I am not that familiar with your card but you should see a screen menu with correct information. If all along you've been trying to change the card setting (re: your grayed out RAID menu) from the RAID utility program you referenced, that could be the whole problem - please enter the Promise BIOS during startup and try to make any and all changes there. Like I said - am running out of ideas and the fact that you can't flash is not a good sign. Do you have an FCC # on that card so we can check and make sure its been properly identified?

 

Well Rockster patience has payed off at last.
The OS XP Pro is installed and working in it's caddy.
I will try and recreate what ended up being successful.
Too late tonight.
many thanks
hawk22

 

Well to say I am a happy chappy at the moment is an understatement.
The annoying thing about it all is I am not entirely sure what made it click in the end.
The Promise 150 Controller is in PCI slot No.2 and the Fast Track 376 setting was as it had been for most of the time in *1+0 Stripe (* indicating bootable) the only thing different this time now is that under "Track "“ Mapping" I have the Numbers 9729/255/63 but I don’t know if that was there before the OS installed or not. In the First Option Automatic I have "No Available Disk" In the No.3 I have * Array1 Stripe 1 Drive Functional.
The change I think came after changing the System BIOS back from 1st Boot Device Floppy back to CD Rom and I decided then to set 3rd Boot Device to SCSI but the System BIOS did not see the SATA Drive then.
I was then booting back into the IDE XP OS but it would not boot it stayed on the black screen with the boot info thinking nothing of it I pressed reset to start again same thing
NTLDR is missing still didn’t click same again then the ball started rolling and I thought maybe just maybe it is trying to boot to the SATA drive so I quickly inserted the XP CD and went through the same process as 20 times before F6 then S Floppy Raid drivers only then when the blue screen changes to black for a second and you get the options to Install a new Windows or repair click Enter and instead of getting Windows can not find any hard drive I got the Eula F8 I new then I was onto something but next thing Windows was requesting the Promise 150 Fast Track drivers again from Floppy it accepted them and continued on, stopping a few times again regarding Unsigned MS Promise drivers.
But that was it the install finished flawless.
In my mind the only thing that was different is SCSI in 3rd Boot.
I wish I could be more specific as too the deciding change, but after going through basically the same process for so many times little things you do don’t register.
I thank you again Rockster for your untiring support on this, but don’t go away don’t leave the country there is more.
I will now try to slipstream SP1 onto my Vista Home Basic and then do the same again only this time the OS will be Vista and to this point I have no idea if the procedure is the same or not.
regards
hawk22

 

Very pleased to read your summation Hawk - nice job. You deserve the kudos for stick-to-itive-ness. In the end, the tough ones are much more rewarding and I too, am "happy chappy" for you.

 

Hi, and many thanks. Just a little update my XP Pro installation is running well and stable no problems, no specific software installed yet apart from AV.
In regards to the Vista install I have followed the procedure that I used with the XP and it installed first go and is running well also. Vista Install does not have the F6 option like XP to install the SATA Promise 376 drivers having never before installed Vista I did not know what to expect. Vista however did request during the early part of the install the Promise Fast Track drivers and I used the same driver Floppy with XP drivers that Vista accepted and installed, apart from a couple of MS driver signing requests all went very smooth indeed.
My current setup is now with 2 mobile Racks, one Rack with XP and one Rack with Vista depending on the OS I want to run I push that one in and lock, unlock the other and pull out.
To complete the project I need some advice, as a complete novice in regards to Vista I would like to know if I can use a fixed IDE drive for Documents, like Music, Pics, Videos, to be shared by XP and Vista both using the same file system NTFS.
Advise is as always greatly appreciated
Hawk22