Not enough space to copy pci option rom... :(

[lpallard]

Hey there community!

SO I have a MSI K9N Platinum mobo in my Linux server and this mobo has 6 SATA ports, but not having enough ports, I purchased a Vantec 6 ports (4 SATA2 & 2 eSATA) (UGT-ST310R) PCI expansion card and I have been using it for about 6 months without a single glitch. Works flawlessly..

Now I exhausted the 4 ports on the card and purchased a second identical card. There are 3 PCI slots on the mobo. I installed the second card on the second PCI slot, and upon booting I get the error message

Not enough space to copy PCI option ROM [01:01:00]

So I have googled a bit, nothing similar to me, i.e., people are discussing about all kind of reasons and explanations, and the consensus is to deactivate the on-board SATA controller (d'ah?!?) which would be totally useless for me..

This machine has only a PCIE video card, nothing else (except the 2 SATA expansion cards..)

Anybody has suggestions? AFAIK, the BIOS revision is the latest.. This mobo is a few years old after all. Maybe purchasing a new mobo is the way to go??

Thanks!

 

[COLGeek]

I just have to ask. How many SATA devices does your server have? Also, what distro are you using and how much memory does your system have installed?

 

[lpallard]

Hey! the machine currently has 10 SATA drives. (6 onboard and the first expansion card has 4 ports)

I am using Slackware 13.1.. The system has 3.5GB of RAM.

I have somehow discovered reading forum posts that it would have something to do with boot-ability of the SATA controllers but I dont know how to deactivate the bootability of the expansion cards to use them only as a simple SATA controller, or would it help at all?

 

[PreferLinux]

What happens if you update your BIOS to the latest available?

 

[PreferLinux]

Yes, disabling booting from the SATA cards would be extremely likely to help. The cards probably have a configuration utility, similar to the CMOS setup, that you use some other key to get into it. Check the manual.

 

[COLGeek]

Are you running a 32-bit or 64-bit distro? You have a lot of devices there for the system to have to initialize and that takes memory resources. Disabling the "boot-ability" of the expansion cards may help (I agree). Disabling any unused on-board devices (sound, firewire, serial and parallel ports) may help free up system resources as well.

 

[lpallard]

"Yes, disabling booting from the SATA cards would be extremely likely to help. The cards probably have a configuration utility, similar to the CMOS setup, that you use some other key to get into it. Check the manual. "

Yes there is a config utility, but I cant access it.. I deactivated the onboard SATA controller, and when the machine boots, I see a "Press <Ctrl+S> or F4 to enter RAID utility" message but pressing either F4 or Ctrl+S brings the message "No device detected, Utility disabled ! Press any key to continue"

I cant acess the BIOS of the expansion cards and cant remove more devices from the mobo BIOS to allow the expansion cards to boot.. ALso I am using the latest BIOS..

I am thinking MSI are idiots... why would you have so many PCI ports and have a mobo capable of handling so many HDD's with 6 ports if you were not going to add more?? Most people are using either 1-2 HDD's or 10+ in between, its rather rare...

 

[lpallard]

Forgot to mention, I am not sure if it has to do with the 32 VS 64 bit of the OS since even the card doesnt get added to the setup past the BIOS.. So naturally, the OS doesnt see it..

 

[PreferLinux]

It isn't a problem with using PCI cards, it is a problem with using bootable PCI cards. Can you access the configuration utility when only one card is installed? Don't disable the onboard SATA controller unless you don't use it – in which case there'd be no point bothering with getting a second PCI one to work.

 

[lpallard]

Seems that upgrading to the last BIOS (5500) from Silicon Images solved the problem..

Don't look on Vantec's website.. Their site is useless... lots of missing stuff. The chip page from SIL has all you need. Latest BIOS'ses, flash tools and manuals. I thought I had the last BIOS but I was wrong. The BIOS I had dated back to 2006 while the new one is from 2008..

Good to know for people that could run into this problem.

Thanks to all for your advises and help!

 

[PreferLinux]

That's great.