P2B-F + SATA trouble

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VorsichtFalle

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May 24, 2004
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Hi there,

i have a problem and hope you guys can help me out! :)

Hardware:
ASUS P2B-F, latest non-beta BIOS (1013A)
IDE0 MASTER IBM-DJNA-351520
IDE1 SLAVE LG DVD-ROM DRD-8160B

Adaptec SATA Connect 1205SA (Silicon Image 3112 chip)
Seagate ST3200822AS

Symptom: System hangs after it dumps the BIOS summary on the screen right *before* it should make a "beep" and boot into the OS. Updating ESCD is processed. When there is no sata hd attached to the controller the system is working fine.

I have RedHat 9 running with GRUB bootloader installed on IDE0. I haven't enabled any boot option on the SATA controller and my BIOS says "Boot into IDE first". I tried disabling the secondary onboard IDE controller but still no success. I haven't tried the latest beta BIOS so far and i don't feel like to unless someone can tell me it's rock stable.

I would appreciate any constructive help since i finally spend myself a storage upgrade for my server and can't use it right now. 🙁

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by VorsichtFalle on 05/24/04 05:26 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
does it boot any further if you unplug all the other drives (so the only drive is your SATA one). Possibly insufficient Power supply(although doesn't really sound like it). I've had symptoms like that by accidentally plugging an IDE plug in the wrong way round, but I'd be suprised if you'd managed to do that with a SATA one...

---
Epox 8RDA+ rev1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @205x11 (~2.26Ghz), 1.575Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 420/744
 
Well no, but the impression I got from your post was that it never gets as far as even <i>trying</i> to load an OS at all (no post beep) - Just wondering if maybe it would at least get as far as a 'non system disk' message, which would suggest that the problem is not the new drive itself.

Maybe if you could get hold of a PATA-> SATA convertor you could try plugging your other HDD (which you know is fine) into the SATA controller, and see if it works that way? Or maybe if you can get access to another system with SATA you could try the disk in that.

Just trying to help narrow it down. :smile:

---
Epox 8RDA+ rev1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @205x11 (~2.26Ghz), 1.575Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 420/744
 
1. Bios 1014A is the best, yes it's beta. I've used it extensively on the P2B-F, P3B-F, and P2B-B. Those BIOS versions also fix the high multiplier issue with Celerons over 10x and allow you to run a Tualatin adpater. I used a Tualatin Celeron 1100@1466 on an Upgradare Slot-T adapter with your board (and later a P3B-F, same BIOS version).

As for your system not booting with the SATA card in place, it SHOULD be showing you the SATA BIOS screen at the point you say, so if it's hanging it might be a problem with the card itself!

Try starting the system with the card in but no drives attached, just to see if the card works. You should see the SATA BIOS screen. If not, try putting the SATA card in another slot, it might be sharing an IRQ with AGP or the chipset's IDE controller.

Oh, and there's the usual suspects, set PNP OS to NO in BIOS and set the cards to automatic configuration. And just to rule out any OTHER cards interfering, figure out what slots share IRQ's with which other slots and try to make the SATA card unshared.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 
@ChipDeath
My PATA harddisk with RH9 boots flawlessly when i disconnect the SATA harddisk from the SATA controller. With the SATA harddisk attached the POST bypasses the "Updating ESCD" stage successfully but then hangs right before the final beep and the booting process.
A PATA->SATA would be an option aswell but i prefer any option which doesn't involve any expenses. :) Plus i would have 2 more issues to deal with:
1. I would be short of 1 more IDE plug since i still need a DVD-ROM on top of my 2 harddisks. OS *must* be on seperate harddisk so merging contents onto 1 hd isn't an option.
2. Partition names would get screwed on my Linux and i dunno how much work is that to fix (if possible).

I hope i will find a way to test the SATA hd. Thanks for your ideas, i sometimes miss some options when i think too much about a certain prob so every comment is appreciated. :)

@Crashman
Meanwhile i got so desperate :) that i installed the beta 3 BIOS. Still no help on my issue. When i boot into Linux (SATA hd detached) my SATA controller gets detected so i assume he is working. The POST process shows the SATA BIOS aswell and i can configure boot devices on the controller. The *whole* POST process of the BIOS is working fine but it just misses the final beep and booting of the OS afterwards. I also checked the SATA controller not sharing the IRQ. I will check the PNP setting and will add it to my personal list of usual suspects. :)

Summary:
SATA controller attached, SATA hd attached -> POST hangs
SATA controller attached, SATA hd detached -> works flawlessly (SATA controller gets detected under Linux)
I know i'm a bitch in explaining things. :)

Another very good point a mate of mine mentioned was the fact that my mobo meets PCI specs 2.1 but the controller requires PCI 2.2. I checked the differences with a document i found here http://www.pcisig.com/specifications/conventional/conventional_pci but i am too less of a pci geek to evaluate whether this is a or *the* problem. I mean the card gets detected on linux. Any further clues?

Thanks for any help so far!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by VorsichtFalle on 05/25/04 12:40 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
I was just suggesting using the convertor to verify that the card works with a known working HDD - Just a temporary measure really if you could get hold of one for free.

To be honest, it sounds a bit like it's that disk that's at fault. I think you should definitely try to test that HDD in another computer to verify that it works. if you don't have access to another 'puter you can use, maybe you could find a nearby computer store and ask if they could just check if it (the HDD) is ok?

---
Epox 8RDA+ rev1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @205x11 (~2.26Ghz), 1.575Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 420/744
 
I will test the controller + hd in a different pc (RedHat9 and W2K Pro SP2). And to be honest too, i didn't think of a SATA hd on a seperate controller being able to screw the boot process of a PATA hd. I hope i will find answers. Thanks for your patience and hints so far! :)
 
It's more a case of screwing the whole boot process, than simply screwing the other disk.

I had the same symptoms because of a dodgy IDE cable - it would just hang completely before completing the boot process. I spent ages trying all sorts of stuff before I eventually tried changing the cable. needless to say I felt like a bit of an idiot :redface: .

Come to think of it, have you tried a different cable? the SATA ones seem loads more robust than the old ribbon cables, but that doesn't mean they never break. Just a thought.

---
Epox 8RDA+ rev1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @205x11 (~2.26Ghz), 1.575Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 420/744
 
I just returned from my 'raiders of the lost sata hd' journey and was able to make the controller plus hd working on a different, more recent pc (athlon-based, PATA + SATA present aswell). I used RH9 for creating partitions and formatting the harddisk. Then i shoveled some gig of data onto it, deleted it. All fine.

My conclusion: MoBo issue, will look on eBay for a P3B-F which meets PCI 2.2 at least. I hope this will finally make my toy work on my linux box.

Thanks for your help so far! I will return in 'P3B-F - The revenge' :)
 
I guess it could be a PCI issue, but I think it's more likely that SATA BIOS is hanging when you attach the drive. You see, after POST, your board will look for card BIOS (for things such as SCSI cards, IDE cards, SATA cards, and boot-enabled network cards). It will allow the card BIOS to do its business. And if the card BIOS hangs, the entire process stops. So this really sounds like it's a problem of how the SATA controller is interacting with the SATA drive. I'd guess that the drive, cable, a connector, or the card itself is bad.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 
Imho the BIOS of the SATA card isn't hanging at all because i can enter it and setup things. Plus as mentioned above the mobo POST works fine, it even clears the screen and prints out the big BIOS summary screen which is the final moment right before the mobo gives the final beep and starts booting the OS. On the BIOS summary i can see the SATA controller being listed with an exclusive IRQ assigned. Let's blame my P2B-F, it's not my Adaptec's 1205SA fault! :)

At least i will have my P3B-F here in 2-3 days which i picked up at eBay. This toy will hopefully make me a happier nerd. 😀
 
Hey, I like the P3B-F, in my opinions it was one of the best boards made!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 
Just to let you know: I replaced my P2B-F with a P3B-F (reflashed with latest beta BIOS) this weekend and my SATA controller + harddisk are working fine now.

Yeehaaw! :)

kind regardz,
VorsichtFalle
 
Now if you wanted to upgrade the CPU on the cheap, a Tualatin Celeron 1100@1466MHz/133 bus on a Slot-T would be perfect!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 
I will think about it (with my ministry of financials *sigh*) but i won't overclock at all. I personally don't OC especially in a server environment (a file-server in my case) plus FoldingAtHome is being reported to occasionaly hang on OC'ed machines.

Call me boring but i like stock cpu speeds too much. 😀 Apart from that i don't have enough budget to build up a *really* decent cooled OC'ed system since i always go for top notch branded (therefore expensive) parts.

kind regardz,
VorsichFalle
 
I only mentioned the Celeron 1100@1466 because it's so much "faster" than the stock Celeron 1400. The PIII 1400-S would be a great choice.

Of course that assumes you have PC133. And the AGP bus does get overclocked...but you could always use a PCI graphics card if you're not using the machine for graphics.

Being a file server you probably didn't need any more performance anyway.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 
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