2 PCI IDE controller cards in 1 PC

  • Thread starter Thread starter Richard Lowen
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Richard Lowen

I have one PCI IDE controller card installed, and I'm trying
to add another IDE channel to my PC. It turns out that both
makes of PCI IDE controller cards that I bought use the
same chipset (SIL680) and so they use the same BIOS and
IRQ and memory adrs, etc. Naturally, the resource conflict
is seen at startup and the boot process gets no further.

Is there a maker of PCI IDE controller cards that uses a
different chipset, and would having cards with different
chipsets enable 2 PCI IDE controller cards to work
simultaneously in the same PC running Windows XP?

TIA,
Rick Lowen
 
I have one PCI IDE controller card installed, and I'm trying
to add another IDE channel to my PC. It turns out that both
makes of PCI IDE controller cards that I bought use the
same chipset (SIL680) and so they use the same BIOS and
IRQ and memory adrs, etc. Naturally, the resource conflict
is seen at startup and the boot process gets no further.

Is there a maker of PCI IDE controller cards that uses a
different chipset, and would having cards with different
chipsets enable 2 PCI IDE controller cards to work
simultaneously in the same PC running Windows XP?
Click to expand...

Even if you find a completely different PCI IDE card, you will be hard
pressed to make 2 or more work together in the same PC. PCI IDE cards
just don't play nice with each other. The onboard IDE ports are
separate and usually won't interfere with the PCI card(s).

If you were trying to cram more than 8 drives in the same PC, you
should have considered SCSI as they can have up to 7 per channel
normal or 15 UW. These are rather expensive though.

Alternatively: get external USB drive cases and try those. Most of
them have had lousy throughput speed though and some cheaper adapters
are even worse. Plus some won't even properly support (if at all)
hard drives over 128GB. This is probably the cheapest solution but
not really the best.

Last one and probably the best solution for your problem: build a
second PC containing just the bare minumum (ie plain old $10 32MB
video card, not a $500 top of the line video card) and you could have
up to 4 drives via onboard plus 4 more with PCI add on card. (if you
get a mobo that has both PATA and SATA, you could have up to 8 drives
via onboard!) Then hook it to ethernet network. If both PC has
Gigabit network, you could connect both using only a cat 5e or 6
crossover, forget the hubs. Gigabit network should be able to handle
up to drives and CPU's maximum throughput. Regular 100 Mbit should be
OK but it will slow the drive's throughput quite a bit.
 
Richard said:
I have one PCI IDE controller card installed, and I'm trying
to add another IDE channel to my PC. It turns out that both
makes of PCI IDE controller cards that I bought use the
same chipset (SIL680) and so they use the same BIOS and
IRQ and memory adrs, etc. Naturally, the resource conflict
is seen at startup and the boot process gets no further.

Is there a maker of PCI IDE controller cards that uses a
different chipset, and would having cards with different
chipsets enable 2 PCI IDE controller cards to work
simultaneously in the same PC running Windows XP?

TIA,
Rick Lowen
Click to expand...

The BIOS should take care of such details for you, assigning
them different (or shared) interrupts and giving them separate
memory spaces. That they're the same chipset shouldn't matter
unless the design is flawed.
 
Richard said:
I have one PCI IDE controller card installed, and I'm trying
to add another IDE channel to my PC. It turns out that both
makes of PCI IDE controller cards that I bought use the
same chipset (SIL680) and so they use the same BIOS and
IRQ and memory adrs, etc. Naturally, the resource conflict
is seen at startup and the boot process gets no further.

Is there a maker of PCI IDE controller cards that uses a
different chipset, and would having cards with different
chipsets enable 2 PCI IDE controller cards to work
simultaneously in the same PC running Windows XP?

TIA,
Rick Lowen
Click to expand...

Why not simply get a controller that can handle 4 or more drives?


Odie
 
If you need that many hard drives then you should be switching to SCSI.
Or just get really large hard drives to use on the first controller.

Why do you need 2 add-on PCI ATA controllers ?
DETAILS PLEASE.
 
tod said:
If you need that many hard drives then you should be switching to SCSI.
Or just get really large hard drives to use on the first controller.

Why do you need 2 add-on PCI ATA controllers ?
Click to expand...

Does it really matter? He says he wants them. Who should say
he can't have them?
 
Richard said:
I have one PCI IDE controller card installed, and I'm trying
to add another IDE channel to my PC. It turns out that both
makes of PCI IDE controller cards that I bought use the
same chipset (SIL680) and so they use the same BIOS and
IRQ and memory adrs, etc. Naturally, the resource conflict
is seen at startup and the boot process gets no further.
Click to expand...

The IRQ and memory addresses are supposed to be configured at boot time in
such a manner as to avoid conflicts. If they aren't this is a design
defect in the boards that you are using.
Is there a maker of PCI IDE controller cards that uses a
different chipset, and would having cards with different
chipsets enable 2 PCI IDE controller cards to work
simultaneously in the same PC running Windows XP?
Click to expand...

The simple solution is to just get a board with enough channels to support
all the drives you want to use. You can get 4 channel host adapters with
support for 8 drives for under $100.
 
CJT said:
tod wrote
Click to expand...
Does it really matter?
Yep.

He says he wants them.
Click to expand...

It isnt clear if that want make any sense at all, and if it does, whether the
number he does want actually needs two addon PCI ATA controllers anyway.
Who should say he can't have them?
Click to expand...

It may well be that there are more viable
approaches than two addon PCI ATA controllers
 
Impmon said:
I have one PCI IDE controller card installed, and I'm trying
to add another IDE channel to my PC. It turns out that both
makes of PCI IDE controller cards that I bought use the
same chipset (SIL680) and so they use the same BIOS and
IRQ and memory adrs, etc. Naturally, the resource conflict
is seen at startup and the boot process gets no further.

Is there a maker of PCI IDE controller cards that uses a
different chipset, and would having cards with different
chipsets enable 2 PCI IDE controller cards to work
simultaneously in the same PC running Windows XP?
Click to expand...

Even if you find a completely different PCI IDE card, you will be hard
pressed to make 2 or more work together in the same PC. PCI IDE cards
just don't play nice with each other. The onboard IDE ports are
separate and usually won't interfere with the PCI card(s).

If you were trying to cram more than 8 drives in the same PC, [....]
Click to expand...


I wonder why it is that they don't cooperate? What I really want is
3 or 4 IDE channels for 3 or 4 hard drives. Yes, I know I could put
2 hard drives on each channel, but I have an application for one per
channel.

T,
Rick Lowen
 
CJT said:
The BIOS should take care of such details for you, assigning
them different (or shared) interrupts and giving them separate
memory spaces. That they're the same chipset shouldn't matter
unless the design is flawed.
Click to expand...


The 2 cards are made by SIIG and SYBA. The SYBA tech rep
said that since they have the same chipset, they can't be distinguished
apart. The SIIG tech rep thinks they'd probably be distinguishable if
they had different manufacturers (he may have been thinking "chipsets").
Can you think of some way to make the motherboard BIOS
distinguish them although their on-card BIOS's are identical?

TIA,
Rick Lowen
 
Odie Ferrous said:
Why not simply get a controller that can handle 4 or more drives?
Click to expand...


I need one channel per drive. Is there a PCI IDE controller card
that has 3 or 4 channels for ATA/133?

TIA,
Rick Lowen

Rick Lowen
 
CJT said:
Some people apparently want to play configuration cop. I don't.
Click to expand...


Thanks, again. I have a reason for wanting one hard drive per
IDE channel.

T,
Rick Lowen
 
J. Clarke said:
The IRQ and memory addresses are supposed to be configured at boot time in
such a manner as to avoid conflicts. If they aren't this is a design
defect in the boards that you are using.
Click to expand...


The motherboard is a Dell. The PCI cards that I have are
made by SIIG and SYBA. The IRQs and memory addresses
seem to be chosen by the chipset BIOS's and not by the
motherboard BIOS. Is there a way to make a Phoenix BIOS
override those parameters?

The simple solution is to just get a board with enough channels to support
all the drives you want to use. You can get 4 channel host adapters with
support for 8 drives for under $100.
Click to expand...


4 channels on one PCI card would be great. Do you know
any good manufacturers of such cards?

TIA,
Rick Lowen
 
Richard said:
The motherboard is a Dell. The PCI cards that I have are
made by SIIG and SYBA. The IRQs and memory addresses
seem to be chosen by the chipset BIOS's and not by the
motherboard BIOS. Is there a way to make a Phoenix BIOS
override those parameters?


4 channels on one PCI card would be great. Do you know
any good manufacturers of such cards?
Click to expand...


Promise do some cards with 4 ATA channels - perhaps even more.

I have a FastTrack card - but the performance is less than spectacular.

Maybe their more modern boards are better.

Failing that, you'll be paying an awful lot more for a "proper" card.


Odie
 
s there a maker of PCI IDE controller cards that uses a
different chipset, and would having cards with different
chipsets enable 2 PCI IDE controller cards to work
simultaneously in the same PC running Windows XP?
Click to expand...

My 2 Promise Ultra 100 TX2 cards do. I'd suppose the 133's would, too.
 
Previously Odie Ferrous said:
Richard said:
J. Clarke said:
Richard Lowen wrote:
Click to expand...
[..]
4 channels on one PCI card would be great. Do you know
any good manufacturers of such cards?
Click to expand...

Promise do some cards with 4 ATA channels - perhaps even more.
Click to expand...

Promise cards also work together. At least for a pair of Ultra 100tx2
I have used without problem under Linux for some time.
I have a FastTrack card - but the performance is less than spectacular.
Maybe their more modern boards are better.
Click to expand...

I found the performancd good with just one drive per channel.
Two drives per channel was really slow. That ws why I sued two
controllers in the first place. Just 4 disks connected to them.

Arno
 
Richard said:
The motherboard is a Dell. The PCI cards that I have are
made by SIIG and SYBA. The IRQs and memory addresses
seem to be chosen by the chipset BIOS's and not by the
motherboard BIOS. Is there a way to make a Phoenix BIOS
override those parameters?
Click to expand...

If it's not doing it automatically then there's generally no way to force
it. Some motherboards in the past allowed IRQs to be manually assigned to
specific slots but I haven't seen one of those in years.

It just occurred to me though--on many motherboards two PCI slots are
physically wired to the same interrupt--which two you'll have to check the
docs for the motherboard--if you've got the two boards in the two slots
that share an interrupt that could be your problem.
4 channels on one PCI card would be great. Do you know
any good manufacturers of such cards?
Click to expand...

In a cheap board, Promise and High Point both make boards that work. The
High Point RocketRAID 454 should do what you want for about 90 bucks--while
it supports RAID you don't _have_ to configure a RAID on it.

The Promise TX4000 is a bit more expensive at about $130.

If you want to go upmarket some, the 3Ware 7506-4LP goes for about 200
bucks, or if you need more channels you can go as high as 12 with the
7506-12 for about $550.
 
It is not possible for a PCI device BIOS to set interrupt and resource allocation,
this is only done by the system BIOS or Windows PCI bus driver.

If you get shared interrupts, have to try the cards in other slots,
or disable COM2 if you don't have 4 available PCI interrupts.

The manual for the SiI 680A says it is PCI IDE "native mode", so two cards should work.
There are reasons it may not work - differing SiI BIOS versions that don't cooperate...
 
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