Asus A8V Deluxe Promise RAID Controller @#$%@!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter van der Goes
  • Start date Start date
P

Peter van der Goes

The Promise RAID controller on this board is driving me nuts!
I'm trying to use the Promise PDC 20378 controller in IDE mode to control a
single hard drive.

If I set the controller to RAID mode in the BIOS, it is detected and the
drivers load fine. Of course the single hard drive is not configured for
RAID, so I get warned on boot that no RAID array is present.

If I go into the BIOS and change the Promise controller to IDE mode, the
single drive is detected during boot, but when Windows XP (SP2) boots up,
the hard drive is not in the drive list and in Device Manager, the Promise
Controller is flagged as not operating correctly with the Error [10 Device
could not start].

Anybody have a clue what's wrong?
TIA!
 
Peter said:
The Promise RAID controller on this board is driving me nuts!
I'm trying to use the Promise PDC 20378 controller in IDE mode to control a
single hard drive.

If I set the controller to RAID mode in the BIOS, it is detected and the
drivers load fine. Of course the single hard drive is not configured for
RAID, so I get warned on boot that no RAID array is present.

If I go into the BIOS and change the Promise controller to IDE mode, the
single drive is detected during boot, but when Windows XP (SP2) boots up,
the hard drive is not in the drive list and in Device Manager, the Promise
Controller is flagged as not operating correctly with the Error [10 Device
could not start].

Anybody have a clue what's wrong?
TIA!
Click to expand...
I'd guess MBR

Maybe a reinstall of XP is on the cards? (after, of course, saving all
your data that you don't want to risk losing)

Have you repartitioned the drive?
Used cfdisk or summat else?

Aerticeus
 
The Promise RAID controller on this board is driving me nuts!
I'm trying to use the Promise PDC 20378 controller in IDE mode to control a
single hard drive.

If I set the controller to RAID mode in the BIOS, it is detected and the
drivers load fine. Of course the single hard drive is not configured for
RAID, so I get warned on boot that no RAID array is present.

If I go into the BIOS and change the Promise controller to IDE mode, the
single drive is detected during boot, but when Windows XP (SP2) boots up,
the hard drive is not in the drive list and in Device Manager, the Promise
Controller is flagged as not operating correctly with the Error [10 Device
could not start].

Anybody have a clue what's wrong?
Click to expand...

Sounds about right for a typical raid implementation.

Raid settings will sometimes offset the virtual start sector of the
raided drive.. This is done so that vital configuration data may be
stored in the newly hidden sectors.

Shutting off the bios raid settings reveals the missing sectors at
the beginning of the disk. Unfortunately those new sectors (with
unrecognizable data) now represent the partitions table, boot sector,
etc.

You'll have to repartition & re-install with bios raid setting shut
off.
 
Peter said:
The Promise RAID controller on this board is driving me nuts!
I'm trying to use the Promise PDC 20378 controller in IDE mode to control a
single hard drive.

If I set the controller to RAID mode in the BIOS, it is detected and the
drivers load fine. Of course the single hard drive is not configured for RAID,
so I get warned on boot that no RAID array is present.

If I go into the BIOS and change the Promise controller to IDE mode, the
single drive is detected during boot, but when Windows XP (SP2) boots up, the
hard drive is not in the drive list and in Device Manager, the Promise
Controller is flagged as not operating correctly with the Error [10 Device
could not start].
Click to expand...

IIRC, the Promise controller allows a RAID 0 "Array" of 1 drive. Try going into
the controller BIOS (Ctrl-F on boot) and setting it up that way.
 
John R Weiss said:
IIRC, the Promise controller allows a RAID 0 "Array" of 1 drive. Try
going into the controller BIOS (Ctrl-F on boot) and setting it up that
way.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestion, Ron. I'll try that.

The other responses indicate that I did not make my intentions/goals clear:

The drive I want to control is a data drive only, no OS. I still believe
that the controller *should* operate in the documented IDE mode to allow me
to simply attach two additional devices.

The fact that the controller goes wonky when set to IDE mode is what I need
some insight on.
 
The fact that the controller goes wonky when set to IDE mode is what I
need some insight on.
Click to expand...

Have you tried uninstalling it in Windows then restarting so it can
redetect? Maybe Windows still sees it as the same device but has the wrong
drivers since it isn't configured as a raid controller anymore.
 
Mitch Crane said:
Have you tried uninstalling it in Windows then restarting so it can
redetect? Maybe Windows still sees it as the same device but has the wrong
drivers since it isn't configured as a raid controller anymore.
Click to expand...
Actually, I've tried that several times. If the controller is configured as
RAID in the BIOS, the reinstallation goes smoothly. If the controller is
configured as IDE in the BIOS, the reinstall of the driver fails resulting
in the Error 10 message. It's possible that a completely different driver is
required in this case, but it sure isn't supplied on the MB driver CD, nor
is there any mention that I can find in the Asus web pages.
 
Actually, I've tried that several times. If the controller is
configured as RAID in the BIOS, the reinstallation goes smoothly. If
the controller is configured as IDE in the BIOS, the reinstall of the
driver fails resulting in the Error 10 message. It's possible that a
completely different driver is required in this case, but it sure
isn't supplied on the MB driver CD, nor is there any mention that I
can find in the Asus web pages.
Click to expand...

How about this driver:
http://www.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/ide/378ATA100130.zip
 
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is an earlier
version of 378ata_100104528.zip , which is the driver for the Promise
SATA controller. Thanks for trying to help, though :-)
Click to expand...

Sorry, yeah I guess it is. So I assume 378ata_100104528 doesn't fix it.
 
Mitch Crane said:
Sorry, yeah I guess it is. So I assume 378ata_100104528 doesn't fix it.
Click to expand...
Actually, you are correct. I've finally figured out that there are two
different sets of drivers for the Promise controller, and that the one you
cite (even though Asus describes it as a RAID driver) *is* the correct
driver for the Promise controller in IDE mode.
Thanks very much!
 
You rock

I am so happy with this post...


I had the same problem and almost went insane!

Thanks for the info, solved my ide problem too!

I am so happy with you guys that I registered here just so I could post a thankyou!

mp
 
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