P4C800-E Deluxe: WinXP Promise Fast Trak 378 Controller has yellow exclamation point

  • Thread starter Thread starter Z Man
  • Start date Start date
Z

Z Man

I get this exclamation point with no cards whatsoever installed, and
Firewire disabled in BIOS. I thought one of my cards was conflicting, so I
removed them all. What's up here?
 
You mean when I originally installed Windows? If so, I did NOT install any
special drivers at that point. However, I did install the drivers after
installing Windows. I played around with it for a while, and found that when
I got the yellow exclamation point only when I had it set for IDE in BIOS.
When I had the Onboard Promise Controller set for the RAID the yellow
exclamation mark did not appear.

I would like to utilize the IDE connector that is on the edge of the
motherboard for an additional hard drive, but in the conventional manner,
not in a RAID configuration. Will it work this way?
 
I currently have just one hard drive, and one DVD writer installed. I am
going to install another DVD writer, and another hard drive. How should
these be configured? Let's say I start with the 2nd DVD writer, as I already
have it. Should I connect both DVD's on one IDE, and leave the hard drive on
its own IDE? Or, should I slave the 2nd DVD to the hard drive, and leave the
2nd DVD on its own? How about the IDE connector on the edge of the
motherboard. Can that be used for one device (I think it supports only hard
drives), in non RAID configuration? (If I do that, how do I set the Promise
controller in BIOS, RAID or IDE?) Lastly, will I still be able to add an
SATA drive at some time in the future?
 
Z Man said:
I currently have just one hard drive, and one DVD writer installed. I am
going to install another DVD writer, and another hard drive. How should
these be configured? Let's say I start with the 2nd DVD writer, as I already
have it. Should I connect both DVD's on one IDE, and leave the hard drive on
its own IDE? Or, should I slave the 2nd DVD to the hard drive, and leave the
2nd DVD on its own? How about the IDE connector on the edge of the
motherboard. Can that be used for one device (I think it supports only hard
drives), in non RAID configuration? (If I do that, how do I set the Promise
controller in BIOS, RAID or IDE?) Lastly, will I still be able to add an
SATA drive at some time in the future?
Click to expand...

Try putting the 2 DVD drives on the 2nd IDE controller configured as a
Master/Slave configuration.Put the Primary hard drive(operating system
boot drive)on IDE 1 as Master.And put the second hard drive on either
IDE 1 as a Slave or on the Promise controller as a Master.I think the
Promise will auto configure it as a IDE.Might wan to check the manual.
 
When I change the BIOS to IDE for the Promise controller, I get a yellow
exclamation mark that I don't get with it set to RAID. Is there a special
Promise IDE controller I should be installing?
 
There are two different drivers on the cd and web site, depending if you
have the bios set to IDE or RAID.
 
I didn't previously see that driver, but I now have it, and it works.
Trouble is, my Firewire card now has a yellow exclamanation point. Thus far,
I have tried all the slots, and have another Firewire card to try next. I am
also running a u/160 SCSI card in Slot #2. I can move that one around, as
well, if necessary. Strange thing is that if I set Promise to RAID in BIOS,
I have no conflicts. I'm not even currently using the Promise controller,
but I want to get it working for future use. Question: if I have it set for
RAID in BIOS, can I still attach a regular IDE hard drive to it?
 
I have the same setup (still waiting to add the 2nd hdd). Is it even
practical to connect any other way? I know it's possible but with the
typical arrangement of the disk drives at the top of the tower & the
HD's way lower I can't see a way to have a disk drive + HD on 1 IDE
cable. Would there be any performance advantage to working this out?
 
Yes, just set up a raid group in the Promise bios and select only one drive.

Why do you need a Firewire card when the motherboard has two Firewire ports
built in?
 
No said:
Yes, just set up a raid group in the Promise bios and select only one drive.

Why do you need a Firewire card when the motherboard has two Firewire ports
built in?
Click to expand...

Read my previous very detailed posts in this newsgroup regarding the onboard
Firewire ports, and you will see what I mean.
 
I was also wondering about the optimum configuration in terms of
performance. You are correct about the physical layout. Considering where
the connectors are located on the IDE cable, it would a problem slaving a
DVD/CD to a hard drive, but it would probably be possible to purchase a
suitable cable. Nonetheless, I have installed the 2nd DVD writer as a slave
to the first, and the cabling was easy since the drives are adjacent to each
other. I will have to evaluate performance over the long haul, but hopefully
it will be OK. The key will be seeing how they perform when I copy DVD's. I
haven't done that yet.
 
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