SATA HD problems

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave
  • Start date Start date
D

Dave

I have an Intel D845PEBT2 mobo with the SI3112 SATA
controller built in. I installed a Seagate 120gig SATA
drive, and performed a fresh install. I noticed that
after shutting down (with XP Pro powering off the system
afterwards) that the system would run a scan on the
drives upon the next bootup.

Currently I'm on my 3rd drive of the same sort, and have
determined that the system is powering off before the
drive has finished writing data to the drive. After a
short time, the drive develops bad sectors. My temp
solution is simply not to turn off the computer until I
resolve this :) Not good, however, it's storm season!

I've updated all the drivers in the system, updated the
BIOS (the sata controller is built on the mobo, and can't
be flashed seperately that I'm aware of). If I restart
as opposed to shutting down, it's fine. But, about 50%
of the time shutting down causes scandisk to check the
drives, and it finds errors, eventually causing the drive
to go bad as has happened in the past.

I tried to disable the write-behind cache, but there
aren't any options to do so on the SI3112 controller in
the device manager, and the options to do it on the drive
itself are grey'd out. Swell.

Just wondering if anyone has heard of this before, and
has a method of resolving it ... or a workaround. Can I
prevent XP Pro from shutting down the system
automatically? Perhaps be brought to the old "it is now
safe to shut off your computer" message? My BIOS doesn't
have a great many options for ACPI, and "disable" isn't
among them.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

-=D=-
 
Hi!
I've hade similar problems, and have found a possible solution. The
problem source seems to be Intels driver for the Silicon Image SATA
controller. I solved the problem by downloading the latest general
driver for the controller in question, from Silicon Image website.
Have now been working for weeks without a problem!

Regards
/Lex
 
Hi Lex

Since the OP has not posted a response there is no way of knowing whether
the original problem has already been resolved.

In general though, it's advisable to use the drivers supplied by the
mainboard manufacturer because some mainboard manufacturers, e.g. Asus, have
been reported here as providing (in particular) SATA drivers 'altered' to
suit other on-board hardware. Although if Intel *were* providing such an
'altered' driver the general one from Silicon Image would be unlikely to
work properly, as you have reported.

BTW, have you checked which version of the SATA controller you have
installed.? 1.0.0.47?

Pete
-----------
 
Hi Pete
In this case Intel does provide a driver for the SI controller. The
latest version number to be found on Intels website is 1.0.0.21.
(http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/bt2/bt2_drive.htm)
The version you refer to, 1.0.0.47 is not ,as far as I know, an
altered Intel driver. Version 1.0.0.47 must be the latest general
driver, and yes - that's the one I have installed. With a little
research I found that earlier drivers (for the Sil3112 controller)
from Intel had the exact same problem, and earlier general drivers
from SI also solved this. I aggree with you that altered drivers from
moboard manufacturers would be to prefere, but in this case it's the
other way around.
Please correct me if I'm wrong... :)
/Lex
 
Hi Lex

Well you're not wrong in saying that the latest version of the general
driver has been released to resolve a potential conflict - although, using
the same hardware as the OP, I have not experienced any issues with the
1.0.0.21 driver. But the important point is that this is an update by
Silicon Image to their own general driver - it doesn't have anything to do
with Intel. Intel could be quicker at updating their website with the
latest, suitable, drivers from Silicon Image but, as I pointed out in my
original post, the updated driver you installed from the Silicon Image
website has been available since 18 June via the normal Microsoft Updates
site, which is where I obtained it from - and had already directed the OP to
look for it there.

Cheers
Pete
--------------------------
 
Aha...
My computers are not connected to the Internet, they are 100%
dedicated to recording music in the studio (I've built 2 exact copies
with pebt2 and Barracuda 5 sata 120). So I don't use MS update to find
new drivers and such. I think it's almost a mystery why some get
problems with the Intel driver, even version 1.0.0.21, and others
don't. We all have the same gear... I know there's at least 2
revisions of the actuall SI chip involved. Maybe the older revision of
that ship is the failing component with Intels driver... But Pete, I
don't whant to be no wise guy, but the driver version 1.0.0.34 is NOT
an Intel driver for the PEBT2 mobo, even if you got it from MS
updates. We can all be very hapy that it works thou! But I have to say
that Intel lost "a couple of points" on my "quality company list" with
this matter. Sure hope they will solve this problem with "real"
drivers.
Happy dayz
/Lex
 
One more time... It's a Silicon Image update to a Silicon Image driver...
I'm well aware that it isn't available yet *via* the Intel website.. but,
since I didn't have an issue prior to the update, if it had caused a problem
I would have removed it and *not* recommended it.

With a mainboard manufacturer known to be particularly sensitive to which
version of the Silicon Image driver is used I wouldn't recommend it until
that manufacturer posts a new driver on its website.

As for other 'problems' you refer to... well in a hypothetical case they
could originate in any number of components other than the ones you mention.
 
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