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From: sc10000 on 5 Feb 2006 03:28
KEYWORDS:
Promise 20378, non-raid, SATA, ATA378, RAID378.

MY OBJECTIVE:
I would like to connect a third hard drive to the SATA_RAID1 interface
of my motherboard WITHOUT using RAID. I have been told by Asus that
this is possible, but that's where the help ends! I already have two
hard drives connected successfully to the SATA1 and SATA2 (Southbridge)
interfaces.

MY HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE:
- Asus P4C800-E Deluxe Motherboard running BIOS 1021
- 2x Maxtor SATA Hard Drives connected successfully to SATA1 and SATA2
- 1x Maxtor SATA Hard Drive connected to SATA_RAID1.
- Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 2
- I believe that the two SATA_RAID interfaces are supported by the
onboard Promise PDC 20378 controller.

MY BIOS SETTINGS:
- The Promise Controller is "Enabled"
- The Operating Mode is "IDE". Choices are "IDE" or "RAID"
- Configure SATA as RAID is set to "No"

WHAT HAPPENS:
My third drive is recognised during boot up with the message something
like "SATA378 Tx2plus BIOS Version... Detecting.... IDE BUS ENABLED.".
My third drive also appears as a 3rd drive in the BIOS under the "Boot"
menu. However, it is not recognised by Windows.

PROBLEM:
In Device Manager, under "SCSI and RAID controllers", I get the yellow
exclamation mark against "WinXP Promise FastTrak 378(tm) Controller".
When I double click this, it states "This device cannot start. (Code
10)". It is currently using the driver files "Fasttx2k.sys" and
"ptipbmf.dll". It states file version "1.00.1.37".

WHAT I HAVE TRIED:
1. I have tried to update this driver with the ones on the ASUS Support
CD and ones I have downloaded from the ASUS website (both ATA378 and
RAID 378). However, Windows XP rejects these stating that XP "...could
not find a better match for your hardware then the software currently
installed".
2. I uninstall the driver and boot from the Windows XP CD ROM. I press
F6 and select the drivers provided by ASUS (by using the MakeDisk
facility and putting the drivers on a Floppy Disk). The drivers are
copied across. However, I still get the problem described in "PROBLEM"
above.

CONCLUSION:
I know I can connect a third party PCI card wih SATA interfaces on it,
but that would be giving up! What I am trying here is possible, so I'd
prefer to use the MB's own SATA interfaces. Installing a PCI card is
my last resort IF I do not get any help here.

If I find a solution, I will post it here for all to see (together with
credits!). PLEASE HELP!

From: Paul on 5 Feb 2006 05:20
In article <1139128090.367034.289000(a)o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
sc10000(a)hotmail.com wrote:

> KEYWORDS:
> Promise 20378, non-raid, SATA, ATA378, RAID378.
>
> MY OBJECTIVE:
> I would like to connect a third hard drive to the SATA_RAID1 interface
> of my motherboard WITHOUT using RAID. I have been told by Asus that
> this is possible, but that's where the help ends! I already have two
> hard drives connected successfully to the SATA1 and SATA2 (Southbridge)
> interfaces.
>
> MY HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE:
> - Asus P4C800-E Deluxe Motherboard running BIOS 1021
> - 2x Maxtor SATA Hard Drives connected successfully to SATA1 and SATA2
> - 1x Maxtor SATA Hard Drive connected to SATA_RAID1.
> - Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 2
> - I believe that the two SATA_RAID interfaces are supported by the
> onboard Promise PDC 20378 controller.
>
> MY BIOS SETTINGS:
> - The Promise Controller is "Enabled"
> - The Operating Mode is "IDE". Choices are "IDE" or "RAID"
> - Configure SATA as RAID is set to "No"
>
> WHAT HAPPENS:
> My third drive is recognised during boot up with the message something
> like "SATA378 Tx2plus BIOS Version... Detecting.... IDE BUS ENABLED.".
> My third drive also appears as a 3rd drive in the BIOS under the "Boot"
> menu. However, it is not recognised by Windows.
>
> PROBLEM:
> In Device Manager, under "SCSI and RAID controllers", I get the yellow
> exclamation mark against "WinXP Promise FastTrak 378(tm) Controller".
> When I double click this, it states "This device cannot start. (Code
> 10)". It is currently using the driver files "Fasttx2k.sys" and
> "ptipbmf.dll". It states file version "1.00.1.37".
>
> WHAT I HAVE TRIED:
> 1. I have tried to update this driver with the ones on the ASUS Support
> CD and ones I have downloaded from the ASUS website (both ATA378 and
> RAID 378). However, Windows XP rejects these stating that XP "...could
> not find a better match for your hardware then the software currently
> installed".
> 2. I uninstall the driver and boot from the Windows XP CD ROM. I press
> F6 and select the drivers provided by ASUS (by using the MakeDisk
> facility and putting the drivers on a Floppy Disk). The drivers are
> copied across. However, I still get the problem described in "PROBLEM"
> above.
>
> CONCLUSION:
> I know I can connect a third party PCI card wih SATA interfaces on it,
> but that would be giving up! What I am trying here is possible, so I'd
> prefer to use the MB's own SATA interfaces. Installing a PCI card is
> my last resort IF I do not get any help here.
>
> If I find a solution, I will post it here for all to see (together with
> credits!). PLEASE HELP!

Well, someone did find an answer. His name is Bob.

http://groups.google.ca/group/alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus/msg/f88d630b0469710c?dmode=source

The problem is, the clever lads at Promise, did not design any
removal capability for the RAID and IDE driver package for
the 20378. That means, if you install the RAID drivers, then
decide later to go IDE, there is no entry in Add/Remove to
click to get rid of them. Some RAID controllers actually
change their enumeration, when you change modes, and that
triggers Windows to install new drivers. I get the impression
(but have not checked) that the 20378 looks the same to
Windows whether in RAID or IDE mode, from an enumeration
perspective. But, when the driver attempts to load, the
driver soon figures out it is the wrong flavor of driver
and it gives you the finger. (The damn driver could have
integrated the RAID and IDE features into the same driver,
which would have been another solution for the guys at
Promise.)

So, in the posting above, Bob manually removed files and
fixed the registry. You'd have to look at the .INF file
used to install the files, to try and figure out what needs
to be removed. It would either be that, or redesign the
..INF file itself, and add the necessary entries to
make the driver appear in Add/Remove.

Either you'll be doing brain surgery, or doing a system
reinstall. Punting and getting another card, is also
an option :-)

Paul
From: Thomas Andersson on 5 Feb 2006 14:47
sc10000(a)hotmail.com wrote:

> If I find a solution, I will post it here for all to see (together
> with credits!). PLEASE HELP!

Not exactly what you want, but how about making a RAID 1 or Jbod setup with
just one drive?

Best Wishes
Thomas


From: sc10000 on 5 Feb 2006 16:27
Hi,

Got it!!!! What a relief - I spent the whole weekend (including nights)
trying to figure this one out.

Thanks to Paul for directing me to Bob, and thanks to Bob for making me
re-think and start another line of enquiry on Google. OK, as promised,
here's the solution.

The reason this didn't work for me, is because I must have
inadvertently used the RAID driver during my troubleshoot, thereby
telling the Promise Controller I want to use RAID. I should have used
the ATA driver. This is how I corrected things:

In BIOS, ensure that your Promise Controller is enabled, and is set to
IDE (not RAID).

1) Using the "MakeDisk" facility on either (a) the Asus CD Rom, or (b)
downloading the Promise driver from ASUS, create a Floppy Disk of the
ATA378 driver - NOT the RAID378 driver.
2) Go to Device Manager, select "WinXP Promise FastTrak 378(tm)
Controller" (i.e. the one with the yellow exclamation mark).
3) Click on update driver
4) Choose "No not this time" and click NEXT
5) Choose "Install from specific location" and click NEXT
6) Here's the bit I never tried before, but resolved my problem: Click
on "Don't search, I will choose the driver" and click NEXT
7) Click on show compatible hardware, select "WinXP Promise SATA378" if
it is there (if not, proceed anyway)
8) Click on Have Disk
9) Insert the Floppy you made in Step 1 above and continue
10) XP will extract the relevant files from the Floppy. It will warn
you about using Unsigned Drivers. Proceed anyway (as long as you got
these drivers from Asus).
11) The yellow exclamation mark will dissappear (a sight for sore
eyes!!!) and the controller will be recognised as "WinXP Promise
SATA378 IDE Controller". However, you will not see your SATA drive
yet.
12) Reboot your PC
13) Look in Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management
> Disk Management to see your independent NON-RAID SATA drive!!! Format this to enable it.

You now have 4x SATA (NON-RAID) interfaces on your Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
MB.

Good luck all!

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