last change: 11.01.2004

Counter2
since 16.9.2000

A7V Troubleshooting
Why the heck is there a tank ?!?

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Troubleshooting : IDE Ports

Problem : Since I flashed BIOS A7V-1009 or A7V133-1007 I have problems with the Promise Controller

Solution :



The new Build 42 Promise ROM created some problems for many people.

Read This Article for info on changed BIOSes that include older ROMs


Problem : Harddrives connected to the Promise Controller don't show up in BIOS

 

They are not meant to be detected in BIOS. The BIOS only sees the HDDs attached to the VIA controller!

To boot from ATA100 or RAID, set the boot order to first try the "other Boot device" and set this to"SCSI/Onboard ATA100 Boot Device"


Problem : Cannot install XP/2000 on a A7V133/A7V266 with HDDs connected to onboard ATA100 RAID

Solution :

There is a thread in the forum on this, too.

Download the XP drivers and create a floppy with the appropriate files/dirs.


A7V133 (These are the RIGHT settings. Early manuals are WRONG!)


A7V266

BIOS options:

Load Onboard ATA BIOS = "Auto" or "Enable"
SCSI / ATA100 Boot Sequence = "ATA 100 / SCSI" ( ATA100 before SCSI )
Other Boot Device = "Onboard ATA Boot Device / SCSI"

Boot Sequence: "Other Boot Device" must be above "IDE Hard Drive"!

When you SETUP XP, hit F6 at the appropriate time and load the XP drivers and XP should see the array!


Problem : Booting is slow

Solution :



See "Troubleshooting : Boot Delay"

Problem : Data Corruption / CRC Errors when copying large files (VIA Controller)

Solution :


The details about that problem are at www.au-ja.de (in English and german).

The newest 4-in-1 drivers should fix this, also try the newest BIOS for your Board.


Problem : Data Corruption / CRC Errors when copying large files (PROMISE Controller)

Solution :


If this occurs only in Windows 2000 in ACPI mode and when copying between two harddisks connected to the two Promise channels, it is fixed by a new Promise driver Version 20 Build 11. This driver is tested with A7V133 only. Don't use the included drivers for other Operating Systems, only the one for Windows 2000 is meant to be used!

There is another way, which might be nessecary if the above conditions do not apply to you :

BRAZILIANTECH found out how to fix this (see this thread in the forum):

Modify your Promise ATA 100 controller to RAID. Do so by flashing Braziliantech's 1008X/FXD RAID BIOS and installing the appropriate modified drivers.

You don't have to do real RAID. You may create RAID arrays containing only one harddisk.

Use 1024KB Stripe Block Size.

Don't try to set the register 52 to EB (temp fix) using this BIOS or you'll get severe data corruption!!

In Windows2000 you'll need to take some precautions. This is what Daniel of Braziliantech recommends :

"Win2000 will look for disks on controllers already installed. As long as you haven't disabled the VIA IDE controllers in BIOS Setup, this procedure will work. Attach your 2 HDs to VIA IDE (be sure which drives will be assigned as C and D). Load Win2000 and see if it loads successfuly. Reboot and flash the BIOS and DO NOT change your disk configuration. Load Win2000 and see if everything is right. Win2000 will detect your Promise controller. Install the Fasttrak drivers. Connect your HDs to Promise controller. Setup the Fasttrak BIOS and it's done."


Problem : My LS120 Super Disk is not working at all - and there are 2 floppys showing in windows, both are not working

Solution :

See the Troubleshooting LS-120

Problem : I use a harddisk which I used on another motherboard or controller before. Now that it's on the A7V, I'm having troubles (Read errors, Operating System not loading, Error Messages etc.)

Solution :

Read Page 56 (top) "Important"and middle "Translation Method"

Best thing ist to install everything from scratch. Read How to install an Operating System

Read How to migrate my Harddisk containing an OS to the A7V


Problem : What is that "PCI Mass Storage Controller" that is detected by Windows ?

Solution :


It's your onboard ATA 100 Controller. Windows does not recognize it unless you install drivers.

See How to install the Drivers for the onboard ATA100 controller and How to decide if the ATA100 driver is needed


Problem : Win2000 error : "Inaccessible Boot Device"

Solution :

This problem was discussed on our Forum in this Thread

The solutions given by other people :

Rich : "Although it's not mentioned anywhere, there seems to be some problems putting an ATA/33 device(CD-Rom, etc) on the same channel as an ATA/66 device."

That helped - at least for Rich.

Kehrarus : "Check in your bios and see if there is a setting, or a series of settings for boot sequence. I had two drives and my system kept booting from the drive i had set as the slave. I rechecked the bios setting, and the drives start at -0- zero as the number1. After correcting the setting, boot sequence started with the master. might help, might not, good luck."

No info available if that helped.

Generally, moving a NT (or 2000) system is not trivial. In it's system files (I think boot.ini) it stores the exact drive and partition number it wants to boot from. These numbers change depending on how you set up your drives, add or delete partitions, move it to other controllers or channels etc.

The file in question is a clear text file. Try looking at it and editing it ... first of all search for info on that topic using several search engines ... it's well documented I think :-)


Problem : My harddisk runs slower on the ATA100 than on the ATA 66

Solution
:
NONE

No solution yet, problem has been posted on the message board.

If you know the problem or a solution, post it there, please

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