Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

[odiebugs]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

If you get a chance can you post what drivers loaded, and the ID of the devise, numbers after 1106&DEV-. Unless Emily returns with a reply.

[TrevorS]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

Installed VIA driver version: 5.1.2600.300
Detail: PCI/VEN_1106&DEV_3149&SUBSYS_31491849&REV_80\3&61AAA01 &0&78

[odiebugs]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

Sorry Trev, I meant the actual drivers, not the version.

[TrevorS]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

The loaded drivers are the version 5.1.2600.300 from the VIA 300b package (as is available from the Asrock support board). I don't know how else to respond.

[odiebugs]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

If you look at the same place where you seen the driver, devise MGR, the controller, click on properties, then click on the driver tab, you will see driver details.

This is what the hardware loads for drivers, they will be a .sys. I assume you looked in devise MGR and not just at the driver version. You should see a main tab in devise MGR that say's storage controller.

It might be under ATA/IDE sata, I forgot this is older so you might not see storage.

[TrevorS]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

There is no .sys listed, the information for the details tab is what I provided above as "details". The available tabs are "General", "Driver", "Details" and "Resources", none of which specifies a physical file, .sys or otherwise. The "VIA SATA RAID CONTROLLER" subsection properties is what I'm reporting, it's the only item under "SCSI and RAID controllers".

Looking at the 300b files I strongly suspect the name of the driver is viamraid.sys. The alternative possibility appears to be viapdisk.sys, which I was originally thinking might be the non-RAID alternative, but now I'm thinking might be specific to the parallel ports. There could also be a question of which VT8237 boot bios is invoked, but I don't see a switch in the 1.60 BIOS that might allow me to toggle that.

[odiebugs]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

On the driver tab, there is the driver details.

But instead of asking a ton of questions, try this.

Force install this driver, I will have you download this driver.

Extract it, open the folder and go to--VRAIDDrv folder---now --Vista folder- now-- viamraid.sys Either the 32 or 64bit folder, what ever you run.

You are going to devise MGR, and you are going to update the driver, but you need to force the driver to install. You are forcing the 6.0.6000 series driver.

Now when you force it, you must point the install to the driver I posted, the ( viamraid.sys )


Just to help, here is a post that tells you how to force a driver ---How to Force Windows to Use Different Drivers | eHow

Here is the driver dowmnload--- Download windows_v-raid_v580c.zip Free - VIA V-RAID Driver 5.80c install file


So install the driver, reboot, check ADMIN tools- disk MGT-- and see if the HDD is there. If not, or if you get a blue screen, un plug the HDD, and then rollback the driver.


If this doesn't work, sorry, it's the only Sata driver listed as sata without just RAID. You will have to see if someone else can help or wait for Emily.

I tried to help for being a jerk, bad day. If you don't get help, get another HDD and use RAID as storage, as maybe it will only allow RAID, as the INF files from asrock only show RAID ID's.


P.S. If you ever want to see what the hardware loads for the driver, it's under driver details, if you don't see a .SYS when you open driver details then the hardware never loaded a driver. Driver Tab- Driver Details.

[TrevorS]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

FYI --
1) None of my driver properties tabs specify a .sys driver name, yet the drivers are clearly installed since the devices work (excepting the SATA ports -- though even then, the driver is "installed").
2) Vista/7/8 drivers are incompatible with XP.

Hopefully I'll learn something useful from Emily. Surely, Asrock should know whether those SATA ports are capable of supporting non-RAID hard drives, and if so, then how to set them up! I PM'd my earlier reply to her.

[TrevorS]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

Surely, Asrock should know whether those SATA ports are capable of supporting non-RAID hard drives, and if so, then how to set them up!

As I seem to be getting nowhere at a remarkable pace on my Asrock technical question, suppose I spice things up with a related workaround Asrock technical question!

The workaround (and not an especially good one), is to remove the PATA Secondary DVD and HDD drives and replace them with a PATA-to-SATA conversion card plugged into the rear of the SSD, plus a SATA DVD drive plugged into the SATA-1 port of the VT8237.

There are two problems with this, first being the rear mounted conversion cards are nowhere near as physically secure as normal SATA connections (can come loose), the second being I don't know how to boot from a K7VT6 SATA DVD drive. Since the BIOS doesn't report the drive and so it can't be selected for BOOT, that leaves the question of how to use the floppy drive to initiate it. Since no SATA driver has to be installed in order for the SATA DVD drive to function (and I've yet to find one that works for non-RAID HDD), what's the trick for booting from a SATA DVD drive?

PS. The 300b driver package includes two VT8237 BIOS possibilities described in the Readme.txt:
================================================== ==========================================
3) BIOS
xxx indicates the BIOS version number

1. VT6410:
6410Vxxx.rom

2. VT6420 (VT8237 SATA):
SATA RAID BIOS: 6420Rxxx.rom; This BIOS supports SATA RAID

None RAID BIOS: 6420Nxxx.rom; This BIOS does not support RAID functions
and does not support installing Windows 98SE
or Me into SATA HDD.

3. VT6421:
6421Vxxx.rom
================================================== ===========================================

My guess is I need to be invoking 6420Nxxx.rom at Asrock BIOS boot. I'm suspecting that normally, a BIOS switch selecting between SATA RAID operation and IDE operation would control which gets invoked, however, I've BIOS 1.60 installed (the latest I see on the Asrock download page) and I'm not finding such a switch. If the Asrock BIOS is defaulting to running 6420Rxxx.rom and that's what's preventing independent hard drive functionality, is there a way to override it? If it's not the Asrock BIOS invoking it, then what?

Can't find any references to the VT8237 BIOS in the 300b ".inf" files, so I'm suspecting they're not normally invoked on a K7VT6. I'm suspecting the SATA controllers initialize in their default configurations and stay that way -- RAID. If so, the configuration could likely be changed to non-RAID by invoking 6420Nxxx.rom during boot before driver installation. That implies entry into an appropriate system.ini, config.sys, or like boot system file. Thoughts?

[ASRock TSD - Emily]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

Dear TrevorS,

Please check if your SATA HDD can be recognized under boot menu and BIOS.

If you only want to connect SATA HDD as data disk, not RAID mode, you don't have to install Combo RAID driver.

Thank you very much!

Have a nice day
ASRcok TSD
Emily

[TrevorS]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

Hello Emily,

Absolutely nothing I plug into a K7VT6 SATA port is reported in the BIOS. The BIOS only acknowledges drives connected to either the PATA or floppy ports. Please don't expect this board to behave the same way a current board would behave, it's older, only information specific to this older board is likely to be helpful. My specific problems are that I can neither access a non-RAID hard drive plugged into a SATA port, nor can I boot from a DVD drive plugged into a SATA port.

With or without driver install, a non-RAID hard drive (HDD or SSD) is NOT recognized. For that matter, a SATA CD/DVD drive isn't recognized either with no driver installed. The manual implies what I want to do should work, but I haven't found a way to get there. I ran across another individual on the net with a similar issue regarding a K7VT6 board, so it's unlikely a question of a defective board, it's something to do with K7VT6 SATA support. My guess is it's related to either the Asrock or VT8237 BIOS (perhaps both), but I can't be sure.

Thanks -- Trevor

[TrevorS]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

Dear TrevorS,

Please check if your SATA HDD can be recognized under boot menu and BIOS.

If you only want to connect SATA HDD as data disk, not RAID mode, you don't have to install Combo RAID driver.

Thank you very much!

Have a nice day
ASRcok TSD
Emily

Using the 300b driver install utility I just removed the 300b drivers, then shutdown the PC, re-installed the SATA HDD and rebooted. This resulted in a new hardware found message which turned out to be the RAID controller (i.e. VT8237). I went to Device Manager and found a question mark on the "RAID Controller" which had been moved to the "Other devices" section. I checked the properties and see either a Code 28 -- "The drivers for this device are not installed" or a Code 1 -- "This device is not configured correctly." If I go to "Disc Management", the SATA HDD is not present.

If I then rerun the 300b install utility to install the drivers and RAID utility (results are same w/o the RAID utility) and reboot, then Device Manager shows the Raid Controller renamed as "VIA SATA RAID Controller" and moved to the new "SCSI and RAID controllers" section. It has an exclamation point and the properties status is Code 10 -- "This device cannot start." If I go to "Disc Management", the SATA HDD is still not present.

Note also that with a SATA HDD installed, the SATA DVD drive is no longer seen by Device Manager. I just shutdown the PC, disconnected the SATA HDD, and rebooted. Device Manager now reports the SATA DVD drive within the new "DVD/CD-ROM" section.

FWIW -- Just tried running the 300b "viasata.exe" from a floppy. It reports Channel 0 (Channel 2 "not found"). For the SATA DVD drive it reports Reset PASS, PIO MODE FAIL, DMA MODE FAIL (either SATA port). For a single SATA HDD it reports Reset FAIL, PIO MODE --, DMA MODE -- (either SATA port). Don't know what it'd report with a pair of RAID drives.

[TrevorS]

Re: Can't get K7VT6 SATA ports to support non-RAID HDD/SSD

Two weeks have passed without any assistance whatsoever from Asrock support. Their home board says this site is good for providing support for older boards, but that appears a false assessment. This board is not that old, and yet to the visiting Asrock representative, it appears totally foreign. The only conclusion I can reach (given absence of Asrock wisdom) is the Asrock board VT8237 SATA ports do NOT support non-RAID HDD, despite what the manual might say. It's very difficult to believe their engineering staff is unaware of this. My ultimate workaround was to install a PATA to SATA conversion card on the back of my SATA SSD via the PATA secondary, that solved that immediate problem (coupled with installing a SATA optical drive into the VT8237 controller).

However, thanks to a continued lack of Asrock assistance, I'm unable to boot from the SATA optical drive plugged into the VT8237 South Bridge, and so I temporarily connected the primary PATA cable to the original PATA optical drive and used that to install an OS on the secondary PATA SSD. Following which, I was able to remove the PATA optical drive and return the PATA primary to the two PATA hard drives it originally serviced.

On the one hand (no thanks to Asrock and their personnel) I'm ultimately able to at least approach rational SATA function with my Asrock K7VT6 board (it gets the job done). On the other hand, it's very clear the board is crippled in comparison to the description provided in the owners manual. Clearly, Asrock and its personnel lack either the courage or the knowledge to deal with its shortfall regarding it's SATA interface. (However, to cut them a sliver of break, at that time the emphasis was probably more on support of RAID than SATA in general -- I'm still presuming the K7VT6 board does indeed support RAID.)

So Emily, thanks for absolutely nothing! To the board moderator, a sincere thanks for a sincere effort to assist, it's a shame Asrock didn't cooperate! And so, I move on!