GA-EP45-DS5 G-SATA Problem! Please Help!

[lmfs]

Re: GA-EP45-DS5 G-SATA Problem! Please Help!

Hi,

I also had some problems when upgrading to F8. I wasn't able to pass the "Initializing storage policy" that is run when you enable or change GS0-GS3 ports (which was done automatically after the F8 upgrade). I had to clear the BIOS, remove the battery, flash it a couple of times before it finally passed this stage. Not a big problem since I always build my systems on the desk, outside the casing, before going live with them. A bit annoying, but it worked finally.

Also, changing some values also affect other parts/pages in the setup. The most annoying is that if you change C1E and/or overclock, the CPU smart fan is disabled - effectively running the CPU fan at max speed at all times. You can "trick" the bios by manually enable "CPU Smart Fan" and then select PWM/Voltage. But... That is only in effect until you change some other setting and forget to enable PWM/Voltage.

But I can't understand why it isn't possible to use the GS0/GS2 ports for S-ATA DVDs? That was my immediate idea/reaction when I saw it had these four extra ports.

I hope the BIOS will improve, but until then - it will remain on my desk.

[mv2devnull]

Re: GA-EP45-DS5 G-SATA Problem! Please Help!

AFAIK,

The "Gigabyte SATA2" -chip is a JMicron 363 set to provide an IDE channel, and couple SATA devices. Those "SATA devices" happen to be Silicon Image 5723 chips. A SiI 5723 provides minimal hardware RAID0/1 functionality, but probably at some cost. And that cost seems to be lack of support for ATAPI devices, such as CD/DVD.

Asus has P45 boards with SiI 5723 behind Marvell 6121 chip. (They have had JMicron 363 on their earlier boards.) And Asus documentation stresses that on their board the SiI 5723 does not support ATAPI.

Now that I think, I've never even looked at documentation of hardware RAID HBA's for whether they allow connection of non-HDD on them. But I do doubt that they would.

That leaves the IDE channel on 363, and the SATA ports on the ICH10R, both versatile enough to support ATAPI.

[lmfs]

Re: GA-EP45-DS5 G-SATA Problem! Please Help!

Hmm... Actually, I looked at the Sil5723 (aka SteelVine) specifications before I went with this board and the product documentation says "Supports ATAPI & asynchronous notification" which I, incorrectly, interpreted as good to go with S-ATA connected ATAPI devices.

(See: Silicon Image - Product - SiI5723 Storage Processor)

Don't get me wrong, it's a really nice board and works great, but it would have been *really* nice to be able to use the "extra" ports for other things than just RAID. There are some rough edges still to be cleared out from the BIOS but I hope that will be fixed in upcoming releases.

[Xcrupules]

Re: GA-EP45-DS5 G-SATA Problem! Please Help!

It seems that the BIOS version F8 is removed from the website ...
Still I didn't succeed in getting the SATA ports on the Gigabyte controller to work again. Hopefully the next BIOS version will bring some life in them.

[lmfs]

Re: GA-EP45-DS5 G-SATA Problem! Please Help!

BIOS F10a tested (after F8 was removed) and the results are the same, no S-ATA for GS0-GS3.

Also, the "feature" that disables CPU fan control is still present (enabling a XMP DRAM profile disables "Smart Fan").

No differences spotted.

[EDIT]
Hmm... One strange difference though. Previously the sensors reported ~16.5W for the CPU (idle) now it's reporting ~11.5W in the same state, all BIOS settings equal between F8 and F10a. Which also means the CPU temperature is lower than before.

[alexander pushkin]

Re: GA-EP45-DS5 G-SATA Problem! Please Help!

Hello, All the way from the Netherlands I mix myself in this thread about the "not working" Smart Backup with the G-SATA2 controller. I especcially choose this GA-EP45-DS5 motherborad for its easy and Smart Backup - Plug and Play according to the Gigabyte website!! It didn't work and still doesn't, whatever I've tried. An email to Gigabyte support: No reply!! Finally I googeled and found this site with astonishing results. The SATA2 controller doesn't work at all. A hugh announcement from Gigabyte and now that this problems appear the company wraps itself in dumbness about this issue. Why not being honnest about it and tell how it really is.

I'm really looking forward for good news about updates. Meanwhile I'll write some warnings on several Dutch sites not to believe what they promiss about their boards.

[darkogo]

Re: GA-EP45-DS5 G-SATA Problem! Please Help!

Anybody tried bios f 12 ? Is it g sata raid 0 enabled again?
I have bios f6 with working g sata 0 raid on ports GS0 and GS2 as system disk.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EP45-DS5 G-SATA Problem! Please Help!

I do not think so, here is some discussion and testing on that >>>

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ep45-ds5-dq6-27384/

[CraigL4]

Re: GA-EP45-DS5 G-SATA Problem! Please Help!

Maybe I'm dealing with the same problem as above, or perhaps i still have that to look forward to. Trying to install XP Pro with slipstreamed SP3 on GA-EP45-DS5, with mixed failures. I have two Seagate 500Gb SATA drives attached to the Southbridge connectors, also two DVD writers. No Raid requested. All are detected as hoped for in BIOS, although my first plan was to use GS0 source and GS2 source for the two DVDs - no go, then I tried the seagate SATA disks there and also no go. So for now the 6 connectors from the Sth Brdg are getting crowded and the purple "GSATA" ports are vacant. Bios is F6. I have 2 + 1 e-SATA ports to connect to somewhere so I really need to get some life out of GSATA ports - once i've solved the op sys install problem.

As seen in other fora, installation works fine during character mode phase, but halts after entering graphics mode. Seems drivers for disks are not remembered after restart, ie in text mode the install builds and formats partitions on the Seagate drives but after the restart it can not read these at all. Similarly, after booting with a floppy disk the drives are found but can not be read. I hoped using SP3 would overcome any old age-related issues with my XP SP2. Currently thinking about installing XP SP3 to an IDE disk, formatting seagate SATAs and then having another crack at installing XP SP3 to the SATAs and removing the IDE.

Any joy on latest BIOS updates and this GSATA chip ? I note F12 is now available and there have been some adjustments to SATA drivers.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EP45-DS5 G-SATA Problem! Please Help!

You should use the yellow Intel ports to install XP, and you will need to use the driver and set the correct BIOS settings. What BIOS settings are you using? Post a pic if you like from Advanced BIOS Settings page. You should have no issues installing like this if you use the correct driver and settings. You Did remove the Jumper on the back of your SATA Hard drives right? If not please do so

The purple ports can only be used for NON managed(Meaning you cannot change the RAID Type/settings, ect) Backups I believe as of now, unless you use the older BIOS mentioned in the above thread linked

[zungkono]

Re: GA-EP45-DS5 G-SATA Problem! Please Help!

Hi...
I use GA-EP45DQ6, about a month ago, I use smart back up GS0/GS1 for Raid1 (BIOSF10 , Win XP SP1)
then I flash using Bios F12 and Win Vista SP1 ... my raid1 didnt work, i try connect GS2/GS3 and work, until now.
I didnt realize about bios problem, until today i try using 4 hdd (GS0/1, GS2/3) but only GS2/3 that work. I havent try roll back the bios.
Is this true bios problem ?