A8V BIOS Setup

[Slik]

Finnaly got all my parts, as soon as I got everything in I flashed the motherboard to BIOS 1008, but this is my first SATA / AMD rig.
Anything specific i need to change in bios?

Currently have Advanced > Onboard devices configuration >
Onboard AC'97 Audio [Disabled]
OnChip SATA BOOTROM [Enabled]
OnBoard Promise Controller [Enabled]
Operating Mode [Onboard IDE Operat]
Onboard LAN Boot ROM [Disabled]
Onboard IEEE 1394 [Enabled]

I think thats the correct settings for SATA, please let me know if I should change anything else in BIOS.

Also I have my CD-ROM plugged into SATA 1 and my hard drive plugged into SATA RAID 1, I think this is correct.

My system specs are listed below:

AMD FX-55 Socket 939
ASUS A8V Deluxe Rev.2
MSI CD-RW+DVD-ROM SATA
eVGA nVidia 6800U
Corsair TWINX2048-3200PRO 1024MB x 2 DDR400 Latency 3-3-3-8
500W Ultra X-Connect
74GB Raptor 10,000RPM SATA
XP-120 w/ Panaflo 120mm fan (40c Idle)

 

[Slik]

Having alot of trouble settings this up, BIOS refuses to detect the CDROM... Any help is appreciated :/

 

[Slik]

Been trying several things all day, I switched the SATA wires for the CDROM and Hard drive from CDROM=SATA1 / HARDDRIVE=SATARAID1 to CDROM=SATARAID1 / HARDDRIVE=SATA1 and still no luck..
After pressing tab during boot up on all my tries, the SATA RAID configuration utility dosen't respond to up/down keys.. only thing that works is ESC.

Sounds like i'm going to have to RMA this board, sigh.

 

[Slik]

I'm this | | close to returning this board, Going to go with Abit or Epox, anyone want to suggest another mobo?
I've tried just about everything, spent the entire day trying to get it to work and no luck.

 

[mechBgon]

It kinda looks to me like half the problem is the SATA optical drive.

 

[hawksballer]

The A8V can not run a Sata cd drive, or I am pretty sure it does not, on page 2-25 of the user guild it says: the Promise PDC20378 raid controller does not suport ATAPI devices such as cd-roms and dvd-roms ect.... so I take that to mean it will not work,

 

[Slik]

Can you recommend a board that does?

 

[Boonesmi]

on the a8v deluxe only 2 of the sata ports are on the promise controller, the other 2 are on the southbridge.

the promise controller doesnt support atapi devices, but have you tried using it on either of the other 2 sata ports?

 

[Slik]

I've tried all the ports, motherboard refuses to detect it.
How can a company release a motherboard that dosen't support SATA optical drives but supports SATA hard drives..
I never expected something like this from ASUS, ;/

 

[Boonesmi]

it has nothing to do with the motherboard... promise controllers tend to not support atapi devices

 

[Boonesmi]

and by the way its the 2 sata ports closest to the dimm slots that are controller by the via chipset

 

[Boonesmi]

for troubleshooting i would turn off the promise controller in bios, and unconnect all the drives (with the exception of the optical drive) making sure its on a via sata port

 

[Boonesmi]

lol, sorry for all the posts

but also make sure the via sata ports are configured for independent drives (not config for raid use in the bios)

 

[Slik]

Ok, turned off promise controller, unplugged hard drive, plugged the CDROM in SATA1 and on the bootup screen it shows "ATAPI COMBO52XMAX" on the VIA technologies screen..
But i can't set it to boot in BIOS :Q

 

[Slik]

k well after trying that, I plugged the hard disk in SATA RAID 1, but it wasnt detected.
So i plugged the hard disk in RAID2 next to the optical drive, and its detected on the quick VIA technologys screen, but i'm still unable to set the CDROM to boot in BIOS, but the hard disk comes up just fine in BIOS.

 

[Boonesmi]

Originally posted by: Slik
Ok, turned off promise controller, unplugged hard drive, plugged the CDROM in SATA1 and on the bootup screen it shows "ATAPI COMBO52XMAX" on the VIA technologies screen..
But i can't set it to boot in BIOS :Q

i dont think you will be able to just set boot order by selecting "cdrom" in bios

you will probably have to select the via sata controller to be 1st boot and have the cdrom as either the 1st drive on that controller, or possibly the only drive on that controller

 

[Boonesmi]

by the way isnt it the "tab" key that you haev to hit durring post to load the via controller setup page? maybe you can set it up to boot from there

im not sure about "tab" you might have to check the manual to see how to load the via setup screen durring boot

 

[Slik]

Tried that, the via sata controller remains locked, lol I bet nforce3 motherboards don't have this compatability problem with sata optical drives.

 

[Boonesmi]

lol, its proabbly making you wish you had bought a standard ide (pata) optical drive instead of sata

and by the way you would probably have all these problems setting it up on any new board.

 

[Slik]

yes, its tab

 

[Slik]

blah ; ;

 

[Boonesmi]

Originally posted by: Slik
Tried that, the via sata controller remains locked, lol I bet nforce3 motherboards don't have this compatability problem with sata optical drives.

ohh, i thought it was the promise controller setup page that you said "locked". i didnt realise you were talking about the via one also

 

[Slik]

If money wasnt a concern to me right now, I'd throw this board out the window -_-

 

[Slik]

Well, apparently RMAing the board won't do anygood either, someone just posted this on another message board.

You may be out of luck with that drive:

"We have seen a few interesting technologies from MSI, including the first unbridged SATA burner. Unfortunately, MSI's SATA controller only seems to talk to Intel's ICH5/ICH6 southbridge, making adoption difficult."

This from Anandtech.com. It is dated July 17th, I don't know if anything has changed since.

This from MSI.com.tw:

"? Supports only Intel® 875P / 865PE / 865G / 865GV / 865P / 848P chipset motherboards "

 

[Boonesmi]

well im pretty much out of ideas... most likely the way you have it setup now it will work fine in windows, but to actually get windows installed you might need to temporarily install a pata optical drive

one other idea, it might be possible if the sata optical drive is alone on the via sata ports and the raptor on the promise sata ports. then in bios set it to boot from via sata first and promise sata second.


you might want to contact asus and let them know, they might have an easy fix for you. or possibly tell you its a known issue that will be fixed in a future bios update