Abit KR7A RAID and SCSI cards incompatible?

[bem001]

I have heard that there may be incompatibilities with the KR7A's Highpoint RAID chipset and PCI SCSI cards.:

"Due to limitations in the AWARD BIOS, the Highpoint controller and PCI-based SCSI cards do not always mix well. You are advised to either buy a KR7A and a SCSI card, or a KR7A-RAID and no SCSI. If you mix the two then you may have boot problems. "

KR7A RAID FAQ

Has anyone heard of or had experience with this?
If this is a true issue, will there be a fix available?
Which cards does this issue affect?
Does this occur only when configured for RAID, or even when just using it for extra IDE drives?
Does this problem exist with all MB's with Highpoint RAID?

Thanks for any input.

 

[TSGrayson]

i am glad I read that...I almost bought a raid version

 

[tristramshandy]

This post had me freaking out -- and I'm still nervous, awaiting the KR7A-R with my Adaptec 39160. However, I posted this question in the Abit forum of amdmb.com and have already gotten a response from a guy that's mixing the mb with his scsi adapter. He says he's happy as a pig in sh!t and o'clocking up the wazoo.

 

[camara120]

I built a computer for my friend with the KR7A-RAID. It's using two Maxtor ATA 133 40GB hard drives in RAID 0 mode. The computer also has a Tekram 395U SCSI card that is connected to a SCSI CDROM and a SCSI CDRW. I am able to boot off the IDE RAID with no problems. I set the SCSI card to support booting up via the CDROM. It wont boot off the first CD drive, but it will boot off the second (Im guessing since its the last one it scans). In the BIOS, the boot sequence is: 1) Floppy, 2) ATA133 RAID, and 3) SCSI. everything seems to be working great. This is one of the easiest computers I've ever built thanks to the Abit board. Im happy with it.

-Mark

 

[tristramshandy]

Thanks Camera120. That's very cool. I was going through the abit-usa.com faqs and found a scsi adapter section for the KG7-R, which also said that setting the boot sequence to 1)ata 100 -->2)scsi was key.
KG7-R SCSI FAQ

Glad to hear somebody else is getting good results from the board. Cheers!

 

[tristramshandy]

Here's the response from ABIT tech support:

The RAID controller can be disabled in the BIOS


Please refer to your user manual, chap. 3, integrated peripherial... To
disable the ATA 100 RAID controller...


So far, the SCSI and RAID has no reported problem to co-exist...

 

[TSGrayson]

Were you able to disable the controller for raid?

 

[TSGrayson]

anyone at all still having problems with this?

 

[Insidious]

<< Were you able to disable the controller for raid >>



Yes. I had mine turned off for a while before I needed the additional IDE connectors (faster boot with no scan of IDE3 and 4). Nothin to it... just a enable/disable choice on a BIOS variable.

However, that is only 1/2 the answer you need.... does the SCSI board work ok under this circumstance. When I was reading up on this question it seemed that only "some" users had difficulties booting with both Raid and SCSI board. (depended on the brand of SCSI). I also read that it was important to have the boot order correct (ATA100 before SCSI).

Good luck!

(I love the KG7-Raid, but I dont use a SCSI card in addition to Raid and I don't know how that would shape my opinion.)

 

[TSGrayson]

but why would you want to boot raid and SCSI?

 

[TSGrayson]

Disregard, I am a moron!