GA-K8NXP-9 Which SATA driver?

[cperrin]

Can anyone explain the correct procedure for installing a non-RAID SATA drive and in particular which non-RAID driver should be used for installation with Windows XP on a new Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-9 64-bit Athlon motherboard? I have tried a previously partitioned drive, and attempted to install Win XP. The formatting went to 100% and locked up. My impression is that extra information must have to be added to the partition table for SATA disks to be recognised by the SATA controller chipset before XP can correctly format the disk.
Cliff Perrin

 

[grooge]

Well, disable RAID for the sata connector you want to use in the BIOS, then connect you HDD and install windows.. No drivers necessary for the nforce SATA controller on your board. Drivers might be necessary for Promise or or SIL and any third party controller, but not for the native chipset controller.

If install lock, then there is another problem with your board. Disable all onboard feature, remove non usefull PCI card and install again. it install goes well, then you'll have to enable feature and install PCI card one at the time to find the problem ..

 

[cperrin]

Hi Grooge
SATA is becoming a bloody nightmare. I tried to install my two SATA drives from my old Abit NF-7s board on the Gigabyte board. I made certain the new board Silicon Image SATA / RAID 5 drivers were installed on the drives before they left the old system, which also used Silicon Image drivers. The new system wouldn't even recognise them with XP installed on the first disk active partition.
The handbook for the motherboard doesn't give any information on the NVidia NForce-4 chipset for SATA use. I didn't try to use it, as the leads had slightly different connectors, I assume for SATAII from standard 150 SATA. Alll the SATA / RAID blurb was for the Silicon Image chipset, which had its own manual.
So Far, the only way I have found to make SATA work is to use the RAID GUI and assign the drive as a JBOD - but that defeats the purpose, as I want to use 2 SATA drives without RAID implementation.
I have even thought of downloading the 64 bit version of Win XP; but I am reliably toldthat there is virtually no driver support for it - including SATA.

Cliff Perrin

 

[grooge]

RAID controller are not compatible with each other, so dont expect a SIL formatted array working on a nforce, for exemple.

So, I dont understand why you said different connector, they are all the same in term of signal and size. some might have outside shell but even if the controller support SATA2, your drive should be compatible too.

What you should do is go in the BIOS and check to disable RAID for the nvidia connector you want to use,(generaly sata1 et 2(or 0 and 1, but the first 2 in the list)) and disable the third party controller, the Sil, if I'm correct.

Once plugged, check if the BIOS recognize the disks, then go ahead and install windows.. without the need for F6 or any special tricks.

I have the gigabyte k8nf-9. nforce4 SATA RAID is enabled for the first 2 connectors and run an array of 2x160gigs in stripping mode. sata 3 and 4 each had their own HDD as single drive. IDE1 and IDE2 has each an optical device...

There is nothing complicated with SATA.. unless you dont know which connector do what or if the controller has native windows support. Usually, third party controller, as the Sil or Promise need drivers for either SATA and RAID because they are not part of the chipset, but rather use the PCI bus, the same that drive the sound card, or the onboard sound. That the reason they need drivers. SATA controller, such as those provided by the nforce3 or 4 are integrated to the chipset, and will be recognized with windows as other IDE controller because they are programmed to answer to common request from the OS. SATA is only the interface. The controller use the SATA interface tor read the data from the drive. SATA drive are IDE, but has a SATA interface. windows has a standard set of command for IDE controller and ask the controller. the controller use the SATA interface to ask the drive that report back to the controller, whom report back to windows.

With third party, since they use the PCI bus, windows need drivers to communicate to the controller, just like it needs drivers to communicate with other PCI device. once it knows how to talk to the controller, thanks to drivers, then windows will install and fonction just as good..or almost.

RAID is another story. Even nforce 3 or 4 need windows to load drivers in order to operate. because the controller use a different mode and do not answer to common OS request. The drivers will translate the request so that the controller will understand the request.

In RAID, 2 HDD looks like one. If windows ask the controller for something on the disk one, the controller wont know what that means because there is no such disk one, but an array of disk.. Then the driver will tell the controller to look at the array one and get the data asked. This is the reason why RAID need drivers to work. be it native or onboard.

So, be sure to disable RAID for the SATA connector and plug your drives... and have windows install without any need for drivers. It has worked here..

 

[TheBeagle]

Where did you get the GA-K8NXP-9 board? I've been waiting for almost 6 months to buy one of those boards, but they are nowhere to be found in the USA. Thanks for any help you can offer. TheBeagle in ChocolateTown - USA

 

[Fisher999]

Originally posted by: TheBeagle
Where did you get the GA-K8NXP-9 board? I've been waiting for almost 6 months to buy one of those boards, but they are nowhere to be found in the USA. Thanks for any help you can offer. TheBeagle in ChocolateTown - USA

Same hear Beagle; I see that ZipZoomFly has them back-ordered over here with an expected delivery date of late April, 2005.

Anyone know of a reputable USA vendor who has them now???

Greg