How to force SATA 150 for new Samsung 500GB drive (VIA 8237 chipset)

[Gerbil333]

I have an MSI K8T-Neo FISR (VIA K8T800 chipset, VIA 8237 southbridge) that has been running a Samsung SP2504C, 250GB, SATA II drive for almost a year. I remember the motherboard would not detect it until I used a jumper to force the drive to negotiate at SATA 150 instead of 300.

I'm trying to install a new Samsung HD501LJ, 500GB, SATA II drive on an Asus K8V SE Deluxe, which has the same chipset: VIA K8T800 + VIA 8237 southbridge. The jumper trick isn't working. Samsung changed the manual and no longer mentions that it's possible to force SATA 150 with a jumper. Instead, they say to go to "www.samsunghdd.com" and download a utility, which has very poor documentation: Here

I'll try that after the drive is done formatting (I stuck it in a newer machine). However, I have a 1 year old HD501LJ and its instruction sheet does mention the option of using a jumper to force SATA 150.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Did Samsung replace the SATA negotiation jumper with software in the past year? It's a little @#$% ridiculous.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Hmm my Samsung drive has a jumper on it (but I'm not using it). It is the same model your other one is though, the SP2504C so that probably doesn't help any :/

 

[Gerbil333]

The K8V SE Deluxe turns out to be quirky. On cold boots, it will not detect the HD501LJ or or any other SATA drive also connected (but works fine as long as only one SATA 150 drive is connected). To get the board to boot, I have to let it error out (press "G" at the SATA failure prompt), then press F1 to continue at the error indicating no hard disk detected, and then hit Ctrl+Alt+Del when it finally tells me to insert proper boot media. After that mess, it detects all SATA drives. Whatever, it works. XP is installed now.

 

[Zepper]

If the jumper itself does NOT set the drive to 150, then you will have to use a machine with a SATA 2 controller to run the patch. You just need to create a bootable diskette and extract the patch files from the downloaded .ZIP archive to the diskette. Boot from the floppy and run the patch program. It seems that they try to give instructions for setting up a bootable CD with the files on it - but I can't translate their "English"... Or you can get a SATA 2 controller for PCI - Vantec makes one.

Most of the new Hitachi drives have a similar problem. They "play dead" unless you have a compatible controller. The controller must support auto-negotiation - all SATA 2 controllers are supposed to, but not all early SATA controllers do (among them the 8237 as you found out). I bought an autonegotiating SATA 150 controller and my Hitachi drive works but I can't lock it so that it will work with my 8237 as the drive autonegotiates to 150 - the FeatureTool program sees it already set to 150, so it won't "change and lock" the setting as it already IS set to 150. Neat Catch-22, eh? Ain't new technology fun?

The instructions for that Samsung patch are ridiculous.

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: Zepper
The instructions for that Samsung patch are ridiculous.

No kidding. Luckily, the software was not tricky. I downloaded the .iso, burned it with Nero, and booted to the CD. I typed in "run" and hit enter, restarted, and the problem is fixed. The K8V SE Deluxe now boots without the ordeal described above.

 

[ednigma]

Does anybody know if the Samsung patch to force SATA150 can be reversed in the event that one upgrades to a MB with a SATA300 controller at a later date?

I have a MB with a VT8237A and am thinking about gettng this drive due to some good reviews. I also plan on getting a new MB in a few months, probably a P35 based one.

Thanks

 

[imported_K2]

Just when you thought it was safe . . . .
I know some time has gone past since this post originated, but I have "a variation on a theme".
My K8V SE Deluxe (which is definitely quirky) is set up as a bootable SATA RAID 1, with an odd HD (a WD) on the IDE channel. On cold boot, the mobo seems to ignore the HD501s entirely. If I do a <ctl><alt><del> and force a warm boot, up pops the VIA bios on the screen and all is well. Tried setting the 1.5 jumper and the software patch (once I could fathom the instructions), but it's still the same.

Any ideas?