Promise Fasttrack compatibility with CUSL2?

[SDPCave]

Am getting one of the Promise Fasttracks and plan to use with CUSL2 and 2 IBM 75GXP drives. Any comments/problems with the combo? I can use a P3V4X as a backup board if CUSL2 has problems. How about speed wiht the CUSL2? THX

 

[Tates]

I would imagine it would work. Make sure to seat the card in PCI slot 1, go into bios and reserve the IRQ for PCI slot 1. Good Luck.

 

[mastertech01]

I couldnt get fasttrak to operate over 133FSB with the CUSL2 .... it just doesnt like high PCI clocks..if you run at 133FSB the PCI clock is perfect and it runs like a dream. I have an Abit SA6R with the HPT370 RAID solution onboard an it acts the same way. Raid controllers seem to just like a PCI clock of 33MHZ or less.

 

[bmg]

I didn't have any problem overclocking the FastTrak100. However, the write performance of the FastTrak/Cusl2 combination was horrible.

 

[SDPCave]

THX for the replies. I remember a post on some problem with speed, maybe it was yours, bmg. Could the slow write speed be due to the OC'd PCI speed? Also, which OS and driver version were u using? I'll be using both 98SE and W2000. (No ME for me) John, did it just lock up, fail to boot, or what? And, Tates, why only slot 1, will it not share IRQ's? Sorry to ask so many ? but 1st time doing IDE RAID.

 

[mastertech01]

It would detect the drives and array, then when it should continue on it simply would stall.. have the same problem with my current Raid controller onboard with the SA6R.. just stalls at scanning the PCI buss ...When I removed the controller and put an HDD on the CUsL2 Ide controller I could OC my cc0 to 1050 rock stable...So I figure it had to be the Raid controller Also it WILL NOT work with an Ipanel at all.

 

[JaiKnight]

Hello,

Just read the post, I was the one with the terrible terrible problems writing to the array. I never did find out what was happening with it, nobody seems to know, I tried a reformat, recreate array, nothing helped. Right now I have the card removed, and am thinking about unmodding it back to an Ultra66. If you find anything please let me know! Also...does anybody have a link to the unmod process? I've been searching and can't find anything...

 

[mastertech01]

as far as I know all you have to do is break the bridge of the resistor that is soldered to the board.. depending on how it was modded, cut or remove one end and reflash the card to the original bios.

 

[SDPCave]

Again, thx to all for the added details. I must say, kinda discouraging. John, on a new Abit BE6-II, it would seem the onboard RAID probably works OK since one probably cannot get too far past 133 FSB anyway, but I was really wanting to get to 140-150 with the CUSL2. And Ive ordered an IPanel :-(. I may have to rethink the Promise deal I made. Any u say the Highpoint not much better past 133?

 

[JaiKnight]

Thanks for the info, I just wasn't quite sure which order to do the two in, cut first then flash or flash then cut. Now....should I or shouldn't I...

 

[mastertech01]

I have no luck going past 133 with either controller..sorry to say..unless someone has some other Ideas.. like I said on the boards standard controller without raid I could do 150 FSB.. and the Ipanel has known issues with the promise controller installed..when I removed the controller and used the boards controller the Ipanel lit up and did all its tricks just fine.

 

[mastertech01]

Jail Knight, as cheap as U66 controllers are on the for sale board I would just get an unmodded one and save your fasttrak.. IMHO.

 

[John]

When I had my CUSL2-C and FastTrack 100 raid card I had no problem running 150FSB.

 

[mastertech01]

Maybe you should share your Bios settings then John..

 

[SDPCave]

"John" - since it is your Fasttrack I would be getting, I would really appreciate info on how you got it to work at 150 FSB. If there are some special BIOS settings or Promise utility settings to tweak, please let us know. I still would liek to give this a shot. THX to all.

 

[mastertech01]

IF you get it going PLEASE let me know what you did..Id love to run my setup at 1050 as I know the processor is good for it.. of course I have also got 2 SCSI cards and a USB Quad host controller to make it to that high FSB as well..