Rosewill RC-208 aka Sil0680A bios upgrade help.

[Xellos2099]

I currently own a rosewill rc-208 ide hdd controller and in order to be prepare with vista, I try to upgrade to the latest bios since i read the site I need 3.2.24 bioes in order for the vista driver to work, and my hdd controller currently use 3.2.10 bioes, and when I try to update the bios, it keep asking me what kind of flash memory do my controller has. How DO I determine that exactly?

 

[tommytran]

I don't think there is a bios update for your card from rosewill. If you try to use Silicon Image SiI 680 ATA 133 Controller BIOS, here is the link for some additional information Link

IDE/RAID: Upgrading a 680 IDE Card to RAID

If you have a 680/680A-based IDE controller board
and want RAID functionality, you cannot simply download
the RAID drivers to get RAID functionality. You must also
modify the BIOS in the card. This can be done but depends
on how your board maker has designed the card since
Silicon Image does not make any cards for the retail market.
The SiI0680/0680A does support FLASH memory BIOS as well
as EPROM, but many board makers use EPROM to save cost.

To tell if your card uses EPROM, see if there is another smaller chip
outside of the 680 controller chip. If the part number of that smaller
chip begins with 27xxx, then you have EPROM BIOS and you cannot
use the flash utility to upgrade your BIOS. You must use an EPROM
programmer tool. If you do want to program your own BIOS, please
note that the RAID BIOS is larger than the IDE BIOS and may not fit
in the EPROM provided with your IDE card.

Edit: I also see there is a Vista driver available for your card on their website.

 

[Xellos2099]

My card is the non-raid version from newegg. The funniest thign is that when I was window vista compability program, my sil0680a check out ok yet on website it said I need the newsest bioes and driver.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: Xellos2099
when I try to update the bios, it keep asking me what kind of flash memory do my controller has. How DO I determine that exactly?

What method are you using to update? e.g. DOS boot disk or via the driver/application interface in Windows?

For the latter, you need driver version 1.2.25.1 or later. Using a DOS boot diskette, you shouldn't have any memory managers load (e.g. himem.sys). Just three files are required on the DOS boot diskette (in addition to the flash utility and ROM binary); command.com, io.sys, and msdos.sys.

Try these command lines:

Updflash b3224.bin -ID680

Updflash b3224.bin -BOARD680

Just entering Updflash with no other parameter or input (exept Enter) will test the flash chip.

It is possible that your current BIOS is not supported by the new utility and binary. Though most firmware/BIOS are cumulative, some are incremental. Try updating first to older versions like 3.2.13 or 3.2.20 and use the older flash utility, then update to the latest.

 

[Xellos2099]

I use the freedos thing when I try to update. i typed updflash, it list all the flash bio chip it support and ask me to choose the sorrect one. Also, which bios do I need, b3224 or just 3224?

 

[tcsenter]

i typed updflash, it list all the flash bio chip it support and ask me to choose the sorrect one. Also, which bios do I need, b3224 or just 3224?

Your flash chip should be highly visible on the card. Its the only other "chip" other than the SI controller. You need file b3224 for controller cards.

 

[Xellos2099]

Well, it turn out I can't flash my controller card and I don't need it. I run the vista driver during setup: All my hdd are connect to the controller and vista accept the driver.