Sil3132 eSATA card incompatible with SandyBridge?

[Valkyrie-MT]

I just upgraded my Core i5 + DH57JG mobo to a Core i5-2500 with a Foxconn H67S mobo. The thing is fast, but when I moved my (sil3132 based) port-multiplier card to the new H67 based mobo, it was not recognized in the BIOS POST or in windows at all. So, I took the card to my AMD system and it worked fine there as it previously did in the DH57JG. So, assuming the card is OK, I made sure it was seated all the way in the slot and it was. Then I took another PCIe card I had lying around and tried that, and it worked fine in the H67S, so the card slot is good. So, I went ahead and got another card (Rosewill RC-223) which is also a Sil3132 based card and it also does not work. There are no BIOS updates for the card either. I contacted Foxconn, but they said (I kid you not) 'we didn't have any eSATA cards so we tried an ethernet card instead and that worked, case closed.' I have now offered to mail them my card. They are cheap.

Anyone else have a SandyBridge mobo and a Sil3132 working?

 

[Arcanedeath]

Silcon Image has bios updates on their site for that chipset I'd suggest giving those a shot and reporting back, if the latest one won't work you can try an older one or the raid verson instead of the non raid bios.

 

[rtpdave]

I just upgraded my Core i5 + DH57JG mobo to a Core i5-2500 with a Foxconn H67S mobo. The thing is fast, but when I moved my (sil3132 based) port-multiplier card to the new H67 based mobo, it was not recognized in the BIOS POST or in windows at all. ...

Anyone else have a SandyBridge mobo and a Sil3132 working?

I have a new Dell Inspiron 620 with i5-2310 CPU and H61 chipset mobo. I want to set up RAID 1 (mirrored) drives (matched Seagate 1TB Barracuda 7200.12), so I bought an $18 Syba Sil3132 PCI-e adapter.

The adapter seems to work, and I can boot from it in "Pass-Thru" mode, but its POST code doesn't run, and Ctrl-S & F4 aren't recognized.

The (brand new) adapter's BIOS was way backlevel (as were the drivers on the enclosed CD), so I downloaded the latest from siliconimage.com, and updated the BIOS to (latest) version 7.7.03 (from SiI3132_BIOS_7703\r7703.bin). I also installed the latest drivers (from Windows Update), and downloaded and installed SATARaid5 tool from http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/3132r5_standard_15190_logo_win7.zip

The brand new Dell Inspiron 620's BIOS was also two levels out of date, so I also updated it from level A00 to A02.

No joy. SATARaid5 seems happy with the adapter, but the POST code never displays its message, and Ctrl-S & F4 don't work.

I can, however, boot from a single drive plugged into the controller, which runs in "Pass-thru" mode.

Performance is okay: the Windows Experience disk performance index with my drive is 5.9, which is the same as when the drive's connected to the mobo's SATA controller.

Note: a few steps were necessary to get as far as I did:
First, find it under "Storage controllers" in the Windows 7 Control Panel, and update the drivers (let it search for them on the Web, which means Windows Update).
Then the BIOS updater should work from a Windows command prompt (run CMD as Administrator). You'll need to have SiFlashTool.exe from http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/SiFlashTool.zip and r7703.bin from http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/SiI3132_BIOS_7703.zip (or whatever the latest version is), both downloaded from the "Support Tools" links on the right side of this page: http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?pid=32
Then reboot, and if necessary again go to Control and update drivers.

Obviously, the biggest problem is that POST/BIOS/Ctrl-S/F4 just doesn't work at all.

However, I'm also really disappointed that there seems to be no way to convert a single "pass-through" (non-RAID) drive + an empty 2nd drive to a RAID 1 array, other than backing up all the data, destructively creating the RAID 1 (mirrored) array, and then restoring all the data. How ridiculous is that?!?

Has anyone tried a Marvel 9128 (88SE9128) based adapter in one of these Sandy Bridge computers? Does the POST/BIOS/ctrl-M feature work?

--
P.S. -- FWIW, the BIOS setup screen announces itself as "Aptio Setup Utility - Copyright 2010 American Megatrends" (No mention of UEFI anywhere, but I'm not 100% sure it's not UEFI)

 

[groberts101]

I've seen more than a few Marvell add on cards running off these Sandybridge systems.

Highpoints mostly(620/640/2720, etc) which seem to have much more favorable/matured compatability(despite the fact they are Highpoints, lol). Not to mention.. speeds are considerably better than any Sil chip equipped sata2 based card.

 

[rtpdave]

Does the POST/BIOS/ctrl-M feature work w/ the Marvell cards? Do the machines boot from a RAID array?

 

[groberts101]

I've also used all of those cards listed myself and can say that they all boot OS volumes properly(except for some known Gigabyte bios conflicts).

Can't say for sure if they will on the Sandybridge but I do know that most do not intend to use them to run bootable volumes since they won't hold a candle to the native Intel 6G sata chip. Plus all that use them for storage haven't noted any of those issues you mentioned so I can only assume they are fine in that respect as well.

Most of these types of issues being discussed here are related to the bios of both devices not getting along properly. Mobo mfgrs are not going to spend the time/money to qualify much cheaper cards like that.. and likewise on the card mfgrs end as well. Some of those cheaper cards go through their entire lives until being put into EOL status without one single update.

Also should be mentioned that just because the chip used on a device has updates from the chip mfgr itself?.. does not mean that it can be used without issue. Many have bricked their mobo's and cards by attempting those sorts of things in the past. I certainly would want confirmation from more than a single user that has done it successfully before I tryed it on my hardware.

I would also probably make sure the device being updated like that?.. would be considered nearly disposable to even take the chance. Although, that card seems cheap enough to "try or fry.. without making you cry". lol

 

[Arcanedeath]

You need to use the raid 5 bios from the SI website and then use the raid manager to setup the raid set in windows if you don't have acess to the cards bios due to your motherboard. It's not bootable unless you configure the raid set in the card's bios. With the motherboard in my Signature I've sucessfully booted from an SI3132 based card without issue and configured the raid set in the cards bios (this was for my WinXP install before I upgraded to 7 w/ virtual XP so it's been awhile)

 

[rtpdave]

Since the Silicon Image SiI3132 adapter (Syba SD-SA2PEX-2IR) didn't work for bootable RAID 1 in my new Dell Inspiron 620 (because it's onboard BIOS/firmware didn't run & ctrl-S doesn't get into RAID setup), I bought a Marvell 88SE9128 adapter (Syba SY-PEX4032).

Unfortunately, though the Marvell adapter is more expensive, it works no better. It's onboard BIOS/firmware doesn't run, and ctrl-M doesn't get into RAID setup.

However, I've learned something. I've received confirmation from Dell that (contrary to what two other Dell support agents told me) the Inspiron 620 *does* have a UEFI BIOS (AMI's "Aptio").

Apparently the American Megatrends "Aptio" UEFI BIOS is incompatible with these adapters. Maybe all UEFI BIOSs are?

Interestingly, I found a 2008 press release from Silicon Image boasting of new UEFI-compatible firmware for their 3132 and 3124 chips! Yet I can find no sign of it on their web site.

I've sent the following email to Silicon Image:

-------------------------------------------------

Dear Silicon Image support,

I have found a 2008 press release from Silicon Image announcing "a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) 2.1 Firmware upgrade to its SiI3132 and SiI3124 SATA SteelVine controllers," here:
http://www.siliconimage.com/news/releasedetails.aspx?id=478

However, I can't find that firmware upgrade anywhere on the SiliconImage.com web site. Here are the BIOS/firmware versions listed for the 3132, and none of them mention UEFI compatibility:
http://www.siliconimage.com/support/searchresults.aspx?pid=32&cat=15&ctid=2&os=0&

Where can I download the UEFI BIOS/firmware upgrade for the SiI3132, so that it will work properly in computers with UEFI BIOS, like my Dell Inspiron 620 computer?

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Dave