Flashing On-Board Promice Raid Bios. - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

TransAm-LT1 · 11-20-2004, 02:13 PM

Im building a new Althon 64-fx based machine for my primary desktop for work games/lan's etc. I installed Windows Media Center Edition (Which I really like by the way, however you cannot log onto a domain with MediaCenter) on my current machine. Im running a gigabyte 7vaxp motherboard running the Promise PDC20276 ATA 133 RAID controller, and i've already got 2 160 gigs installed in raid 0, each drive as master on ide 3 and 4. However I went out and got two of the new 300 gigs and when I tried to install them, the fasttrack array builder informed me that I couldent have two raid 0 arrays with my current 'lite' firmware. And to have my 2x160's and 2x300's run i'd need the full version to make this happen. I did a few searches and found a web sites where they mentioned flashing upgrading to a full bios on diffrent board, Im wondering if any one has had experience with this and can point me in the right direction.

Jolt · 11-20-2004, 07:44 PM

Our friends at Promise have been pulling this trick for years.
If you can live with doing a software stripe on the second pair of disks...great...otherwise you're going to be in the market for a PCI card...

I have a secondhand MSI board with an embedded Promise chip that the previous owner tried to flash with the wrong firmware...rendering the controller useless.

spade111 · 11-22-2004, 07:14 PM

I have to agree with Jolt. It's not worth the potential for error. If you've never done that type of flash/hack before, it is quite simple to make a mistake, and destroy the operability of the chip.

For the most part, a windows based Software Stripe will degrade the overall performance of your machine versus the full on hardware based version. Although... the actual performance of the drives may end up being faster in a software based configuration... the trade-offs are likely not worth it. Check out this page at storage review :

http://www.storagereview.com/guide20...lSoftware.html

TransAm-LT1 · 11-22-2004, 07:50 PM

Im a little dissapointed in the fact that the raid bios isn't the full version. However im still going to try and flash the raid bios, the worst that can happen is I lose all raid functionality, meaning i'll have to buy a raid card, if I dont i'll still have to buy a raid card than can handel 4 harddrives. I decided to wait for Pci-Express for my main machine, so i'll keep in mind not to spend extra for a board with pata raid. What about the Sata raid controlers? Are they the same? Because i'd love to have two 10k raptors in raid 0 with two 160's in raid 0 for storage. Or should I get a pci sata card too?

Jolt · 11-22-2004, 09:13 PM

decisions decisions...heheh

you can get any of several 2-port PCI SATA RAID card for under $70 (look for another thread here, I wrote a mini-review of the Adaptec 1210SA)

...but 4-port cards start around $200 and are usually $300+
Here's a product you might consider: Promise FastTrak S150 TX2 Plus...it has 2 SATA and one PATA (aka "IDE") channel...and like all the Promise cards, can support two arrays. This puppy is a sweet deal...NewEgg for instance lists 4 skus for it, ranging from $40 to $72.

Hmm, it seems I'm slightly out of touch. They also list Promise's S150TX4 for $117 - also an excellent deal...

If you want top performance, look for a controller that supports NCQ/TCQ; tomshardware.com recently did a writeup on this technology.

11-20-2004, 02:13 PM	#1 (permalink)
TransAm-LT1 Upright Location: Edmond. OK	Flashing On-Board Promice Raid Bios. Im building a new Althon 64-fx based machine for my primary desktop for work games/lan's etc. I installed Windows Media Center Edition (Which I really like by the way, however you cannot log onto a domain with MediaCenter) on my current machine. Im running a gigabyte 7vaxp motherboard running the Promise PDC20276 ATA 133 RAID controller, and i've already got 2 160 gigs installed in raid 0, each drive as master on ide 3 and 4. However I went out and got two of the new 300 gigs and when I tried to install them, the fasttrack array builder informed me that I couldent have two raid 0 arrays with my current 'lite' firmware. And to have my 2x160's and 2x300's run i'd need the full version to make this happen. I did a few searches and found a web sites where they mentioned flashing upgrading to a full bios on diffrent board, Im wondering if any one has had experience with this and can point me in the right direction. Last edited by TransAm-LT1; 11-20-2004 at 02:16 PM..

11-22-2004, 07:14 PM	#3 (permalink)
spade111 Upright	I have to agree with Jolt. It's not worth the potential for error. If you've never done that type of flash/hack before, it is quite simple to make a mistake, and destroy the operability of the chip. For the most part, a windows based Software Stripe will degrade the overall performance of your machine versus the full on hardware based version. Although... the actual performance of the drives may end up being faster in a software based configuration... the trade-offs are likely not worth it. Check out this page at storage review : http://www.storagereview.com/guide20...lSoftware.html __________________ "If the work of the city is the remaking or translating of man into a more suitable form than his nomadic ancestors achieved, then might not our current translation of our entire lives into the spiritual form of information seem to make of the entire globe, and of the human family, a single consciousness?" -Marshall McLuhan - 1939.

11-20-2004, 07:44 PM	#2 (permalink)
Jolt Insane Location: Over here	Our friends at Promise have been pulling this trick for years. If you can live with doing a software stripe on the second pair of disks...great...otherwise you're going to be in the market for a PCI card... I have a secondhand MSI board with an embedded Promise chip that the previous owner tried to flash with the wrong firmware...rendering the controller useless.

11-22-2004, 07:50 PM	#4 (permalink)
TransAm-LT1 Upright Location: Edmond. OK	Im a little dissapointed in the fact that the raid bios isn't the full version. However im still going to try and flash the raid bios, the worst that can happen is I lose all raid functionality, meaning i'll have to buy a raid card, if I dont i'll still have to buy a raid card than can handel 4 harddrives. I decided to wait for Pci-Express for my main machine, so i'll keep in mind not to spend extra for a board with pata raid. What about the Sata raid controlers? Are they the same? Because i'd love to have two 10k raptors in raid 0 with two 160's in raid 0 for storage. Or should I get a pci sata card too?

11-22-2004, 09:13 PM	#5 (permalink)
Jolt Insane Location: Over here	decisions decisions...heheh you can get any of several 2-port PCI SATA RAID card for under $70 (look for another thread here, I wrote a mini-review of the Adaptec 1210SA) ...but 4-port cards start around $200 and are usually $300+ Here's a product you might consider: Promise FastTrak S150 TX2 Plus...it has 2 SATA and one PATA (aka "IDE") channel...and like all the Promise cards, can support two arrays. This puppy is a sweet deal...NewEgg for instance lists 4 skus for it, ranging from $40 to $72. Hmm, it seems I'm slightly out of touch. They also list Promise's S150TX4 for $117 - also an excellent deal... If you want top performance, look for a controller that supports NCQ/TCQ; tomshardware.com recently did a writeup on this technology.