Via Sata Chipset In Pci Port, Windows Not Booting!?!?! Options

[Cliffdawg]

Hey Guys, wassup. I'm already to flash my drive, but there's one major problem and would appreciate ANY input at all.

When I put my VIA SATA RAID VT6421 Card in my PCI slot in my Windows computer and I turn it on, it stops booting into windows midway on the startup screen. I've tried every PCI slot on the pc and it does the same thing. I have an old Windows PC (Legacy) with Millennium Edition (Card says it supports Millennium Edition too!), and I could only install the drivers after "hot-plugging" the card after windows boots up. This is sooo frustrating. So what do you think, should I:

1. Buy the Non-Raid Version of the Card and hope that works?
2. Press like "tab" or something while the pc starts up? I heard your supposed to somehow connect the Sata Card to your PC first to set up some sort of Array Disc with the Sata Cable in order for it to be recognized in the bios. If you guys know anything about this plzzz help me because I don't get this part at all. Do I have to do it for my PC to recognize the Card?

So right now, the card does not flash my MS28 360 drive because it is not recognized in DOS or IPREP. If you guys have any info please give feedback. Thanks!

[Martinchris23]

Windows Me is possibly the worst Operating System ever released by Microsoft. Although the card states it's supported in Me, there could be a number of factors stopping it from booting. I guess if you were to install an Operating System from scratch with the card already in place (note - you should NEVER hot-plug PCI cards, even though earlier versions of Windows told you that you could!) it would probably be ok.

The only reason you need the card connected for Windows is to get the device and port IDs. Have you a spare HDD laying around that you can install a fresh OS just for this purpose? This would be the best way forward.

[Cliffdawg]

Oh okay, thanks for replying Martinchris23, ya that makes sense. Actually, I recently contacted the Compaq Presario (my pc) makers to ask them questions regarding as to why this Via Sata Raid Pci Card wasn't working with Windows Millennium. I found out that my COMPUTER'S MOTHERBOARD IS TOO OLD AND DOESN"T SUPPORT RAID AT ALL!!! I never would have guessed that that would be a problem. But yah that makes sense as to why this Via Sata RAID Pci Card doesn't work. Thanks for your advice though. I'm gonna buy the non-raid version now, seeing as how I only got laptops besides my compaq presario pc, and return the raid card as well. Thanks for the help though!

Guess they should mention that RAID isn't supported in most pc's starting with ME! LOL!
I'll get this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16815124022

And for the record, if ur pc's old and ur not sure as to whether or not it supports RAID, just get the NON-RAID version. Lesson Learned!

PEACE

[Scan-C]

That's just wrong. Your mainboard may not support RAID but that's why you can buy extension cards. They will work even in the oldest computer. I have a HP Compaq Vario with 500 MHz P3 sitting right next to me. It's my fileserver which runs at 2xRAID1 SATA on a VIA 6421 and no one did know about RAID when this board was build

If Windows starts up but stops at some point there's most likely a problem how the ports are numbered. Check your BIOS for an option to set the internal IDE-Channels before any external onces.

[Martinchris23]

I have to agree with Scan-C here. Regardless of what your motherboard supports, a RAID PCI card should work fine as the controller chip for the function is on the board itself. One of my PCs didn't support LBA HDDs over 137GB so I just bought an IDE controller card which did.

Have you thought about doing a motherboard BIOS update? It's possible this is stopping it from booting too.

I would however try a clean install of Windows on a spare HDD first, as this is pretty much risk free.

[Cliffdawg]

Alright Alright sorry for being confused and not responding for some time. So here's what I'll do, Do a factory restore, reinstall windows ME, then try to insert the card. (I already sent the old one back and ordered a non-raid one oopsies, but wat ever this apparantly isn't the problem).

Then if THAT doesn't work i'll try to update the BIOS. Sound good guys? Oh, and sorry about the wrong info, that's word for word what an online technician told me from the Compaq Presario Site!

[Cliffdawg]

btw, the new card should come this thurs. or fri. so I'll give this all a try then and thanks Martinchris23 and Scan-C for the useful info. I never thought using my sata card would be the hardest part to flash my 360 MS38 drive LOL!

[Martinchris23]

Cool - let us know how that goes. Personally I'd look into putting on Windows 98SE which was 100 times more stable than Me ever was .....

As for Compaq Technicians, I have a very valid reason NEVER to listen to them again. My Presario laptop developed a noisy GPU fan so I merely phoned to see if it was still in warranty to get it replaced and if not, how much it would cost to get a spare.

The so-called Technical Support department which sounded as broken-English (if you get what I mean!) as the initial call centre advised me that I needed to do a BIOS update - apparently on their planet, BIOS updates rejuvinate noisy fans, which have been working fine since purchase 15 months previous.

I eventually gave up and opened the thing myself. A small blob of electrical grease on the spindle resolved the problem and has been fine for over a year since.

[Scan-C]

Insert he card BEFORE you reinstall the system. The installation should detect that there's no HDD connected to the card and install to your internal HDD. If it's complaining about no HDD on the first channel it found you have to switch the channel order in BIOS. It's under "Controller- and Extensioncards" in newer HP BIOSes.

About Compaq-guys... I worked 3 years for HP (they bought Compaq some time ago) and let me tell you it's not possible to explain a problem and have the support actually understand you. My notebook had a bad HDD and I told them that I know what I'm talking about because I was working in the IT-Service for company customers. They didn't even listen and insisted to reinstall the OS over the network 5 times and finally told me I would get a new HDD. My new DISPLAY arrived 3 days later -.-

[Cliffdawg]

LOL ya those compaq support guys aren't all they're cracked up to be. When I was talking to them every 2 minutes it was like, "You have an old system. How about buying a new compaq computer, Cliff?" And I was all: "ya i'm using my compaq R4000 as we speak and its fine..." and they're like: "have you checked our new lineup?" and I'm like "you do realize that this is going nowhere, right? Oh but thanks for the help! "


Okay, but all jokes aside, here's the deal. Before I had gotten your responses, I (as you recall) talked with the compaq support and they told me to get the non-raid version of the card because my "motherboard on my pc does not support raid." And I ordered the new one without hesitation.

Now, I was about to prepare to install the ME again with the new card, but get this:
IT WORKED![b]

Here's what I mean: I put in the card and ME booted without freezing midway. I don't kno why, maybe the non-raid helped or something, or maybe its just older like my pc. But that's not important. I would like to thank Martinchris23 and Scan-C for all your support

So now I installed the drivers from both and disc and did alittle minimal installation so windows would recognize it. iPrep (the program I'm using to flash it) recognizes it as well, and I was able to patch mtkflash with the new card ( SYBA SY-VIA-150 PCI SATA / IDE Combo Controller Card, Non Raid).

But now there's another teeny tiny problem, I can't get iPrep (using DOS bootable cd) to make the card show up when trying to read it. It just shows the common Master (1) and Slave (2) Sec drives! But I haven't tryed all the pci ports yet or both ports on the card itself.

Once again, thanks so much guys, and sorry for the long message

[Martinchris23]

You shouldn't need to change the PCI slot at all - Windows saw it and installed drivers, enough so the device could be identified and port information logged. This is the information that was injected into MTKFlash.

Try all ports on your SATA card before doing anything else. If it's still a no-go and you don't see 'XTREME Pri Master' or something to that effect, let me know.

[Cliffdawg]

Gottcha ya i've been checking online there's apparantly many possible problems that are easy to fix, and right now All i can see is
1. Xtreme Sec Master
2. Xtreme Sec Slave

I've tried to disable the other IDE controllers, but I don't think thats a go with the DOS bootable cd
and ya i'll let you know if I can't find a solution.

btw, does it really matter if you turn on the 360 at any time, or should it be at the beginning along with turning on the pc? Or do you have to plug the sata cable in at any time or can you just leave it in? (i think i can) but there have been different opinions? (these questions are sooo noobish they hurt to write lol)

[Cliffdawg]

Okay guys I can't get my drive recognized at all in DOS it sooo frustrating. Is there any way I can get this working in your experience? MS28 connected with VIA Sata non-raid card using bootable DOS cd and iPrep v006 (which I heard has problems recognizing the drive) and ixtreme 1.4

[Martinchris23]

Gottcha ya i've been checking online there's apparantly many possible problems that are easy to fix, and right now All i can see is
1. Xtreme Sec Master
2. Xtreme Sec Slave

I've tried to disable the other IDE controllers, but I don't think thats a go with the DOS bootable cd
and ya i'll let you know if I can't find a solution.

btw, does it really matter if you turn on the 360 at any time, or should it be at the beginning along with turning on the pc? Or do you have to plug the sata cable in at any time or can you just leave it in? (i think i can) but there have been different opinions? (these questions are sooo noobish they hurt to write lol)

These two options is exactly what you're looking for!! The clue is in the name 'Xtreme' as this is what MTKFlash was edited to say.

When these options come up, turn OFF your Xbox. Select option 1 and wait 10 seconds. Then turn the Xbox on. It should start reading the firmware. If it doesn't, repeat this for option 2.

A separate note (which I've typed elsewhere too) - don't get DOS and Windows confused. DOS is an Operating System in the same way that Windows is. DOS does not need drivers for your VIA card, nor does it even know that Windows has anything installed. Therefore messing around with Windows drivers to get this working is pointless!!!!

[Scan-C]

Got it working by now?

Everything Martinchris23 says is exactly right but I noticed that sometimes the drive hangs at D1 and never gets to 0x73. I've solved this several times by plugging the SATA-Cable to the drive when the computer was booted to DOS. Shouldn't matter because the drive has no power when you boot up but for some reason it works for me Hope you get it done!