Q on MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU (MS-6380 v2.0) and its RAID (ATA100?) controller...

[aa_koch]

I am currently using an ASUS A7V, which comes with two "regular" IDE connectors and two ATA100 controllers. I have my CD-RW/DVD-ROM/ZIP connected to the IDE connectors, and two HDs are connected to the ATA100 controllers. I bought a MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU, but I am unsure whether the RAID controller on the mainboard will act as ATA100 controller, also. Can anyone who has this board tell me if it allows one to hook up two drives via this controller in ATA100 mode, not RAID? (I've got a 30GB/ATA100/7200RPM and a 10GB/ATA100/7200RPM, and I'd like to connect both as Master.) I checked the website, but it doesn't mention this anywhere.

 

[aa_koch]

Somebody should know, right?

 

[Regalk]

No technically it will not act as an ATA100 controller if you connect 2 Hard Drives. It will force raid which is really stupid on MSIs part. Why in the world they would not allow a downgrade to ATA100 is beyond me. However if 1 drive is connected it should work as ATA100.
There is a way around it and that is to connect 1 Drive at a time and set it up, power off and then the second and set it up but be careful with the Raid menu since if you pick the wrong item it may force Raid again.

 

[aa_koch]

D*mn... looks like I'm gonna have to return this board, also. (I returned the ASUS A7V266-EX for this one.)

Although... you say there's a workaround? I finally dug up a review on this motherboard, and found the following:



<< On the IDE controller side of things, the Pro2-RU comes with an onboard Promise RAID-Lite controller with support for RAID 0 or 1. Even if you don?t use the RAID function of the motherboard, you won?t be able to use the Promise controller as normal IDE controllers unless you modify the Promise BIOS to enable full functions. Unless you want to use RAID, you should take a look at the K7T266 Pro2 non RAID version. >>



Does anybody have any idea how I go about in modifying the BIOS? I don't want to do any soldering (like they did with the Promise Ultra cards, effectively turning them into RAID cards), but maybe it's possible to flash it with the BIOS from a regular ATA100/RAID controller?

I'll keep an eye on this thread a few more days... if I don't find what I'm looking for, it's going back and everything else I bought with it, too.

 

[stream]

<< On the IDE controller side of things, the Pro2-RU comes with an onboard Promise RAID-Lite controller with support for RAID 0 or 1. Even if you don?t use the RAID function of the motherboard, you won?t be able to use the Promise controller as normal IDE controllers unless you modify the Promise BIOS to enable full functions. Unless you want to use RAID, you should take a look at the K7T266 Pro2 non RAID version. >>



This statement is bullshit, the site that wrote it shouldn't be reviewing anything.

I have the RU running with the promise controller + 1 IBM GX 60 drive. No probs, however, the configuration is somewhat odd so I don't know what happens if there are two drives.

 

[aa_koch]

Well, I went back to the store today to ask them what they knew about this RAID/non-ATA100 controller. They said (as Regalk suggested) that the controller should run in ATA100 mode if you set up and install one drive first, and add the second afterwards. (I assume I should install Windows while the drive is still connected to the regular controller, right?)

I guess I'll be trying that first, if that's all there is to it there's really no problem. I'll post my results here, for future reference...