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Promise Ultra133 TX2,Don't always see all drives in post?

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lordgalla

Technical User
Apr 1, 2005
253
US
Hi; Changed over to a Ultra133 extra drive card from a ultra100.......much much better..all 4 drives on this card now working,and they are now there in windows.The question I have is on bootup,when first turned on when the promise card posts it dosen't always show all 4 drives there,unless I pause the computer before that for 10sec.or so,then the post shows all 4 drives.....either way they always are there after fully booted...Is this normal on startup??Maybe the drives need a few sec.to spin up?? I have a 550w power supply and using win xp pro....seem's to be ok after fully booted,maybe it just don't see it at post all the time,because it's so fast?
 
Kinda still sounds strange...

There still is the possibility that your PSU is not up to the job... even with 550w...

it all depends on how much stuff you have cramped in the PC?, ie. add on cards, total number of drives... etc.



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
Ya it does work,it's just that post thing.Is there a way to pause the system 6sec.or so at start up,without having to hit the pause key?
 
Check you BIOS options and see if you have one for a gast POST. If so, make sure it is disabled. I had this problem once before with a hard disk where on a cold boot the disk wouldn't be initialized completely before the BIOS tried to check for the drive. If the init wasn't completed, the drive detection failed and the system wouldn't boot. By disabling the fast POST I was allowing the drive time to spin up before the BIOS ran it's hard disk detection routine.

If you have the fast post disabled, your system will usually count your system RAM 2 or 3 times on boot instead of just once (or not at all).
 
As you say it works either way....
I would not mess up a good thing.
it sounds like more of a cosmetic issue.
did you zero out the Harddrives??? As a corrupt bootsector in one of the drives can give you the no show on boot-error and be a random issue. it can also create abnormally long boot times at times


glad you got the 133 card

 
ya'I'm glad I got the 133 card myself.seem's much better..I just noticed 2 of the drives on ide1 on the card are still fat32 drives,the other 2 are NTSF on ide2. this should'nt be a problem with this post thing correct?.

No corrupt bootsectors ect,that I can find.Like I said,if I pause 6sec. or so before the card post's on the screen,it'll show all 4 drives,If I just boot without pausing,2 drives there and 2 not detected..Weired because there all there when fully booted up.
Maybe I should just leave it alone?.........Thanks for your help in this.If you think of something else let me know.
 
If you let the BIOS do the long memory test?

The Promise Card has a BIOS that takes control over the mobo BIOS calls that pertain to the hard disk management. Have you checked with Promise if there's been any updates to their on-card BIOS?

Felixc


 
If I let the bios do the long memory test.all the drives are there on post of the card.Man it's to long now.Ya I know,I'm being fussy,pain in the a hey....I did try to email promise and the e-mail just keeps getting kicked back to me?.saying undeliverable mail.
I checked the site,the card has the latest bios on there site.20.20.0.15 is what I have,and the latest driver also 2.0.0.43.
 
The Drives should be able to spin up fast enough.... with the QuickBoot option turned on...

they either do not because...

1.) bad power connection....

2.) not enough power....

or

3.) they are damaged, or on the way out... run the manufacturers Drive Diags on them, just to be sure...

PS: just because they work at times after reboot, does not mean that the PSU is up to par... I would double check this... considering you have at least 4 HD's running and 1 CD-ROM/DVD GFX-CARD, who knows what else... youd' need at least a 400w PSU depending on what Mobo and CPU there is in use...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
I have a new antec 550w power supply,and I ran all western digital lifeguard diag.on all drives they all pass,and are all healthy,according to the test's..I just have to pause about 6sec. or so before the promise card post's,then continue and all 4 drives show up on the ultra133 post.
 
Too tell the truth.

the MB sounds like it is very fast. do what felixc said and hit escape to bypass the memory test or just live with the issue because it is not causing any problems in Windows
 
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