Promise FT 66 & 120 GB HD Startup problem

[ReadWrite]

hello,

i've got a BP6 , ru bios, 2 celeron 400@570 Mhz
and a Promise FT 66 controller with four 20 GB Hd's attached running on raid 0+1

everything runs fine since a couple of years

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i'm trying now to upgrade the hard drives for a largest capacity with two 120 GB

-/-
when they are connected to the BP6 internal ide controller (not the HPT366)
everything is ok (format, system install, etc...)
-/-

-/-
when they are connected to the Promise FT 66 controller
i can create the arrays as i want (span, strip with one or two HD and mirror)
the size of the HD is also correctly detected

BUT

when the BP6 finish the startup,
it stops at this point :
"Verifying DMI Pool Data . . . . . . . "
and never go ahead
-/-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

i have read on the forum that BP6 motherboard seems to startup with 80 GB HD runnig on Promise controller
but i didn't found a post with 120 GB HD

i hope someone will be able to help me solve this problem
thank you in advance

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

others infos :

BP6 bios RU
FT 66 bios 1.30 build 12
HPT366 bios 1.25

[Derek]

Are you using the HPT controller? If not, flash with the BIOS revision which excludes the HPT366 code.

[ReadWrite]

thank you for your answer

i'm not using the HPT controller
so i'll try the ru bios without the HPT366 code tomorrow morning

i didn't thought it could help, but it's something simple to try

more comments after the test

[Wolfram]

I´ve occasionaly had this "DMI pool data" problem on my BP6. Could sometimes resolve it by changing my harddrive setup, ie sometimes temporarily connecting another harddrive and doing a regular boot / shutdown helped. No idea why...

[ReadWrite]

hello,

i flashed with the bios revision BP6 RU Without HPT and now the format is in progress
it seems that the Promise FT 66 & 120 GB HD startup problem is fixed

it was a very good solution, thank you very much

i also tried to flash with the bios revision BP6 RV Without HPT but it gave an "BIOS Image File Check Sum Error"

i hope that the new system install i'm performing will boot up
if not, i'll be back here to ask for some help

[Derek]

hello,

i flashed with the bios revision BP6 RU Without HPT and now the format is in progress
it seems that the Promise FT 66 & 120 GB HD startup problem is fixed

it was a very good solution, thank you very much

i also tried to flash with the bios revision BP6 RV Without HPT but it gave an "BIOS Image File Check Sum Error"

i hope that the new system install i'm performing will boot up
if not, i'll be back here to ask for some help

I will get another copy of RV and upload it asap.

Ciao!

Derek

[ReadWrite]

hello,

well, everything is not as i expected

no more "Verifying DMI Pool Data . . . . . . . " error
and format is possible

but it remains an annoying problem at the time i make file transfers on the Promise controller

-/-
when i copy a small number of small files, the copy occurs well
-/-
when the size of the files increases, to near 10 MB, the Promise controller freezes, then begins again several times
but the copy occurs well at the end
-/-
when the size of the files reaches about 500 MB, the Promise controller freezes, then begins again several times, as described above
and finally the computer itself freezes
"alt+ctrl+suppr" is not enough pour reboot
a "reset" is necessary
-/-
running the sames tests with the four 20 GB Hd's on raid 0+1 doesn't cause any problem
-/-

i didn't try to use the Promise controller and the 120 GB HD on an anoyher motherboard to determine if the problem comes from the Promise controller or from the BP6 motherboard

i tried to underclock the processors to 400@400 Mhz, but the problem is the same

i didn't found anything on the web site of the manufacturer Promise

thank you for your help and councils

bye

[Wolfram]

The 120GB drives are set up as a raid? 0 or 1?
Which operating system do you use?

Sounds more like a problem with the Promise than with the BP6 to me. I´d suspect it´s a driver issue. Might also be one of the harddisks. The BP6 does not "see" the drives on the Promise, so it should not interact with them.

[ReadWrite]

hello Wolfram,

The 120GB drives are set up as a raid 0
the operating system i 've made the tests with is w2k3 for the 120 GB HD
and winXPSP1 for the 4*20 GB HD

the installed driver for the Promise controller is the same for the 2 OS
it is not certified and the latest available

i'll run the "Drive Fitness Tests" to check the 120 GB HD's

i think i will also connect the 120 GB HD to the internal not HPT366 ide controller and test transfer files

thank you for your answer
i'll post the results as soon as possible

[ReadWrite]

1st test :

OS WinXPSP1
copy 20 GB
from
the Promise Controller
[4*20 GB HD in raid 0+1]
to
the internal controller ide 0 and ide 1
[2*120 GB HD in logical raid 0]

result
transfer successfull
CPU's @ 30 %
average transfer rate @ 14 MB/s

[ReadWrite]

2nd test

Drive Fitness Tests

120 GB HD's connected on the internal udma33 controller ide 0 and ide 1

basic tests => ok for disk 1 and disk 2
advanced tests => ok for disk 1 and disk 2


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

after these tests,
it's possible to say that the HD's are not in trouble

let's continue to see what happens when they are connected on the promise controller ...

[ReadWrite]

hello,

this is the 3rd test

Drive Fitness Tests

120 GB HD's connected on the Promise FastTrack66 controller

basic tests => the pc "freeze" at "media analyse" on each disk
advanced tests => idem

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

well,
there is a problem when the Promise FastTrack66 controller is connected on the Abit BP6 motherboard with 120 GB HD's

and there is not a more recent bios than the one i use on the Promise web site

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

the last thing i can try,
is to connect the Promise FastTrack66 controller and the 120 GB HD's on an another motherboard
to know if the problem is
BP6 + FT66 + 120 GB HD's
or
FT66 + 120 GB HD's

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

it's not a driver problem because no driver is needed to make the Drive Fitness Tests

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

any idea is welcome
ciao!
ReadWrite

[Wolfram]

Sorry, but I don´t know these Promise controllers... I still use the HPT366 *ducks and waits for RRLedford´s shot*

From my experience the drive fitness test is not reliable. It does not necessarily recognize drive defects. On the other hand, if it indicated a problem, there always was one.

Did you change the PCI slot for the FT66 when you put in the 120 GB disks? PCI 4 and 5 share a busmastering signal... are there any other PCI or ISA cards on the BP6 right now? If so, try to remove them and put the Promise in PCI 2 (no IRQ sharing, seems to be the safest slot).

[headseed]

Even though you have the pci bus speed close to 33.33MHz, I would wager that the overclock is the problem. Can you boot a memtest86 3.0 cd and let it run all tests on all memory for a day or so? How about the newest prime95 on torture test, set cpu affinity and run two instances set to blended tests, probably for at least a day.

Try to zip or rar a large file, like an .iso or a large .avi and then uncompress it and check for errors.

I have a promise tx2 ultra100 on my bp6 dual 400@552(92fsb), and it won't go any higher (2.1 vcore), but the 92fsb kicks in the 3/1 pci divisor. As it is I don't think its completely 100% stable, but no problems yet. At 93 or higher fsb it can crap out sometimes.

Good luck

[Wolfram]

Even though you have the pci bus speed close to 33.33MHz, I would wager that the overclock is the problem.

ReadWrite clocked the Celerons down to default 400 Mhz. Hopefully also during his last tests.

[ReadWrite]

hello,
and thank you for your help

i didn't made any more tests since monday

when i was testing the stability of the 400@570 overclocking,
i had run for 3 days a cpu test burner
but i can't remember its name

at this time , the 400@600 Mhz overclocking was running quite well
but the cpu burn test crashes too often
and i had to underclok until the test doesn't crash

i will run memtest86 3.0 and a prime 95 tests for a day to see if everything is ok

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

for the pci slots :
AGP = free
PCI1 = Promise controller
PCI2 = Matrox VGA
PCI3 = NIC 3Com
PCI4 = free
PCI5 = NIC 3Com
ISA1 = free
ISA2 = analog modem

it's possible to switch the vga card with the promise controller to run an another test

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

i thought i could also check the ide cable
because the ones i use for the 4*20 GB HD are not the same
and the others i use on the ide0 and ide1 controller were not the same also

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

that's many tests to do this week-end !

bye
ReadWrite

[Wolfram]

ReadWrite, I would strip down the system to a minimum setup (VGA and Promise), clock it to 400 Mhz and check each disk indivually before testing them in a raid. Or have you already done that ("basic tests => the pc "freeze" at "media analyse" on each disk")?

And check if the cables are broken, like you suggested (80-wire UDMA66-cables, blue end at the Promise, master at the other end, slave in the middle).