[Teriwyn]

Hi, folks. Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered...

I recently built myself a system, and it works like a dream. I'm not exactly new at this. So, somebody online asked me for assistance with their build, and I suggested one very similar to mine, due to their needs.

They've got it all tied together now, and we're having a problem with Windows throwing a STOP error during setup. 0x0000007B - which is inaccesable boot device.

Let me pause and provide the important specs of this build that relate to the issue. If you have questions about other components, please ask.

ASUS P5GD2 Deluxe
Maxtor MaxLine III 7L250S0 SATA-150

*Note -- when I did this build myself, I used Western Digital SATA Raptors. This user had additional storage needs and did not have a need for the 10k RPM drives, so I suggested the standard WD SATA drives. "Someone" told him to get Maxtor instead because WD was no good. This is only relevant to the story because that is the only variable that sets this box apart from my own system that IS in fact functional.


The scenario is thus...
BIOS detects the drives. Happy happy.
RAID controller detects the drives and allowed him to configure a RAID0 setup. So we know the RAID controller and the drives talk OK.

Boot from Windows XP Pro CD.
Run Setup and press F6 to indicate that he has additional drivers to present.
Present the SI3114r drivers to setup. Pick WinXP/2003 from the list of two drivers present.

Let setup continue to run until it says "Press ENTER to begin setup".
Blue Screen STOP error that was already referenced occurs. (0x0000007B). This also occurs if you don't load the drivers for the RAID controller, but of course that's to be expected.

I'm sorta stumped. I made sure he's using the right RAID drivers (the exact same ones work on my system, with the same motherboard and its onboard RAID controller. We've tried several other things (such as connecting these drives to the standard SATA connectors on this board and trying to bypass the RAID controller, but I can't find any drivers for the other SATA controller on this board (are there any?)

To explain what I mean -- if you see a diagram of this board, you have 8 SATA ports:

                              5 , 6
1 , 2 , 3 , 4                 7 , 8

1 - 4 are designated SATA_RAID and are controlled by the Sillicon Image RAID controller. 5 - 8 appear to be on their own controller.


Am I making sense? Does anyone have a clue what else we can try? This is especially frustrating since I cannot put my hands on this machine.

Please let me know if I can clarify anything.

Thanks!
-Teriwyn

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The plain sata ports are controlled by the chipset so you need to use the drivers for sata on the chipset. An example would be that i had the silicon image disc and i had the nvidia sata driver disc i used the normal sata so i used the nvdia drivers, i then diabled the silicon image to avoid confusion and spped up my boot times.

If you havent checked this allready you should. http://support.micro...kb;en-us;324103 go through it and eliminate the possible error causes one by one where possible also the drive itself could be faulty, why did this person by a maxline drive they arent meant for normal users they are a server and business storage drive its the diamondmax 10 drives home users should use, although that shouldnt be a difference he just has an overkill supposed to be super reliable drive with some very advanced features, although thinking about it these may require drivers as well possibly, check out the maxtor site get there diagnostic software and try the disc in another computer it might just be a goosed drive, it happens.

[warriorscot]

The plain sata ports are controlled by the chipset so you need to use the drivers for sata on the chipset. An example would be that i had the silicon image disc and i had the nvidia sata driver disc i used the normal sata so i used the nvdia drivers, i then diabled the silicon image to avoid confusion and spped up my boot times.

If you havent checked this allready you should. http://support.micro...kb;en-us;324103 go through it and eliminate the possible error causes one by one where possible also the drive itself could be faulty, why did this person by a maxline drive they arent meant for normal users they are a server and business storage drive its the diamondmax 10 drives home users should use, although that shouldnt be a difference he just has an overkill supposed to be super reliable drive with some very advanced features, although thinking about it these may require drivers as well possibly, check out the maxtor site get there diagnostic software and try the disc in another computer it might just be a goosed drive, it happens.

[Teriwyn]

Alright, let's start with Maxtor. I don't know why he elected that drive in particular. He actually has a pair of them (but that was obvious - how else would we be running RAID0...), and we've played the elimination game.

Now, regarding drivers from Maxtor -- been there already. Here's what they have to say:

Maxtor does not supply drivers for SATA drives because hard drives do not require specific device drivers. The operating system, Windows or MAC, will recognize the drive, however, it will not automatically recognize the SATA controller in the system.

The SATA controller will either be embedded on the motherboard or a SATA add-on card. Operating systems will not automatically recognize the SATA controller and will more than likely prompt for a driver. The SATA controller driver can usually be found on the CD or Web site of the system, motherboard or SATA add-on manufacturer.

So, that doesn't look like the right tree to bark up.

Referring to the drivers for the RAID controller, Those are the Silicon Image Si3114r drivers that I referred to that we are presenting to Windows during setup. Windows accepts these drivers and does not BSOD until setup begins to seek a boot device.

Since this motherboard also has native support for SATA onboard (that is ports 5 thru 8 in my crude diagram in the first post), we tried each single SATA drive on this controller in the SATA1 slot. Following up on ASUS's website, I read that drives connected to this native controller don't seem to require additional drivers. (However, this was not fully clear. Anyone have better information?) I deduced that because I can't find drivers ANYWHERE for the Intel ICH6R to present at boot. They sure aren't here. (ASUS's downloads site for this board.)

The plain sata ports are controlled by the chipset so you need to use the drivers for sata on the chipset. An example would be that i had the silicon image disc and i had the nvidia sata driver disc i used the normal sata so i used the nvdia drivers, i then diabled the silicon image to avoid confusion and spped up my boot times.

We're having problems with the drives connected to the ports that are controlled by the Silicon Image chipset as well as when connected to the standard SATA ports (controlled by the Intel ICH6R onboard). When connected to the Silicon Image chipset, we are presenting the correct drivers (that are confirmed working on another system with the same board, even).

Since both drives tested independantly produced the same issue, I sorta ruled out the thought of dead-on-arrival. Stranger things have happened, though, so I'll keep it in mind.

Finally, I thank you for the link. I have already extensively searched Microsoft's Knowledge base on this error. The only part that remains is that I have asked the user to update the BIOS and am awaiting the results of that step.

I appreciate your advice. Please let me know if I have any misconceptions about what's going on. I'm especially interested in the driver issue for that ICH6R chipset. Is it really native to the board and driver-free? If not, can anyone find these elusive drivers? I couldn't!

Looking forward to further advice!
-Teriwyn

[warriorscot]

Dont know about intel chipsets but my nforce 4 definately needed drivers even though it was integrated. The bios update is a good idea the drives are a very new model so the problem may well have something to do with that.
It is very unusual two get a pair of duffers but it does happen although i agree that its unlikely.
If the new bios doesnt work we can work on it frmo there but at the moment im stuck for something to try other than its the mobo that faulty and should be sent back so he can get a replacement.