Problem with Promise PCI SATA controller
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From: Daniel Prince on 31 Mar 2010 06:09 I bought a 2 tb SATA hard drive and a Promise FastTrack 376 (tm) PCI controller card. The card detects the drive but the drive does not show up in Windows XP's disk manager. The card came with no printed instructions. I found a text file on the CD with installation instructions but the files and directories it mentions do not exist on the little CD that came with the card. I tried running all the setup.exe files on the CD except for the ones in the usb2.0 directories. They all said that I did not have the correct hardware. I installed all the *.inf files in the XP directories. The card now shows up in device manager but the drive does not show up in device manager or in the disk manager. Does this controller card work with one drive or does it work only as a raid? Does anyone know which *.inf files I should use? This is the root directory of the CD: Volume in drive S is Driver Serial number is 8E74:A98D Directory of S:\* 9/16/2009 20:48 <DIR> Ess 9/16/2009 20:51 <DIR> pdc20319_S150_TX4_Drv_1.00.0.37 9/16/2009 20:50 <DIR> pdc20378 9/16/2009 20:48 <DIR> USB2.0 CARD 9/16/2009 20:48 <DIR> VT6410 VT6421_Driver_V550B This is part of what it says in the file WinXP.txt: 10. Select "Have Disk". Browse the RAID mode path {CD-ROM Drive}:\Drivers\Promise\378RAID\WinXP or IDE mode path {CD-ROM Drive}:\Drivers\Promise\378ATA\WinXP to the driver and click OK. The directories and files listed above do NOT exist on the CD. Does anyone know how I can get this card to work? Is there another newsgroup or web forum where I can get some help? Thank you in advance for all replies. -- Whenever I hear or think of the song "Great green gobs of greasy grimey gopher guts" I imagine my cat saying; "That sounds REALLY, REALLY good. I'll have some of that!"
From: david on 31 Mar 2010 06:29 On Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:09:21 -0700, Daniel Prince rearranged some electrons to say: > I bought a 2 tb SATA hard drive and a Promise FastTrack 376 (tm) PCI > controller card. The card detects the drive but the drive does not show > up in Windows XP's disk manager. > > The card came with no printed instructions. I found a text file on the > CD with installation instructions but the files and directories it > mentions do not exist on the little CD that came with the card. I tried > running all the setup.exe files on the CD except for the ones in the > usb2.0 directories. They all said that I did not have the correct > hardware. > > I installed all the *.inf files in the XP directories. The card now > shows up in device manager but the drive does not show up in device > manager or in the disk manager. > > Does this controller card work with one drive or does it work only as a > raid? Does anyone know which *.inf files I should use? > > This is the root directory of the CD: > > Volume in drive S is Driver Serial number is 8E74:A98D > Directory of S:\* > > 9/16/2009 20:48 <DIR> Ess 9/16/2009 20:51 <DIR> > pdc20319_S150_TX4_Drv_1.00.0.37 9/16/2009 20:50 <DIR> > pdc20378 9/16/2009 20:48 <DIR> USB2.0 CARD 9/16/2009 20:48 > <DIR> VT6410 VT6421_Driver_V550B > > This is part of what it says in the file WinXP.txt: > > 10. Select "Have Disk". Browse the RAID mode path {CD-ROM > Drive}:\Drivers\Promise\378RAID\WinXP or IDE mode path {CD-ROM > Drive}:\Drivers\Promise\378ATA\WinXP to the driver and click OK. > > The directories and files listed above do NOT exist on the CD. > > Does anyone know how I can get this card to work? Is there another > newsgroup or web forum where I can get some help? Thank you in advance > for all replies. http://www.promise.com/support/download/download_eng.asp?flag=1&prod=oth
From: Paul on 31 Mar 2010 14:44 Daniel Prince wrote: > I bought a 2 tb SATA hard drive and a Promise FastTrack 376 (tm) PCI > controller card. The card detects the drive but the drive does not > show up in Windows XP's disk manager. > > The card came with no printed instructions. I found a text file on > the CD with installation instructions but the files and directories > it mentions do not exist on the little CD that came with the card. I > tried running all the setup.exe files on the CD except for the ones > in the usb2.0 directories. They all said that I did not have the > correct hardware. > > I installed all the *.inf files in the XP directories. The card now > shows up in device manager but the drive does not show up in device > manager or in the disk manager. > > Does this controller card work with one drive or does it work only > as a raid? Does anyone know which *.inf files I should use? > > This is the root directory of the CD: > > Volume in drive S is Driver Serial number is 8E74:A98D > Directory of S:\* > > 9/16/2009 20:48 <DIR> Ess > 9/16/2009 20:51 <DIR> pdc20319_S150_TX4_Drv_1.00.0.37 > 9/16/2009 20:50 <DIR> pdc20378 > 9/16/2009 20:48 <DIR> USB2.0 CARD > 9/16/2009 20:48 <DIR> VT6410 VT6421_Driver_V550B > > This is part of what it says in the file WinXP.txt: > > 10. Select "Have Disk". Browse the RAID mode path {CD-ROM > Drive}:\Drivers\Promise\378RAID\WinXP or IDE mode path {CD-ROM > Drive}:\Drivers\Promise\378ATA\WinXP to the driver and click OK. > > The directories and files listed above do NOT exist on the CD. > > Does anyone know how I can get this card to work? Is there another > newsgroup or web forum where I can get some help? Thank you in > advance for all replies. You can get a driver from here. ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/asus//misc/ide/pdc20376/ A file like pdc20376_15.zip is a RAID driver, intended for copying to a floppy. If you were installing WinXP on the drive for example, you'd press F6 and offer the floppy prepared with the contents of the ZIP. The txtsetup.oem file, would be at the top level of the floppy. If you're installing the card in a system which is already running, then you'd click on the INF file, like fasttx2k.INF . Using right mouse, one of the menu items should be "Install". That will execute the instructions inside the fasttx2k.INF, such as setting up a service and so on. ServiceBinary = %12%\fasttx2k.sys The 376pam3218.zip file, is for after an installation. It is the Promise Array Management software, for managing any RAID arrays you set up. On some RAID controllers, you can connect a single disk, not set up any kind of RAID on it, and it will be used as a standalone disk. If that doesn't work, you can try the disk as "JBOD" or a single striped disk, or the like. There are some controllers, which are quite insistent that they're RAID only. On those, they won't detect the disks, until at least two disks are connected. You'll just have to experiment and figure it out for yourself. That is what Promise expects of its customers, and why it provides crappy drivers with no uninstall options and the like. Paul
From: Flasherly on 1 Apr 2010 09:42 On Mar 31, 6:09 am, Daniel Prince <neutri...(a)ca.rr.com> wrote: > I bought a 2 tb SATA hard drive and a Promise FastTrack 376 (tm) PCI > controller card. The card detects the drive but the drive does not > show up in Windows XP's disk manager. > > The card came with no printed instructions. I found a text file on > the CD with installation instructions but the files and directories > it mentions do not exist on the little CD that came with the card. I > tried running all the setup.exe files on the CD except for the ones > in the usb2.0 directories. They all said that I did not have the > correct hardware. > > I installed all the *.inf files in the XP directories. The card now > shows up in device manager but the drive does not show up in device > manager or in the disk manager. > > Does this controller card work with one drive or does it work only > as a raid? Does anyone know which *.inf files I should use? > > This is the root directory of the CD: > > Volume in drive S is Driver Serial number is 8E74:A98D > Directory of S:\* > > 9/16/2009 20:48 <DIR> Ess > 9/16/2009 20:51 <DIR> pdc20319_S150_TX4_Drv_1.00.0.37 > 9/16/2009 20:50 <DIR> pdc20378 > 9/16/2009 20:48 <DIR> USB2.0 CARD > 9/16/2009 20:48 <DIR> VT6410 VT6421_Driver_V550B > > This is part of what it says in the file WinXP.txt: > > 10. Select "Have Disk". Browse the RAID mode path {CD-ROM > Drive}:\Drivers\Promise\378RAID\WinXP or IDE mode path {CD-ROM > Drive}:\Drivers\Promise\378ATA\WinXP to the driver and click OK. > > The directories and files listed above do NOT exist on the CD. > > Does anyone know how I can get this card to work? Is there another > newsgroup or web forum where I can get some help? Thank you in > advance for all replies. > -- > Whenever I hear or think of the song "Great green gobs of greasy > grimey gopher guts" I imagine my cat saying; "That sounds REALLY, > REALLY good. I'll have some of that!" They're a pain, no doubt. I've two controllers - a Promise PATA that was free with a HD I bought. The other is SYBA. I wouldn't spend a nickel on Promise these days -- way, way overpriced has been my experience. A SYBA, oth, I'd expect for $10 or less. I know all about getting hairy with controllers. My MB also has three sets of HD controllers, besides regular (old-style PATA) IDE ports;- part of once upon a time real deals on a *Deluxe* ASUS package with *5* PCI slots. That's four sets of controllers in the BIOS. Very weird. Add the two PCI controllers and it goes beyond weird. Some of the MB's controllers are also related to chipsets SYBA uses on the aftermarket add-on SYBA PCI controllers. Drivers provided. They're often generically bundled for an entire product line. *You* have to find the differences and make the right selections. Reading what you provided -- there's a directory with a 378 that corresponds to the instructions mention of 378 ... get my drift? Pay close attention to the exact model# silkscreened on that board, and sometimes the integrated chipsets. Also, Google is your friend. There's often discussions in various tech forms that'll turn up all kinds of interesting information from related searches off that model number. The reverse also holds true: being forewarned, next time might consider searching down thoroughly to review a product *before* you buy it. Once you've mastered the drivers, copy the drivers, the right ones only you need, to a directory for the next time. Make a text file in that directory and make notes about what you did and what happens. Where you don't want to go, is what happens to those drivers when XP gets "confused" ... say just about anything changed in the way of hardware configuration (swapping in/out new cards or gear - notably HDs and associated controller configs). Worst case -- when I usually get things going back to normal -- is taking out everything drive related. Putting them back in -- one by one -- configuring XP until each one is again recognized. Less a controller thingy than very XP oriented. Hard to explain exactly what I'm doing when doing it -- the black arts. Oh...I've got 3 DVDs and 3 HDs, down from 4 and 4, I used to run;- nor are these cards I'm using supportive and don't come spec'd for DVDs, though I stick DVDs on 'em to see what happens and do it anyway. Welcome to building, btw.
From: Daniel Prince on 1 Apr 2010 22:40
Paul <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote: >On some RAID controllers, you can connect a single disk, not >set up any kind of RAID on it, and it will be used as a standalone >disk. If that doesn't work, you can try the disk as "JBOD" or >a single striped disk, or the like. > >There are some controllers, which are quite insistent that they're >RAID only. On those, they won't detect the disks, until at least >two disks are connected. This one will detect the disk. If it is the only disk, it does not offer any options to make any type of RAID or JBOD. The single drive will NOT show up in Device Manager or Disk Management. When I connected the 2 tb SATA hard drive and an old 120 gig IDE drive to it, it allowed me to make a mirrored RAID which showed up in Device Manager and Disk Management as a 120 gig drive . If I did not make a RAID with the two drives, neither one showed up in Device Manager or Disk Management. I think this is an incredibly stupid way to design a controller card. Could it be cheaper to make the card RAID only? -- I don't understand why they make gourmet cat foods. I have known many cats in my life and none of them were gourmets. They were all gourmands! |