It does seem bizarre that you've had so many boards exhibit this behavior with that card, but the Silicon Image 3132 (I have several myself) seems to have a very, very overweight option ROM. I want to say that some of the newer firmwares for it have helped, though. If you can find a board that it will boot with it successfully, you might try updating to the latest firmware and see if it helps.
http://www.siliconimage.com/support/searchresults.aspx?pid=32&cat=15&os=0 > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:hardware- > [email protected]] On Behalf Of James Maki > Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2011 3:01 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [H] SATA add-on Controller Cards > > I built a socket 939 system with a GA-K8N Ultra-9 motherboard in June of > 2005. It had 4 SATA-I ports and 4-SATA-II ports. Unfortunately, I could > never get the SATA-I ports to work and resorted to several add-in cards. In > 2009, I upgraded to an ASUS P6T6 WS REVOLUTION X58 with 2x onboard SAS > connectors. When I tried to attached a Sans Digital tower via a Sil 3132 > based eSATA card, the unit failed to boot. Removing the card restored the > ability to boot the system. Another Sil 3132 based internal SATA-II card > that I had previously used in the Gigabyte system also prevented the system > from booting. Reading up on the problem it turns out there is not sufficient > BIOS memory for the SATA, SAS and a third card (even though I was not using > the additional controller to boot the system). I passed this off as a > problem specific to this motherboard. > > Fast forward to last month. I re-built the GA-K8N Ultra-9 motherboard based > system in a general upgrade using a Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 MB. I found that > this new system would not boot with the Sil eSATA/Sans Digital tower > attached. If I powered down the Sans Digital until the system was booted, it > would recognize the drives. I assumed a problem similar to the ASUS > SATA/SAS > motherboard and resorted to powering down the tower when I had to re- > boot > the system. > > This past week, I re-build my other socket 939 system with an inexpensive > ECS A750GM-M AM3 board. Again, the Sil 3132 with hard drives attached > prevented the system from booting. Putting the disks into an enclosure that > allowed them to be powered down allowed the system to boot. Powering up > the > disks after boot and they are recognized and usable. > > Is this incompatibility between motherboards and add-in SATA/RAID cards > usual? Or have I just had a run of bad luck? I am thinking of converting > the ASUS P6T6 WS REVOLUTION to a server but need additional storage and > looking for a possible solution. > > Thanks for your insight. > > Jim Maki > [email protected]
