>From: "James R. McKenzie" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "John Clark" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: [newbie] M694D, Mandrake 8.0, Promise Fastrack 66/100, >Lockups, only sees one channel >Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 14:15:42 -0400 > >I've had crappy luck with Promise cards myself. Including one I bought >made >for Maxtor (their version of the ATA/100) I've had 4 promise cards (all of >the rest were regular Ultra 66's) and none have lasted more than 2.5 >months. I've also tried the SIIG ULTRA 66 PCI card, I can't boot anything >from it. Not wynderz, not Linux not a damned thing. > >The long rant longer basically what I'm saying is in my experience, the 3rd >party controller card market sux wind! I don't know of any other so called >"reputable" brands to recommend. Sorry I couldn't be of any actual help >here but at least you know you ain't alone. > >Specific trouble I've had. > >Cards quit working in stages leading to inability to boot or read-through >to >device[s] sometimes but at odd, completely unpredictable, intervals. >Cards causing Motherboard (Asus P3V4X) to not be able to boot from any >device attached to it at all and yes that did include floppies, resolution >(1. swear like a sailor (.2 remove card (3. Swear some more. >Notice total lack of "USEFUL" resolution. Useful defined as the damned >cards actually doing what the adds and all the glowing reviews said they'd >do! >one card I mail-ordered arrived DOA with no TLA serial number sticker on it >just the little price gun sticker with a very faded number. As you >probably >know Promise won't give you the time of day without the TLA sticker. > >These cards are not worth a tinker's damn in my honest, and admittedly >somewhat enraged, opinion. > >The Siig card might work in Wynderz if the damned drivers would allow me to >boot (Windows violation, please reboot your computer, 5 times in a row and >can't get into safe mode either) solution, hose HDD, reinstall Wynderz, >re-install backup program, reconstitute Wynderz that way. It only takes 7 >hours. WHO'D mind that right?! > >Sorry because I realize my spew here isn't what you want, but I've had >e-damn-nuff. > >Patience is only a virtue to a point! With controller cards I reached that >point ages ago. Sometimes it's nice to share, I wish this were one of >them. > >I'd like the think my experiences lists here will at least be useful in >some >small way, perhaps I'm not alone here. Anyone else? > > > > T H A N K Y O U > > > James R. McKenzie > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "John Clark" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2001 10:32 AM >Subject: [newbie] M694D, Mandrake 8.0, Promise Fastrack 66/100, Lockups, >only sees one channel > > > > I have a MSI 694D motherboard with onboard VIA 686a chipset ide >controller > > and Promise FastTrak 100 w/ lite bios. > > I also have an additional Promise FastTrak 66 with full bios. > > > > I am trying to use Mandrake 8.0 > > > > I have 5 hd's and a cdrom all set to master. > > 20gig onboard VIA ide channel 1 > > cdrom onboard VIA ide channel.2 > > 40gig onboard fastrack channel 1 > > 40gig onboard fastrack channel 2 > > 30gig on pci fastrack channel 1 > > 30gig on pci fastrack channel 2 > > > > If I have all drives hooked up and boot the cd the cd hangs affter it > > detects hda and hdc > > the pdc driver in the kernel only sees 1 channel on the 2 promise cards. > > > > If I unplug the cables from the drives on the promise cards I can boot >the > > cd and install. > > > > after installing I can plug the cables back in and see 1 40gig and 1 >30gig > > drive but I get random lockups. (do I need to recompile the kernel???) > > > > I have tried changing the way the drives are in the promise bios (1 >drive > > stripe, 2 drive stripe, 2 drive mirror, etc) with no different results. > > > > My guess is that the kernel module needs some parameter passed to it to >see > > the second channel on the promise controllers, but I don't know what to >do. > > > > I have searched and searched on the net for answers and put my problem >into > > mandrake expert but still no answers. > > > > If someone could help me I would appreciate it much! I don't want to >install > > windows again just to use my drives. > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
