fitbrit

I'll be trying from another USB key first, and if that fails, I'll put it into my XP machine. Good luck- I hope your upgrde fixed everything. In my case, I got the Promise TX4 anyway, so I'll use it for now. If Lime Tech gets my mobo's built in gig ethernet NIC working in unRAID 4.3, I'll have a spare PCI slot to use the SIL for additional drives in the future..

Hi all Here's a thread I created in another forum, evangelising unRAID. It's in a Canadian deals forum, in the hardware/software support subforum (i.e. it's on-topic). I'm a long-time member there, and So far the reception has been very good. http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=553514 "NAS alternative: My unRAID server build" It was in response to another thread: http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=553352 "A Good NAS??" Feel free to chime in to answer questions if any of you have time. So far, I'm very happy with unRAID, and don't mind saying so! I think one of the most underrated features of it is how easy it is to install if you are not an expert in these matters.

Cool! That's what I intend to do too. Did you put it into a Windows machine, or use the DOS utility for flashing?

Hope you have some better luck soon. Thanks for warning us of the error message and what it could mean.

I did some digging and found others with problems with larger disks than 500 GB. It's either a firmware issue with the card or the drives in my case. I've downloaded updates and flashing utilities for the card. Now I just have to get my DOS booting USB key sorted out. At the same time, i managed to find someone selling a Promise TX4 for $60 shipped, so that'll be arriving tomorrow. I'll definitely move to the Promise controller, and then see what I can salvage from the $17 Geeks card.

Thanks a lot for mentioning that; I was going to ask you for this info, either by PM or here. I'll throw in a 500 GB drive and see if it works. I already have three 750 GB drives marked for the server, so if it's a capacity issue, I'll have to use a different card. If I figure it out, I'll let you know too; I'm sure you'd like to be aware in case you ever want to upgrade to higher capacity drives. I think I'll get a Promise TX4 4 port SATA II controller instead, and sell the SIL if it can't be upgraded via BIOS.

More info for you unRAID/PC/Linux gurus: Everything is fine if I connect a 120 GB SATA (I) drive. It starts up and all is well. If I connect my Seagate 750 GB SATA (II) drive (with SATA I jumper in position), or my WD 750 GB SATA (II) drive, I get the boot up problems described above. So I'm thinking that perhaps jumper or not, the card will only work with pure SATA (I) drives, OR... there's a drive capacity limit at something below 750 GB. I installed the card in my desktop Windows machine, but I couldn't find a way to flash the BIOS on the card while it was in there.

Thanks! I got the same card from the same place. Hmmmm, I wonder if it's busted somehow.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I doubt I can get tech support, but I might be able to return the card. Another option is to install it into a Windows machine and flash the card's BIOS to whatever the latest is and then put it back into the unRAID server and try again. I'll be attempting this at the weekend. Since this card is on the listed compatible PCI boards, I just wondered whether anyone had specific experience with this problem.

Hi all Can anyone shed some light on this for me? I have an unRAID server and all was working well until I connected a Seagate 750 GB SATAII drive to the generic Sil3114 PCI card I had in a slot (with no drives connected to it since I built the server last month). The drive is a SATAII, but it still has the jumper on it to work in SATA I mode. The server POSTs and then gets stuck at the card's screen where it tells me to press ctrl-S or F4 to enter the setup menu. However, at this point pressing any keys gives a system beep and there's no response. I cannot enter this menu to try and set things up when there are no drives connected; it just says no devices found and continues to boot. All this happens before the UNRAID USB key can even load up. At first I thought it was stopped because adding the new drive caused the system to try and boot from this drive. I thought a simple entry into the BIOS to reaffirm that I wanted to boot from USB, despite the addition, would get me somewhere.... It will NOT even let me enter the BIOS when the drive is connected as the BIOS come after this screen on my motherboard. Mobo is an eVGA 7100.

It's built and the original post has been updated to reflect this.

Here's the thread. A long read but one or two Intel employees take an active part in the discussion.

That board has a few driver issues at the moment, and does a few strange things if you connect HDMI to a receiver before passing on to your screen. There's a huge AVSForum thread on this. There will shortly be a full ATX version of the board which has more slots, as well as a few additional features that will be very useful... such as being able to switch from on board ideo to PCIe video easily, depending on whether you're gaming or HTPC'ing.

You're absolutely right. I made the error as I was wavering between this board and the e-7150, which does have HDMI. I decided not to go for the extra few $$$ on a connector I probably won't use.. I realised my error within a few minutes of posting yesterday, but didn't think anyone would be reading too carefully. Take a look at the eVGA e-7150; it's a good budget board for an HTPC. I usually do video and sound separately anyway. I may end up buying an AUzentech Prelude and HDMI add-on card if I really must combine lossless HD sound with video.

This set up works like a charm! Prices quoted are in CDN $ (about the same in US$), and were valid at time of purchase. Notes: I haven't tried the onboard Gigabit LAN yet. The mobo can be added to the compatability list. The fantastic value Celeron 420 CPU ($37): http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=12200BD0521&vpn=BX80557420&manufacture=INTEL The CPU is essentially a Core solo, and is a great workhorse for basic tasks. With this eVGA mobo ($60): http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26644&vpn=112-CK-NF75-K1&manufacture=eVGA&promoid=1019 The mobo has integrated video, giga LAN (will check if unRAID compatible). I may use the same board for my next HTPC upgrade, as it supports 45 nM quad-core CPUs, has onboard DVI (HDMI in the e7150 version of this board) and is a lot of bang for the buck. I added the following: This RAM ($18 after rebate in late December). OCZ Gold 6400 2x 1GB http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18495&vpn=OCZ2G8002GK&manufacture=OCZ%20Technology&promoid=1001 A GA-311 PCI gigabit NIC ($10, eBay) http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=24753&vpn=GA311NA&manufacture=Netgear Antec Trio True Power 650W ($49 after rebate in late December) http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=24126&vpn=TP3-650&manufacture=ANTEC Three of these WD 750 GB drives ($154 each) Western Digital Caviar 750GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS Hard Drive 3 Year MFR Warranty Kingston Data Traveller 1 GB ($7) http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=21439&vpn=DTI%2F1GBCR&manufacture=Kingston ThermalTake iCage ($16). Can hold three 3.5" drives in 3 5.25" bays. Big fan keeps them cool (running at max $33 C). I could have crammed more drives in with another bay convertor, but I wanted to keep 'em cool and spaced well. Silicon Image Generic 4-port SATA card (for use with future drives) $16 from Geeks.com. I have the drives already and will be installing them once I upgrade my unRAID basic to the next version up. http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=CL-SL3114 Monuel Monasco Case ($59). I love it. As quiet as an Antec Sonata II. http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=27586&vpn=Moncaso%20DVT%20201%20%28G600%29&manufacture=Moneual Total of about $770 with taxes and shipping, or $270 without the drives! I have 4 more 750 GB drives to install shortly.

There's no mention of that mobo in either the yay or nay headings. I'm also looking for info for this board.

Hi everyone. I've checked the wiki and this forum. There's no mention of this mobo (ASROCK 939 DUAL Sata2) being used for unRAID. Both my HTPC and my desktop are running on this mobo. I'm upgrading the HTPC to a core2quad machine and I'd like to use the ASROCK 939 DUAL Sata2 motherboard for an unRAID server. Under boot options in the BIOS I do not see USB as a choice, so it makes me wonder whether the mobo will be suitable for unRAID. Any tips to finding out would be greatly appreciated. If I have to I guess I could buy another S939 board for the 4200X2 I'll have spare to use in my server. Ideally I'd be able to use the ASROCK 939 DUAL Sata2 though. Thanks in advance. Joe