jeff.lebowski Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 I found a thread where the user experienced the exact issue I am. He ended up replacing the Sil3114 card with a Promise card for about $65 USD. If I can avoid that for now, that would be great. I updated the drivers to 1.5.19, which the most current, but the server still hangs at the RAID setup menu. So I threw the b5403.bin file onto a USB drive that boots into DOS. When I boot the Windows machine into DOS and type DIR from the prompt, I can see the .bin file, then I type the exact name B5403.BIN and press enter. Bad command or file name is the result. I used this USB stick previously to flash two Samsung Spinpoint F4 disks. No issues when I typed the file name and pressed enter. Any clue what I'm doing wrong? Quote Link to comment
S80_UK Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 What exactly are you typing? There needs to be some programming utility on the stick, and you meed to type the name of the utility, maybe some other command switches as well as the name of the .BIN file which contains the card's BIOS image. I did it myself once, but long ago. I will dig around and see what I can find. Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 3, 2011 Author Share Posted July 3, 2011 What exactly are you typing? There needs to be some programming utility on the stick, and you meed to type the name of the utility, maybe some other command switches as well as the name of the .BIN file which contains the card's BIOS image. I did it myself once, but long ago. I will dig around and see what I can find. I'm typing B5403.BIN List of DIR shows two files: the Samsung firmware update .exe file, and this one. It would make sense that a .bin file needs something different than what the .exe file needed to run. Thanks for checking. Quote Link to comment
S80_UK Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 See the Silicon Image page here.... http://www.siliconimage.com/support/searchresults.aspx?pid=28&cat=15 You need the image (that you already have) and the utility. On that page there are DOS and Windows versions. In the Zip file for the DOS version there is also a readme file. It's a bit cryptic though, but it does explain the command required which will be along the lines of updflash b5403.bin The file updflash.exe must also be present on the stick or floppy and accessible to the DOS command line (typically by being in the same folder). Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 3, 2011 Author Share Posted July 3, 2011 Oops. Forgot to mention that... I tried that utility first, and had an error. I'll try again and make better note of what happens. Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 3, 2011 Author Share Posted July 3, 2011 See the Silicon Image page here.... http://www.siliconimage.com/support/searchresults.aspx?pid=28&cat=15 You need the image (that you already have) and the utility. On that page there are DOS and Windows versions. In the Zip file for the DOS version there is also a readme file. It's a bit cryptic though, but it does explain the command required which will be along the lines of updflash b5403.bin The file updflash.exe must also be present on the stick or floppy and accessible to the DOS command line (typically by being in the same folder). The install.bat is insisting that it can only install to A:\. Trying to unassigned an invisible A: disk so I can assign drive letter A to the USB stick. Quote Link to comment
S80_UK Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 OK - not sure where your install.bat is coming from. Is that even related? The downloads from SIL don't seem to have that file present. You should only require a very minimal DOS boot with no drivers being loaded. For what it's worth I just rebooted my server to check and I am running the self same BIOS version on my SIL3114 card. Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 3, 2011 Author Share Posted July 3, 2011 It seemed to me that I needed to create a bootable USB before I could load the updflash.exe and binary file. I followed the steps outlined in the UPFLASH readme doc: Procedures to run UpdFlash.exe • For DOS system • Change to directory where the UpdFlash.exe and BIOS binary file are located • Run UpdFlash to load flash memory with BIOS binary code • For other OS (such as Windows 9x/Me/NT4/2K/XP or Linux/Unix) but with x86 system • Download the latest copy of the FreeDOS kernel from internet, it is in: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/freedos/ke2026a16.zip • Unpack the archive, change directories to where you unzipped it, insert a formatted diskette in a: drive, and then run the install batch file from there. That should make a bootable floppy drive in “a:” • Copy the UpdFlash.exe program file and BIOS binary file to “a:” • Boot from the floppy, run UpdFlash to load flash memory with BIOS binary code Notes: For Win9x/ME system, you can use startup disk to boot to DOS mode and run the UpdFlash utility reliably there. So they might be able to save the effort of creating this bootable FreeDOS disk. When I reboot, the USB stick no longer appears as a hard disk in the PC's bios as something to boot from. Argh. Quote Link to comment
S80_UK Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 I see. I think the problem may be that the device characteristics of the USB stick have changed so that your BIOS no longer recognises it for some reason. Are you able to change the USB boot options? Some motherboard BIOS's allow USB-Floppy, USB-ZIP, etc. To be honest, I have not used the FreeDOS kernel in that way. When I did this I used a conventional good ol' MS-DOS 6 on a floppy disk. (they still have their uses) Despite the fact that you can't boot from it, can you use some other OS to verify that the stick contains the necessary files for a DOS boot? I think the issue of getting a bootable DOS onto the stick needs to be fixed before attempting to update the card. Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 3, 2011 Author Share Posted July 3, 2011 The volume name is listed as FREEDOS, so I think it's correctly formatted and ready to go. Although it is now listed as drive letter A:. Is that important? Previous to installing FREEDOS, the USB stick would appear in the PC bios as a hard disk, and thus could be set as a boot device. As of now, there are just the three hard disks available. Quote Link to comment
S80_UK Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 But can you change the BIOS settings on the motherboard to boot from different types of USB devices? It may well appear as something other than a USB hard-disk. Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 But can you change the BIOS settings on the motherboard to boot from different types of USB devices? It may well appear as something other than a USB hard-disk. The options for boot devices are: [] Hard disk [] Removable Disk [] Something else [] Something else In the hard disk list, the three WD units are listed. In the removable disk list, CBM is listed. When I choose that option and boot, I get "Remove disks or other media. Press any key to restart." For the life of me, I can't find the any key... Tried the USB stick on another Windows XP machine, got the same options (CBM), and when I booted from that device, the same error appeared. I appreciate your help, very much... Quote Link to comment
S80_UK Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 To be honest, I am starting to run out of ideas. I have no idea what the CBM option refers to - I have never seen that one before. Is it an old motherboard? If USB booting is not an option, is there any chance of using a conventional floppy drive? Or can you pass the SIL board over to someone else to update for you? (probably not to me - I am in the UK). I wonder if the motherboard is old, whether the age of its BIOS may also be an issue when working with the SIL board. These things are never as simple or as obvious as one would like. Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 The mobo isn't that old, I hope: ASUS M4A785-M. I happen to have a floppy disk drive on the shelf here. I can give it a try. Just have to find a disk now... I should be able to do this. It's not too difficult, but I often find a way to make that happen. Quote Link to comment
pantner Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 ok...get your USB Thumbdrive back to the way it was when you started the thread, so you can boot from it. Put the UpdFlash.exe and BIOS (.bin) file onto it. Boot off it and type updflash b5403.bin if that errors, post the error, or you can type updflash /? and that should tell you if any switches are needed. It might end up being something like updflash.exe /u:b5403.bin The .exe file should not be hard coded to look for A:, i suspect the error you had was unrelated and this 'install.bat' is making a bootable Floppy disk and setting it to auto run the updflash.exe file to do the BIOS without you needing to type in the command Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 Thanks, I'll try tomorrow. Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 ok...get your USB Thumbdrive back to the way it was when you started the thread, so you can boot from it. Put the UpdFlash.exe and BIOS (.bin) file onto it. Boot off it and type updflash b5403.bin if that errors, post the error, or you can type updflash /? and that should tell you if any switches are needed. It might end up being something like updflash.exe /u:b5403.bin The .exe file should not be hard coded to look for A:, i suspect the error you had was unrelated and this 'install.bat' is making a bootable Floppy disk and setting it to auto run the updflash.exe file to do the BIOS without you needing to type in the command The only time I was able to boot from a USB stick during this process was when I used a Kingston Traveler 1gb stick I previously formatted using a tool called HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool and DOS 5. It already had the Samsung Japanese SpinPoint firmware on there. I simply added the Silicon Image b5403.bin file to the stick, and it would boot to a C prompt. But no matter how I typed the b5403.bin file, it would not run. I typed DIR and it was listed as B5403.BIN, so naturally I tried that too. Which led me to try the recommended steps from Silicon Image. Based on the steps listed in the readme doc, it appeared I had to name the USB stick A:. Using the PC's BIOS, I was able to disable Legacy A diskette, I was able to rename the USB stick A:, then install the few files listed in the steps to create a bootable USB stick. The cmd window would appear and begin, but a C:\Windows\Users\cmd86.exe error would appear. Lets try something else! I downloaded a DOS 5 file, and have it (boot500.exe) all alone in a folder, and when I try to format using the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, the error appears there are no valid DOS system files at the specified location. Wit's end? I'm there... :'( Long story short, it seems like I'm doing something wrong during the create a bootable USB stick process. Quote Link to comment
S80_UK Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Back to square one. I am guessing your not so well acquainted with DOS as some of us older guys and that we may have made life seem more complex than it really is. Sorry about that. I also think that the SIL docs probably didn't help. If you are able to get back to the state where the stick (any stick) will boot to a DOS prompt as it did for the Samsung firmware, then the only extra step needed should be to copy onto it the SIL3114 binary (which you did before) and the UPDFLASH.EXE file. You can ignore any other instruction about naming the stick. You can copy them to the stick using Windows or whatever environment suits best. Then when you boot the stick you will get to a DOS prompt, whether it is A: or C: or anything else will not matter (or at least it should not). Then at the DOS prompt you type updflash b5403.bin as previously advised. That really should be it. So, are you able to get the stick back as it was (using the HP Disk Storage tool if needed)? If so then please try again. Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 Since I'm having so much trouble making a bootable stick, do you have any recommendations for a DOS file and a program to create the bootable stick? Quote Link to comment
S80_UK Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 The HP tool still seems a good option. Files and description are here... http://www.bay-wolf.com/usbmemstick.htm Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 It's working... Here's where I'm stuck now. The card has no printing on it that matches the supported memory chips in readme doc from Silicon Image. What I'm stating is I don't know which flash memory chip is on the card. Here's the card: http://rosewill.com/products/r_719/productDetail.htm And what I see during the update process: Quote Link to comment
S80_UK Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Well, that's good progress! The flash memory chip is the smaller one with leads on all four sides (about 32 leads in total) - right next to the QC sticker in the photo on the link that you posted. Can you either tell us what it says or post a picture. It is likely a compatible version of one of those in the list - we just need to figure out which. Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 WTF? The text is SO small and the color is not vibrant. I just started losing my close vision acuity, so I'll try to search out a magnifying glass. What I think I can see is: Holtek HT27C010-70 A633K0494#4 This is just getting ridiculous... Quote Link to comment
S80_UK Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 WTF? The text is SO small and the color is not vibrant. I just started losing my close vision acuity, so I'll try to search out a magnifying glass. What I think I can see is: Holtek HT27C010-70 A633K0494#4 This is just getting ridiculous... Oh dear, that's annoying. Not you saying it's ridiculous, but... The problem is this. I just looked up the Holtek datasheet for that chip. The part that they used when they built the board is not a flash memory chip. It's a one-time programmable memory device which means that there is no way for the software to electrically erase and reprogram the part. The clue is in the "27C" in the part number. 27C is for that type of memory. It needed to be a 29F.. or 39F... number in order to be a flash type that can be reprogrammed. I am very sorry, but the only way to change the binary on that board would be to unsolder the chip, get another chip, program it and solder it back on. I'd have done it 15 years ago, but today it's just not worth the effort. I think that you have no choice but to try a different board vendor. Mine was a no-name clone from Hong Kong - cheap, but I got a flash memory on mine so it was possible update it. I have never seen a one-time part on a modern board, so I think you must have been unlucky with the choice of board manufacturer. Mine came from here http://www.dealextreme.com/p/silicon-image-4-port-sata-pci-expansion-card-4660 - but that was about 3 years ago. It's likely to be a different version than the one that I got. It might work, but it might not. There's no way of knowing how compatible any particular version of the SIL3114 card will be. Quote Link to comment
jeff.lebowski Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 You've been so patient over the last however long. Much thanks to you, and the others who have chimed in as well. Maybe someone else will find the thread and not have any of the anxiety I had. Quote Link to comment
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