ASUS A7N8XE - Deluxe


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I this mobo with a AMD Sempron 3GHz cpu and 1.5GB DDR RAM.

 

This board has a built in 2 port SiL 3112a controller. By default the RAID Bios for this controller will not support drives larger than 500GB. I used a tool called cbrom http://www.biosmods.com/download.php to unpack and re-pack the mobo bios with an updated version of the SATA controller code from http://www.siliconimage.com/support/supportsearchresults.aspx?pid=63&cid=15&ctid=2&osid=0&

 

You can use the non-RAID BIOS from that file and it will work just fine. Actually improves the boot speed by a few seconds because you don't stop at the RAID config screen anymore.

 

Cheers

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  • 3 weeks later...

Their flash utility is for addin cards only.  Until the first post above, I did not even know it was possible to update the chipset BIOS, but he has found a site with a process to unpack the motherboard BIOS, update the Silicon Image stuff, and repack it, for reflashing the board BIOS (as best as I can tell).  You cannot update the onboard BIOS of the SI chipset, unless you go that route.

 

What you found is correct, for a Silicon Image 3112 based card, and you would use the b4284.bin file, I think, to flash the card.

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Jim,

 

Sorry for it taking me a bit to respond to this thread. I will answer your question as best possible to be thorough. HOWEVER, I must say that I think you are wasting your effort. I went through all of these steps myself, ONLY to find in the end that the nForce2 chipset on this board is very unreliable with running unRAID. I ended up having the ditch the board and go with a new mobo because it generated constant sync errors. It was the last resort for me, especially after all the work I put into getting it working, but I was not going to trust my data to something that could not generate good parity.

 

Now, for how to update the BIOS. This is sort of annoying, but also kinda fun once you realize what you can do.

(I will assume that you will look for the switches and options for using the below reference program.)

 

1. Take your stock ASUS bios file and view it with cbrom6. Make careful note of the order listed of the files.

2. Looking at the type of file/module contained in the BIOS, start and the bottom (last item) and remove them one at a time. This will result in these BIOS parts being saved out into the directory where you are working.

3. Remove in order from the bottom all the parts up to and including the SilImage rom.

4. Add in the new SilImage rom file. RobJ was INCORRECT. You need to use the "4284.bin" file. Not the "r" or "b" file.

5. Now, in the exact order that you removed them, add back the various other parts to the BIOS file.

6. When you are done, your new BIOS file should have exactly the same number of parts, in EXACTLY the same order as when you started. Make sure and compare with a completely clean stock BIOS file.

7. Now, flash your new BIOS file using awdflash. I downloaded that drdos703.exe file to make a bootfloppy to run awdflash from.

 

Good luck and I will keep an eye on this thread.

 

Cheers,

Paul

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Thanks!  I appreciate the help..

 

1. I actually did all those steps.  I found the procedure somewhere else on the net.  I really think my problem stems from the fact that I'm trying to update the flash from a usb drive, not a floppy.  I think the awdflash utility needs a real floppy drive.  I was trying my best avoid hooking up a floppy!  I'll *grunt* hook up a floppy tonight and try it again.  Even the stock bios didn't work.

 

2.  As for the stability of the a7n8x deluxe...  I've been using it for several months now and I haven't had any sync issues.  To this day, I'm not using the on board sata.  I'm trying to update it so I can switch to it and see if it's faster.  If I start seeing sync issues I'll abandon it all together and buy a new system..  I'm strapped for cash right now so I'm hoping to get by with this for a while.  I also only have 3 drives.  I think I'll only stick with the free version as I feel the cost for the regular and pro are about 2x what I feel they should be.  But that's a different rant!  Maybe 3 disks won't cause synch issues and maybe more that 3 do?  Who knows?  It also might be that I'm not using the onboard sata right now.  I have a PCI card that has 2 sata and 1 PATA connectors on it.  I remember when I first built the system for and HTPC, the onboard sata would never record HD correctly.  That's why I got the plugin card.  Maybe it all stems from that?  That's why I was hoping the bios upgrade would have fixed those issues..

 

Jim

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Jim,

 

I was only using 2 drives myself. I played with the PATA and onboard SATA controllers. I never used an outboard SATA card. It could be a combination of nForce2 and the way ASUS wired it up to that SilImg chip. I never tried to flash that board from a USB stick, so I cannot comment if that is reliable or not.

 

I have not bought the commercial version of unRAID either. No comments on the pricing, however, with the size of HDD's now 3 drives can get you a bunch of storage.

 

Good luck.

 

Paul

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I had windows installed on a disk in that machine still..  So I boot it up and downloaded the Asus update utility.  That worked fine.  so I didn't need to get a floppy drive! :)

So I updated the the rom just fine.  I'm running 4.2.84, I believe.

 

I put my parity disk on the onboard Sata controller  and I'm running a parity check to see how it all goes.  so far it's not any faster than my plugin controller.  Oh well..  It's most likely PCI based as well since it's a seperate chip anyway...  but now If I need to upgrade disks, I can.  I'll be able to support 3 - 1.5TB disks. 

 

That should hold me over until I have to buy another MB.  Who knows..  Maybe I'll break down and buy the plus key.

I still have a couple PATA drives that could sustain me until I can afford 3 - 1.5TB disks!

 

I'll let you know if I have any sync errors..

 

I bought a couple of ebay 1Gb nini cruizer disks and one is crap..  but the other one seemed fine.  I did some work at work and brought it home to try on the unraid and I got some weird errors.  I tried it on another system at home and it worked fine..  I think the A7n8X is not long for this world!!  :o

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