GA-X58A-UD5 And SATA Boot Disk In 32-bit Windows XP Pro (Marvell 9128 chip?)

[marccunn]

Hello All:

This is a general question about whether a GA-X58A-UD5 can be used to support an SATA boot disk in a 32-bit Windows XP Pro environment, and if yes, which of the onboard chips would be best to use for the boot disk.

I am a new owner of a GA-X58A-UD5 motherboard, so this is my first post on any of your forums.

I will probably post this on at least one other of your forums, since I am not yet familiar with which of your forums would be most appropriate.

I just got the GA-X58A-UD5 motherboard, to replace one of my fabulous but aging ASUS P5WD2 Premium motherboards which had lost all USB functionality.

My current setup has a 500Gb Hitachi IDE as my boot disk (with my copy of 32-bit Windows XP Pro on a 100Gb partition) and I have nine (9) Samsung 2Tb SATA 3Gb/s as my storage drives.

Page 10 of the GA-X58A-UD5 Manual indicates which chips control which ports:

   South Bridge:

      6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_0, SATA2_1, SATA2_2, SATA2_3, SATA2_4, SATA2_5), up to 6 SATA 3Gb/s devices

      Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

   Marvell 9128 chip:

      2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3_6, GSATA3_7) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices

      Support for SATA RAID 0, and RAID 1

   GIGABYTE SATA2 chip:

      1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices

      2 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (GSATA2_8, GSATA2_9) supporting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices

      Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD

The Marvell 9128 chip is particularly worrisome to me because prior to getting this GA-X58A-UD5, I had purchased an EVGA X58 FTW3.

I had hooked up all my drives to the EVGA X58 FTW3 prior to booting for the first time.

I could not get it to complete POST.

So, I started to unplug the drives one by one.

The first one I unplugged was from one of the red SATA connectors, which were controlled by the Marvell 9128 chip on the EVGA X58 FTW3.

The computer would not complete POST.

So I unplugged the drive connected to the second red connector.

This time the computer booted perfectly.

After I got into Windows, I installed all the proprietary EVGA drivers, including the drivers provided for the Marvell 9128.

I plugged both drives back into the red connectors and re-started.

Again the computer would not complete POST.

I unplugged both drives from the red connectors and re-started.

The computer booted perfectly.

Long story short, after spending about 8 hours troubleshooting and going back and forth with EVGA tech support (which was a useless exercise), I sent the EVGA X58 FTW3 back for a refund and purchased this GA-X58A-UD5.

Now I have everything hooked up (including drives plugged into the GSATA3_6 and GSATA3_7 connectors controlled by the Marvell 9128 chip) and I am ready to boot for the first time.

However, before I did so, I thought I would pause, take a deep breath, and ask you all these questions....

Rather than continue using my old 500Gb Hitachi IDE as the boot drive, I thought I might like to try using an SATA drive as my boot drive.

Since I have replaced the motherboard on that computer, Windows XP Pro will require me to re-activate my copy again, so I don't mind doing a new clean install (I haven't done a clean install of that copy of Windows XP Pro for several years, so I think it is about time that it got refreshed anyway).

To take advantage of the Marvell 9128 6Gb/s speed, I could get a really fast
(a) HITACHI Ultrastar 7K3000 HUA723020ALA640 (0F12455) 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache, or
(b) Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache or
(c) Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache.

However, in light of my horrible experience with trying to get the EVGA X58 FTW3 to boot even for the first time with any drive plugged into the SATA ports controlled by the Marvell 9128 chip, using either of the Marvell 9128-controlled SATA ports on my new GA-X58A-UD5 for an SATA boot drive seems suicidal.

In the alternative, I could just get another Samsung 3Gb/s SATA drive for the boot drive, and plug it into either the GSATA2_8 or GSATA2_9 ports, which are controlled by the GIGABYTE SATA2 chip.

Since that same GIGABYTE SATA2 chip also controls the IDE port on the GA-X58A-UD7 (See page 10 of the Manual quoted above), I think it may be the safest port to use for a boot drive, since it will probably be recognized on first boot (or any other succeeding boot) even if the proprietary GIGABYTE drivers have not yet been installed.

So everyone, to recap, here are my three (3) questions:

1. Can 32-bit Windows XP Pro use an SATA drive as the boot disk (as long as that drive is under the 2.1Tb limititation for the 32-bit operating system); and,

2. If yes, then which port on the GA-X58A-UD5 would be the safest to use (in terms of getting through POST even if the proprietary GIGABYTE drivers have not yet been installed), one of the Marvell 9128-controlled ports (GSATA3_6 or GSATA3_7) which would allow me up to blazing 6Gb/s speed, or one of the GIGABYTE SATA2 chip-controlled ports (GSATA2_8 or GSATA2_9), which would allow me only up to 3Gb/s speed (which is of course more than acceptable speed); and,

3. If either of the Marvell 9128-controlled ports can be use for the boot disk, then have any of you had any problems getting through the first POST (or any succeeding POST) when any drives are plugged into either (or both) GSATA3_6 or GSATA3_7 ?

I have seen that there have been a few threads about the Marvell 9128 chip, but I did not find any that specifically related to POST problems.

Thank you all in advance for your insight and consideration.

Marc

[Aussie Allan]

 Hell!  where do I start, being as kind as possible,I would put your OS on the tried and tested ICH10R ports, doesn't matter which one/s, ... as long as you stay away from the "Blazingly fast 9128 Marvell Ports"

 May I also suggest you put on just enough drives to load the OS, get it stable and updated, THEN add your storage one piece/unit at a time.

 If you add everything at once and have issues, you wont know what piece/port is giving you problems or where to start fault finding.

  Marvell 88SE9128.....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Again where do I start! there is extensive reading on this site covering this chip that's just a tad shorter then "Gone With The Wind"........start here!

  The short version is : Forget about 6Gb/s and use it for Optical or a backup drive maybe........Intels ICH10R will even beat it in benches!

 There is a movement afoot to research a hardware fix for this problem that you may want to read about and voice your opinion under .................Who is interested in a fix for "Marvell" 6G SATA.

 Hope this is enough to get you started.....post if I missed something......just post!....@//(-/-)\\@

 Aussie Allan

 

[marccunn]

Hello Aussie Allen:

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I did find that poll about the Marvell 9128, and I voted for the option about finding out more information.

I was a little confused about the payment amounts.

Why should we, the users pay for research to correct the problems with the Marvell 9128 chip when GIGABYTE must know of the problems and yet GIGABYTE (and EVGA) keep using such a bad chip?

I will continue to read all the posts on this site about the Marvell 9128 chip.

Is it good for anything at all?

Also, about booting WXP Pro from an SATA drive, after further research, I think I will sick with my tried and true Hitachi IDE as my boot drive. 

I won't try using an SATA drive as a boot drive until I build my next computer for which I will use 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate as the OS.

Thanks again.

[Aussie Allan]

 To work through your questions,..... think of a comparison between Gigabyte and say "GMC"  if the Vehicle price is 10,000 the board price is 100.....15,000 would be 150, then there's the life, I think this would be about 10 to 1.........if cars followed the cutting edge we enjoy with motherboards, we all would be driving F1 McLarens.

 If a Mainboard was to last 6-8yrs like a car, we probably would have all enjoyed a product recall......Much easier to just bring out a new model with double the horse power!

  To be fair, gigabyte got burnt just as bad as us all, but with a motherboard re-generation life of say 10 to 12 months......Gigabyte just moved on and put it behind them...........the move to attempt a fix , is motivated by end users such as myself and If a fix becomes available will be broadcast far and wide for those that cannot afford to update every 10 to 12 months.

 Don't get me wrong, The Marvell SATA ports still perform at 3Gb/s .....for some a little slower then the reference ICH10R, for some a little faster, they just didn't live up to the Blistering speeds that many marketing departments pushed at us when released!

 As far as the price of the fix if it ever becomes available......we had a stab in the dark.......How long is a piece of string!

  And the last thing!.......As the move to disband and phase out IDE speeds up ..... More and more I hear of conflict issues when mixing SATA and IDE in a single System........Hope this helps !

 Aussie Allan

[marccunn]

OK, Aussie Allan, thanks.

I will read all the Marvell 9128 posts on this forum so I can get caught up on the issues.

Please do keep me informed of any fixes that are proposed, new drivers, etc.

Thanks again

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

Best of luck with reading all the Marvell posts! Will see you next year.