GA-970A-D3 raid cards

[paridoth]

I just got an adaptec 3405 scsi/sata raid card. I have a GA-970A-D3. when i boot my system up with the card plugged in i never get an option (ctrl+a) to go into the cards bios so i can configure it. however it is recognized by windows and im using it right now, its just theres no way for me to setup a bootable drive like that. is there an option in the bios i need to set? does anyone else have problems with there raid cards? thanks for your time.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome.

Have you read all the info that is available for the card as I would have thought that it woiuld have included this sort of scenario ?

Not all cards are bootable, I don't know about this card specifically though.

Does it show up in the BIOS ?

[paridoth]

Hi and welcome.

Have you read all the info that is available for the card as I would have thought that it woiuld have included this sort of scenario ?

Not all cards are bootable, I don't know about this card specifically though.

Does it show up in the BIOS ?

Yes during boot up there should be an option to press ctrl+A to configure the card, and it is suposed to be bootable.
 they sugest that my bios is not doing all the post procedures as it should, like its doing a quick boot mode. but i see no option to turn something like that off if it even is doing this.
Where would i look to find this card? i dont see anything in the bios mentioning it specifically, in the part of the bios where i choose hard disk boot order there is an option for (bootable add on card) but i think that is just a generic option that is always there.

[Dark Mantis]

There is no quick boot option on AMD motherboards so don't waste your time looking for it.

As for the addin card option in the boot order in the BIOS why not try it. I must admit that I am not sure if it is applicable but there is no harm in trying.

[F5BJR]

*
If  your Adaptec is ok with drivers in windows your problem is with OptionRom too big ( normal )

exist some solutions :

1 - remove all other RAID option for the MotherBoard if unused
at this time if you see the Adaptec BIOS fine yuu can mount / boot Raid disks

2 - You have not to boot RAID disks connected to the adaptc card and you have drivers ok in windows , you can use as you have at this time

3  - You use RAID ports with your MotherBoard and you have to boot Adaptec RAID disks
test at this time wiith an old PCI ( not PCI-e ) graphic card ( old PCI BIOS for PCI graphics card use few space ROM  )
if you can see the Adaptec BIOS your problem is solved :
program in BIOS the PCI card as first card ( requested only for startup )
After with Windows you can run the normal graphics card PCI-e

***

That is why many servers use only a little Graphic Card in PCI mode

Pierre

[paridoth]

*
If  your Adaptec is ok with drivers in windows your problem is with OptionRom too big ( normal )

exist some solutions :

1 - remove all other RAID option for the MotherBoard if unused
at this time if you see the Adaptec BIOS fine yuu can mount / boot Raid disks

2 - You have not to boot RAID disks connected to the adaptc card and you have drivers ok in windows , you can use as you have at this time

3  - You use RAID ports with your MotherBoard and you have to boot Adaptec RAID disks
test at this time wiith an old PCI ( not PCI-e ) graphic card ( old PCI BIOS for PCI graphics card use few space ROM  )
if you can see the Adaptec BIOS your problem is solved :
program in BIOS the PCI card as first card ( requested only for startup )
After with Windows you can run the normal graphics card PCI-e

***

That is why many servers use only a little Graphic Card in PCI mode

Pierre

so you think if i remove my pcie video card and move the raid card to my main pcie slot, and use a pci video card i should be able to configure it, then just move it back once i have it set up?

[F5BJR]

*
What is the ADAPTEC card usage ? boot or not Boot disks connected to this ?

If you mount only Raid and not boot you can with use Windows Adaptec Storage Manager for this that is not a problem even if you do not see the Adaptec BIOS (CTRL A) to boot

Describe exactly what you want to do  ( disks number connected to which port )

Wish to start on port on your motherboard in RAID or no ?

*

At first time :

Remove all RAID option in BIOS ( only IDE ) and your Adaptec card in any slot

And just two questions :

1 - have you the Adaptec BIOS at startup ?
2 - have already used before ?

Pierre

[paridoth]

*
What is the ADAPTEC card usage ? boot or not Boot disks connected to this ?

If you mount only Raid and not boot you can with use Windows Adaptec Storage Manager for this that is not a problem even if you do not see the Adaptec BIOS (CTRL A) to boot

Describe exactly what you want to do  ( disks number connected to which port )

Wish to start on port on your motherboard in RAID or no ?

*

At first time :

Remove all RAID option in BIOS ( only IDE ) and your Adaptec card in any slot

And just two questions :

1 - have you the Adaptec BIOS at startup ?
2 - have already used before ?

Pierre

i am curently using it in windows with two drives in raid 0 as my D: drive. i want to conect two more drives and set them as boot as my c drive but cant do this until i can get into the "ctrl+A" config at boot. i have tried disabling on board raid with no change no change, i see no mention of my adaptec raid card in the bios.

[F5BJR]

*
You have an option in the Adaptec BIOS :

- Runtime BIOS enabled/disabled

for key CTRL A

first look in your motherboard BIOS for remove logo

after reboot and key CTRL A

If you have not an english kyboard the key is possible not the same ex for the french keybard that is CTRL Q
key is just the key right near the left shift  look

If you have a problem possible solution is to flash the Adaptec card  with the last BIOS 1742 ( use another motherboatd which detect the Adaptec card )

http://www.adaptec.com/fr-fr/downloads/bios_fw/bios_fw_ver/productid=sas-3405&dn=adaptec+raid+3405.html

Try also the Adpatec card in another slot and with an old PCI graphic card

If not solved contact Gigabyte possible that your card is not compatible with your motherboard

Pierre

[paridoth]

*
You have an option in the Adaptec BIOS :

- Runtime BIOS enabled/disabled

for key CTRL A

first look in your motherboard BIOS for remove logo

after reboot and key CTRL A

If you have not an english kyboard the key is possible not the same ex for the french keybard that is CTRL Q
key is just the key right near the left shift  look

If you have a problem possible solution is to flash the Adaptec card  with the last BIOS 1742 ( use another motherboatd which detect the Adaptec card )

http://www.adaptec.com/fr-fr/downloads/bios_fw/bios_fw_ver/productid=sas-3405&dn=adaptec+raid+3405.html

Try also the Adpatec card in another slot and with an old PCI graphic card

If not solved contact Gigabyte possible that your card is not compatible with your motherboard

Pierre

thanks for the tips! ill give this stuff a try and let you know what works for me. thanks again

[paridoth]

Update: so plugging the raid card into another computer and i was able to get tino the ctrl+a boot time config. so if i configure my sata drives on this computer then move the card and the drives to my main computer will i be able to use/boot to them? or is the motherboard just not starting the card up at all and this wont help me?

[paridoth]

I got an email from adaptec support today, i had put in a ticket with this problem a week ago or so and he suggested i pug the raid card into my other pci-e x16 slot. so i swapped my video card and the raid card and it works perfectly now! yay. should i expect a loss in performance for my video card now though? or will it matter? seems so to be working fine, i am just wondering if im going to loose some bandwith or something.

[Dark Mantis]

As long as your slot that you have the graphics card installed in is at least 8x there shouldn't be a problem with bandwidth.