GA-890GPA-UD3H(rev. 2.1) and additional SATA PCIe cards = no booting.

[antymat]

Hi,

I have a problem with my GA-890GPA-UD3H. When I add a SATA PCIe card to it, it stops booting.

I have tested it with two cards - DeLock 70137 (http://www.delock.de/produkte/gruppen/pci-express/Delock_SATA_II_PCI_Express_Karte_2_Port_70137.html?action=showdriver&) and Asrock SATA3 (http://www.asrock.com/mb/spec/card.asp?Model=SATA3%20Card).

With Asrock card it always stops - whether anything is connected to it or not -  just before booting, and after running the card BIOS startup code. Card BIOS shows all the devices connected to the card.

With DeLock card it stops only if anything is connected to the card - if nothing is connected, computer boots normally. As in a case of Asrock- card's BIOS shows all the devices connected to the card. It's nice it does not lock up just by having a card in, but SATA card with nothing connected to it is somewhat pointless...

I have used the DeLock card previously with the GA-MA78GM-S2H mainboard and everything was OK. I suspected the old mainboard BIOS, but I have updated to the latest one (FF) - it did not help.

Any ideas as to how to make it work would be great.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

Have you checked to see how the slot is configured in the BIOS ?

Have you tried different slots ?

Has the card's BIOS been configured correctly ?

[antymat]

Thanks for answer.

Have you checked to see how the slot is configured in the BIOS ?

Automatic or default. The only changes to the BIOS configuration are:

• turn off the USB3,
• switch all the SATA/PATA to AHCI,
• let the graphics use only the sideport memory.

No overclocking, no manual settings to any components that can autoconfigure.

Have you tried different slots ?

I have tried two PCIe x1 slots. No change.

Has the card's BIOS been configured correctly ?

There is not much to configure. In one case (DeLock) it is RAID configuration, which I skip as I use software RAID (it was working with the other board this way). In case of Asrock there isn't even that. It just displays, for a while, the devices connected and continues (to lock-up).
I have also tried connecting HDDs and DVDs to the DeLock. No difference.

[change - "or default" added]

[antymat]

Hi,

I spent my time, and this is what I've found:
The mainboard stops to boot when OnChip SATA Type is set in BIOS to "AHCI" and OnChip SATA Port4/5 Type is set to "As SATA Type". When all is set to IDE, it boots, when Port4/5 type is set to IDE it works, too.
I'd rather have an AHCI mode - nice to have NCQ with RAID, but given a choice - IDE or not all drives connected, I choose IDE.

I would consider it a BIOS error. I wonder if  there is a chance for a new BIOS, that would correct it?

BR,

M.W.

[absic]

Hi there,

if you contact Gigabyte Technical Support and explain the problem they might be able to provide you with a fix

[Dark Mantis]

Yes absic is right. The best thing is to contact GGTS and see what they can offer in the way of help.

Just enter your email address and click on the language of choice.
GGTS   http://ggts.gigabyte.com/

[F5BJR]

*
Just a question :

Have you BIOS message : OPTION ROM Space error ?

Cause is :

The system Power On Self Test (POST) Option ROM space errors are caused by an over-subscription of limited PCI ROM resource space.
This space is limited by PC architecture to 128 kilobytes (KB).
Any requests that will push the system beyond the 128 KB limit cannot be serviced, and will generate the error messages above.

If yes, you have not many solutions :

-> remove not used ports and/or use only IDE mode  not RAID  

-> if that is possible unvalidate Adapter BIOS for add-on card or Force Boot option ( valid with Adaptec / HighPoint / LSI raid cards ... )
     but that is impossible with Asrock Sata3 / SIL31332 Sata2 cards ( for SIL3132 you can flash with only IDE firmware )

-> use a PCI VGA card for booting ( Option ROM is not also big that PCIe card ) , you can use PCI-e card with OS after

Pierre

[antymat]

Hi,

absic, Dark Mantis - thanks. I just did. Now waiting for an answer.
I'll post what I'll get.

F5BJR - funny you mention it. I did have an error like that, reporting problems for the SiI3132 (DeLock) card. The message was over some other text and was displayed for a second or so - shorter than my camera's autofocus... So I have not noticed it before my experiments.
I cannot see this error now/any more, and everything works. Also with both cards in. I noticed it with both cards connected, and two DVDs connected to Asrock card. But then - I have tested a few settings and configurations, I do not exactly remember the error circumstances, and I will not repeat that (everything is stowed away, works, and takes ages to dig out again...).

PCIe cards are only to connect DVDs. Mainboard connectors are taken by HDDs. I do not really need this/those card(s) working before OS is up, but I do need the OS to come up . I do not have many cards connected either - 2 PCIs (NICs), one PCIe x1 (WiFi) + one SATA. Do SATA in AHCI mode take so much of these 128KB as to render the system unbootable?

Thanks again to all of you. I will keep you posted of the developments.

[antymat]

Hi,

I just got new β-BIOS from the GGTS and it helped . The message F5BJR was talking about is back there, but everything works. Perfect! 

Thanks again for all the help

[Dark Mantis]

Well at least that is good news in the end.

[furtive_hunter]

Hi,

I just got new β-BIOS from the GGTS and it helped . The message F5BJR was talking about is back there, but everything works. Perfect! 

Thanks again for all the help

Hi. I have exactly the same motherboard, and I have in mind to buy a pci-e SSD. Could you please share the beta bios, you have. The gigabyte website has the FF version.

Thanks.

[antymat]

Sure.
Remember - this has been sent by Gigabyte as a beta version. All warnings apply. They do not support this board any more.