ASUS A7N8X SATA data corruption - Silicon Image 3112 - Serial ATA- BSOD

Hardware: ASUS A7N8X Motherboard (1004 Bios), Seagate 80GB SATA Hard
Drive, high quality ram, case, ps.

OS: Windows XP Pro (1.0.0.22 SiI3112A SATA drivers)

Problem: Hard drive data corruption (NTFS boot drive).

Symptoms: Windows XP Pro reboots during bootup sequence. Drive will
cause any computer that attempts to read from partition to crash.
Recovery Console BSOD with a STOP 0x00000024.

My Theory: Bad SATA drivers or bad SATA controller (SiI3112A).

Solution: Swap motherboard and SATA drive with IDE drive. The
motherboard (except for SATA drivers) might have been fine, but ASUS
does not provide enough information to determine this.

Notes: Corrupt (primary) partition was lost. Seagate's bootable utility
cd exits to a DOS prompt after loading SATA drivers, so you can delete
the bad partition using fdisk. Do not try to get partition information
of bad parition using fdisk (http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/). After
bad partition was deleted, drive was recognized and accessible as a
second disk.

NTFSDOS can be used to access an NTFS partition from DOS
(http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr...NTFSDOS.shtml).

Conclusion: This is the first problem I have had with ASUS, and I might
buy another motherboard from them. I would never purchase another
product that includes hardware or software from Silicon Image.

Sorry, I cannot help with your problem but I wanted to thank you for the
NTFSDOS link, I am going to find it incredibly useful. For what is it worth
Tom's Hardware benchmarked the SiI3112A as the fastest SATA controller out
there, of course that is no comment on their mass production QA process...Do
you know for sure it is not a bum drive?

Good Luck,

Koop

--
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=905761
XP 2500+ @ 11.5*200
A7N8X DLX 2.0
2x256MB Corsair PC3200LL @ 2-2-2-6
ATI Radeon Pro 9800
WD Raptor 10K RPM SATA - WD 800JB SE
Eheim 1250 w/ 1/2"ID Clearflex
MCW5000+MCW50+'86 Chevette Core
CPU 27C Idle 34C Full Load w/ on-die sensor

"Señor Apellido" <> wrote in message
news:xvLJa.17736$.. .
> Hardware: ASUS A7N8X Motherboard (1004 Bios), Seagate 80GB SATA Hard
> Drive, high quality ram, case, ps.
>
> OS: Windows XP Pro (1.0.0.22 SiI3112A SATA drivers)
>
> Problem: Hard drive data corruption (NTFS boot drive).
>
> Symptoms: Windows XP Pro reboots during bootup sequence. Drive will
> cause any computer that attempts to read from partition to crash.
> Recovery Console BSOD with a STOP 0x00000024.
>
> My Theory: Bad SATA drivers or bad SATA controller (SiI3112A).
>
> Solution: Swap motherboard and SATA drive with IDE drive. The
> motherboard (except for SATA drivers) might have been fine, but ASUS
> does not provide enough information to determine this.
>
> Notes: Corrupt (primary) partition was lost. Seagate's bootable utility
> cd exits to a DOS prompt after loading SATA drivers, so you can delete
> the bad partition using fdisk. Do not try to get partition information
> of bad parition using fdisk (http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/). After
> bad partition was deleted, drive was recognized and accessible as a
> second disk.
>
> NTFSDOS can be used to access an NTFS partition from DOS
> (http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr...NTFSDOS.shtml).
>
> Conclusion: This is the first problem I have had with ASUS, and I might
> buy another motherboard from them. I would never purchase another
> product that includes hardware or software from Silicon Image.
>

"Señor Apellido" <> wrote in message
news:xvLJa.17736$.. .
> Hardware: ASUS A7N8X Motherboard (1004 Bios), Seagate 80GB SATA Hard
> Drive, high quality ram, case, ps.
>
> OS: Windows XP Pro (1.0.0.22 SiI3112A SATA drivers)
>
> Problem: Hard drive data corruption (NTFS boot drive).
>
> Symptoms: Windows XP Pro reboots during bootup sequence. Drive will
> cause any computer that attempts to read from partition to crash.
> Recovery Console BSOD with a STOP 0x00000024.
>
> My Theory: Bad SATA drivers or bad SATA controller (SiI3112A).
>
> Solution: Swap motherboard and SATA drive with IDE drive. The
> motherboard (except for SATA drivers) might have been fine, but ASUS
> does not provide enough information to determine this.
>
> Notes: Corrupt (primary) partition was lost. Seagate's bootable utility
> cd exits to a DOS prompt after loading SATA drivers, so you can delete
> the bad partition using fdisk. Do not try to get partition information
> of bad parition using fdisk (http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/). After
> bad partition was deleted, drive was recognized and accessible as a
> second disk.
>
> NTFSDOS can be used to access an NTFS partition from DOS
> (http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr...NTFSDOS.shtml).
>
> Conclusion: This is the first problem I have had with ASUS, and I might
> buy another motherboard from them. I would never purchase another
> product that includes hardware or software from Silicon Image.

Upgrade to the latest BIOS and Sil driver (1.0.0.281) and the problem has
disappeared. I had this issue with Maxtor drives with SATA/IDE adapters,
switched to Seagate 120 SATA drives, upgraded the BIOS/Driver and all works
fine now running RAID.

Dave Melvin

I should add: do not use the 100281 drivers, they give very poor write
speeds.

"Mike Bernstein" <> wrote in message
news:3ef80302$0$7765$...
> Early drivers and BIOSs gave this problem. Use the latest of each and it
> will go away. The latest drivers are the 10033s on the Silicon Image
> website:
>
> http://www.siliconimage.com/home.asp
>
> and the latest BIOS 4.2.12, which you either get with the Uber BIOS
version
> on:
>
> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/michael.mcclay/
>
> or modify the ASUS BIOS yourself, if you know what you are doing, using
the
> Sil BIOS from the Silicon Image site.
>
>
> "Dave Melvin" <> wrote in message
> news:wHNJa.143257$. com...
> > "Señor Apellido" <> wrote in message
> > news:xvLJa.17736$.. .
> > > Hardware: ASUS A7N8X Motherboard (1004 Bios), Seagate 80GB SATA Hard
> > > Drive, high quality ram, case, ps.
> > >
> > > OS: Windows XP Pro (1.0.0.22 SiI3112A SATA drivers)
> > >
> > > Problem: Hard drive data corruption (NTFS boot drive).
> > >
> > > Symptoms: Windows XP Pro reboots during bootup sequence. Drive will
> > > cause any computer that attempts to read from partition to crash.
> > > Recovery Console BSOD with a STOP 0x00000024.
> > >
> > > My Theory: Bad SATA drivers or bad SATA controller (SiI3112A).
> > >
> > > Solution: Swap motherboard and SATA drive with IDE drive. The
> > > motherboard (except for SATA drivers) might have been fine, but ASUS
> > > does not provide enough information to determine this.
> > >
> > > Notes: Corrupt (primary) partition was lost. Seagate's bootable
utility
> > > cd exits to a DOS prompt after loading SATA drivers, so you can delete
> > > the bad partition using fdisk. Do not try to get partition
information
> > > of bad parition using fdisk (http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/). After
> > > bad partition was deleted, drive was recognized and accessible as a
> > > second disk.
> > >
> > > NTFSDOS can be used to access an NTFS partition from DOS
> > > (http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr...NTFSDOS.shtml).
> > >
> > > Conclusion: This is the first problem I have had with ASUS, and I
might
> > > buy another motherboard from them. I would never purchase another
> > > product that includes hardware or software from Silicon Image.
> >
> > Upgrade to the latest BIOS and Sil driver (1.0.0.281) and the problem
has
> > disappeared. I had this issue with Maxtor drives with SATA/IDE adapters,
> > switched to Seagate 120 SATA drives, upgraded the BIOS/Driver and all
> works
> > fine now running RAID.
> >
> > Dave Melvin
> >
> >
>
>

"Dave Melvin" <> wrote in message
news:wHNJa.143257$. com...
> Upgrade to the latest BIOS and Sil driver (1.0.0.281) and the problem has
> disappeared. I had this issue with Maxtor drives with SATA/IDE adapters,
> switched to Seagate 120 SATA drives, upgraded the BIOS/Driver and all
works
> fine now running RAID.

Do *NOT* install the .281 driver. It cripples your write speed, and you need
to MANUALLY remove it, in order to change to a different version.

It was released as a temporary fix for the corruption-issue, but there's now
no need for it - the corruption issue is sorted with the latest BIOS.

http://web.newsguy.com/nomnet/silicon_v10029.zip is the driver you should be
using.

Seconded.

"Mike Bernstein" <> wrote in message
news:3ef80391$0$7737$...
> I should add: do not use the 100281 drivers, they give very poor write
> speeds.
>
> "Mike Bernstein" <> wrote in message
> news:3ef80302$0$7765$...
> > Early drivers and BIOSs gave this problem. Use the latest of each and it
> > will go away. The latest drivers are the 10033s on the Silicon Image
> > website:
> >
> > http://www.siliconimage.com/home.asp
> >
> > and the latest BIOS 4.2.12, which you either get with the Uber BIOS
> version
> > on:
> >
> > http://homepage.ntlworld.com/michael.mcclay/
> >
> > or modify the ASUS BIOS yourself, if you know what you are doing, using
> the
> > Sil BIOS from the Silicon Image site.
> >
> >
> > "Dave Melvin" <> wrote in message
> > news:wHNJa.143257$. com...
> > > "Señor Apellido" <> wrote in message
> > > news:xvLJa.17736$.. .
> > > > Hardware: ASUS A7N8X Motherboard (1004 Bios), Seagate 80GB SATA Hard
> > > > Drive, high quality ram, case, ps.
> > > >
> > > > OS: Windows XP Pro (1.0.0.22 SiI3112A SATA drivers)
> > > >
> > > > Problem: Hard drive data corruption (NTFS boot drive).
> > > >
> > > > Symptoms: Windows XP Pro reboots during bootup sequence. Drive will
> > > > cause any computer that attempts to read from partition to crash.
> > > > Recovery Console BSOD with a STOP 0x00000024.
> > > >
> > > > My Theory: Bad SATA drivers or bad SATA controller (SiI3112A).
> > > >
> > > > Solution: Swap motherboard and SATA drive with IDE drive. The
> > > > motherboard (except for SATA drivers) might have been fine, but ASUS
> > > > does not provide enough information to determine this.
> > > >
> > > > Notes: Corrupt (primary) partition was lost. Seagate's bootable
> utility
> > > > cd exits to a DOS prompt after loading SATA drivers, so you can
delete
> > > > the bad partition using fdisk. Do not try to get partition
> information
> > > > of bad parition using fdisk (http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/).
After
> > > > bad partition was deleted, drive was recognized and accessible as a
> > > > second disk.
> > > >
> > > > NTFSDOS can be used to access an NTFS partition from DOS
> > > > (http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr...NTFSDOS.shtml).
> > > >
> > > > Conclusion: This is the first problem I have had with ASUS, and I
> might
> > > > buy another motherboard from them. I would never purchase another
> > > > product that includes hardware or software from Silicon Image.
> > >
> > > Upgrade to the latest BIOS and Sil driver (1.0.0.281) and the problem
> has
> > > disappeared. I had this issue with Maxtor drives with SATA/IDE
adapters,
> > > switched to Seagate 120 SATA drives, upgraded the BIOS/Driver and all
> > works
> > > fine now running RAID.
> > >
> > > Dave Melvin
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

Señor Apellido wrote:
> Hardware: ASUS A7N8X Motherboard (1004 Bios), Seagate 80GB SATA Hard
> Drive, high quality ram, case, ps.
>
> OS: Windows XP Pro (1.0.0.22 SiI3112A SATA drivers)
>
> Problem: Hard drive data corruption (NTFS boot drive).
>
> Symptoms: Windows XP Pro reboots during bootup sequence. Drive will
> cause any computer that attempts to read from partition to crash.
> Recovery Console BSOD with a STOP 0x00000024.
>
> My Theory: Bad SATA drivers or bad SATA controller (SiI3112A).
>
> Solution: Swap motherboard and SATA drive with IDE drive. The
> motherboard (except for SATA drivers) might have been fine, but ASUS
> does not provide enough information to determine this.
>
> Notes: Corrupt (primary) partition was lost. Seagate's bootable utility
> cd exits to a DOS prompt after loading SATA drivers, so you can delete
> the bad partition using fdisk. Do not try to get partition information
> of bad parition using fdisk (http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/). After
> bad partition was deleted, drive was recognized and accessible as a
> second disk.
>
> NTFSDOS can be used to access an NTFS partition from DOS
> (http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr...NTFSDOS.shtml).
>
> Conclusion: This is the first problem I have had with ASUS, and I might
> buy another motherboard from them. I would never purchase another
> product that includes hardware or software from Silicon Image.
>

For what it's worth, Silicon Image claims that the problem is with the
ASUS BIOS. I should not have been able to purchase a new motherboard
with a known bug this severe. Maybe it is time to switch to a Mac...I
just want my f**king hardware to work!

Nom wrote:
> "Señor Apellido" <> wrote in message
> news:xvLJa.17736$.. .
>
>>Hardware: ASUS A7N8X Motherboard (1004 Bios), Seagate 80GB SATA Hard
>>Drive, high quality ram, case, ps.
>>
>>OS: Windows XP Pro (1.0.0.22 SiI3112A SATA drivers)
>>
>>Problem: Hard drive data corruption (NTFS boot drive).
>
>
> The problem is cured with the VERY LATEST BIOS.
>
> Flash it, then reformat ALL your drives, and reinstall Windows XP. Use the
> .29 SATA driver from here http://web.newsguy.com/nomnet/silicon_v10029.zip
>
>

Other than the corrupted partition, why is it necessary to reformat all
drives?

"Señor Apellido" <> wrote in message
news:RdbKa.23864$...
> Nom wrote:
> > "Señor Apellido" <> wrote in message
> > news:xvLJa.17736$.. .
> >
> >>Hardware: ASUS A7N8X Motherboard (1004 Bios), Seagate 80GB SATA Hard
> >>Drive, high quality ram, case, ps.
> >>
> >>OS: Windows XP Pro (1.0.0.22 SiI3112A SATA drivers)
> >>
> >>Problem: Hard drive data corruption (NTFS boot drive).
> >
> >
> > The problem is cured with the VERY LATEST BIOS.
> >
> > Flash it, then reformat ALL your drives, and reinstall Windows XP. Use
the
> > .29 SATA driver from here
http://web.newsguy.com/nomnet/silicon_v10029.zip
> >
> Other than the corrupted partition, why is it necessary to reformat all
> drives?

Because you need to remove the corruption that's already present.
If you want to miss out this step, then go ahead. But it's likely you'll run
into problems later.

"Señor Apellido" <> wrote in message
news:g5bKa.23698$...
> Señor Apellido wrote:
> > Hardware: ASUS A7N8X Motherboard (1004 Bios), Seagate 80GB SATA Hard
> > Drive, high quality ram, case, ps.
> >
> > OS: Windows XP Pro (1.0.0.22 SiI3112A SATA drivers)
> >
> > Problem: Hard drive data corruption (NTFS boot drive).
> >
> > Symptoms: Windows XP Pro reboots during bootup sequence. Drive will
> > cause any computer that attempts to read from partition to crash.
> > Recovery Console BSOD with a STOP 0x00000024.
> >
> > My Theory: Bad SATA drivers or bad SATA controller (SiI3112A).
> >
> > Solution: Swap motherboard and SATA drive with IDE drive. The
> > motherboard (except for SATA drivers) might have been fine, but ASUS
> > does not provide enough information to determine this.
> >
> > Notes: Corrupt (primary) partition was lost. Seagate's bootable utility
> > cd exits to a DOS prompt after loading SATA drivers, so you can delete
> > the bad partition using fdisk. Do not try to get partition information
> > of bad parition using fdisk (http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/). After
> > bad partition was deleted, drive was recognized and accessible as a
> > second disk.
> >
> > NTFSDOS can be used to access an NTFS partition from DOS
> > (http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr...NTFSDOS.shtml).
> >
> > Conclusion: This is the first problem I have had with ASUS, and I might
> > buy another motherboard from them. I would never purchase another
> > product that includes hardware or software from Silicon Image.
> >
>
> For what it's worth, Silicon Image claims that the problem is with the
> ASUS BIOS.

It is, and the latest BIOS fixes it.

> I should not have been able to purchase a new motherboard
> with a known bug this severe.

Er, the bug is fixed.