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D975XBX2 Marvell Controller Problem

Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:26 pm
by progolf
Every time I turn on my computer I get this message:

Marvell 88SE61xx Controller - BIOS Version 1.1.0.17

Adaptor 1

Arrays Information:
No Array is defined!

Disk Information:
No Hard Disk is defined!

Press <Ctrl> + <M> to enter Marvel RAID BIOS Configuration or Press <Space> to Continue

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I have tried everything to remove this message including updating the BIOS. I have two SATA Hard Drives contacted to SATA 0 and SATA 1

Although the system boots up after this POST message it is really annoying to see it every time. And besides, I don&#146;t think it should be there.

I disabled the secondary SATA in the peripherals and it seemed to work but then my HDD LED would not work (Light stays on)

Does anyone else have this problem?

CPU: Core 2 Duo 6600
Windows XP Professional SP 2

Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:31 pm
by Apoptosis
welcome to the forums. That is strange... Let me look into it as I have the board

Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2006 6:01 am
by progolf
Thanks! It’s strange because I returned and the tech guy told me it did have a problem and he gave me another one and that one did the same thing. It’s only on the XBX2 because the XBX does not have this problem. Intel confirmed this and said they would release a BIOS update soon.

Exact same problem

Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 3:51 am
by anthonys
Bought this mother couple of days before, have the exact same problem.
I am not currently using RAID, but wanted to build a raid ready system.
I have one hard drive, when I connected to raid connector 0, it was not detected at all in windows installation. Later switched to raid connector 1 and somehow installation progressed and it worked.

Now I have windows installed, but still get the same annoying message as you do. Not sure if is about a bad Marvell Raid controller. Thinking if I should return the MB or wait for bios update. Please keep me updated.

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:57 am
by progolf
Anthony, when you disable the secondary SATA in the BIOS does it also affect you HD Activity light? Intel told be they would release a bios update but it’s strange that the developers did not catch this problem before the released the board!

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:34 am
by Apoptosis
When I "disable" the secondary SATA controller in the BIOS this message goes away and I don't see any issue with the HD Activity Light. The message was present before I disabled the secondary SATA controller.

What motherboard BIOS version are you running?

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:38 am
by anthonys
Forgot to mention earlier. Both HDD LED and Power LED on the case are not turning ON at all. I checked the connections more than 100 times.

How about you, was atleast your power LED working?

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:56 pm
by L0ki
Progolf,

just to be clear, are you actually runtandardt sning RAID? Or are you running just standard sata drives?

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:30 pm
by progolf
My BOIS version is the latest one that was released on 11/16/2006 2330 [BX97520J.86A] I have two SATA Drives that are conceded to SATA 0 and SATA 1. (Black) I am not on RAID just running standard IDE and I am set on Native/IDE. On the first board I bought the HDD LED did not work after I disabled the secondary SATA drives in the peripherals just like this one that they replaced. I have no problem with the Power LED that seems to be working fine on both boards.

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 10:10 pm
by anthonys
By the way when I disabled secondary sata controller, the message is gone. Thanks to admin.
But still now mine is a raid ready system, I guess that is what intel recommends. If you have a sata drive choose raid option, by which you will have AHCI and raid opportunities. If you have a single SATA, you will end up have raid ready system, which is good in a way.

I still have the power led and hdd led problem. They don't come up at all.
Suggestions plz.

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 10:20 pm
by The Black Pumpkin
Hm, dead LED's maybe? Do you have any other cases you can swap LED cords out with to test?

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:36 am
by Apoptosis
My LED lights aren't working right either... Guess that makes 4 people with LED prolems on the D975XBX2.... To be honest I didn't even have mine hooked up before this thread... I'll e-mail Intel about this today.

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:40 pm
by progolf
One hand I am relieved that it’s not just me but on the other hand I am ticked because I got a lemon board. Do you think that a BIOS update can fix this issue or will the board be recalled?

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:51 am
by progolf
Intel just released a new BIOS update on 11/27/2006 for the D975XBX2 I ran it but still no change. Marvell Controller message still displays and HDD LED is still always lit when I disable the secondary SATA in the BIOS peripherals. Is there a fix in the future?

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:17 am
by Apoptosis
just got a response back from Intel:
This is not something that I have observed. I’ll look into it.

Thanks,

Name Removed

Technical Marketing Engineer
Intel Corporation
I gave them this thread and maybe they can track down a solution. I know it's silly, but you have tried flipping the LED cable right?

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:27 am
by anthonys
Now I have new problem. Nothing is displayed on the monitor.

When I switch on the system all fans and lights come up. If I press F2 I can go to bios. Bios screen comes up. But later nothing comes up on screen. Not sure if this is MB or video card problem.

My boot sequence starts from floppy, cd and hard disk. I also tried to boot from CD drive with windows bootable cd in it. but still screen won't come up.


Suggestions are desperately welcome.

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 12:05 pm
by kenc51
anthonys wrote:Now I have new problem. Nothing is displayed on the monitor.

When I switch on the system all fans and lights come up. If I press F2 I can go to bios. Bios screen comes up. But later nothing comes up on screen. Not sure if this is MB or video card problem.

My boot sequence starts from floppy, cd and hard disk. I also tried to boot from CD drive with windows bootable cd in it. but still screen won't come up.


Suggestions are desperately welcome.
Check the bios, make sure the default gfx is set to PCIe and not PCI

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 5:39 pm
by progolf
Thanks Admin! My HDD LED works fine until I disable the secondary SATA ports to stop the Marvell POST. Then the light just stays on and doesn’t flicker. I have tried everything. If I cannot get a fix soon I am thinking of returning the board and getting a different one (brand) any suggestions?

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:10 pm
by progolf
got thisfrom Intel

Fault Description: marvel

Dear Sir/Madam,

Greetings from Intel Customer Support! We are glad to be of service to you.

I received your mail and I checked on our side if there is an issue with the blue SATA ports of this D975XBX2 and unfortunately it does. It has a bios fix but that bios wasn't release yet, you can either wait for it or the work around is available.

The issue is, the Windows cannot be installed on Marvell SATA Hard Disk Drives that are connected to the Blue SATA ports and since you tried to set the hard disk to the blue ports, it already detected it.

Workaround if you are going to use the BLUE ports :
Install Windows on SATA Hard Disk Drives connected to the Black SATA ports. Once Windows has been installed, download the Marvell RAID driver (STOR_ALLOS_MRVL_MRUSetup_1.1.0.41_PV.EXE) from Driver Updates page and install the utility. This utility can then be used to configure SATA Hard Disk Drives that are connected to the Blue SATA ports.

Workaround if you are NOT going to use the BLUE ports at all:
I apologize for the inconvenience but you have to re-install the windows and drivers all over again using the Black SATA ports only.


Apoptosis wrote:just got a response back from Intel:
This is not something that I have observed. I’ll look into it.

Thanks,

Name Removed

Technical Marketing Engineer
Intel Corporation
I gave them this thread and maybe they can track down a solution. I know it's silly, but you have tried flipping the LED cable right?

Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:10 pm
by anthonys
Yes admin, I had tried swapping + and - pins of LEDs.

By the way last time my system was not working at all. All fans were up and nothing happened other than going to bios when I press F2.

When I removed connection to hard disk and try to boot from CD ROM, I was able to boot.
So initially thought it might be a bad hard disk. I started new installation with hard disk configured as AHCI; after F6 sequence and loading drivers from floppy provided with MB, no boot disk found,which is hard disk not detected.

Next loaded bios to defaults, same as before except hard disk is configured as IDE. No AHCI or RAID. This time no F6 installation. No drivers that came with MB. Just plain XP pro installation. It is now complete and my system is running fine.
Ran HD Tach and my hard disk showed 248 MB/s. Earlier it was 242 MB/s.

What does this mean, now my HD is configured as IDE but still works fine. Does this mean my HD is under performing without NCQ or other goodies that come with AHCI or RAID.

Also does this mean it is a SATA controller problem? Or is this HD problem.

Not sure.

I really appreciate your suggestions.