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A) What is the maximum size of hard drive it can support?Our ATA133 controller supports 48-bit sector addressing. This would translate to over 144,000 TB or 144,000,000,000,000,000 bytes. Our ATA133 controller card can run on Windows 2000 under FAT32 or NTFS.
B) How many devices can it support?The controller card will support additional four IDE devices. It is advised to connect hard drives to the card only. You may connect your CD-ROMs to your onboard IDE ports.
C) What kind of RAID function it can support?Our ATA133 RAID is software driven. It is capable of supporting the following:
1. Supports RAID functions 0, 1 and 0+1.
2. Supports co-exist RAID set and Non-RAID HDD.
3. Allows HDDs with different sizes to be configured in a RAID set.
4. Mixes in different RAID set.
5. Provides system GUI monitoring utility to display/log/alert the user for vital RAID set information and to manage the RAID functions.
D) What kind of OS does it support?Our controller card only support Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP and Linux OS.
E) Can the computer boot from the hard drive attached to the controller card?Yes, it can. If you want to boot the system from the hard drive connected to our controller card, the hard drive must already have Windows OS installed. Before the installation, you have to prepare a floppy disk to copy from the folder, SIL680RAID, under Silicon Image from our enclosed CD. Then you connect the hard drive to our controller card and start the computer. Before you can load into Windows, you need to press F3 in the BIOS to get into the RAID setup menu and set up the RAID you want. Then you have to install Windows. During the installation, at the very beginning, press F6 to prompt the system for correct driver path. Direct the path to the floppy driver you made. Finish up the Windows installation then.
F) Can you create a mirror set for existing hard drive?Yes, you can always configure a mirror set for your existing hard drive. However, it is very important to have a backup of your existing data.
G) Can the RAID card work as a regular IDE controller?Yes, it can. Our SIL680 RAID card has ATA133 + RAID function. If you don't create any RAID set, the card will work as ATA133 card but you still have to install the SIL680RAID driver and you will see this message "Press F3 to enter RAID Utility" during every startup of the computer. Or, you can flash the controller’s BIOS to Non-RAID. To do so, please contact us with proper procedures. Don’t try to download it from other websites because once the flash is not done correctly, the card may not work again.
H) Can you attach a hard drive to our RAID controller card without booting from it?Yes, you can. If you are booting from the hard drive attaching to your motherboard, you need to set up the RAID in the BIOS before loading to the Windows. You need to press F3 when the computer first starts up. After you set up the RAID, get into Windows, and "Add New Hardware" to finish the process. Remember to attach the hard drive to the card during the whole process.
I) What to do when your computer does not start up normally after installing our RAID card? Option#1: Make sure you have installed the driver correctly.
1. Insert the SIL680 RAID card into your system but connect your hard disk to the main board IDE connector.
2. Boot up system and install the SIL680 driver.
3. Reboot system and check your device manager to make sure the driver is installed properly.
4. If there is no problem then shut down your system and connect your hard disk to the SIL680 RAID controller.
5. Restart system.
Option#2: It is recommended to connect two identical hard drives to the card. Avoid connecting other IDE devices to it if RAID function is activated.
Option#3: Update your system BIOS to make sure it supports RAID set. The enclosed Medley software to monitor the RAID set.
Option#4: Remove the card and its driver from device manager. Reinstall the card with different PCI slot.
Option#5: Update your Windows to the latest service pack.
I) What is the minimum system requirement?To fully utilize the function of our RAID controller card, your system must meet the following requirements:
1. Intel Pentium based PC or compatible
2. Minimum 128MB memory
3. Support Plug-n-Play features
4. Support PCI 5V interface.
5. Windows 98/98SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, or Windows XP OS.
J) Can the RAID card work on 3.3 Volt system board?No, our RAID card operates only on 5V PCI bus. So, it will not work with some P4 Intel Server motherboard's PCI, which has only 3.3V. It might even damage the card and the motherboard.
K) Where can you find more information?Please visit www.siliconimage.com for more firmware update and detailed technical issue.
L) To Verify for Successful Installation: 1) Right click My Computer and click Manage.
2) Select Device Manager.
3) Double click SCSI and RAID Controllers, then double click Silicon Image SiI 0680 ATA/133 Controller to display driver properties.
4) If the message - “This device is working properly” is displayed in the dialog box; the driver has been correctly installed.
M) What happens if IDE Controller is not Detected? 1) If Windows did not detect New Hardware, click on Start, My Computer, Control Panel, System, Hardware, and Device Manager, to view system information.
2) Go to the Hardware tab, click on Device Manager.
3) Look for an Unknown Device with a yellow exclamation mark. Click on it once to highlight it. Click on Action, then Uninstall on the Menu Bar. Without restart, click on Action, choose Scan for hardware changes.
4) If no driver is installed in Device Manager, shut down the system and install the card in a different slot. Make sure the card is all the way in. When the system boots up, the new hardware found message for the IDE controller will display on the screen.
5) In BIOS Setup, make sure no PCI slots are set to Disabled.
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