GA-P35-DS4 rev2.0

[mlu]

I have a mobo issue (or not).

1. My optical drive (ASUS DRW-1814BLT) won't boot any disk but Windows XP when it's connected on ICH9R sata port and raid function is enabled. If raid function is disabled everything is ok. I have to mention that even the optical drive name is not correct displayed whet raid function is enabled. And again, all it's ok with raid function disabled.

Why all that? Is this all right?

2. In boot sequence when recognize raid disks (connected on ICH9R), at the end of detection it says that AHCI BIOS IS NOT INSTALLED. Is this a problem?

[ripken204]

look at the image. the 6 orange sata ports are the ICH9R and the 2 purples are the gigabyte sata2 ports. try pluggin it into the purple port.

www.bjorn3d.com/Material/revimages/motherboards/gigabyte_ga_p35_ds4/ga-p34-ds4-06.jpg

Edited December 26, 2007 by ripken204

[Zxian]

There isn't any particular reason why an optical drive wouldn't work under RAID mode. I've got several systems on different chipsets all working under RAID mode with SATA optical drives.

Also, RAID mode does enable ACHI as well on all Intel chipsets (see here). Intel actually recommends that you use RAID mode, even if you're not going to enable RAID on your systems.

NOTE: If you are using a SATA hard drive, the best choice is to set your BIOS to RAID mode and install the operating system using the F6 installation procedure; RAID mode allows your system to be "RAID Ready" and also enables AHCI. This mode provides the greatest overall flexibility and upgradeability.

Here is a list of the Intel chipsets that support RAID and ACHI - Link

I'd recommend trying another optical drive (if you can get your hands on one), and/or upgrading your motherboard BIOS and optical drive firmware.

[mlu]

Thank you guys. Now I'm sure that I have a problem with my mobo. I've changed the optical drive and problem persists. On the purple conectors (JMicron) optical drive works fine. The problem is on ICH9R controller. I needed a second opinion to be sure BTW don't use F9 BIOS on this board. It causes problems on RAM testing (a false positive error).

[ripken204]

is there a problem for you having to use it in the purple ports? just use it there and forget about it.

[mlu]

Ther's none. But for that money it has to work properly in any simple configuration like mine. I had a GA-P35-DS3P rev1.0 before and everything was perfect. This board is more expensive, more competitive and don't have to have this problem. That's all.