Guest wsxedcrfv Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 A few days ago I bought a 4-port PCI-based SATA controller card that I'm having a hard time installing on my work-horse win-98se machine (i845-based P4). A 2-port Sil 3112 card has worked fine on this machine up until I removed as I try to get this 4-port card to work.The card is branded as "Ultra" (Ultra products, Miami Fl) and it's a 4-port SATA card based on the Silicon Image 3114 chip. The card is packaged as a blister pack, and I bought it at a local TigerDirect retail outlet store. It lists win98se/Me as being a compatible OS, and there is a Win98/me folder on the software CD that came with the card. It seems that the only driver that win-98se wants to install (insists on using) is "Silicon Image SiI 3114 SoftRaid 5 Controller", which it installs from an INF file that has a "$Windows NT$" signature in the inf file - and no win-9x sections that I can see. When using that driver, the card shows up in device manager with no (!) issues. But any SATA drives connected to the board do not seem to be accessed properly and the system is very unstable when browsing the file system.If I force win98 to use what I think is the correct driver (Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATALink Controller) it tells me that it doesn't think it was written for the hardware I have, but it will take it if I force it, but the device shows up with (!) in device manager and I have no access to SATA drives if I use it.I've been poking around the internet for Sil 3114 drivers (and have found some in some very strange places, along with 3112 drivers) and I found the following comment in one of the 3114 INF files:--------------------NOTE: Because of a bug in the INF file handling on Win98, hex dword values that use lettersA - F must be specified as bytes, least significant byte first.-------------------I was just wondering if we all knew about that "bug".If anyone has any comments about this Sil 3114 driver issue, please let me know. One question I have is this: There is one place in the registry where you change the "Windows 98 / 4.2222a" string to "NT" or "5.0" or some such to fool certain software into thinking you're running win2k/XP so the software will install (I think Adobe Flash 10 was like that). I'm wondering if that string has any association or influence on INF file handling and if it will govern which $signature$ that win-98 will be looking for when installing hardware.The way it stands now, I'm going to have to play with editing / combining / melding these various inf files to see if I can come up with something that works. Again, if this issue with 3114-based SATA controllers has already been done, please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dencorso Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 I've been poking around the internet for Sil 3114 drivers (and have found some in some very strange places, along with 3112 drivers) and I found the following comment in one of the 3114 INF files:--------------------NOTE: Because of a bug in the INF file handling on Win98, hex dword values that use lettersA - F must be specified as bytes, least significant byte first.-------------------I was just wondering if we all knew about that "bug".No... I, for one, had never ever heard of such bug. But it may be a fact, at least in some contexts, so thanks for the heads up.I'd like to be able to help more, but in this case, the only thing I can say is: you've got a working INF for the 3112 drivers... I'd start by comparing it with the various INFs from the 3114 drivers you've found, to use it as a guide for the modification of one of the 3114's INFs, preferably the least different, when compared with the 3112 INF. I know that's a lot of work, but what is not, nowadays, in what regards 9x/ME? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
submix8c Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 (edited) It seems that the only driver that win-98se wants to install (insists on using) is "Silicon Image SiI 3114 SoftRaid 5 Controller", which it installs from an INF file that has a "$Windows NT$" signature in the inf file - and no win-9x sections that I can see. When using that driver, the card shows up in device manager with no (!) issues. But any SATA drives connected to the board do not seem to be accessed properly and the system is very unstable when browsing the file system.If I force win98 to use what I think is the correct driver (Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATALink Controller) it tells me that it doesn't think it was written for the hardware I have, but it will take it if I force it, but the device shows up with (!) in device manager and I have no access to SATA drives if I use it.Never said what caused the "!". Conflicts (or not)? I just finished doing battle with a modem under 98SE (just got a newer mobo/cpu) and had to switch to an Agere because the NetoDragon insisted on using a memory range already occupied.Ennyhoo, good luck! (currently battling a "not-phantom" drive (really is Fat32, and OK under XP, but "unformatted" in 98SE). Edited April 6, 2011 by submix8c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sfor Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 (edited) Well. The Windows 98 has a problem with installation a Windows NT only drivers. If there are two INF files in the same folder, Windows 98 sometimes installs the Windows NT INF file instead of the 9X one. So, Windows 98 does not believe windows NT is a newer system.I had exacly the same problem with SiI3114 controller. So, I've switched to SiI3512. As, the 3112/3512 seems to have a better Windows 98 compatible driver support. Edited April 6, 2011 by Sfor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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