geforce27

I recently purchased a Maxtor 200 GB Serial ATA drive and a Silicon Image 3112a PCI controller card. I am able to get the computer to see the drive, create partitions, and install Windows XP on it. However, when the machine reboots after installing XP, nothing happens.... the machine posts, and then when it gets to the point where XP should load, black screen. To test, I tried installing 2000, and it did the same thing, but showed an error message that it couldn't find a particular file. What I think is happening is that the partitioning information works when you are in the XP setup - you can create partitions and drive letters, but then when the computer reboots, it can't find the partition info, or the driver letters changed. I have the Sil 3112a card set in the BIOS to be a startup drive. Has anyone else run into problems installing XP on a drive that is connected to a PCI controller card?

Quote: Have you solved your problem eventually? I have the same problem with that controller on Windows 2000. (installation works but then black screen) Have not had a chance to look at it yet... the new drive and controller are sitting on my desk collecting dust at the moment. When I get a chance I will give it another go and post the outcome. 8)

Quote: http://www.48bitlba.com/winxp.htm It is a known problem unless you are using SP1 If your install cd is not SP1, then we can help you with that My install CD is not SP1, but I am an MSDN subscriber so I can d/l and give that a try.

Quote: During the installation, when it says to hit F6 for third party driver installation, did you do so & insert a diskette of driverware from the manufacturer of this board? Yes... the drivers that shipped with the controller card yeilded the same result as the most recent drivers downloaded from the Silicon Image web site. They of course provide incredibly poor documentation on their drivers and very little troubleshooting information. I'll have a look at the .inf files to see if there any any oddities.