965P-DS3/SATA question

[CentralCal]

I have the 965P-DS3 mobo with a E6600 cpu,when I boot to BIOS I enable the SATA ports but my 2 SATA hd and SATA DVD/CD drive all show up as IDE. I dont want to use the raid setup, I just want to take advantage of the faster SATA conroller. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[idanko]

Hi,

I too have been struggling with what setting I should use. After reading the manual I have decided that Gigabyte just doesn't explain things in enough detail. Never had these issues with Asus.

Anyway, I think your solution is to go into the BIOS under Integrated Peripherals and make sure your Onboard Sata /ide Device is enabled.

Then you can select AHCI for your Sata setting and this should solve your problem (I think).

You will need the Cd that came with your board. You can make a driver disk for the XP installation (F6 deal).

I don't know if this is the correct way to do it but it is all this novice has come up with.

Never had these issues with my Asus boards. Don't understand why Gigabyte has to make things so confusing.

If there is something I'm missing or if Gigabyte contacted you could you please let me know if I am correct.

Thanks...Idanko

 

[CentralCal]

Hey thanks for the reply idanko. I too am frustrated by lack of explanation in the manual AND I sent a email to Gigabyte to ask more questions and never received a reply....

 

[idanko]

Hi...
I did some searching and I found this to be helpful. I at least got my system up and running using the Gigabyte sata controller.

Here is the info I found on another site....

I have the same drive (320GB WD KS series) on a GA-965P-DS3, which I believe is the same motherboard except for the capacitors in the Vcore
power supply.

There are six SATA ports on the motherboard. Four of them have orange
sockets and are connected to the Intel ICH8 chipset. Two of them have
purple sockets and are connected to the Gigabyte SATA/IDE controller
(which is actually a JMicron device). This device (the JMicron part)
contains both the IDE port and two SATA ports which can be used in
either RAID or non-RAID configurations. However, for EITHER type of
use, you must install the driver in Windows to use these ports. No
driver installation is required for the IDE ports, which are fully
supported in the BIOS and the 965 chipset software.

For maximum performance, install the driver for the JMicron controller
(Gigabyte calls it a Gigabyte controller) and connect the SATA drive to
one of the purple ports. These ports are at least potentially faster
than the ICH8 SATA ports (orange connectors), because the support AHCI
and NCQ. This device must also be properly configured in the BIOS,
where there are several items related to it.

For minimum hassle and maximum reliability, connect the SATA drive(s) to
the Intel ICH8 ports (orange connectors). These are supported in the
bios and by the chipset software, so no additional drivers are required.
But RAID, AHCI and NCQ are not supported by ICH8.

There is a single Windows driver for both SATA and non-SATA use of the
Gigabyte (JMicron) controller. It is both on the CD and on the Gigabyte
web site. In additon to the Windows driver, you might want to download
the DOS driver for this controller as well. This is on the web site but
not on the CD (huge oversight, in my view). This is installed via
config.sys and allows DOS access to SATA drives on the Gigabyte
(JMicron) controller should you boot from DOS for system maintanence
purposes.

Since the Gigabyte/JMicron device is present on the motherboard in all
cases (whether it's used or not), I would recommend installing it's
driver even if it's not currently being used. At the very least, this
identifies, classifies and properly configures/initializes the device so
that you don't have an "junk" in device manager.[/b]


Hope this helps....

 

[rushfan]

That's very helpful. Good post!