CMOS

[Guest]

nForce 750i SLI mainboard with a SIIG eSATA ll-150 PCI host controller. Two each Thermalake BlacX eSATA HDD docking stations are plugged into the PCI host controller. Win XP. On boot up, the scan looks at the eSATA PCI card and will detect if a device is installed. If the device is installed and turned on, the scan will proceed and the boot up will occur normally. If the device is not installed or simply installed but turned off, the boot process will stall. The boot message ***NO Drive Attached, BIOS Disabled*** will appear. The correction is to power up the device and on the next boot the message ***PnP BIOS Installed*** appears. Is there a remedy for the boot stall condition when the device is turned off? I believe it to be an anomaly the boot process just quits because there is no device detected. It should make the observation and then move on and boot the operating system

 

[r_manic]

Have you tried installing the PCI host controller on other slots?

 

[Mongox]

I'm assuming the docking stations use ACHI drivers to allow hot-plugging of the devices. If you haven't installed these drivers into Windows, that could be the problem. In addition, your BIOS may need to be set up for AHCI rather than IDE mode for SATA drives.

See if you can confirm this without installing the drivers. AHCI has consequences for any SATA drive in your system - and no one seems to really understand it. In most cases, Windows needs to be re-installed on the system drive to avoid errors. Read thru the manuals regarding this.

 

[Guest]

I'm assuming the docking stations use ACHI drivers to allow hot-plugging of the devices. If you haven't installed these drivers into Windows, that could be the problem. In addition, your BIOS may need to be set up for AHCI rather than IDE mode for SATA drives.

See if you can confirm this without installing the drivers. AHCI has consequences for any SATA drive in your system - and no one seems to really understand it. In most cases, Windows needs to be re-installed on the system drive to avoid errors. Read thru the manuals regarding this.

The docking stations are plug and play and have no drivers. I have been all through BIOS setup. I have tried a number of setup changes with no results. The CMOS will not tolerate a host controller without drive devices installed and turned on. Without the devices turned on, the operating system (XP) never boots and I would not think of it as part of the problem. Remove the host controller PCI card and all is normal. Relocate it to another PCI slot and the problem recurs. Turn on either docking station with a HDD and the scan and system boot process is normal. I desire the ability to boot up without the need to have any external HDD turned on or even installed. Thanks for the help.