Silicon Image 3114 Drivers for Vista

[jillsy]

I have a computer (self-built) which initially had the following config.:

Intel D955XBK mobo
Intel P4 EE w/HTT 3.73 GHz CPU
Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 SATA II 250 GB Hard Drive
Samsung IDE DVD-ROM (primary master)
Plextor 716 SA/SW SATA DVD Burner
eVGA e-GeForce 6800 GT 512 MB DDR3 PCI-E Graphics Card
2x1GB Patriot PC2 5300 667MHz DDR2 Memory
Ultra Floppy Drive/Card Reader
Enermax Noisetaker 600-W PSU

In addition, I recently added 2 GB more RAM and an additional SATA HD (Seagate Barracuda 320 GB). I have the 2nd hard drive on the Intel-controlled SATA connectors along with the original HD. I have SATA set as AHCI in the BIOS, and the SATA DVD burner is connected to the other set of SATA connectors (Silicon Image 3114) on my mobo.

I have XP installed on the 250-GB HD. I used the Intel F6 disk (AHCI) and the SI F6 disk for IDE (v. 1.2.0.5) during Windows setup. My SATA DVD burner is recognized in XP and works properly.

Now I also have Vista installed on the other HD in a dual-boot syetem. I loaded the Intel AHCI driver and the Silicon Image driver during the installation. I tried the latest SI driver (1.3.10.0) claiming to be compatible with Vista. My DVD burner was not listed in My Computer, and there was a question mark next to the RAID controller in Device Manager. I tried updating the driver from the floppy and had it search online, all to no avail. The SI SATA controller Control Panel item did get installed due to my loading the driver during install, but I can't do anything with it.

I also reformatted and reinstalled Vista, this time trying the SI 1.2.0.5 driver. The same thing happened.

One thing I'm unsure of is which driver to install. When I scan for the driver on the floppy during install, Vista initially lists nothing. When I uncheck the box regarding compatible drivers, it shows 3 or 4 3114 controllers. They all have identical names so I can't be sure if I'm loading the correct one for the OS. I thought about just loeading every one, but I think they all have the same names and will just keep overwriting each other. Is that a correct assumption?

Does anyone have any experience using these SI connectors with Vista? For me, the drivers and BIOS downloads from SI don't behave as they claim on their site. I'm at a loss as to how to get my DVD burner in the mix. Would it completely screw things up if I connect it to the Intel connectors with my hard drives?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jill

[glc]

Would it completely screw things up if I connect it to the Intel connectors with my hard drives?

Not at all - and connecting everything to the Intel connectors is the recommended way anyway.

[jillsy]

Thanks for the info. My thinking has always been not to waste the Intel 3 Gb/s connectors on a DVD drive, so I used the SI 1.5 Gb/s connectors. However, they've always been troublesome. The SI disk that came with my mobo wasn't readable during XP setup, so I had to hunt down the correct drivers myself.

So is it just me, or is Silicon Image just bad? Their driver/BIOS update downloads never seem to work properly, and I recall emailing their support awhile back with no response at all.

Anyway, I don't intend to add another HD any time soon, so I guess I don't need to keep saving my Intel connectors for that purpose.

Is keeping the AHCI setting OK, or should I switch to IDE?

Thanks,
Jill

[glc]

Actually Sil is one of the better 3rd party controllers. See if it works with AHCI, I don't see why it wouldn't.