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PCI SATA Cards - What is the state of compatibility?
- Thread starter hansolo669
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dont give up so easy - many many many people have had success with it; try flashing in a different pc mobo
sorry to push up an old thread .. but i did all the process like you to flash a 3112 card , but after UPDflash at a PC or WiebeTech's flasher at a G4 , the 3112 flashed only show as screen shot below , Athena 3112 but No driver load
anyone know why? and how to fix it ? your help is much appreciate
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I don't know what card you're using. Does it look like the one in this pic? I don't have experience with other kinds of card.
I think you probably already know it, but just in case. This card sends 5V to EEPROM chip by default. But the chips that Seritek's firmware supports are all 3.3V. So you must modify it to send 3.3V instead by removing the R25 and bridge the R24.
As for the problem the card shows up as "Athena_3112". I used to have this issue. I think the cause is unsuccessful flashing, regardless what the flasher tells you (I only have used the WiebeTech flasher since I don't have any PC).
I had tried flashing the card in safe mode for maybe about an hour without success (but the flasher told me it was successfully flashed). Then I rebooted into (10.5.8) safe mode with root user (and with the card in slot-5 of my MDD to be exact) and reflashed it. That was the YAY moment.
I'm not sure if it was the procedure (10.5.8 + safe mode with root user + slot-5) or luck (keep flashing until it sticks).
A user named "Renegade" in this thread ( https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/45375-sil3112-flashing-sata/&page=1 ) also had the "Athena_3112" problem before having a success. And he was not sure why ( https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/45375-sil3112-flashing-sata/&page=4 ).
Wait, are we talking about flashing an SIL3112 card to be used as 1s2 or just to flash the EPPROM to be used on an SIL3124 card as originally intended for that reply?
But it says 1s2 in your picture, so I would assume it is the first.
thanks for your reply @for this , Yes, i got the same 3112 card , removed the R25 and bridge the R24.
and i tried both UPDflash at PC , it show " 0 " after flashed , and WiebeTech flasher like you did, show flashed successful and ask to restart. but still the same showing "Athena_3112" at my G4 , but one thing i found, the card only show under system profile>PCI only at Leopard 10.5, not show under Tiger 10.4 ..
i may keep try it under Safe mode ( pressing Shift when boot , right ?) and root user (how ?) and use the WiebeTech flasher flash it again ..
thanks again for your info. & help
Enable Root user in Leopard
- Open the "Directory Utility" application in the Utilities folder
- Click the lock to unlock, enter password
- Choose Edit > Enable Root User
- Create a password for Root
- Quit Directory Utility.
Then go to System Preferences > Accounts > Login Options to disable Automatic Login if it is enabled.
Restart with shift key pressed to boot into Safe mode (release the key when Log in window appears), then log in by typing "root" into the username and enter the password you created.
- Open the "Directory Utility" application in the Utilities folder
- Click the lock to unlock, enter password
- Choose Edit > Enable Root User
- Create a password for Root
- Quit Directory Utility.
Then go to System Preferences > Accounts > Login Options to disable Automatic Login if it is enabled.
Restart with shift key pressed to boot into Safe mode (release the key when Log in window appears), then log in by typing "root" into the username and enter the password you created.
thanks for your help, tried it and still no luck .. same showing "Athena_3112" at my G4
can you send me your 1s2 file ? or do you have any other (older) version of file that i can try ?
thanks
thanks for your help, tried it and still no luck .. same showing "Athena_3112" at my G4
can you send me your 1s2 file ? or do you have any other (older) version of file that i can try ?
thanks
really not cool to hijack the thread to troubleshoot your personal issues but;
what the hell right?
lolplease note he is using a DP800 Quicksilver; is it not the 2002 quicksilvers that are said to not function correctly with alot of the generic SIL3112 cards? there is documented incompatibilities between the quicksilver g4's + certain sil3112 pcb's.. the purple Tempo-Sata PCI's work fine but alot of cheap sil3112 have an electrical incompatibility with the quicksilvers that has yet to be properly diagnosed + documented on how to circumvent
also; ask the guy what flash chip is on his sil3112 card; if its not the right brand/size then hes double-screwed
i using G4 MDD , and replace the chip with PMC 39LV040 ...really not cool to hijack the thread to troubleshoot your personal issues but;
what the hell right?
please note he is using a DP800 Quicksilver; is it not the 2002 quicksilvers that are said to not function correctly with alot of the generic SIL3112 cards? there is documented incompatibilities between the quicksilver g4's + certain sil3112 pcb's.. the purple Tempo-Sata PCI's work fine but alot of cheap sil3112 have an electrical incompatibility with the quicksilvers that has yet to be properly diagnosed + documented on how to circumvent
also; ask the guy what flash chip is on his sil3112 card; if its not the right brand/size then hes double-screwed
your screenshot you posted above clearly says quicksilever DP800
many people have reported incompatibilities with some generic "made in china" sil3112 cards when used in combination with quicksilver machines;
im not sure if its specific to 2001 variety of Quicksilvers or the 2002 variety
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_800_dp_qs.html
many people have reported incompatibilities with some generic "made in china" sil3112 cards when used in combination with quicksilver machines;
im not sure if its specific to 2001 variety of Quicksilvers or the 2002 variety
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_800_dp_qs.html
thanks for your help, tried it and still no luck .. same showing "Athena_3112" at my G4
can you send me your 1s2 file ? or do you have any other (older) version of file that i can try ?
thanks
I use 5.1.3, downloaded from FirmTek's web site years ago. This version is the one they (FirmTek) recommend and still available on their web site. I mean I don't think there is any difference between the one I put here and the one on their web site.
There is another version (5.3.1) available somewhere on the net. It is newer but contains at least one flaw. I tried it once on my flashed card, using the standard SeriTek updater. Since the card is virtually a 1s2 card now, there is no need to use the WiebeTech's flasher anymore. I didn't find any improvement and smartmontools didn't recognize the drive connected to the card. So I downdated it to 5.1.3. In short, just stick with 5.1.3. It's the most trouble free version.
PS: once, during updating the firmware using one of the SeriTek's updaters, it didn't pass verification process. I had to restart the Mac, redid it again and succeeded. So some quirks are expected.
PS II: I would try moving the card to different PCI slots.
Yeah, I noticed that too, so I tried to add the word "MDD" in my reply.
[Update] He reused Renegade's picture from the 68kmla.org's thread.
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i think its the same i downloaded from the FirmTek's site ...
thanks for your file & help anyway
Just did some more searching and found that:
- Years ago, around 2004, with some older firmware, the card would show up in System Profiler as Athena_3112 and the "Type" was ATA. In your case it is listed as SCSI which is wrong for OS X (it's normal to show up as SCSI in OS 9 though).
- When flashing with UPDFLASH.EXE in a PC, it's more reliable to boot and flash from a DOS floppy disk.
https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php...sata-card/&page=3&tab=comments#comment-551837
Did you connect any drive to the card during flashing? If so, try disconnecting it next time.
Although the possibility of their flasher seeing the card with corrupted firmware is low, I would try using the SeriTek updater with the card. Since showing up as Athena_3112 indicates that the firmware has somewhat made it into the chip.
There are some parts in SeriTek's instruction in their 5.1.3 Firmware Update that I would do before flashing, either using SeriTek updater or WiebeTech's flasher.
- Remove all other PCI cards and try the firmware install again.
(Sometimes there may be a conflict between different cards)
-Install the FirmTek card in a different PCI slot.
(Sometimes the card may not be seated properly. This also resets the PCI bus)
-Disconnect all USB/FireWire devices except the mouse and keyboard.
(This is used to test if some other device is causing a problem)
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thanks again for your advice & suggestion .. did all of that ..but still no luck
i think i should give it a break & try again later a bit ...
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ok, i will try that too , thanks
heres a big FYI for everyone
some of us over at macos9lives.com have begun working on a project to attempt to make drivers for the Sil3214 cards for macos9
i;ve personally helped with collecting alot of the documentation and information neccessary to make this happen; keep your fingers crossed; hopefully we can find a way to make some new cards supported on macos9 and macosx aswell;
would be nice to get some newer tech working with the os; that is not from 2001/2002;
if the goal is achieved; moving from sata150 to sata300 speed would give a great upgrade in speed + performance
some of us over at macos9lives.com have begun working on a project to attempt to make drivers for the Sil3214 cards for macos9
i;ve personally helped with collecting alot of the documentation and information neccessary to make this happen; keep your fingers crossed; hopefully we can find a way to make some new cards supported on macos9 and macosx aswell;
would be nice to get some newer tech working with the os; that is not from 2001/2002;
if the goal is achieved; moving from sata150 to sata300 speed would give a great upgrade in speed + performance
have some good news that i finally did it , with your advice of newer firmware 5.3.1 , i got the help of " dougg3" from another forum , send me the 5.3.1 firmware , and flashed with UPDFlash , now it works and showing correct info. under system profile just like yours, but with newer 5.3.1
but now i got another challenge , i have 2 pcs of 3112 card, but both not work with my G4 QS, even not boot when installed, saw that someone mention at another forum, its about those PCI golden finger pins , do yo know about it ?
thanks
have some good news that i finally did it , with your advice of newer firmware 5.3.1 , i got the help of " dougg3" from another forum , send me the 5.3.1 firmware , and flashed with UPDFlash , now it works and showing correct info. under system profile just like yours, but with newer 5.3.1
but now i got another challenge , i have 2 pcs of 3112 card, but both not work with my G4 QS, even not boot when installed, saw that someone mention at another forum, its about those PCI golden finger pins , do yo know about it ?
thanks
Congrats. Sorry about the QS issues, I'm not familiar with them.
some sil3112 cards seem to have some type of hardware incompatibility with the QS/Digital Audio Machines
we dont have info on why this is exactly but the symptom has been reported + observed by about 4-5 people that i know of at least all having the same issue; the card works fine on every other g3/g4 except the 2002 (or was it 2001?) quicksilvers - personally i know that my purple sonnet Pcb card works fine in my quicksilver so to me that is evidence to support the theory that its only certain design implementations of sil3112 cards are incompatible while others work fine; personally i beleive this is a hardware incompatibility but im not 100% sure its not firmware related
we dont have info on why this is exactly but the symptom has been reported + observed by about 4-5 people that i know of at least all having the same issue; the card works fine on every other g3/g4 except the 2002 (or was it 2001?) quicksilvers - personally i know that my purple sonnet Pcb card works fine in my quicksilver so to me that is evidence to support the theory that its only certain design implementations of sil3112 cards are incompatible while others work fine; personally i beleive this is a hardware incompatibility but im not 100% sure its not firmware related
All 3112 chips that I've seen are 3112ACT144. But this Tempo seems to use 3112ACTQ144 (if I read it correctly). This may be the reason why this model (Sonnet's Tempo) works on QS and DA.
![q144.jpg]( "q144.jpg")
There were QS and DA users complaining about no boot problem with 1S2 cards as well in 2003. And it looks like all(?) 1S2 cards use 3112ACT144.
The last reply pointed to the chip as the culprit.
https://www.macgurus.com/forums/showthread.php?13812-G4-vs-Firmtek-KnockOut!
There were QS and DA users complaining about no boot problem with 1S2 cards as well in 2003. And it looks like all(?) 1S2 cards use 3112ACT144.
The last reply pointed to the chip as the culprit.
https://www.macgurus.com/forums/showthread.php?13812-G4-vs-Firmtek-KnockOut!
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not sure about it .. i found that someone selling a sonnet Tempo card with 3112ACT144 and friend of mine got a 1SE2 card with 3112ACT144 too, and it work with QS & DA G4 .. really not sue what the cause of some other 3112ACT144 card not compatible with
really not sure chipset revision related .. and i found a guy selling his Tempo card with 3112ACT144 , also i have a friend got a 1SE2 card same with 3112ACT144, and work with QS & DA ...
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Hey there, it's been over two years since I last posted on these forums, but I might have some useful tidbits to share regarding these flashed Sil3112 SATA cards and the Digital Audio and possibly Quicksilver models.
I've had such a flashed card for quite a while now, but never could get it to work properly in my Digital Audio G4. The system wouldn't boot, nor output any video, etc. while the card was installed, but the card would work fine in a Gigabit Ethernet system, as well as an AGP Graphics a friend of mine recently saved from a recycling center. After helping troubleshoot the latter (had some bad RAM, a dead HDD), I got curious and once again went to try and somehow get this SATA card to work in my DA.
What I eventually tried, and had some success with, was something I'd seen mentioned as a bit of a wild idea: Taping over pins on the card's edge connector, just like with certain flashed AGP video cards.
To make a long story short, I can get my DA to (semi-)reliably boot up, with the card installed and off of a SATA HDD, by taping over PCI pins B9 to B11. B9 and B11 are "PRSNT1#" and "PRSNT2#", and related to sensing PCI card presence and/or power requirements - B9 is connected to ground on my card, B11 is not connected, which I believe would indicate a requirement of 25W. The "semi" part of reliability comes in at this point: I have to press the power button, the system will then chime but not boot, then I have to push and hold the power button again to turn it off, and if I then immediately try powering it on again, the system will boot correctly, and even off of an attached SATA hard disk.
Of course, this isn't really a solution to the problem. It still feels very "hacky" so to speak. Rather, I'm hoping that this might give someone more knowledgeable about the G4's architecture and electronics in general an idea as to what these cards do, that DAs and Quicksilvers aren't happy with.
Attached is a quick screenshot of a fresh Tiger install, booted off of an old 320 GB SATA HDD on my Digital Audio G4 (i.e. PowerMac3,4, tho w/ a Sonnet 1.6 GHz upgrade) and an Xbench comparison between its regular 160 GB IDE HDD and the SATA one.
![G4 SATA.png]( "G4 SATA.png")
I've had such a flashed card for quite a while now, but never could get it to work properly in my Digital Audio G4. The system wouldn't boot, nor output any video, etc. while the card was installed, but the card would work fine in a Gigabit Ethernet system, as well as an AGP Graphics a friend of mine recently saved from a recycling center. After helping troubleshoot the latter (had some bad RAM, a dead HDD), I got curious and once again went to try and somehow get this SATA card to work in my DA.
What I eventually tried, and had some success with, was something I'd seen mentioned as a bit of a wild idea: Taping over pins on the card's edge connector, just like with certain flashed AGP video cards.
To make a long story short, I can get my DA to (semi-)reliably boot up, with the card installed and off of a SATA HDD, by taping over PCI pins B9 to B11. B9 and B11 are "PRSNT1#" and "PRSNT2#", and related to sensing PCI card presence and/or power requirements - B9 is connected to ground on my card, B11 is not connected, which I believe would indicate a requirement of 25W. The "semi" part of reliability comes in at this point: I have to press the power button, the system will then chime but not boot, then I have to push and hold the power button again to turn it off, and if I then immediately try powering it on again, the system will boot correctly, and even off of an attached SATA hard disk.
Of course, this isn't really a solution to the problem. It still feels very "hacky" so to speak. Rather, I'm hoping that this might give someone more knowledgeable about the G4's architecture and electronics in general an idea as to what these cards do, that DAs and Quicksilvers aren't happy with.
Attached is a quick screenshot of a fresh Tiger install, booted off of an old 320 GB SATA HDD on my Digital Audio G4 (i.e. PowerMac3,4, tho w/ a Sonnet 1.6 GHz upgrade) and an Xbench comparison between its regular 160 GB IDE HDD and the SATA one.
