That really depends on where you are. I am in the UK and bought locally where bulk sellers like Farnell or RS online have lots of chips for sale. Otherwise just put the chip number into eBay's search box and see what comes up.
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Guide to flashing PC SIL3112 SATA cards for Mac
- Thread starter harrymatic
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Tratkazir_the_1st
macrumors 65816
Offtop here 🙂.
Maybe someone have this card? https://www.alldatasheet.co.uk/datasheet-pdf/pdf/175914/BOARDCOM/BCM8603.html
Maybe someone have this card? https://www.alldatasheet.co.uk/datasheet-pdf/pdf/175914/BOARDCOM/BCM8603.html
Hi,
I recently got a SeriTek/1S2 card from a known seller in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately there are problems with that card. It looks like these problems are due firmware being not recent.
I do have an other SeriTek (SeriTek/1SE2) card as well, the firmware version is more recent (5.3.1.1). The card from Hong Kong came with 5.3.1.b1 which is obviously a "beta".
The seller too, seem to be confused with these versions. The card from HK bears his trademark ("NanoTech") straight on the chip - but the seller has little information about the guts of his own firmware.
During extensive conversation via eBay messaging system the seller told that the firmware is indeed from FirmTek. But seller's knowledge about that firmware seem to be quite limited. How is it possible and who can help me to locate any newer firmware?
Interestingly no one else, but the seller from HK himself led me to this forum.
Thanks and greatly appreciated.
I recently got a SeriTek/1S2 card from a known seller in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately there are problems with that card. It looks like these problems are due firmware being not recent.
I do have an other SeriTek (SeriTek/1SE2) card as well, the firmware version is more recent (5.3.1.1). The card from Hong Kong came with 5.3.1.b1 which is obviously a "beta".
The seller too, seem to be confused with these versions. The card from HK bears his trademark ("NanoTech") straight on the chip - but the seller has little information about the guts of his own firmware.
During extensive conversation via eBay messaging system the seller told that the firmware is indeed from FirmTek. But seller's knowledge about that firmware seem to be quite limited. How is it possible and who can help me to locate any newer firmware?
Interestingly no one else, but the seller from HK himself led me to this forum.
Thanks and greatly appreciated.
Attachments
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Many years ago I got this card, it sits in the drawer.
Today the seller from HK sent me via e-mail the older ROM image. What I got is the SeriTek/1S2 ROM.
The version is 5.1.3.1S2. The ROM was built on 11/23/2005 at 00:10:59.
After flashing the card is registered in the system. The problems, however (incompatibility with certain SSD-s and newer HDD-s), still do exist. I saved the "old" 5.3.1.b1 and I can switch the card back and forth by re-flashing.
But the original problem remains.
The latest driver on SeriTek's website is 5.1.3 https://www.firmtek.com/download/
All the firmware drivers for this card are buggy in some way. If you look on the Sonnetech website, the FAQ for the rebadged SeriTek card it sold suggesting downgrading the firmware to an earlier revision if you had issues.
Have a look around the forums for the Si3112 card. You will find plenty of threads, including where the firmware writer for the original card had a go at writing a new firmware before he disappeared again. There are also a couple of threads on MacOS9lives forum where he popped up as well. There should be a couple of threads where a couple of revisions of the firmware are knocking around.
The HK sellers are just using info gleaned from this and other forums to make a quick profit from the unsuspecting. They don't have much knowledge about what they are doing. To be honest, this card is only interesting if you want SATA support under MacOS7.6-9.x. If it is just OSX, there are other, cheaper options.
All the firmware drivers for this card are buggy in some way. If you look on the Sonnetech website, the FAQ for the rebadged SeriTek card it sold suggesting downgrading the firmware to an earlier revision if you had issues.
Have a look around the forums for the Si3112 card. You will find plenty of threads, including where the firmware writer for the original card had a go at writing a new firmware before he disappeared again. There are also a couple of threads on MacOS9lives forum where he popped up as well. There should be a couple of threads where a couple of revisions of the firmware are knocking around.
The HK sellers are just using info gleaned from this and other forums to make a quick profit from the unsuspecting. They don't have much knowledge about what they are doing. To be honest, this card is only interesting if you want SATA support under MacOS7.6-9.x. If it is just OSX, there are other, cheaper options.
Thanks - I downloaded the firmware from your link. I extracted the corresponding ROM file.
After examining it it turned out to be exactly the same version what I received today from Hong Kong!
The version in question is 5.1.3.1S2. The ROM was built on 11/23/2005 at 00:10:59.
But who wrote that firmware? I looked up the thread. Is it "Ataman"? Do you have links to Sonnet web site?
The seller from Hong Kong wrote me via eBay messaging system recently regarding "Ataman":
"no, i don't know him so i can't talk to him about that, and you saw that thread he replied is
long time ago, i don't think he will be there anytime
anyway, the "main guy " i said is not him/her 🙂"
Than he wrote me:
"the self claim author of the SeriTek firmware guy "Ataman" also said there's no more update
will release after the b1 firmware back to the date (over 20 years ago)"
I looked through this forum and I was unable to find such statement.
I do have the original SeriTek/1SE2 (external) card as well.
The firmware version of it is "5.3.1.1", not a beta. And it supports hot-swap.
I did not experience any issue with that card. The chip is the same Silicon Image 3112. The seller from Hong Kong can't provide any answer.
It looks more and more confusing. Wish, Ataman would show up.
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Ataman Honcho Honchev
Suspended
>>>Wish, Ataman would show up
Your wish was granted, LOL.
Will look up what I have.
The involved firmware is by no means abandoned.
Apologies, besides of two difficult surgeries there are logistic issues as well.
I am sure, I can answer your questions.
One thing to clarify: some sellers in HK used to sell our "pirated" card with newer firmware, see the screenshot.
That firmware is of course still old, but it was built on 06/27/2008 at 11:59:46. The version is 5.3.2b2. It is still "beta" of course. If it is the same seller, than I have no words. 🙁
Your wish was granted, LOL.
Will look up what I have.
The involved firmware is by no means abandoned.
Apologies, besides of two difficult surgeries there are logistic issues as well.
I am sure, I can answer your questions.
One thing to clarify: some sellers in HK used to sell our "pirated" card with newer firmware, see the screenshot.
That firmware is of course still old, but it was built on 06/27/2008 at 11:59:46. The version is 5.3.2b2. It is still "beta" of course. If it is the same seller, than I have no words. 🙁
