Adaptec 31605 Not Enough Space

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Griff805

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 1, 2008
Messages
319
Hey guys-

I've got an Adaptec 31605 in one of my PCIe x8 slots and i've got 2 hard drvies connected to it through a SAS to SATA connector. However it doesn't let me enter the Configuration utility.

It boots the controller bios fine it seems, but then it flashes an error message about "Not enough free space...." It flashes so quick that I can't read the rest. It reboots, then beeps constantly. It seems to recognize the 256MB of cache during the POST process. I just can't get into the configuration utility. Anyone know what to do?

It has the latest BIOS 15728 I believe.

System:
Asus P5Q-Pro
Q9450
8GB G.Skill PC8500
2x 64GB Core SSD
 
try booting the controller with no drives attached, and see if you can get into the utility then. if that doesn't work, try removing the cache chip (if it's removable, that is) and booting with no drives attached. Wipe any array configurations present, save changes, and reboot. Go back into the utility to make sure it saved your changes. Then shut down the machine, connect the drives, and power the machine up. Recreate your RAID config.
 
It might also be a setting in your MB's bios that is messing it up.. some MB's try to remap memory space used by add in cards to free up running RAM for your OS. But I don't know what Asus might have called those settings in their BIOS.

edit: it's a lack of "upper memory" that I am alluding to, you can try pulling and disabling other devices to the point where you can load the Adaptec's bios, configure it, then re-enable your devices.
 
I've tried without drives attached and with different drives attached. I just cannot get into the Utility at all. I'm not sure there's much else I can really do. Would reflashing the BIOS clear the configuration out?

If the card was bad, would it get past POST?

I wish I could read that error message before it tries to boot again. It something like "not enough space ..... PCI.... "
 
check your PCI bus settings in BIOS, make sude bus mastering is enabled. Move the card to the slot closest to the CPU, which should allow the controller to be enumerated before the others, reserving it's memory mapped address and other reqources. Also, make sure your memory mapping configuration in BIOS (system BIOS) is properly set, per the controller's manual.
 
Only memory option I can find in the BIOS is memory mapping. Which I disabled and enabled, same result. Also had just the controller and a PCI video card instead of the HD4850. As well as moved the controller to the first PCIe x16 slot.

I think the error message reads "Not enough space to copy PCI option ROM"-
 
Have you tried the Adaptec Storage Manager and setup arrays from within Windows? Or at least to check the controller BIOS version and make sure it's the newest one.
 
I've tried disabling as many things as I can to free up Option rom space, but nothing works. Ended up putting the card in a Gateway machine here (Yeah, a cheapo gateway machine) and it worked fine. Was able to create an array with the SSD drives without a problem.

I've tried using a PCI video card to free up both PCIe x16 slots and disabled everything I could think of. Disabled all onboard RAID and SATA controllers, as well as the onboard Marvell IDE controller. Nothing made a difference.

I then put the card back in my main system with the ASUS P5Q-Pro motherboard, and I tried installing windows vista x64. It hangs when trying to format the drives, and then the Adaptec 31605 starts constantly beeping, like there was some sort of failure. I'm thinking that the initial issue has to be solved before I'll be able to install Vista.

Latest Mobo BIOS and Adaptec 31605 BIOS have been installed.

I'm not sure what else to do. I might try an older version of the BIOS on the controller and see what happens. Anyone have any ideas? It's kinda sad that the card works fine in a cheap gateway vs a decent qaulity mobo from Asus. What's up with that? - I know there's a lot of factors that go into that, but it's just Ironic...
 
Short of getting a different bios for the mobo that might correct the issue it sounds like one of those once in a while things 'x card is not compatable with x mobo".

One last thing you can try in addition to the above suggestions. DO load setup defaults in bios, then disable onboard devices 1 at a time and reboot until you figure out what is conflicting. The mobo is assigning the card and something else the same memory location. I'd try disabling things like on board sound, network, USB, etc. Once you get to once that lets it run, try adding others back.
 
I've tried everything I could think of. It seems that it is a compatibility issue. Becuase it works great in another computer I have here. Able to create arrays without a problem.

Anyone want to buy an Adaptec 31605 for $500 w/ 1 SAS to SATA cable? Send me a PM

This sucks-
 
Adaptec came out with new firmware, loaded it and now it works fine. I can change configuration without a problem.
 
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