Problem with SMART on SiI 3112 controllers

[abe2000]

I have a little problem with my Silicon Image 3112 SATA controllers.

I have one on the motherboard (Abit IC7-G) and one pci-card (VScom something).

The problem is that the disks on the same controller have the exact same SMART values. No, they are NOT in raid.

Also, every program I have tested reports the same serial on the disks. (HD Tune, Everest, etc) .. There is one exception though. The Silicon Image CP that comes with the drivers, it shows the right serials on the disks, but no SMART values.


Here is my setup:

IDE1: DVDRW
IDE2: Seagate 160GB
IDE3: Seagate 160GB
IDE4: Seagate 160GB

Onchip SATA (Intel ICH5R)
SATA1: Raptor 36GB in RAID0
SATA2: Raptor 36GB *

Onboard SATA (SiI 3112, v4.2.47):
SATA1: Maxtor 300GB
SATA2: Maxtor 300GB

Add-on SATA (SiI 3112, v4.2.66):
SATA1: Maxtor 300GB
SATA2: Maxtor 300GB


The Seagate IDE drives all show their serial, smart values etc like they should. I get no values from the Raptors, but that's understandable as they are in raid.

I have flashed the add-on 3112 controller to the newest *raid*-bios. (well, that's what it came with, and that's what the onboard have) The onboard 3112 has an older raid-bios which I can't flash, but there is no difference anyway.

As you might understand, there is also an IDE-bios (non-raid-bios that is). I havent tested it yet, but I probably should. But that is just stupid, why should I have to change bios just to get SMART values from all disks? I thought flashing was risky, and only for advanced users. I can't even change the onboard's bios, if I don't edit the motherboard bios.

I have emailed Silicon Image, but no answer yet.. so maybe someone here knows anything? Also, If you have a SiI controller with non-raid disks, please check your HD serials/SMART values. (in HD Tune for example, http://www.hdtune.com) Some values are always changing, so be sure to check them correctly.


Here are two shots from Everest:

Thank you in advance!
/abe

 

[abe2000]

I got an answer from Silicon Image.

You are correct that you get the same SMART IDs for the drives because of the RAID BIOS and drivers. The RAID BIOS and drivers are actually responding to SMART and present the drive volume to the OS ... it's not a true bypass mode but the nonRAID drive is represented as a concatinated volume with only one drive in the set.

If you want to monitor the drives directly, you'll have to convert to the IDE/nonRAID BIOS and drivers. Easy enough on the the add-in card but only possible on the embedded if your MB maker supports a system BIOS version that has this "feature". If you change your add-in card BIOS and driver to IDE then you'll at least have different SMART IDs for the drives.

HTH,
Mark Reimold

So.. I guess I'll have to change bios then. I'm not sure if I want to try and change the onboard controller bios though. That's just too risky.