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8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

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    8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

    Hi, I'm having some trouble upgrading the Silicon Image 3112a ROM in a Epox 8RDA3+ mobo

    A long time ago I updated it to v4.2.50, that works nice, I run a Kingston (Intel X25) 40GB SSD on it, works great...

    Now I wanted a Blu Ray drive aswell, no dice, system boots and finds the thing, but it can't read the Bluray disc (A DVD however works just fine)

    So I went about updating the ROM again, however with the latest version it did not even recognize the Blu Ray drive, and with the interim versions the system hung when it tried to boot off the SSD drive (It did recognize everything though)

    Is it possible the address for the ROM starting code has changed? (So I need to tell the System BIOS to look for a new boot address?)
    I noted the filesize on the ROM is smaller on the newer versions...
    I used CBROM v195 to do the testing, here is a copy of the files and BIOS if anyone care to take a look: (URL removed, see posts further down...)
    Last edited by Per Hansson; 05-11-2014, 05:34 AM. Reason: Offsite URL removed due to problems with host
    "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

    #2
    Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

    How are you trying to read the blu-ray disc? Are you using a blu-ray player program (ie PowerDVD, etc), or just Windows Explorer?

    You don't mention what OS you are using, assuming it's XP there's another issue which will prevent Blu-ray from reading.

    Most blu-ray discs are UDF 2.5 file system. Windows XP does not support the UDF 2.5 file system. So, when you try to open the disc in Explorer, you get an error message. I forget the specific message, but it was something generic and unhelpful.

    Toshiba has a driver which adds support to Windows XP:

    http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t...p?soid=1284868

    When running the install, you will get a message saying it's won't install on your hardware. Setup will exit at this point.

    But all is not lost. Go to your temp directory (ie C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\temp) and find the folder:

    {1347D5A6-4FE0-476A-B85F-D0FC91F55EB0}

    Open up that folder. Inside of {1347D5A6-4FE0-476A-B85F-D0FC91F55EB0}, find the file:

    thdudf.inf

    Right-click thdudf.inf and select Install.

    Reboot. You should not have UDF 2.5 support for XP.

    I hope this helps. If you aren't running XP, it may not apply. But I figured I would share as it sounds like it could be the problem.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

      Hi yyonline, thanks for your reply
      Yes you are correct, I'm using Win XP SP3 with all patches applied (sorry for not mentioning this)

      I am using PowerDVD 8 Ultra to play the disc, it actually says there is no disc at all when I press the "info" button...

      I didn't know about that issue with XP not reading the UDF v2.5 filesystem, I will look into that, thanks for the pointer! (As it is on my workstation system I also have a Bluray drive and on it I run XP x64 which is basically the same as Server 2003 x64 and it does not support the UDF filesystem either...)
      "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

      Comment


        #4
        Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

        Hmm, PowerDVD should have its own UDF driver. It will only be available to the program though, it won't help you read discs outside of PowerDVD. You may also want to make sure that the drive has the latest firmware and PowerDVD has all patches. The Blu-ray people are trying to keep up with the disc rippers by coming up with new and inventive copy protection schemes. If it's a newer disc on a drive with older firmware (even newly purchased drives sometimes ship with old firmware), or an older program, unpredictable things can happen.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

          Thanks for the pointer, I will look at updating PowerDVD
          The Bluray drive does not have a firmware update released for it (yet)
          The Bluray is kinda old too, it's the "300" movie...

          I'm thinking the 3112a controller is probably too old for Bluray, atleast especially with my old BIOS for it :/
          "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

          Comment


            #6
            Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

            i kind of remember this, but it's been a while since i used that mobo so I cant't recall all the details. great mobo!
            i'm sure though that i didn't get the latest version to work with the latest BIOS (as you stated, they must have changed the code in the later revisions.)
            i didn't really have the need, so i let it alone.

            editing the BIOS might or might not work. i haven't tried. can CBROM do that?

            (oh, and make sure you got the right SATA BIOS version, SIL has lots of different versions on their site...and each for integrated and standalone controllers, IIRC.)

            if all else fails - cheap add-on card?
            "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken

            Comment


              #7
              Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

              Thanks for the advise kikkoman, I agree it's a great mobo
              I'm still using it mostly because I think it's fun to tinker with "older" stuff

              As for the Silicon Image rom's
              I know there are 3 different roms in the releases;
              b4283.bin - add-in card BASE BIOS

              r4283.bin - add-in card SATARAID BIOS

              4283.bin - motherboard BIOS for OEM use in development. This BIOS is not intended for general end-users. End-users with a SiI3112 onboard a motherboard, please contact the motherboard manufacturer for a BIOS upgrade.
              I'm thinking the base BIOS would be a better fit, however I don't think it will work because it is 128KB in size vs 43KB of the system BIOS?
              "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

              Comment


                #8
                Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

                filled up with 0's for 128KB chips...?
                seen that a couple of times.. hex editors ftw

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

                  Scenic; interesting
                  Just compared them, the two ROM's for add-in cards are identical except a few bytes at the end...

                  And the system ROM for integration does indeed match the other two ROM's up to address 0xA800
                  After this the add-in ROM's do have some additional code (so they are not just padded with zeroes...)

                  I also noted that the ROM that works so the system does not hang and can boot properly (4.2.50) ends at address 0xC000 while the later ROM's all end at 0xA800)

                  I will try padding the latest ROM so it matches the 4.2.50 in size and see if it works then, should hopefully make the starting address correct for the system BIOS
                  "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

                    SiliconImage.com has a newer BIOS, 4502.bin

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

                      I tried my new BIOS now with padded Silicon Image ROM, I got version 4284 to behave just as the other versions, i.e. list the Bluray drive but no boot possible / the system hung...

                      Then as I was on my way to find a PCI Port80H device two things dawned on me, one that the 8RDA3+ has a built in Port 80H device and two that this device shows "FF" mening the system actually is trying to boot!
                      So I realized it is not the BIOS that causes the computer to hang, it is something different in the drivegeometry causing the boot to hardlock the computer! (mind you the HDD activity LED does not even blink once)
                      This also created a Déjà vu feeling, quoting myself now;
                      Originally posted by Per Hansson at hardwareluxx.de
                      Also if I remember right there was some information that the drive geometry was changed in one of the versions after 4250
                      So make sure your data does not become corrupt or anything, it would probably be advisable to delete the whole array, format the harddrive and create a new one if you experience problems...
                      So after coming up with this theory I googled for a NTLDR boot floppy and tested with that; lo and behold the system booted right up!
                      And what's more it was able to read the Bluray movie right away in PowerDVD using this new Silicon Image 4.2.84 ROM!

                      Next I tried the UDF v2.5 driver recommended by yyonline above and it worked great! (I found a more recent one, v1.0.0.3 here)

                      Next I tried to troubleshoot why the system could not boot from the SSD, of course since murphy does not like me it is not possible to select to boot off the Bluray drive on the SIL3112 controller, so I had to get a IDE CD-ROM...
                      However after booting a XP install CD from it and loading the SIL drivers from floppy with the F6 method and then running the commands "fixboot c:" and "fixmbr c:" in the recovery console nothing changed; the system was still not able to boot
                      Next test will have to be to make a new install of Windows on another harddrive, but I don't have one here to test on right now... (unless someone can give some other pointer to how I can solve this issue?)

                      Lastly larrymoencurly, thanks but that ROM version is only for the add-in cards...
                      "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

                        Okies, new test done
                        I took an original BIOS, latest one released for the 8RDA3+ and modded that with the original 4.2.84 SIL BIOS ROM, worked fine (I.e. no boot, but boot from floppy with NTLDR worked)

                        Next I tried installing Windows to a harddrive attached to the 3112 controller, it booted just fine...
                        So something in the drive geometry must have changed in BIOS versions 4.2.50 which I originally had to the later revisions, and this causes my current install of Windows to fail to boot (even after doing fixboot and fixmbr in recovery console)

                        For now I just gave up and installed the floppy with the NTLDR files in the computer and activated it's write protect tab, system works fine like this anyway (yea, I'm too lazy to reinstall Windows!)

                        Here is the BIOS if anyone is interested, it is tested working and it also has a mod to it's ACPI table that should allow AGP cards to use more than one IRQ, needed with ATI graphics cards that has built in Realtek audio cards for the Microsoft UAA audio device for audio over HDMI support to work... (This is untested but if ATI ever releases a 5xxx series card for AGP I will buy it for fun to test with it
                        But any 2xxx 3xxx 4xxx ATI card with HDMI Audio should work (few cards have this, even if the manufacturer says it does!)

                        (File reuploaded here, you need to be logged in to see it. Note there is a more recent BIOS: see posts further down...)

                        Note;
                        The file ACPITBL.BIN is just if you want to upgrade some other BIOS manually with the modded ACPI table, DSDTNEW.dsl is the source of the ACPI table modified by me for reference...
                        Attached Files
                        Last edited by Per Hansson; 05-11-2014, 05:40 AM. Reason: Offsite files uploaded due to problems with host
                        "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

                          hello Per hannson, i need help with my board. i have a asus a7n8x deluxe with sii3112a controller and i cannot get my intel ssd to boot.
                          please help. my email is m8st2ng@yahoo.com

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

                            Find attached to this post A7N8X Deluxe BIOS ROM v1009 with Silicon Image option Rom v4284
                            Use latest drivers as I wrote in my previous posts with this BIOS and do a clean install of Windows...

                            WARNING: THIS BIOS IS UNTESTED!!!
                            I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY
                            PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP BIOS OR ANOTHER WAY TO GO BACK INCASE YOUR SYSTEM DOES NOT BOOT WITH THIS UNTESTED BIOS!


                            Please provide feedback if the BIOS works or not.
                            Attached Files
                            "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

                              Originally posted by Per Hansson View Post
                              I also noted that the ROM that works so the system does not hang and can boot properly (4.2.50) ends at address 0xC000 while the later ROM's all end at 0xA800)
                              Originally posted by Per Hansson View Post
                              For now I just gave up and installed the floppy with the NTLDR files in the computer and activated it's write protect tab, system works fine like this anyway (yea, I'm too lazy to reinstall Windows!)
                              The system has worked fine like this, I noticed now that there was a new Silicon Image ROM v4.4.0.2
                              I did not find a changelog but the size of the ROM is 0xC000 in binary so it allows the system to boot without issues!
                              That is to say you can upgrade from 4.2.50 to 4.4.0.2 without the drive geometry changing, thus causing the boot to fail unless doing a fresh reinstall of your OS (Or booting from floppy )

                              Originally posted by Per Hansson View Post
                              Here is the BIOS if anyone is interested, it is tested working and it also has a mod to it's ACPI table that should allow AGP cards to use more than one IRQ, needed with ATI graphics cards that has built in Realtek audio cards for the Microsoft UAA audio device for audio over HDMI support to work... (This is untested but if ATI ever releases a 5xxx series card for AGP I will buy it for fun to test with it
                              But any 2xxx 3xxx 4xxx ATI card with HDMI Audio should work (few cards have this, even if the manufacturer says it does!)
                              My ACPI table DSDT mod does not seem to work. (Has anyone tested my former one and can report otherwise?)
                              They never did release a 5xxx series AGP card but I bought a HIS ATI Radeon HD4670 IceQ AGP card, that itself was faulty but the seller refunded the money so no harm done.

                              (File reuploaded here, you need to be logged in to see it...)
                              The BIOS has Silicon Image ROM v4.4.0.2 and also the modded ACPI table that should allow multiple IRQ's, but as I wrote it seems to not work, I don't know why though. As far as I can tell the mod has been done properly...
                              I posted here asking for some help but no replies so far: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...&postcount=111
                              Attached Files
                              Last edited by Per Hansson; 05-11-2014, 05:49 AM. Reason: Offsite files uploaded due to problems with host
                              "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

                                Well turns out it works just fine
                                I had just misunderstood and through the IRQ's would be on the same number during the POST.
                                Infact Windows uses a completely different layout and there it works fine.
                                I tested sound via HDMI today, it works and the CPU utilization is very low too
                                Reason I tested was that the built in sound on the mobo gave very low gain (had to turn up the volume allot on the TV)
                                So that was very annoying when switching back to the satellite receiver, because if you forgot to reduce the volume it would now be super high!
                                Attached Files
                                "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

                                  Wow you must really like that board. All my socket A boards are now in boxes as I have no real use for them, kinda sad really. I am glad you still have a use for yours. Doing a BIOS mod and getting it to work has to be a great feeling especially with all the effort you seem to have put into it over the years. Congrats!!

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Re: 8RDA3+ Upgrade Silicon Image 3112a ROM

                                    Thank you very much LDS
                                    Yea the board has a special place in my heart, as it still works fine and does the job of HTPC I like keeping it going...
                                    Funnily in that thread Big Pope actually offered to send me caps for the built in soundcard for free that I did not originally order, I was too lazy to replace all those little caps tho so I declined his nice offer, but I think now that is probably why the gain on the built in sound became so low, the board is afterall running up to be 10 years old so I'm sure those small Teapos are pretty dry by now

                                    As it is I was actually looking at replacing it since I got so bummed out from buying a bad ATI Radeon 4670 on eBay, a nice AMD FM2 mobo with the matching processors integrated graphics & DDR3 would have been a huge speed boost, and not much more expensive.

                                    But as it is I finally did get a full refund for the dud 4670, and after a couple weeks won an auction at a much better price than the first, and that card is really working great
                                    So you could say all those bluescreens with the first bad card finally paid off
                                    "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

                                    Comment

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