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[Martinchris23]

QUOTE(Cliffdawg @ Jan 12 2008, 11:06 PM)

cool okay, I'll either try to install it over ME on my internal hdd or get another internal hdd

don't do the upgrade - do a fresh install. If this means using another HDD, so be it! You can install XP on a very small HDD - I had a copy running happily on an 8GB HDD.

[Cliffdawg]

Hey guys I got some BIG news.  Check this out.  before I decided to installed windows xp, I decided to search the product reviews at newegg.com (where I bought the card: http://www.newegg.co...82E16815124022), and many customers were talking about how the card only works in certain pci slots and that you should download the newest drivers off the website.  

Well, as I had heard this before, I went to the the new driver installed for the product.  After restarting my pc, I used iPrep with the ixtreme 1.3 fw and checked the box "patch mtkflash," (this never worked before only once!), and it worked.  In other words it copied the patched mtkflash and make the iprep folder in the root of my disc drive.  (I tried to do this again and it didn't work with ix-1.4, ix-1.3, etc... weird huh (probably ME just sucks ).  Now, I booted into Dos w/ the ntfs cd and typed "dsam 1234567 12345" and guess what came up
1. XTREME Sec Master
2. XTREME Sec Slave

Yes! so apparantly that worked (beig able to patch mtkflash, I mean) and now this shows up.      

But alas! another problem!   When this came up, I turned off the xbox 360, typed 1, waited 10 seconds, and turned on the 360 and nothing happened! !!! So I tried it on Slave (#2) and still nothing happened !  Then for each one, I tried at different times (7, 12,13 seconds) and still nothing on either!   So I don't really know what's going on.  I tried both ports on the sata card (but I think its the right one, closest to the front of the drive, that's supposed to work, right?)

Now, I also tried that little trick you said earlier Scan-C prescribed (at least I think) by plugging in the sata chord into the 360 drive as soon as dos starts up (with the drive being off) and still no enchilada hombre!
I'm still working right now,  but another factor has been called to my attention.  Remember when I accidentally typed "XTREME Sec Master/Slave" instead of "IDE Sec Master/Slave"? Well I think one time before it actually did say "XTREME Sec Master/Slave" but only once as I did iPrep again and iPrep seems to only work once after installation of a new PCI driver and then it shows a corrupt message when checking off "patch mtkflash".  mmm... I smell a conspiracy... or just stupidity on my part... or just the stink of the crappy ME operating system  

Now, what do you guys suggest I do? any more tips? I'll keep trying in the mean time, and maybe there's no need to install xp now (Oh and btw Scan-C I did set the PCI Card to IRQ 11 and all others to something else and I'm sure that had something to do with this so far success THANKS BUDDY ).  Maybe I should try all the other PCI slots on the PC since that was stated very often as a source of problems at:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16815124022
However, I don't think I have to do that because all seems well (its showing up, right? or is that just the IDE devices again?)

Another thing that might be the problem: the sata cable might be broken.  Although I have no real reason to believe so except that the drive never dumps its fw, and also as I was bending it, the cable made a few light-sounding cracks.  But I can only imagine that this is a possibility.  

Anyways Cheers and Beer (and some popcorn right here ), my friends, this stories finally starting to play out.  As always your advice is not the source of my success, it IS MY SUCCESS.
Peace outs, girls scouts, I'm gonna keep working on this MS28 nightmare.      

[Cliffdawg]

Okay so i've been trying and nothing works.  Should I turn on the pc and the sata at the same time?  Maybe buy a new sata cable?  are you sure that anything "XTREME" is really correct (I would think so because that's what mtkflash is patched to make it say, right)?  Whatever guys,  between this and the last post, maybe we can narrow down the possiblities.  I mean this would all probably work immediately if it was an MS25, right? mmmmm.... but at least its saying "XTREME" and not "IDE"      

[Cliffdawg]

Alright guys wat's up I know this is consecutive post #3 but I think I can't flash the drive.  Some have complained that iPrep v006 won't do that or something w/ MS28s, and many of them have claimed that xtremebootmaker works great in place of it.  So I'm thinking about getting a little internal hard drive (4-8gb) to install windows xp and use extremebootmaker (which doesn't work in 98/ME) with a floppy.  Therefore I can shut off all other IDE devices (also stated to help your card show up) and yada yada yada.  wow i'm exhausted.  

Also i've been thinking how the IDE Sec Master/Slave showed up and how it just turned into "XTREME Sec Master/Slave" with the IDE just disappearing.  I think iPrep made a faulty move, renaming the IDEs "XTREME." This would explain why the IDEs wouldn't show up and I couldn't do a thing with my card or drive.  As previously stated, I've heard there were some bugs with iPrep v006, and ME barely allows it to work, having me reinstall the drivers just to create a boot disc one time!

So ya basically i've been thinking that if I xp on the pc, then I could create a floppy boot disc (allowing me to turn off all IDE devices), use extremebootmaker (on the forums I heard that two people used it because the newer iPrep programs wouldn't allow their devices to show up!), and have everything work properly.  Then there would be no reason to fail, since this is exactly what textbook did, and if it doesn't work I can finally embrace my paranoia that the sata cable is internally broken LOLOLLLOLLOLO     .  I just think this would work because that is what everybody else is doing, and I've grown to hate ME (the program, not myself     ) with a passion.  (This is the first time I've really tried to use it, as my lappy (xp) can do everything my pc can except control a Via Sata PCI Card!) I also have nothing to lose   by installing xp.

So ya there ya go thanks for everything so far.  That's my plan but if you think there's something to do with iprep in ME right now feel free to express yourself (I actually got to wait for a new cheap internal hdd to arrive once I order one so I got time).  Also feel free to answer my previous posts.  (Yawn ) it's 3:03 a.m. so good night. oh and thanks again. never thought this would be so hard.  I've modded everything i've ever owned easily... until now HAHAAHAHHAA    

[Martinchris23]

Ok, do two things for me:

1. When iPrep detects your SATA card, do a screen dump of what it sees. post the screenshot here.

2. run msinfo32 on your now XP machine and go to Components /Storage/ SCSI again and copy/paste everything in this section in here.

We can then do a comparison as you shouldn't be seeing two entries under MTKFlash.

[Cliffdawg]

Alright thanks guys ya its an MS28 and I haven't yet installed windows.  I'll do that when I buy a new int. hdd and it ships, but xtremebootmaker definitely seems more likely to work with an MS28 from what I've read.

To Martinchris: Hey when you said "do a screen dump of what it sees" did you mean with iPrep now or with iPrep on windows on xp (as I'm still using ME)?  and you mean while booted into ME, right? I guess so.  Also how do you take a screenshot of it?  ya I got people over right now but when they leave I bet I figure this all out, lol.  Maybe I'll just use a digital camera  

Also, i'll post the msinfo32 even though i'm still in ME. That's what you want, right? (note: it still says raid:cheap!)

To Scan-C: ya I'm sure an MS28 will work better in xp and with xtremebootmaker.  I'm using xp on my lappy right now and it feels like light years ahead of ME (even though xp was just the next OS to come out of Microsoft   )  

[Martinchris23]

Sorry, I thought you were now using XP - no point in doing much else until you are.

Just a note: iPrep and Xtreme Boot Maker both do the same thing essentially: they modify a version of MTKFlash for your SATA board and create a boot device. All that you're needing here is a good version of MTKFlash which will detect your drive properly. I don't think that will happen until you're running XP, or at least something NOT Me.

[Cliffdawg]

Just postin for the sake of postin. Here's the drive I'll think I'll buy:
http://www.compuvest...advsite=bizrate

Or maybe this one:
http://www.compuvest....jsp?iid=650508

FYI, my (old ) legacy pc can only use IDE hard drives that are 40gbs or less (found this out from the compaq support guy online.  Hey, he's paid everyday to help out, so he might as well be useful once a millennium )
He also says that my (old ) Compaq Presario 5000 series pc (model number 5BW220) might not support EIDE devices.  What do you think? (you guys don't have to answer any of this its just to fill u in on wat's up )
I could get a nicer deal on a EIDE one, but I think I'll just play it safe with IDE  

So looks good? there were alot of cheaper ones listed as IDE at Bizrate, but when I clicked them, I saw they were really only SCSI  Not cool bro! Not cool! Lol but who cares.  I also want at leeeeast 6gb on it
 so I can put Microsoft Office on it (ME doesn't support it either ) and  ya.

So respond if u want, I probably buy this tomorrow (yawn, 1:15 here ) or I'll just get bored and install it on my old Hard Drive (its $11 shipping the new one, GEES I hope I don't have to return it!     )

Also and really importantly, I should have asked this a long time ago.  Do you guys know if there are any PCMCIA (cardbus) Via Sata cards I can buy online.  I've always looked, but no cigar.  Via technologies website said they did have them, but I don't know where to find any of them. If anyone can find a PCMCIA VIA SATA card please post.  Thank you!  (If I can get one, then I can use my solid xp laptop )

Just try to search, I couldn't any at all  but ya peace  

[Martinchris23]

Next time you speak to Compaq / HP, just tell them they're a bunch of useless twats.

http://h10025.www1.h...r...228&lang=en

Latest BIOS update for your PC and it quite clearly states:

* Added 48-bit LBA boot support to handle drives bigger than 128GB

Have you already checked to see which BIOS version you are running? If it's earlier than this, update it

Also, there's no way you're not running with EIDE as IDE is limited to 8.4GB and seeing as this update increases the capacity to over 128GB, you've been misled once again by the wonderful staff over at HP.

[Martinchris23]

That link on the Compaq site was directly from the model number you posted (Compaq Presario 5BW220) so it's meant for your computer.

Forget about IDE/EIDE. Everything now is EIDE anyways - we just refer to it as either IDE or ATA  

[Martinchris23]

Another point which is handy to know - when you install XP, you get the option to say how big the partition on the drive is going to be. If you limit it to 32GB, you will have the option to format it as FAT. Nothing would stop you formatting the remainder of the drive as another letter as NTFS for files over 4GB, but the beauty of this would be that a boot disc would allow you to go directly to the C drive where XP is installed. You could then create a folder on the C:\ root (or let iprep/xtreme bootmaker do it) called XBF and once you're into DOS mode from your floppy, you'd be able to work from this folder without needing NTFS4DOS at all.

Just an idea as not everyone needs to use NTFS for their Operating system volume.

Plan B is to save a couple of GB at the end of your drive (so when you install XP, don't let it use all the space but still format as NTFS). Then once you're into Windows, you can go into the Computer Management tool and create a logical partition at the end of the drive, formatted as FAT32. This would work in the same way as the first suggestion, but would not cripple the whole Operating System partition.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

[Martinchris23]

Yep - that HDD will have plenty of space for an XP installation. Like I said, you may want to leave a portion of the drive untouched (you won't need more than 100MB) at the end when setting up XP which you could format as FAT32 and would be instantly accessible from a boot disc, rather than using NTFS4DOS.

[scuba156]

i think you are all leading him in the wrong direction here. one of you said that the drivers for the SATA card in windows is not necessary (which is wrong because iprep needs to know the device id) and now your telling him to get windows XP.

while waiting for your new HDD drive, try these out.

-new sata cable ( these are bad quite often and give people the same problem you are having right now)

-update the bios and use a usb stick to flash instead of NTFS4DOS (preferably with a new sata cable)

one of these will do the trick

[Martinchris23]

QUOTE(scuba156 @ Jan 16 2008, 05:25 AM)

i think you are all leading him in the wrong direction here. one of you said that the drivers for the SATA card in windows is not necessary (which is wrong because iprep needs to know the device id) and now your telling him to get windows XP.

while waiting for your new HDD drive, try these out.

-new sata cable ( these are bad quite often and give people the same problem you are having right now)

-update the bios and use a usb stick to flash instead of NTFS4DOS (preferably with a new sata cable)

one of these will do the trick

Nope, we're not.

I think you should read the entire thread. What we've said all along is that the FLASHING part of the process doesn't rely on any drivers whatsoever, but in order for iPrep/Xtreme Boot Maker to detect the SATA hardware (for MTKFlash editing), the drivers need to be installed. From what the guy's tried so far, Windows Me looks like it's not cutting the Mustard as MTKFlash isn't detecting anything (as no entry for XTREME Pri/Sec Master). Hopefully, once he has XP installed, this will work better with these programs and he'll get a result.

Please don't jump into a conversation unless you've been following the thread as it will just cause confusion.

[scuba156]

QUOTE

Hey guys I got some BIG news. Check this out. before I decided to installed windows xp, I decided to search the product reviews at newegg.com (where I bought the card: http://www.newegg.co...82E16815124022), and many customers were talking about how the card only works in certain pci slots and that you should download the newest drivers off the website.

Well, as I had heard this before, I went to the the new driver installed for the product. After restarting my pc, I used iPrep with the ixtreme 1.3 fw and checked the box "patch mtkflash," (this never worked before only once!), and it worked. In other words it copied the patched mtkflash and make the iprep folder in the root of my disc drive. (I tried to do this again and it didn't work with ix-1.4, ix-1.3, etc... weird huh (probably ME just sucks biggrin.gif ). Now, I booted into Dos w/ the ntfs cd and typed "dsam 1234567 12345" and guess what came up
1. XTREME Sec Master
2. XTREME Sec Slave

Yes! so apparantly that worked (beig able to patch mtkflash, I mean) and now this shows up. laugh.gif biggrin.gif tongue.gif

But alas! another problem! ph34r.gif When this came up, I turned off the xbox 360, typed 1, waited 10 seconds, and turned on the 360 and nothing happened! uhh.gif !!! So I tried it on Slave (#2) and still nothing happened uhh.gif ! Then for each one, I tried at different times (7, 12,13 seconds) and still nothing on either! So I don't really know what's going on. I tried both ports on the sata card (but I think its the right one, closest to the front of the drive, that's supposed to work, right?)

so he has setup mtkflash correctly to use the SATA card, now he is having a problem reading the firmware, which has NOTHING to do with ME, or XP. it is now entirely DOS and hardware related from that point on

QUOTE

What we've said all along is that the FLASHING part of the process doesn't rely on any drivers whatsoever, but in order for iPrep/Xtreme Boot Maker to detect the SATA hardware (for MTKFlash editing), the drivers need to be installed.

that is pointless though as it is a catch 22, as mtkflash needs drivers to locate the SATA card

QUOTE

A separate note (which I've typed elsewhere too) - don't get DOS and Windows confused. DOS is an Operating System in the same way that Windows is. DOS does not need drivers for your VIA card, nor does it even know that Windows has anything installed. Therefore messing around with Windows drivers to get this working is pointless!!!!

this is the statement i was talking about, mainly 'Therefore messing around with Windows drivers to get this working is pointless!!!!' as the rest is valid. his original problem was mtkflash not being able to see the SATA card in DOS due to outdated drivers which caused a mix up while retrieving the device ID. Windows Drivers are not needed for DOS, but they are needed for setting this all up (therefore flashing, extracting and erasing firmware)

so, now that the SATA card is being detected properly ( which is proven from it showing XTREME SEC MASTER/SLAVE), it now has nothing to do with drivers or Windows ME or XP, correct? from your statement i pointed out above, i would assume that you would agree...

Im not trying to start an argument out here or anything, sorry if it seems that way, i am simply giving my opinion from experience in PC's and the flashing process of the Xbox 360 to help this guy out. That is all i am doing so dont take my opinion personal. ive stated my opinion and until he tries it, we will just have to wait

also, if your really sure that it is the Device ID being wrong, you can hex edit MTKFLASH for you VIA card