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[doveman007]

I'd previously flashed my MS25 with IX1.6(MS28) without any problem, using Jungle Flasher on my Gigabyte MA780G-UD3H board (AMD SATA/IDE).

Today I tried to flash the original firmware back, using Jungle Flasher, and it erased the first bank and then when it tried to write it, I got: .......yyy.... and it froze like that.

So now I've got a drive that's not recognised and won't eject. I've been trying all day to fix it using Mtkflash and Dosflash from a USB stick but I'm not having any luck.

I've tried it on both the Gigabyte AMD board and my other P4 ICH5 board. On both, Mtkflash just sits at the Port line and escaping shows "Status = 00, should be 70". Dosflash (on the ICH5) shows:
0) 0XC000 SATA Pri Master None
1) 0xC800 SATA Sec Master ATAPI No Identify Possible
MTK Vendor Info failed on port 0xC800

and re-sending shows it flipping between 0x80 and 0x00. Disconnecting the power changes it to 0x00 and reconnecting the power goes back to flipping between 0x80 and 0x00. This is on the ICH5. On the AMD, I was seeing 0x7F when the power was disconnected. I do see this on the ICH5 if I run Dosflash without connecting power to the drive.

I've tried booting the P4 with the SATA and power disconnected from the drive and then connecting them once it's booted, disconnecting the power starting Mtkflash and reconnecting it after 10 seconds as well as using Xtreme Boot Maker to make a modified Mtkflash. I haven't tried all these things on the AMD but I did try disconnecting and reconnecting the power several times. I'm powering the drive from my PC by the way.

So if anyone's got any ideas, I'd appreciate your help.

[doveman007]

Well I'm happy to report I've managed to fix the drive with the VIA card.  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

At first, DosFlash and MtkFlash (even the VIA version I downloaded) didn't work but I used Xtreme Boot Maker to make a custom MtkFlash for my VIA card, with the MS28 patches, and then it worked first time.

I've got some problems with the VIA card though  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)  When the MS25's switched on, after POST the PC sits for ages at a boot screen titled "RAID BIOS Setting Utility v4.90" saying "Scan Devices. Please wait" and then after an age it says "Hardware Initiate failed. Please Check Device!!! The Bios does not be [sic] installed. Press <g> to continue!"

If I then proceed to boot XP, it hangs on the boot screen (no animated loading bar). If I switch off the drive, XP boots OK but if I then load JF and switch the drive on again, XP freezes up completely and I have to switch the drive off again to unfreeze it.

If however I connect the MS25 to my motherboard's SATA ports, I don't have any problems with the VIA BIOS or XP hanging and JF detects it just fine.

So, firstly is there any way to stop the VIA BIOS doing it's scan and secondly is there any way to fix the problems with XP booting and locking up when the MS25 is connected to the VIA and switched on?