Areca 1220 and a Gigabyte EP45-dq6

[mikedunn]

Hi,
Has anyone had experience with the Areca 1220 and a Gigabyte EP45-dq6 motherboard? I purchased this combination as the EP45-dq6 can handle a x16 ( for GPU), a x8 (for the Areca 1220) and a x4 ( for a Blackmagic Multibridge pro). Unfortunately the EP45-dq6 will not post when the Areca is installed. I have the latest bios for the EP45-dq6 ( F12) and the latest firmware for the Areca (1.46). When I install the Areca in an Asus P5KR everything works fine, but the P5KR will not accommodate the x4 Multibridge as well.

I have contacted Areca and am waiting for a reply. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have tried bios versions F9 F11 F12 F13A

Cheers
Mike

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Areca 1220 and a Gigabyte EP45-dq6

Well that would put your GFX Card and the Areca at x8. I am not sure about P45, still looking, but in P35 I know when you used both PCIE (x16/8) Slots the PCIE x4/x1 slots became unavailable

You are loading optimized defaults and save/apply after you flash your BIOS right? just checking

Does it boot with just the GFX Card and the Areca? How about just the GFX Card and the Multibridge? Can you verify that each works on it's own is what we need to do first

Do you have Init First Display set to PEG in the Integrated Peripherals page of the BIOS, if not do that now.

And I would also set some ICH Voltages >>>
ICH I/O……………….....1.500V............: <<< Set 1.55-1.6
ICH Core…………...……1.100V............: <<< Set 1.14-1.24

Let us know in case anyone asks later what Areca says, and in the Meantime I would go ahead and shoot off a email to Gigabyte Tech as well >>
GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Technical Service Zone

[mikedunn]

Re: Areca 1220 and a Gigabyte EP45-dq6

Well that would put your GFX Card and the Areca at x8. I am not sure about P45, still looking, but in P35 I know when you used both PCIE (x16/8) Slots the PCIE x4/x1 slots became unavailable

I am pretty sure that the DQ6 can do x16 x8 x4 . Can anyone confirm this?

You are loading optimized defaults and save/apply after you flash your BIOS right? just checking

Yup

Does it boot with just the GFX Card and the Areca? How about just the GFX Card and the Multibridge? Can you verify that each works on it's own is what we need to do first

GFX post
GFX + Areca no post.
GFX Multibridge post

Do you have Init First Display set to PEG in the Integrated Peripherals page of the BIOS, if not do that now.

Yes, set, also tried PEG2Ok i will try this thanks

I found a dutch page with the guy using this combination, so i presume it must work.

Translated version of http://tweakers.net/productreview/8004/areca-arc-1220-(8x-sata300-raid-xor-128mb-pci-e-x8).html

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Areca 1220 and a Gigabyte EP45-dq6

I believe you are correct now that I think about it and look at things again, it was only the P35 boards that canceled things down to x1

Hmm, so that guys is using the same combination of cards, GFX aside of course. I could not tell from the translation if he also used the bridge as well or just the board and Areca card together?

Your tests mentioned above look to me like maybe your controller is bad then, was it new when you purchased it or used?

[mikedunn]

Re: Areca 1220 and a Gigabyte EP45-dq6

Thanks for the replies. As i mentioned in the first post the areca works fine in my p5kr but that board will not accommodate the blackmagic as well.

awaiting replies from gigabyte and areca.

many thanks
Mike

[mv2devnull]

Re: Areca 1220 and a Gigabyte EP45-dq6

Well that would put your GFX Card and the Areca at x8. I am not sure about P45, still looking, but in P35 I know when you used both PCIE (x16/8) Slots the PCIE x4/x1 slots became unavailable

I am pretty sure that the DQ6 can do x16 x8 x4 . Can anyone confirm this?

When I was looking for a board last summer (and chose EP45-DQ6) I did got the impression that P45 boards do have 16 lanes for the two x16 slots together. Thus, a card in one can get x16, but with cards on both slots both cards are limited to x8. Auto-negotiation. The X48 boards on the other hand do have dedicated x16 into each x16 slot.

But AFAIK, P45 can offer PCIe 2.0 on the slots unlike the P35 that is more from the pre-2.0 era.