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windows_sucks · Nov 7, 2006, 10:07 PM

Hey Guys,

I have installed an Addonics Sata Controller for the MAC Pro and I have followed instructions on how to install it.....its pretty basic..its a 1x sata controller with 2 sata ports..u pretty much install it and install the driver...I have done all of that but yet when I got to my system profiler and click on the tab "PCI Cards" the only thing I see is the graphics card that came with the mac pro.....here is the link to the SATA controller that I am talking about:

AMUG Addonics Mac Pro PCI Express SATA Host Adapter (ADSA3GPX1-2EM) Review

any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

derekn · Nov 8, 2006, 03:24 AM

It's possible the card may be dead if it's not being detected. Did the Expansion Slot Utility come up when you restarted after installing the card? It's in Macintosh HD/System/Library/CoreServices

That will also scan the PCI bus when you start it, so you can see if that detects it. If not, then the card may be dead, so you'll want to let whoever you bought it from know and get an RMA for it.

windows_sucks · 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by derekn

It's possible the card may be dead if it's not being detected. Did the Expansion Slot Utility come up when you restarted after installing the card? It's in Macintosh HD/System/Library/CoreServices

That will also scan the PCI bus when you start it, so you can see if that detects it. If not, then the card may be dead, so you'll want to let whoever you bought it from know and get an RMA for it.

Nope, it didn't come up. After I installed the card physically, I started up the mac and installed the driver to run it. After the driver was installed, I accessed the system profiler, but the card was not detected.

I ran the Expansion Slot utility as you suggested and it does show that the card is detected in slot 3. Now what?...Thanks for the help

reader50 · Nov 8, 2006, 01:00 PM

After installing the driver, reboot again.

windows_sucks · Nov 8, 2006, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by reader50

After installing the driver, reboot again.

Been There Done That..no luck though..any other suggestions why the 1x pci sata raid controller card doesn't work...those idiots said it was suppose to be simple, but I am to the point where I am pulling my hair.

derekn · Nov 8, 2006, 02:19 PM

Hmm.. well the cards not dead then I believe. What happens if you try hooking a drive up?

windows_sucks · Nov 8, 2006, 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by derekn

Hmm.. well the cards not dead then I believe. What happens if you try hooking a drive up?

I turn on the 4 drive enclosure..the disks spin...but nothing after that....it doesn't get detected...open up disk utility and still nothing.

derekn · Nov 8, 2006, 10:25 PM

What about another slot? 2 or 4?

windows_sucks · 11:28 PM

Originally Posted by derekn

What about another slot? 2 or 4?

Yepp I tried that too....I put the card in all 3 available slots...all 3 slots detected the card as an "unknown raid controller" at 1x but can't get it to work if my life depended on it....I re-confirmed with Addonics if the driver is the same and they confirmed it that the driver is correct.....You know I am wondering if there is some sort of a "plug and play" setting that I need to turn on or something...sorry don't know enough bout os x but just a thought..

derekn · Nov 8, 2006, 11:19 PM

It sounds like something is screwy with the card, either hardware or firmware wise. It could be the MacPro itself too but there'd be more symptoms if it was.

You might want to request an RMA from whoever you bought it from at this point.

reader50 · Nov 9, 2006, 12:36 AM

Check the linked site. They list a custom firmware for the card to enable Mac Pro use. It's possible you got a card that wasn't flashed with the special firmware. Check the firmware version that shows in Apple System Profiler, if it doesn't match the specified version (b7.3.13) then contact the seller about it.

Alternative: I assume you downloaded the Universal driver version (1.1.6) linked from that page. If you unzipped it with Stuffit Expander, try unzipping with the Finder or gunzip in Terminal. I've read a few reports of the later Stuffit versions messing up with zip archives.

windows_sucks · Nov 9, 2006, 12:43 AM

Originally Posted by reader50

Check the linked site. They list a custom firmware for the card to enable Mac Pro use. It's possible you got a card that wasn't flashed with the special firmware. Check the firmware version that shows in Apple System Profiler, if it doesn't match the specified version (b7.3.13) then contact the seller about it.

Alternative: I assume you downloaded the Universal driver version (1.1.6) linked from that page. If you unzipped it with Stuffit Expander, try unzipping with the Finder or gunzip in Terminal. I've read a few reports of the later Stuffit versions messing up with zip archives.

Thats the problem...the card doesn't show up when I open the System Profiler...it gets detected as a "uknown raid controller" when I open up the Expansion Utility Slot...I'll try to unzip using the gunzip command from Terminal....I thought I was using Finder to unzip the file when i double click on the zip file..

windows_sucks · Nov 9, 2006, 12:48 AM

Originally Posted by derekn

It sounds like something is screwy with the card, either hardware or firmware wise. It could be the MacPro itself too but there'd be more symptoms if it was.

You might want to request an RMA from whoever you bought it from at this point.

Yeah thats what I think I will have to do..I have allready sent an email to those fools and they should reply back within 24 hours (which I doubt)....Do you know of any working SATA controller cards for the Mac PRO that I can hook up to my PCI Express slot and actually have a few SATA drives connected to it...I do video editing so I need lots of storage..my main mac pro slots are allready filled up with 2 x 500gb and 1 x 32gb hard...I need the eSATA for storage.

derekn · Nov 9, 2006, 05:27 AM

The only other one I've seen was mentioned on Dealmac but I don't have any additional info on it. It's from LA Computer Compnay:
L.A. Computer Company Store

Depending on how much you want to spend, you can get 2 ports or 4. I was going to say you might want to give the Addonics one more chance but I'm not sure how time sensitive everything is. If you're really in a crunch, the $69 one might be a good low cost investment.

windows_sucks · Nov 9, 2006, 05:36 AM

Originally Posted by derekn

The only other one I've seen was mentioned on Dealmac but I don't have any additional info on it. It's from LA Computer Compnay:
L.A. Computer Company Store

Depending on how much you want to spend, you can get 2 ports or 4. I was going to say you might want to give the Addonics one more chance but I'm not sure how time sensitive everything is. If you're really in a crunch, the $69 one might be a good low cost investment.

Well I am just a little impatient thats all...i have waited 3 months to gather the funds for a new mac pro and all the other stuff....I am going to call those people again and tomorrow and see what the deal is with that....I am thinking they didn't flash the card properly (i hope thats not the case)..if they didn't flash it right then I am pretty much stuck with returning it cuz I don't have a windows machine...I sold that piece of crap....I'll try to see if I can unzip the package file using Terminal....I don't know if Gunzip works with files with a .zip extension on Freebsd...i thought it only works with files with a .gz extensions...am i correct?..what would i have to use to unzip files with a .zip extension?...someone told me it would be the "pkg" command?

hookem2oo7 · Nov 9, 2006, 12:34 PM

unzip

reader50 · Nov 9, 2006, 01:16 PM

Both unzip and gunzip will work to open zip archives. I use gunzip myself because it opens more archive formats.

windows_sucks · Nov 9, 2006, 03:06 PM

Who the hell would have thought this would be the reason why the damn SATA Controller doesn't get detected....According to the driver's manufacturer, a Mac PRO with 4Gb of Ram or more will not detect the card...Here are the exact words:
====================================
I understand that you've run into some trouble with the SiI3132 Mac OS
X
1.1.6 driver on your Mac Pro. Silicon Image, Inc. has recently learned
of a compatibility problem between the driver and 4GB or more of RAM on
the Mac Pro system. Driver update 1.1.8 is in the works.

The release date for this driver is now targeted for the last week of
November.
I've asked our test team to provide an availability date for the BETA
build.
========================================

I was a little suspicious about this but decided to go ahead and remove 2Gigs of Ram so I have only 2Gigs....and guess what...THE CARD STILL DIDN'T WORK AFTER I REINSTALLED THE DAMN DRIVERS...i think the card has not been flashed properly...well the card is gonna go back to where it came from.....HELL!!!!..but I appreciate all your help...I took Dereken's advice and purchased a Cal-Digit Fasta 2-e card...<crossing my fingers that it would work fine..and wouldn't be any crappy as problem like having more than 4 gigs of RAM issue>..

derekn · Nov 9, 2006, 04:03 PM

Hopefully that will work out, let us know how it goes.

reader50 · Nov 9, 2006, 08:46 PM

Barefeats mentioned something along that line. Scroll down to the October 27th update.

windows_sucks · Nov 10, 2006, 11:58 AM

Well.. I have allready send the card out for a return and ordered a CALDigit card..I was a little worried that the CALDigit card wouldn't work but after checking out the link the card should be just fine. ...<crossing my fingers> ...once I installed the drivers associated with the card........I guess I got to learn something from buying a cheap card.......The Cal Digit card should be arriving in a matter of few hours...so I'll install that and see how it goes....will keep you guys updated...Thanks for all your help.

derekn · Nov 14, 2006, 04:21 PM

How has the CalDigit card worked out windows_sucks?

windows_sucks · Nov 15, 2006, 02:27 AM

Dude lemme tell you...these punks don't want to disclose the fact that the card won't work if you have more than 2Gb of RAM...I went through the same crap again....atleast this time I knew what the issue was...so i call the Cal Digit people and tell them of the situation...and to my amazement its the same crap...but unlike the other company...Cal Digit said its coming out with another version of the driver within 2 weeks..man I was soo pissed...really had my hopes set..but it looks like i don't have a choice...i am typing all this and I feel like a dumbass..hahaha..i should have called them and asked them before purchasing the card...got too careless and caught up in the moment in purchasing a damn sata controller....oh yeah according to CalDigit if I had purchased the 300 dollar card then it would have worked...yeah right.....i returned both cards and will wait for another month or so before I know for sure that it would work...but for now i'll just use the IDE drives I have for backup purposes...