I had success with xgcdrom.sys from freedos. I had to give a /C1 arg so it would use the controller rather than onboard ide. What BIOS are you using? I had to downgrade from 5500 to 5403 or whatever. I think xgcdrom.sys is looking for a specific pci device/function type and the later bios changes it. It's likely possible to patch xgcdrom.sys too.

Try XDVD2.SYS / UDVD2.SYS, which supports modern drives.

I'm on a IDE BIOS 4.2.10, since the 5.4.03 (raid as well as IDE) was freezing the computer after disk detection by the card.

XDVD2 did not find a device.
XGCDROM finds a device, which is better than gcdrom, but freezes 🙁

I'm starting to think I should just have bought SATA to IDE converters to put at the end of my drives ^^

Mine says:

XGCDROM v2.4b, 09 October 2007
PCI ATA controller found, Chip Ven_1095h&Dev_3114h
Primary port -1850h, Secondary port - 1848h
Driver name is "MSCD000"
Unit 0: Secondary-master, ASUS DRW-24B1ST j, PIO mode.

Is your output similar?

Also, I did have some issues with DIR listings hanging depending on which channel I used for the CD drive. Right now I have an SSD on channel 0 and CD on channel 1. If you have it configured another way, try reversing them?

Mine freezes after "Driver name is "MSCD001""
Currently SSD is on C0, DVD on C1.
I'll try to swap tomorrow morning. Did you pass any special option to the driver in config.sys ?

Thanks for all the help.

So you get the same i/o ports - 1850h and 1848h?
I tried adding /AX and /UX and rebooting. It didn't break anything but doesn't make a difference either. It was in PIO mode anyway.
What processor is this? If it's a 486 or something I wonder if there could be illegal instructions in the sata card's BIOS.

I'll check the i/o ports tomorrow I forgot.

Config :
- Gigabyte GA-7IXE
- Athlon thunderbird 1GHz slot A
- 512 MB PC133 CL2
- Onboard IDE/serial/parallel deactivated
- Rest of the bios on default values

I've seen on the startup screen that both the VGA (AGP) and the Sil3114 are on IRQ11.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2020-05-29, 20:52:

If it's a 486 or something I wonder if there could be illegal instructions in the sata card's BIOS.

The BIOS should not be involved with a CD-ROM drive. You should be able to use a CD-ROM drive even with no BIOS on the card.

derSammler wrote on 2020-05-29, 20:56:

The BIOS should not be involved with a CD-ROM drive. You should be able to use a CD-ROM drive even with no BIOS on the card.

True, firmware in general. For example, whether XGCDROM.SYS saw the drive or not, for me, depended on whether I had firmware ("BIOS") 5403 or 5500. Also, apparently 5403 hangs his machine on boot.