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Abit KV7 Raid Mystery

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First post, by Leety McLeet

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Hey guys

I'm having some issues with one of my projects and I need some help. I have an Abit KV7 motherboard (a VIA-KT600 based board with an integrated VT8237 RAID controller), which seems to be working fine, however I can't seem to configure a RAID array. The plan was to run two SATA hard drives in RAID 0 via the integrated controller and run an optical drive off of the primary IDE channel. The problem is that I can't find a way of accessing the RAID controller's BIOS to configure the array. Most systems normally display a message after the POST prompting you to press a key(s) to access the controller's BIOS, but no such message or option appears to exist?

The main BIOS is set as follows:
Advanced BIOS Features \\ Bootable Add-in Device: "OnChip RAID"
Integrated Peripherals \\ OnChip PCI Device \ OnChip SATA RAID BIOS: "Enabled"

* Both SATA ports are populated with identical (known-working) drives. I mention that, because I know that some RAID controllers won't work unless two or more drivers are connected.
* I've removed all PCI cards to eliminate the possibility of an (unlikely) IRQ conflict.

Send help 🤓

Retro Computer Enthusiast!

Reply 1 of 4, by cyclone3d

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From the manual:
"A RAID 0 or RAID 1 array is also available by software configuration."

Sounds to me like you have to configure RAID in Windows after installing the RAID driver... but that can't be right.

Found an old forum post about this.

Looks like you press Tab (mash furiously) after powering on, it should let you enter the RAID BIOS.
http://www.bitbenderforums.com/forums/archive … hp/t-62118.html

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Reply 2 of 4, by Leety McLeet

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Thanks for the reply, cyclone3d.

I actually stumbled across that myself, but mashing Tab didn't seem to get me anywhere.

I actually learned that the VT8237 doesn't play nicely with newer SATA drives. I'm using SATA-III drives, so that might be my problem. I'll have a play tomorrow and see if drives can be set to SATA 1.5 mode via the jumpers (fingers crossed). These old Socket A boards are a real nightmare. I've had an ASUS board that had a corrupt BIOS. A beautiful Abit AN7, which is the board I had back in the day, but that just beeps, and now this 🤣.

I'll post results tomorrow. Might be helpful to someone... 🤷‍♂️

Retro Computer Enthusiast!

Reply 3 of 4, by The Serpent Rider

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I'm using SATA-III drives

If these drives don't have physical jumpers to configure, you're out of luck. Most drives already dropped VIA compatibility gimmick by that time.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 4 of 4, by Leety McLeet

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The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-12-02, 02:09:

If these drives don't have physical jumpers to configure, you're out of luck. Most drives already dropped VIA compatibility gimmick by that time.

That sounds about right 🤣. I tried shorting the pins for "OPT" mode (WD HDD's), but that made zero difference. Either I need to find some matching SATA 1.5 drives or revisit the AN7 board, which actually worked fine with the drives until it decided to stop posting, of course.

Retro Computer Enthusiast!

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