Yeah, this works, i was able to change modes in xp on ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe board (nforce4) and it then works as sata2 instead of sata1 and if switched to sata1 works on via board (asus a8v, vt8237r).

The only issue is finding sf-2281 SSDs, i only have one which is dead (well, it seems to work and is detected so i was able to experiment with it, but it destroys any data written to it).

I wish this was possible with more modern/common controllers like sm2259xt...

Archer57 wrote on 2025-08-17, 12:55:

I wish this was possible with more modern/common controllers like sm2259xt...

Mission impossible, most likely.
I couldn't find anything even for old Phison, so I had to buy Intel + Kingston on SandForce.

Yeah, which is sad.

I've looked at how much people want for old intel 520/335/etc and it does not make sense. I can buy a modern 512GB drive for a price of vintage 120GB one. IDE-SATA it'll have to be for now, though i'll definitely bee liking at old SSDs now, may be i'll spot something reasonable somewhere...

Archer57 wrote on 2025-08-17, 17:46:

for a price of vintage 120GB one.

Who hasn't released an SSD on the Sandforce chipset...
If it's still alive, then the chances are pretty good.
And again, let's be honest.
Under Windows XP, 120 GB, even with games, is too much.
Rarely does a person play everything from Tetris to... well, say, Stalker.
MLC disks are "relatively eternal", you can always copy a game from the HDD to the SSD drive.

Not too much. I have 256GB SSD + 500GB HDD in my S462 system, around 80GB used on SSD, and HDD is ~half full. HDD mostly contains various distributions, including games which may require disk image to run.

I could be more careful with space, could have stored stuff on USB SSD, etc. But as with many things regarding old hardware - i like to have "unlimited" space on this old systems so that i do not have to worry about it.

120GB will be limiting as a single drive... and HDDs will have the same issues as SSDs with VIA SATA...

One thing I would be tempted to try to force SATA1 mode on a newer SSD would be to connect a SATA to IDE converter AND an IDE to SATA converter, daisy chained between the SATA controller and the SSD.

EDIT: see also Re: SSD Options for SATA 1.5 Only Motherboard

darry wrote on 2025-08-17, 22:10:

One thing I would be tempted to try to force SATA1 mode on a newer SSD would be to connect a SATA to IDE converter AND an IDE to SATA converter, daisy chained between the SATA controller and the SSD.

EDIT: see also Re: SSD Options for SATA 1.5 Only Motherboard

Well, that makes no sense outside of some weird circumstances. Why would i use 2 IDE-SATA adapters instead of just using one and connecting it to actual IDE?

I suspect all boards with affected VIA southbridges have IDE...

Out of curiosity, is this an inherent hardware issue or some BIOS initialization one?

Judging by the issue being present on different platforms and different motherboards from different manufacturers and VIA releasing fixed "+" version of the SB it is hardware...

Archer57 wrote on 2025-08-18, 02:42:

darry wrote on 2025-08-17, 22:10:

One thing I would be tempted to try to force SATA1 mode on a newer SSD would be to connect a SATA to IDE converter AND an IDE to SATA converter, daisy chained between the SATA controller and the SSD.

EDIT: see also Re: SSD Options for SATA 1.5 Only Motherboard

Well, that makes no sense outside of some weird circumstances. Why would i use 2 IDE-SATA adapters instead of just using one and connecting it to actual IDE?

I suspect all boards with affected VIA southbridges have IDE...

Sure, IDE to SATA can work, but running out of IDE ports and having to use SATA ones is not an outlandish scenario.

shevalier wrote on 2025-08-17, 14:41:

I couldn't find anything even for old Phison, so I had to buy Intel + Kingston on SandForce.

I have a cheap M.2 SATA SSD based on Phison PS3111-S11 (DRAM-less controller) and it works out of the box in SATA1 mode.
GOODRAM SSDPR-S400U-120-80 disk speed reaches R:139MB/s, W: 86MB/s for Ultra DMA-5/SATA-150 mode.
Tested on ICH5/i865PE mobo through M.2 SSD to 2.5" SATA adapter.

ott wrote on 2025-08-18, 08:09:

I have a cheap M.2 SATA SSD based on Phison PS3111-S11 (DRAM-less controller) and it works out of the box in SATA1 mode. GOODRAM […]
Show full quote

I have a cheap M.2 SATA SSD based on Phison PS3111-S11 (DRAM-less controller) and it works out of the box in SATA1 mode.
GOODRAM SSDPR-S400U-120-80 disk speed reaches R:139MB/s, W: 86MB/s for Ultra DMA-5/SATA-150 mode.
Tested on ICH5/i865PE mobo through M.2 SSD to 2.5" SATA adapter.

The attachment cdm-test.png is no longer available

The attachment siv-ssd-smart-info.png is no longer available

The issue discussed here is that there are old SATA controllers which misbehave when SATA2/SATA3 device is connected. It is not the issue with SSD - i have multiple ones, mostly cheap sm2259xt stuff, which work just fine in sata1 mode on nforce2/MCP2-S/R for example.

However VIA vt8237r does not detect them at all, as it does not any devices which are not SATA1 specifically.

Nforce4 has different issue - SATA3 devices work in SATA1 mode, instead of SATA2, which is supported.

For this situations being able to set maximum supported SATA mode is useful. Which is possible on sf-2281, but so far seems impossible on other controllers.

Archer57 wrote on 2025-08-18, 08:55:

The issue discussed here is that there are old SATA controllers which misbehave when SATA2/SATA3 device is connected. It is not the issue with SSD - i have multiple ones, mostly cheap sm2259xt stuff, which work just fine in sata1 mode on nforce2/MCP2-S/R for example.

That makes sense.
I apologize for the offtop.

So, i was able to make my SSD work again by doing full firmware recovery, beginning with shorting the jumper on the board to force it into recovery mode. Using some info/ideas from this thread: Bricked SSDs

May be this will be useful to someone too - the SSD was functional, detected normally, could be formatted and written to normally, etc. But it returned garbage instead of data. Flashing firmware with manufacturer tools did nothing. After performing firmware recovery as if it was bricked the SSD works normally now. Not sure if i'll trust it (i hate sketchy storage), but it is enough to fool around with what's described in this topic.

So far - the easiest way to work with info/mode change tools is through usb-sata adapter. Does not depend on motherboard or drivers, works as long as adapter is supported. After configuring modes the drive is properly detected and works both on nforce4 (sata2) and vt8237r. Performance is improved noticeably in both cases.

By the way it is possible to limit sata mode when configuring firmware too, but that'll be permanent. Which makes me want to look into similar manufacturing tools for other controllers - may be it will be possible there too?

Thanks for this information, this makes sf2281 SSDs uniquely interesting for use with old hardware.