Vista - Promise TX4000 and Vista Drivers

Anyone know if the Promise TX4000 raid controller will work with Vista?

Thanks,

Todd

Promise doesn't have Vista drivers for that controller. It is
*possible* if you have 32 bit Vista, that using the Promise 2K/XP
drivers might work.

From what I've seen there are as of yet NO Promise drivers specifically
for Vista with ANY of their controllers -- even the current
controllers.


--
Barry Schnur

"Todd Hoffman" <THoffman001@cinci.rr.com.nospam> wrote in message
news:uHdJbH3UHHA.3652@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Anyone know if the Promise TX4000 raid controller will work with Vista?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Todd

I have a Promise TX4200 RAID controller in my box at home, and I'm running
both the Vista 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Ultimate (retail), and the I've
found that the latest version of the Promise drivers work fine with both
versions of Vista. If you'll note in the readme on the Promise site for
the TX4200 v2.06.0.311 drivers, a later bios install is required to use
these drivers, and support for x64 Windows is built in to these drivers. So
I guess this is why they work for me under Vista x64 as well.

However, looking at the situation for you with the TX4000, it doesn't appear
as if Promise has updated these drivers or the bios since 2003. You should
make sure that you are running bios 1.00.0.37, and if not, then flash the
card to that bios version. Then install driver version 1.00.0.37, taking
care that you only install the FastTrak TX4000 Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003
Driver and *not* the Windows 98/Me driver--which is possible since the
driver version numbers are the same. Note as well that the XP driver is much
larger in size than the Win98/Me driver. At this point it *may* be
possible for you to run your TX4000 under Vista 32, but there doesn't seem
to be any support available for this product for Winx64, so I'm guessing
that it's a no-go for the TX4000 under Vistax64.

Thank you for your reply. I am currently running the 1.00.0.37 bios on the
card. I am also running the latest drivers for XP. I was hoping someone
else had tried to install there TX4000 with Vista. I am hesistent to spend
the money on a operating system that may not run on my system. When I ran
the Vista upgrade advisor the first time, it flagged the card as a possible
issue. The program has been crashing lately so I have not been able to look
at it again.

Its good to know it runs on your TX4200.

Todd



"WaltC" <Martian@NoSpam.com> wrote in message
news:OuK1uYhVHHA.4872@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> "Todd Hoffman" <THoffman001@cinci.rr.com.nospam> wrote in message
> news:uHdJbH3UHHA.3652@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Anyone know if the Promise TX4000 raid controller will work with Vista?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Todd
>
> I have a Promise TX4200 RAID controller in my box at home, and I'm running
> both the Vista 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Ultimate (retail), and the
> I've found that the latest version of the Promise drivers work fine with
> both versions of Vista. If you'll note in the readme on the Promise site
> for the TX4200 v2.06.0.311 drivers, a later bios install is required to
> use these drivers, and support for x64 Windows is built in to these
> drivers. So I guess this is why they work for me under Vista x64 as well.
>
> However, looking at the situation for you with the TX4000, it doesn't
> appear as if Promise has updated these drivers or the bios since 2003. You
> should make sure that you are running bios 1.00.0.37, and if not, then
> flash the card to that bios version. Then install driver version
> 1.00.0.37, taking care that you only install the FastTrak TX4000 Windows
> NT4/2000/XP/2003 Driver and *not* the Windows 98/Me driver--which is
> possible since the driver version numbers are the same. Note as well that
> the XP driver is much larger in size than the Win98/Me driver. At this
> point it *may* be possible for you to run your TX4000 under Vista 32, but
> there doesn't seem to be any support available for this product for
> Winx64, so I'm guessing that it's a no-go for the TX4000 under Vistax64.
>
>

> I have a Promise TX4200 RAID controller in my box at home, and I'm running
> both the Vista 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Ultimate (retail), and the I've
> found that the latest version of the Promise drivers work fine with both
> versions of Vista. If you'll note in the readme on the Promise site for
> the TX4200 v2.06.0.311 drivers, a later bios install is required to use
> these drivers, and support for x64 Windows is built in to these drivers. So
> I guess this is why they work for me under Vista x64 as well.
>
Interesting -- I sort of expected that Vista 32 and the Promise
controllers would 'find a way' to work, I'm impressed that the
relatively old 4200 works in 64 bit as well.

I have that very nice and new EX8350 -- one of these days I hope to
build up a server using it for primary storage.

--
Barry Schnur

"BSchnur" <BSchnur@cox.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.2047e40083b633479897f7@msnews.microsoft.com...


> Interesting -- I sort of expected that Vista 32 and the Promise
> controllers would 'find a way' to work, I'm impressed that the
> relatively old 4200 works in 64 bit as well.

Yes, it's not at all like Promise feels compelled to advertise the fact...
There's nary a mention that I can find on the site even referencing Vista.
I had to deduce what might work and then try it--and to my surprise (and
pleasure) everything is working fine. It's also amusing to note that the
site informs me that the TX4200 has been replaced with the TX4300, but it
appears the same bios and drivers are shared between them...

> Yes, it's not at all like Promise feels compelled to advertise the fact...
> There's nary a mention that I can find on the site even referencing Vista.
> I had to deduce what might work and then try it--and to my surprise (and
> pleasure) everything is working fine. It's also amusing to note that the
> site informs me that the TX4200 has been replaced with the TX4300, but it
> appears the same bios and drivers are shared between them...
>

Understood, heck, look at the support page about making the 8350
support RAID 6 -- requires a floppy to flash the BIOS first. Then
again, I'd never tweak an *active* RAID adapter. Best to do it before
any array has been set up.

When I use that adapter on a Windows server, I'll install the OS on a
separate drive first. After that, I install the RAID adapter and
drives, set up the array at the BIOS level, and then get the drivers
sorted out at the OS level so that the drives can be understood by the
OS.


--
Barry Schnur