In the midle of flashing BenQ...

[HeartBraden]

Yes, I've tried that.

[CoFree]

its still stuck
it wont start flashing D1.

[HeartBraden]

Okay, I just got it... I didn't realize that there were internal ports as well... I tried the one closest to the CPU, and wah-lah... everything worked like a charm. Thank you so much for your help!

[Jman 31]

I'm pretty sure the internal port is the only one that works. The external on that card is a different plug. Sorry I took it for granted that you knew that. I'm glad you got it!

[sadalius]

Congrats!! Yeah, sata cards have multiple ports, some just have two, some have three, 4, 6 or 8. The ports are all actually connected, but assigned a channel ID so the host will know where to look for the device. Sata is a spin off of SCSI when you stop and think about it, but the host controller doesn't need an ID to start with and you can't daisy chain the devices. On a simple 2 port card, you have channel 0 and channel 1. With flashing 360's Benq's or Samsungs, whether you do it manually or use iprep, you look for the beginning I/O address for your SATA controller. This is channel 0 or the first port on the card. This is generally internal or on the inside of the computer unless the external port is just an extension cable mounted on a backplane plate and connected to the first port.

I dunno if any of that makes sense, but thats a very general run down of how a sata controller works. Of course the full rundown is much, much more complicated, but I would be typing for days..... and it's BORING.....

[Jman 31]

Sadalius, I know you know your stuff, so I trust that you are correct. The thing is that the card we are using has a different type of plug on the external port. The sata cable will not plug into it. Is that just a different cable or a different type of delivery.

edit: Actually I looked this over on the tekgems website and it says the external is an esata port. What exactly does that mean?

[sadalius]

That port is an esata port, oh well, I see you found that out. There is not a whole lot of difference between esata and regular sata except for the physical port difference. esata stands for enhanced sata but it's not enhanced where one would think. The difference is the port and the cable. The port itself is designed in a "|" shape and fitted on each end of the "|" to where it will accept a latch. The cables are shielded, and have the latch to keep the cable more secure. The "|" type ports are not directly compatible with the "L" type ports on regular sata ports, but they do make a cable, and I have one of these that has a male esata to plug into the external port and then a male "L" type connector on the other end to plug into the sata device. There are some cards that has an external regular sata port, but most put the esata on there because it's external and maybe prone to being pulled out of the connector.

Here is a pic of the cable that I was talking about:

[sccrbrandon4788]

Okay, I just got it... I didn't realize that there were internal ports as well... I tried the one closest to the CPU, and wah-lah... everything worked like a charm. Thank you so much for your help!

Told ya! haha. glad you got it to work.

[Jman 31]

That port is an esata port, oh well, I see you found that out. There is not a whole lot of difference between esata and regular sata except for the physical port difference. esata stands for enhanced sata but it's not enhanced where one would think. The difference is the port and the cable. The port itself is designed in a "|" shape and fitted on each end of the "|" to where it will accept a latch. The cables are shielded, and have the latch to keep the cable more secure. The "|" type ports are not directly compatible with the "L" type ports on regular sata ports, but they do make a cable, and I have one of these that has a male esata to plug into the external port and then a male "L" type connector on the other end to plug into the sata device. There are some cards that has an external regular sata port, but most put the esata on there because it's external and maybe prone to being pulled out of the connector.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I learn something new every day.