Convert an Ultra66 to a FastTrak66, courtesy bdog

[SysOpt]

http://www.sysopt.com/articles/ultrafast/index.html

[jad1097]

I think it is time to go and get one of these cards. Thanks.

[OuTpaTienT]

Wowzers. So I start reading the article, and find it immediately interesting...so I get comfortable in my chair, prop my arm up under my chin placing my elbow on the cushy mousepad, and get ready for an in-depth technical how-to lesson.

But before I even get a chance to get lost or let my mind wonder, and have to start re-reading paragraphs, ...BAM! That's it. Unbelievably simple.

Now, tell me why I need a RAID setup. What advantages over typical IDE/UDMA...NEVERMIND, just read about it at the Promise site. Wow! I gotta do this. The HD access time is definitely the largest (and most annoying) bottleneck in most home PCs. Simultaneous multiple read/writes to multiple HDs that balance and share the data load for maximum throughput sounds really, really sweet.

[bdog]

I am glad you like it. It is a pretty easy soldering job. At least it was for me. At my old job one of the things I had to do was teach people how to solder. They were soldering 18 guage wire together and you would be surprised how hard it was for some of them. If you have any soldering experience at all I would say go for it, but practice up if you are a bit rusty. Richard is right, heat is the biggest concern in this project. Heatsinks would be a good idea but are not absolutely necessary IMHO. Just be careful with the heat.

[welsh wizard]

JAT
as the Rom is not surface mounted, but a DIP if you want to protect your Rom a bit carefully select the pins to jumper the resistor to on the back side of the board, if you use a fine point soldering iron the PCB will act as a heat sink and protect the Rom. just make sure you have the right 2 pins. if I am not mistaken they are pins 16 to 23 on bdogs graphics. but double check first, and when you have done the solder bit double check again before fitting and powering up the board.

WW



[This message has been edited by welsh wizard (edited 03-19-2000).]

[Richard_Cranium72]

Thats too cool. The only thing I see missing is that you need to use a "Heat Sink" while soldering. Common items that will work, alligator clips, hemostats, locking needle nose pliers.. etc.. this keeps the heat from travelling up the wire and damaging either the resistor or bios chip.. I like to use alligator clips that I file the teeth out of to allow access in small areas.. DrVette

[SysOpt]

Well, it wasn't meant to be a lesson in soldering http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif.. If you don't know how already, learning on this project is not the best way to go about it http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif.

[welsh wizard]

I think this is the first time I have to contradict our editor in chief, this is actually such a simple mod and the artical does say Practice on and old board first, only needs a little bit of care and it's a brill mod, this is the type of project that used to be around all the time back in the days of the older type computers and the direct dial BBS.
If you got any more like this bdog please let us know, hacking the hardware is one of the best ways to get to know you systems hardware.A+++++++++ more please.
WW

[SysOpt]

I just meant that someone needs to practice soldering before botching up their Ultra66 card, not that it requires ultimate skill.

[MadMatt]

Just ordered the card and the second drive. Stopping by Radio Shack on the way home....

[Prospero]

Just a warning, I made the mistake of soldering in shorts when I was 10. Never again, molten metal hurts when it touches skin! Wear jeans or keep a towel over your lap.

[SysOpt]

Yeah I've had that experience too - solder on a leg or arm does not feel nice.

[SysOpt]

I highly doubt that it's just a coincidence that it works out this way. It's a lot cheaper for a company to manufacturer one card than two - the tooling changes needed to create the Ultra66 and the FastTrak66 are very minimal. The cards cost no difference to create, so they simply are charging more for the features of the FastTrak66. It's not the first time a company has had two virtually identical products, and removed functionality from one in order to market it differently at a different price point. Look at the BMW 323Ci verses 328Ci. The only difference (for all practical purposes) is 20hp, yet the 323Ci costs $5,000 less. Pretty common stuff. In Promise's case though, there is a big difference between the features of the two products, and thankfully for us we can gain the features back with a resistor and bios flash http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif.

[This message has been edited by SysOpt (edited 03-20-2000).]

[SalaTar]

Anyway the time frame at which I bought my ata66 card didnt lose them alot of money anyway http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif
I gotta learn to wait for price drop's

[Mntsnow]

LOL SalaTar http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif That's what happens when we want to be on the "cutting edge"....Sometimes we "bleed" http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif

Mntsnow

[BBA]

I can tell all of you....

I have the "real deal" Fast Track66.

IDE Raid is THE way to go.

Sorry for those Abit owners coping with Lowpoint controllers...try and disable them.

This is a very cost effective mod...should go big with the "IN" crowd.

[welsh wizard]

MadMatt
If you are dropping into RadioShack get the 100ohm 1% resistor they list at 14cents
don't cheap skate with the 5% one's at 9cents
this way you will keep any noise down to a min.
Radio shack Cat # 900-0511
WW

[This message has been edited by welsh wizard (edited 03-20-2000).]

[SalaTar]

For you guys running out to get a new card...
How long you think Promise has known how to do this?
I think its been on the net long enough for them to mod there production of cards?(seen something like this before)
Loss of money Like this from a Corperate standpoint is a major nono.

I have some cards will be modding tonight http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[bdog]

I thought about that too SalaTar. I think that there are so many of these cards in existence already that it wouldn't do them any good to change the design. The one thing I thought about that they might do is try to convert their BIOS flashing utility so that it will not allow you to flash a Ultra66 with the Fasttrack66 BIOS. But that wouldn't do much good either because plenty of people already have the current utility which allows it. I am sure they know about it. I imagine they have thought about it too and have realized that there is nothing that they can do. Their loss, our gain. Look at it this way, a lot of people that would never spring $100 bucks for a Fasttrack66 will probably go out and buy Ultra66's to do the mod. Thus they get increased sales.

[seanmcd]

HELP!! Just received my Promise UDMA controler and the ROM Bios chip says version 1.14 (as opposed to 1.11 in the pictures) Anyone already modified a version 1.14??? And can I solder the resistor on the other side of the board??? Feel free to email me if you've done this and would like to chat about it. Thanks a lot. PS - I've seen one other website and have a newsgroup post detailing ANOTHER way of soldering the resister to the rom chip (from pin 23 to the board)


[This message has been edited by seanmcd (edited 03-23-2000).]

[Mntsnow]

Yes. It does still work with the 1.14 version! I got mine this afternoon and got them modded and they will pull up just fine (now just waiting for the extra drives!) Also here is a site (http://overclockers.com/articles108/) that has some pic's of the 1.14 bios and ALSO benchmarks! Looks like this setup is going to rock! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Mntsnow
*Dang UBB ....Someday I will get to the point I dont have to comeback and fix it! LOL*

[This message has been edited by Mntsnow (edited 03-23-2000).]

[bdog]

You could solder the resistors on the back of the card if you wanted. It would do the same thing. Also going from pin 23 to ground will work, as pin 16 is ground. I just dont like soldering directly on the pcb. Some people have even went from pin 23 to the metal braket on the card. I don't recommend this as it isn't as good of a ground as pin 16 or the pcb.

[jad1097]

Mntsnow beat me to it.

[vsoft]

Has anyone tried a modified ultra66 card with the latest (1.20) bios for the Fastrak?? for some reason this bios will not do mirroring (RAID 1) with the ultra66, however it does work fine with a proper Fastrak66 card (I have both). Any ideas.

FWIW, I did the 100ohm resistor to ground mod, I was brave enough to remove the bios chip!! Anyone know what the chip is?

Thanks!!

[Mntsnow]

The 1.14 bios works just fine. I will dig it out and email it to ya scott. (first thing tomorrow unless someone else sends it first)

Mntsnow

[bdog]

I have the 114 bios and flashing utility at www.gesc.ttu.edu/pub (http://www.gesc.ttu.edu/pub) Feel free to download it from there or link to it if you wish.

[Mntsnow]

LOL...I KNEW you would answer Bdog! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Scott I wont be sending the files now!

Mntsnow

[SysOpt]

ok http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[bdog]

haha beat you Mntsnow http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[SysOpt]

If that's the case, if someone could email me the last known working BIOS version I'll put it on our server and link to it in bdog's article.

Scott