Using IDE3 in non-RAID setup

Question

Hi
I have a few questions regarding my setup which I hope some users who have or have had the same configuration can answer for me?  I know that this post may turn out to be a bit long but I really would appreciate some help and answers from users who have been down this road please.
System:
MSI 875P Neo FIS2R (no overclocking)
Intel 2.40C Ghz P4 (800Mhz)
BIOS 1.7
Nvidia FX5200 AGP 8x
LG CDRW on IDE1 (Master)
LG DVD on IDE1 (Slave)
IDE2 - Nothing installed
Maxtor 20GB ATA133 on IDE3 (Master - Non-RAID)
Maxtor 80GB ATA133 on IDE3 (Slave)
With thanks to "mdc007", I have just setup my two Maxtor drives which were previously installed on IDE1, on IDE3 as master and slave, using the following method:
Enabled Promise controller in BIOS, setup Promise IDE "as S-ATA", boot into XP, install S-ATA drivers from Device Manager and reboot.  Made sure drivers were installed.  Turned off computerm connected Maxtor hard drives to IDE3 and turn on computer.  enter BIOS and select Maxtor master drive as first boot device and then F10 to save and exit.
Everything worked just fine but I noticed on the POST screen that I had 1st IDE master/slave (CDRW/DVD), 2nd IDE master/slave (not installed), 3rd IDE master/slave (not installed), 4th IDE master/slave.
The drives on IDE3 are shown in Device Manager and I have a SCSI RAID Promise 378 S-ATA in Device Manager.  The drives also appear to be opering correctly in XP.
Q:  As my hard drives are on IDE3, why are they not shown on the POST screen?
(Note - both drives were shown on the next screen with UDMA6)
Q:  Also in the mainboard BIOS, the drives are not shown connected to IDE3.  Why?  I tried choosing "AUTO" but that made no difference.
Q:  With reference to the HDD LED, I was aware that the LED did not work with S-ATA drives on the Promise Controller at the moment but, although the HDD LED is on during POST, it shows no activity when booting into to XP or once on the desktop.  Is this correct?
Q:  With reference to the Intel IAA and IAA RAID latest software versions, I tried installing these and got a message which said something like "no compatible devices - software not supported on this chipset".  Has anyone got this software to install or am I installing the incorrect version?
Q:  I downloaded the correct version of IAA and I can't understand why it won't install so, which chipset is the message referring to?
Q:  I have seen mention of the Intel 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controller, which my 875P has, and also the Intel 82801ER.  Which board has the 82801ER?
Q:  With reference to the "On chip ATA(s) Operate Mode" in the BIOS, with my setup as shown above, I would appreciate advice from users who have this setup working ok, about which options are best to enable/disable in this area:
* Mode:  Legacy or Native?
* ATA Configuration:  Disabled/P-ATA only/S-ATA only/P-ATA + S-ATA/Both
* S-ATA Keep  enabled: Yes/No
* P-ATA Keep enabled:  Yes/No?
* P-ATA Channel Selection:  Primary/Secondary/Both?
* Combined Mode Option:  P-ATA 1st Channel/S-ATA st Channel?
  (this option depends on what other options you have choen above)
* S-ATA Ports Definition:  PO-1st / P1-2nd - PO-2nd / P1-1st
                                      PO-3rd / P1-4th - PO-4th / P1-3rd
  (this option also depends on what other options you have chsoen above)
Q:  With reference to PNP/PNP Configuration Option in the BIOS, with my new setup, should PCI IDE Bus Mastering be enabled?
BTW, about an hour after running my drives from IDE, I attempted to install the new drivers for the WinXP Promise SATA378 IDE Controller (from v1.00.16 to v1.00.29) and after reboot, the pc just kept rebooting and i had to choose "last known good configuration" and then once in windows, I got my first 'blue screen' with a message something like "IRQ less or equal to" etc, etc.  Don't know if that relevant or not?
Regards

Answer 1

To answer a few of your questions,
Reason you can't see the devices on the Promise controller in the Bios is because the Promise controller has its own separate Bios(that's the one you get into by hitting control-F. The only link the main Bios has to it is the 1 setting(disabled, SATA, Raid). Also, you'll see the Promise devices listed in the boot devices setting although with unusual prefixes like "BBS Device 0" or something like that.
Note that the 1st-4th channels listed in the standard Cmos Features are for the Intel controller only(IE: 2IDE channels + 2SATA channels)
I know that the HDD light DOES NOT work for ANY SATA devices. I haven't used my IDE3 yet but it sounds like it doesn't work for that either. As far as I know, there is no work-around for this. Unbelievable, isn't it?
For your setup:
Native Mode for WinXP
Pata Only (you're not using the SATA's)
Keep SATA enabled: Yes(only if you are overclocking and can't lock AGP/PCI frequency. Don't know why, but this has worked for many of us.)
Pata enabled should be greyed out with above settings.
Pata channels: Just primary if that's all you're using but "both" would work too.
Combined Mode: greyed out
SATA ports def: greyed out or leave default.
Not 100% sure on your other questions but I think IAA is not required on this board and IAA-Raid version will only install if you have the controller configured for Raid in the Bios. I don't think you need either with your setup. I don't have either installed atm.
I'm not sure of the difference between the 82801EB & ER but device manager lists all the 82801EB devices for me and everything seems fine.
Hope that helps out a little.
Didn't see Danny's post above when I wrote this but I pretty much agree with everything. I have Bus Mastering on but only because it sounded like a good thing   and everything seems fine with it on. (I think I read somewhere that it speed up data transfers when you're running in DOS-IE: Booting Ghost or Drive Image etc off the CD/Floppy). Never really tested though.