Abit Ab9 Pro (working Guide)

I started this thread to help anyone using this motherboard.

Here are it's Specs:

http://www2.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=AB9+Pro&fMTYPE=LGA775&pPRODINFO=Specifications&fSEARCHTEXT=AB9%20Pro

Sata Ports 1 through 6 are Intel  ICH8R.

Sata Ports 8 and 9 are JMicron JMB 363.

Sata Ports 7 and eSata 1 are Silicon Image 3132

2 Onbaord NICs - Realtek RTL8168- 10/100/1000 LAN

First thing you wanna do after installing the motherboard is to upgrade the BIOS (DUN DUN DUN!)

Here is how to do it using a Windows XP machine to make a USB flash disk.

*In Windows XP turn on "Show operating system files" and "Show hidden and system files". Google it if your unsure.*

1)Go to the below link and follow the directions for USB bootdisk.

http://www.techpowerup.com/printarticle.php?id=34

7)You now have a bootable USB Flash Drive.

8)In the Abit Bios Zip file should be 5 files. Copy all 5 of those files onto the USB Flash Drive.(AB9_21.BIN , ABITFAE.BAT , AWDFLASH.EXE , RUNME.BAT, and a text file)

9)Safely eject the USB from the XP system. Plug the Bootable USB Drive with the Bios files into the back of your machines USB port (Don't use a front connector, less reliable)

10)Boot up the Machine and hit the Delete key until you get into your bios settings.

11)Read the Abit Manual and browse your bios setting so that your USB stick is your first boot device.(google it) I had to set mine to USB-Zip.

12)press F10 Save and exit bios.

13)Machine should reboot and after a bit you should be at a command prompt.

14)In the command Prompt type dir. It should show you the runme.bat awdflash etc files listed.

15)at command prompt C:\ type runme.bat

16)Hit enter to Cut through all the WARNING ABOUT TO FLASH DRIVE!!!!!!! Prompts until you get the FINAL warning that you are about to flash the BIOS.

17)Phone the Power Utility and warn them about the BIOS flash and that you need them to maintain power to your home for at least 5 minutes.

18)At this point you should be holding your breath, guarding the power plug, circuit breaker and locking the door to the room your working in. DON'T LET THE BIOS FLASHING BE INTERUPTED!

19)Flash it. It wants it.

20) When its done, shutdown the machine. Unplug the USB Boot Drive. Unplug the computer. Read your Abit manual and follow its steps to clear the CMOS.

21)Startup the machine and hit "delete" again to get into the BIOS. Disable everything you don't need (onboard sound, firewire, floppy etc etc)

22)Plug in your unraid USB, Exit and Save your settings in the bios,Boot up your Unraid server.

Any other questions regarding this motherboard please ask.

Mark

As of Unraid 4.2.1 The Jmicron Sata ports (8 and 9 onboard) aren't working correctly and the Realtek onboard NICs have bad performance. I am getting an Intel PRO/1000 Pt Gigabit Network Adapter PCI Express X1 card today. I will let everyone know how it goes.

Do the Sil3132 ports work in UnRAID?

Do the Sil3132 ports work in UnRAID?

The Sil3132 chipset is well supported, used by a number of users, myself included through a very cheap addon card.  It provides 2 fast SATA II ports now, and with the next or following release of the kernel, will provide port multiplier support, giving you 10 SATA 2 connectors from 1 cheap Sil3132 card and 2 PMP adapters.

I personally would recommend waiting for the second release of PMP support, let others guinea-pig it.  Of course, the disclaimers about being bottlenecked on one bus will apply, similar to the complaints about PCI, except that this one is faster, perhaps double? or triple the speed.  It will be interesting to get good throughput reports, especially for simultaneous access.

The PMP portion is what I was interested in hearing about.  I shouldn't have any trouble waiting.  I have several months worth of storage left on my current server, I'm just really wanting to give this a try outside of my VM.

I'm curious about the SATA ports.

The board is listed with 9 SATA ports, but I noticed there was an external SATA port on the back

(or am I mistaken)

Is it shared with one of the internal ports?

The eSata Port and Sata Port 7 are on the Silicon Image Chipset. It says in my original post.

I've also had success with an Intel Pro 100/1000 Gigabit PCI-e card. Speeds are as good as Unraid is capable of.

I noticed my Fry's has a boatload of refurbished AB9 Pro's for $40 each. I was sorely tempted to roll the dice and try one, but they were out of stock on the $50 core 2's and I didn't want to have to jump up to the $120 one.

$120 and your future proofed.

I'm wanting to purchase a 1.5TB drive. And browsiing around I noticed people talking about getting an SATA card that 'supports 1.5TB'. So, now I'm wondering if the ABIT AB9 Pro supports 1.5TB, and if I need to use specific SATA ports to do so.

Any thoughts?

I'm wanting to purchase a 1.5TB drive. And browsiing around I noticed people talking about getting an SATA card that 'supports 1.5TB'. So, now I'm wondering if the ABIT AB9 Pro supports 1.5TB, and if I need to use specific SATA ports to do so.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

I have 2 1.5TB drives plugged into the onboard SATA ports without any problem.

Thanks. I'll hit the Purchase button now 

I've got a Abit AB9 working on 4.3.3.... for at least a year now. I do recall having to upgrade the BIOS and also make some BIOS changes to get the SATA ports work correctly. I still have problems with SATA port 8 as 7 works fine... I just gave up on it and bough the 8 port PCI-e card.