Readme file for HPT370/370A/372 ATA RAID Controller
BIOS, Device Drivers and RAID Management Software

Copyright (C) 2001 HighPoint Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Last updated on Dec 26, 2001

Please review this file for important information about compatibility issues and 
differences in operation that were discovered after our product manuals were 
created. In case of conflict among various parts of the documentation set, this 
file contains the most current information.

Note: The latest firmware and product documentation will be available for 
download at http://www.highpoint-tech.com

This file is divided into the following major sections:

1. Software Version
2. Files Listing
3. Revision History
4. BIOS Update
5. Known Problems

1. Software Version
====================

    BIOS version: v2.3
    Driver version: v2.3
    ATA RAID Management Software version: v2.3
    
    Operating Systems:
       Windows 98/ME
       Windows NT 4.0
       Windows 2000
       Windows XP

    GUI Compatibility:
       Driver/BIOS v2.3 can be used with GUI v2.0/v2.1 if you do not use any
       of the following new features:
          1. Larger block size (above 64K)
          2. Multi-controller support
       Otherwise, you must use GUI v2.3 or later.

2. Files Listing
=================
    Readme.txt                  This file
    BIOS
     |_ load.exe                BIOS loading utility
     \_ biosv23.372             HPT370/370A/372 controller BIOS
    Drivers                     Driver disk
     |- win98_me                Windows 98/ME driver
     |  |_ hpt3xx.inf
     |  |_ hpt3xx.mpd
     |  |_ hpt3xx.vxd
     |  \_ hptwrap.vxd
     |- win_nt                  Windows NT 4.0 driver
     |  |_ hpt3xx.inf
     |  \_ hpt3xx.sys
     |- win_2k                  Windows 2000 driver
     |  |_ hpt3xx.inf
     |  |_ hpt3xx.cat
     |  |_ hpt3xx.sys
     |  \_ hptpro.sys
     |- win_xp                  Windows XP driver
     |  |_ hpt3xx.inf
     |  |_ hpt3xx.cat
     |  |_ hpt3xx.sys
     |  \_ hptpro.sys
     |- disk1                   Driver disk label
     \_ txtsetup.oem            Windows NT/2k/XP setup file


3. Revision History
====================

   v2.3  12/20/2001
         * Add support for stripe size 128K-2M
         * Support multi controller
         * Modify driver for HPT370/370A compatibility
         * Fix reading ATA/133 disk error when PCI clock is lower than 33MHz
         * Fix compatibility problem with Intel IAA driver under Windows ME
         * Fix BIOS compatibility issue with MSI845 mainboard

   v2.2  12/08/2001

         * Performance improved
         * Fix GUI re-open bug when rebuilding an array
         
   v2.1  11/15/2001
         
         * Add 48bit LBA (Big Drive) support
         * Fix BIOS display problem on S3 display adapter
         * Fix BIOS BBS support
         * Fix Windows ME hibernating problem
  

4. BIOS Update
===============

  To update BIOS for onboard HPT370/370A/372 controller, please refer to your
  mainboard manual or contact the hardware vendor for updating BIOS.
    
  To update BIOS for HPT370/370A/372 adapter, you can use HighPoint BIOS loading
  utility.
    

5. Known Problems
==================

  * Install OS to devices attached to HPT370/370A/372 controller

    Before installing OS to devices attached to HPT370/370A/372 controller, you must
    remove the drives connected to other controllers from your system temporarily.
    After OS installation complete, you can put them back.
    
  * Windows XP upgrade installation
  
    When doing an upgrade installation of Windows XP with HPT370/370A/372 controller,
    Windows XP will use HPT370 driver in its driver package and prevent user to 
    specify a new driver. To solve this problem you can do the upgrade as below:
    
    1. Run XP upgrade program in a running system.
    2. When setup finished copying files and ask reboot, DO NOT reboot.
    3. Open WinXP temporary installation folder ($WIN_NT$.~BT)  and search for 
       txtsetup.sif file.
    4. Open txtsetup.sif with Notepad, remove the line "hpt3xx=hpt3xx.sys,4" 
       under section [scsi.load] by adding a semicolon before that line. 
    5. Save the file and reboot.
    6. Start XP setup as normal. When setup prompt "Press F6 to add SCSI driver",
       press F6 and specify the new driver to be loaded.
       
    This method may still have problem on some systems (e.g. system with multi
    HPT370/370A/372 controllers). Windows XP will copy the built-in HPT370 driver to
    the final Windows installation's System32\Drivers directory during text-mode
    setup. To use the new driver, you must replace the old one before you continue
    into graphic-mode setup. This can be done by booting from a DOS floppy if you
    use FAT or FAT32 file system; if you use NTFS file system, you have to use
    some other mothod to replace the built-in driver.
    
    There are more information about this issue on Microsoft support site:
       http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q225125
       http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q220845

  * Moving disks to other IDE controllers

    When you want to use disks previously attached to HPT370/370A/372 controller on
    other IDE controllers, please first delete any array information on the 
    disks. Otherwise your data may be lost when you want to put it back later.

  * Rescaning disks

    There is a limitation for the refresh function in RAID Management Software.
    If you remove a disk from the controller but the software does not notice this
    event, it is also unable to notice the event when you plug another disk back
    to that location. You must force a refresh action before changing the disk.