# sil3114 PCI and FreeBSD 9.2



## DaveQB (Feb 20, 2014)

Hi all,

I have an older system I want to set up as a backup file server. I am running FreeBSD 9.2 off a USB thumbdrive. The mobo mainboard only has 2 SATA ports, so I need a SATA card to fit the disks required. I have tried 2 sil3114 PCI cards. Both with the below results:

On the boot up screen, the BTX Boot loader screen, all the disks show up as attached. But once into the OS, `camcontrol devlist` does not show the disks attached to the sil3114 PCI SATA card. I tried a VIA SATA card and it worked fine (work meaning showed the disks attached with `camcontrol devlist`).

I am pretty new to BSD but got over 10 years experience with Linux.

Thanks for any input on this matter.


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## SirDice (Feb 20, 2014)

You probably have to load siis(4), it's not loaded by default.


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## DaveQB (Feb 20, 2014)

Ahh thank you. I thought it might be a kernel module thing and the fact this is an old card.

I'll go try that.
Thanks!


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## SirDice (Feb 20, 2014)

I'm not entirely sure this exact model is supported but I've had several SATA cards based on a similar silXXX chipset and they all used siis(4).


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## DaveQB (Feb 20, 2014)

SirDice said:
			
		

> I'm not entirely sure this exact model is supported but I've had several SATA cards based on a similar silXXX chipset and they all used siis(4).



Thanks. Booting up this old system now.

I did do some searching for sil3114 and FreeBSD and everyone seemed to have it working without issue. Didn't find reference to siis.
I'm sure it will work; seems like assumed knowledge.


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## DaveQB (Feb 20, 2014)

Hmm didn't work 

Said file exists in KLD kernel.

Thanks though.


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## wblock@ (Feb 20, 2014)

siis(4) does not list the 3114.  It is listed in ata(4).

The 3114 is not well-regarded.  I would update to the latest firmware from the SI website, preferably a non-RAID version if they have one for that card.


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## ralphbsz (Feb 20, 2014)

I tried using an SII 2-port SATA card once, with FreeBSD 9.0.  Didn't want to work.  Instead of playing with kernel modules and fighting the card and its firmware, I grabbed another SATA card (this one with the VIA 6421 chip) from the pile, and that second card has worked excellently ever since.  Interesting coincidence: I found the SII card two days ago, in the pile of spare cards, when looking for any spare mini-PCIe wireless cards.  It had a sticker on it saying "doesn't work with FreeBSD", so I tossed it into the electronics recycling bin.


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## SirDice (Feb 21, 2014)

It can sometimes be somewhat of a hit and miss. I've had to try a few SATA cards before finding one that worked without problems. Looking through the man pages and looking for specific models helps. But you still might get some new variant of a chipset that isn't fully working. Luckily I've always been able to return the non-working cards.


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## DaveQB (Feb 21, 2014)

Thanks guys.

How annoying. I have a number of of PCI SATA cards floating around the garage. Two of which are using this chipset. The others only have 2 SATA ports and I need 3, hence why I want to get one of these cards working.

This is disappointing. I might throw Debian on this system instead so save the hassle.


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