Classic Mac Hardware (Troubleshooting, Upgrading, & Modifying) > Storage Technologies

Firmtek 1S2 (released September 2003)

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macStuff:
https://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1s2/
https://web.archive.org/web/20050313174043/https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/FTST1S2/

https://web.archive.org/web/20040528081055/http://www.firmtek.com/news/
July 14, 2003 announced
September 17, 2003 began shipping
https://web.archive.org/web/20040827200737/http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/pr/ship/


--- Quote ---SeriTek/1S2 Macintosh Serial ATA Adapter Now Shipping
FirmTek Announces the Immediate Availability of the World's First Serial ATA Host Adapter for the Macintosh
UNION CITY, CA (September 17, 2003) -- FirmTek, LLC, pioneer of the world's first Macintosh™ Parallel ATA/EIDE host adapter solution, is pleased to announce the immediate availability of their new SeriTek/1S2 Serial ATA PCI host adapter. The SeriTek/1S2 Serial ATA host adapter provides an easy and affordable way for Power Macintosh users to take advantage of the market's latest offerings in Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) storage technologies. SeriTek/1S2 boosts overall system performance offering data transfer rates of up to 150MBytes/sec or 1.5Gbits/sec, resulting in high SCSI-like performance and data protection, without the SCSI price.

Included in the SeriTek/1S2 package is the SeriTek Serial ATA Host Adapter, a Serial ATA data interface cable with a special "L" connector on one end to ease installation in the Power Macintosh chassis, and a detailed User's Manual.

Supporting Serial ATA's longer, thinner, fully insulated cables and smaller 7-pin connectors, SeriTek/1S2 promotes simplified installation and improved airflow, resulting in a cooler Macintosh operating environment when compared to solutions using standard Parallel ATA cables. The adapter's dual-port internal host controller economically provides high performance support for up to two storage devices, while the 48-bit LBA capability assures unimpeded support for drives beyond the 137 GB limit of many host adapters. As a result, the SeriTek/1S2 is an ideal solution for graphics, publishing, broadband Internet, and multimedia intensive Macintosh applications.

The standards-based SeriTek line of Serial ATA host adapters feature fully self-contained Macintosh booting functionality, OS 8/OS 9, native OS X 10.2 and later support, and zero driver installation overhead for highly compatible plug-and-play functionality.
--- End quote ---

macStuff:
it was remarked on another thread on another forum that an earlier version of the firmtek firmware fit on 010 chip (128kb)
id liek to try to get my hands on that version to try to confirm that
it would also be in everyones best interest to attach as many different versions of the 1s2 firmware that anyone has got in this thread please
the 5.1.3 + 5.3.1 firmwares are easily obtainable im talking about other earlier versions
another idea would be for people to post and tell which version of the firmware tehy have on their actual card
because the firmware can be saved to a file
for instance system profiler will give a detail such as :

--- Quote ---Athena_3112:
Name: Seri-Tek1S2
Type: ata
Bus: PCI
Slot: SLOT-3
Manufacturer ID: 0x1095
Device ID: 0x3112
Subsystem Maker ID: 0x1095
Subsystem ID: 0x3112
ROM version: 5.0.3.L335
Version ID: 0x0002

--- End quote ---
does anyone have a mac app that is capable of saving the flash chip contents to a dump file?

macStuff:
tonight i tried to email firmtek and inquire about the 5.0.6 firmware for compatibility with early versions of osx
and i got a negative response saying that that old version of the firmware is not available
so they either dont have it on hand, or they dont wish it to be given out.

FlashUtil5.0.6.sit
is the name of the firmtek firmware update dated from February 2004

--- Quote ---Company: FirmTek, LLC
Date: February 03, 04
Subject: Procedure for upgrading the firmware using Macintosh OS 9 and OS X version 10.2 or later
Purpose: Interim Firmware Update version 5.0.6.L335
Interim Firmware Update version 5.0.6.L335 Updates:
?Ä¢ Supports OS X version 10.1.5
?Ä¢ Allows system to go to sleep when there are no drives attached to the SeriTek/1S2
?Ä¢ Fixes issue where drives would take too long to ?Äúwake-up?Äù / long delay times
?Ä¢ Fixes issue where systems would exhibit symptoms of ?Äúkernel panics?Äù and?Äù "freezes" (example: rotating beach ball) when using certain SATA drives or PATA/SATA converters which use the ?ÄúMarvell?Äù bridge chip
Notes:
?Ä¢ In the event symptoms persist after updating the firmware, please disable the system?Äôs ?ÄúPower Saving?Äù mode.
?Ä¢ This Firmware Update is not provided as a workaround to the ?Äúdeep sleep?Äù or ?Äúpreventing system to boot?Äù issues with SeriTek/1S2 installed in certain models; models with (4) PCI slots/AGP, G4 ?ÄúDigital Audio?Äù, and G4 Quicksilver with 133MHz memory bus
Flash Upgrade Procedure:
Mac OS X version 10.2 or later:
Note: Under MacOS X, it is highly recommended that the SeriTek/1S2 controller be updated with the drives removed, using a separate boot drive connected to the system motherboard.
a) Save all documents and close all applications
b) Select a boot drive which is not connected to the SeriTek/1S2 controller
c) Copy the SeriTek/1S2 Flasher Utility to the boot drive
d) Shut down and power off the system, open the case and disconnect any drives connected to the SeriTek/1S2 controller
e) Power on and boot up the system
f) Double-click on the SeriTek/1S2 Flasher Utility icon
g) Read the License Agreement carefully and choose Accept if you agree to continue updating the firmware, or Decline to abort the firmware upgrade process
h) On the Flasher Utility menu, choose the SeriTek/1S2 card(s) that you would like to update from the pull-down menu and proceed to update by clicking on the "Update Firmware" button
i) Reboot the system
Mac OS 9:
Remark: Under MacOS-9 you can safely upgrade the card even if the boot drive is connected to the SeriTek/1S2 controller. However, the mouse pointer will freeze and cannot be moved during the actual firmware update process. Once the firmware update process is completed, the mouse pointer will work as normal.
a) Save all documents and close all applications
a. Download or copy the SeriTek/1S2 Flasher Utility to the system
b) Double-click on the SeriTek/1S2 Flasher Utility icon
c) Read the License Agreement carefully and choose Accept if you agree to continue updating the firmware, or Decline to abort the firmware upgrade process
d) On the Flasher Utility menu, choose the SeriTek/1S2 card(s) that you would like to update from the pull-down menu and proceed to update by clicking on the "Update Firmware" button
e) Reboot the system
--- End quote ---

macStuff:
romfile.1s2 is 135kb as viewed on my imac 2008 that im on atm;
shows as 135.5kB on the forum attachement!


looking in hexfiend that would make it 13752 bytes too long to put on a 010/1Mbit/125kB rom
010/1Mbit rom = 125kB
020/2MBit rom = 250kB
040/4Mbit rom = 500kB

the size of the osx injected kexts:
FT_ATA_SiI3112.kext = 257kB
SiI3112DeviceNub.kext = 51kB

SDG:
There is an additional problem with the 1S2 firmware. The actual ROM does a hardware check for one of three specific 040 ROM chips on the card. If it doesn't detect one of these, it will not start.

You can hack a Wiebetech ROM to fit on a 010 ROM and work but if you want to do anything with the Firmtek firmware you are going to have to somehow hack into the actual Firmtek ROM and disable the hardware check. No one has managed that yet.

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