SiL 3114 Driver causes BSOD

[Vimeous]

Last night I made a fundamental error when updating my PC using Microsoft Windows Update.

After fully updating my Win 2k SP4 I noticed there was a new WHQL certified hardware driver available for the SiI 3114 controller. It was listed as the latest driver for RAID5. (Silicon Image 3114 is the additional SATA controller on my motherboard)

Unthinkingly I initiated the download and installed the driver. As it suggested I rebooted the system.

Now the PC crashes to blue screen after loading mup.sys during the Windows boot process. The error implies I have the wrong driver for SATA controller card I am using.

This is sadly true. My PC is configured with two 160Gb SATA discs attached to the SiI 3114 controller. These are in JBOD and not RAID5 configuration (my error was to install the RAID5 driver).

What I feel I need to do is get access to the windows directory of the primary boot disc and change the driver it is using.

To do this I have tried:
1. Safe mode. Crashes in the same place as during the standard boot process.
2. ERD Commander 2003. It should allow me to at least access the disc but it cannot see the primary partition on the boot hard disc (other partitions on the same disc and on the second hard disc are visible).
3. Partition Magic 8. This was simply to make sure the partitions still exisited and indeed all is happy there.

I would hugely appreciate any help that can be offered here.
I have not yet removed the hard disc and tried to access it as a slave drive in another machine. This is certainly an option but if successfully does anyone know what files I would have to alter in the windows install (and in the registry) in order to revert back to a driver that supports JBOD configurations?
I have also not altered the BIOS because the error I am receiving and my knowledge of my mistake leads me to think it is not a BIOS problem.
I also have not tried to repair the windows install using the recovery console by booting from the Win 2k installation disk. Again at present I don't see is this would help.

One possibility I can think of is as follows:
1. Put the latest SiI 3114 drivers on a floppy disc/CD.
2. Boot the PC from the Windows CD selecting option F6 to add hard disc controller drivers.
3. Select the drivers from stage 1 above.
However I do not know if this will write the drivers over the current install without replacing the current install of the operating system already on the disc. Clearly a full reinstall is something I want to avoid as I have upwards of 50 different programs with their own settings and configurations that would need to be dealt with from scratch.

Any and all advice is appreciated. I just hope someone here knows what to do!

Thanks in advance,

Vimeous

P.s.
System spec is as for system 1 in my siggie

[Moby-Dick]

Rolling back the driver isn't going to be easy - even if you can get to the boot partition - have you tried a PE disk ( barts PE / UBCD4Win etc. ) ?

[Moby-Dick]

have you tried last known good config ?

[Vimeous]

You know something I've not tried Last Known Good Configuration, it bypassed my mind completely! (blind panic and dispair often does that) Definitely goes to the top of my 'things to try' list.
I've also not tried a PE disk. I'll investigate that option as well.

Thanks for that

Any other brainwaves out there?

[Moby-Dick]

wish that you had restore points ?

the only problem I can think with a PE disk is that you'll need one with the right SATA drivers on it.

[herulach]

It might be worth trying teh repair install option, in my experience you keep most programs on there.

Suppose its a good reason to keep a ghost around though eh?

[Vimeous]

Ghost is fine if you can afford to Ghost gigabytes of data! (and then store them on disc.....)
System restore points would be a boon but I've had some extremely bad experiences recently when undoing a system restore and trying to reapply it so I'm struggling to really trust it when I don't have a full backup available.

The PE disc problem is going to be difficult. The Win XP SP1/SP2 builds I have available are with different motherboards and so different hardware drivers. I'll read the build instructions and see where to go from there.

[Moby-Dick]

keep system drive small and you can fit it on a DVD or two

[Vimeous]

Why do I feel I need to borrow the tape drive from work!

[Vimeous]

Ok my appologies to all younger people here in case you've no idea what I mean but .....

I'm flabbergasted!

For some unknown, nay miraculous reason, Last Known Good Configuration actually worked!!

My relief is palpable.
My weekend saved.
My boot partition in for some detailed archive and backup!

Phew!



P.s.
Ta Moby for reminding me that mole hills may not, despite all cynical expectations, turn out to be mountains afterall.