So I thought I got a pretty good deal on an "OEM" Adaptec 51245 on eBay (paid $550 shipped, retails for over $1000). Little did I know this was an EVALUATION card without the eval sticker. According to a rep at Adaptec, "The problem is that this card will work fine until you try to update the firmware, as the firmware of this card has an embedded time-bomb, which will make the card defective, when the firmware is updated."
Some of you may have seen my other thread about some problems getting the full array to expand in Vista, so I decided to update my firmware. Ran the utility, did a restart, then BAM, broken. Cannot reflash. Cannot update. UN.USABLE. CARD NO LONGER WORKS. $550, GONE.
Maybe this is common knowledge, but if not I hope it saves someone else a headache...
Some of you may have seen my other thread about some problems getting the full array to expand in Vista, so I decided to update my firmware. Ran the utility, did a restart, then BAM, broken. Cannot reflash. Cannot update. UN.USABLE. CARD NO LONGER WORKS. $550, GONE.
Maybe this is common knowledge, but if not I hope it saves someone else a headache...