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#31
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ESATA box doesn't work??
Pavel "Pavel A." wrote in message ... Anna, thanks you for the reply. My answers inline - P. "Pavel A." wrote in message ... I've bought an ESATA + USB disk dock by Sedna http://www.sednacomputer.com/products/se-ehd-03.html and it does not work with my desktop PC ( Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H board with built-in ESATA connector, XP SP3). It works almost well with a new Dell laptop which also has a buil-in ESATA port. ( However, even in the laptop, the disk is detected only after manually scanning for new devices in dev. manager) With the desktop, the ext. disk is detected - also after manually scanning for new devices in dev. manager - but then it does not show up in the disk manager, and several seconds later disappears from device manager. Two internal SATA disks in this machine work well. I have not installed any special SATA drivers besides of the mobo drivers package. In BIOS, SATA is set to legacy mode. So what could be wrong with this mobo? Any adivce will be appreciated. -- pa "Anna" wrote in message ... Pavel A. Actually it doesn't sound to me as if there's anything wrong with the Gigabyte MB with the possible exception of its eSATA port. (And I've yet to come across a motherboard where its eSATA port was a defective component. But it's possible, of course). Conceivable you might be dealing with a defective external SATA dock, no? "Pavel A." wrote Not likely, because the same dock, disk and cable work well with another computer (the Dell laptop). But I forgot to mention that the Dell has Vista SP2. "Anna" wrote in message... You have indicated that there's no device recognition problem affecting your internally-connected SATA HDDs, right? "Pavel A." wrote Yes. "Anna" wrote in message... Assuming you have a SATA data cable that has the eSATA connector on one end and a "normal" SATA connector on the other end... "Pavel A." wrote No, the cable is eSATA to eSATA. The GB mobo has eSATA connector. I don't have eSATA to SATA cables. "Anna" wrote in message... When you connect the enclosure to the eSATA port on your Dell laptop, power-on the device and boot, are you indicating there's a device recognition problem with that laptop? That the device is not recognized until you "Scan for hardware changes" in Device Manager? "Pavel A." wrote Right. Neither connection or removal are auto detected. This is a bit surprising, as the dock spec says "plug and play", the laptop is new, and it has Vista. However, after being detected, it works well. "Anna" wrote in message... Or are you indicating that this problem *only* arises if the device is *not* powered-on at bootup, and following the boot you power-on the device? If it's the latter situation, that's not unusual for an Intel-based system involving an eSATA (or SATA) external HDD in an XP OS environment. "Pavel A." wrote I tried also to boot the desktop with the eSATA connected. Same behavior. "Anna" wrote in message... But (with reference to your desktop machine)...once the drive is detected in Device Manager there should be no further problem. But you've indicated that even *after* device recognition in DM, the external SATA HDD "disappears" from the system, right? And, of course, it's not listed in Disk Management, right? That's what you're indicating, yes? "Pavel A." wrote Yes. And lot of disk errors and timeout messages in the eventlog. "Anna" wrote in message... Have you tried different HDDs in the enclosure? Both 2 1/2" & 3 1/2"? Same problem? "Pavel A." wrote Two 3.5" disks: WD 1 TB and older Seagate 160 GB. Almost same behavior; the new WD stays in dev. manages a bit longer. "Anna" wrote in message... Until now I've never heard of this Sedna product. Apparently it's not a device marketed here in the U.S. Have you consulted the device's manufacturer about this problem? "Pavel A." wrote Not yet; I'm now suspecting the mobo ESATA port, but you're saying that it is unlikely to go bad... Will try to find another ESATA disk. Thanks again and regards, Pavel Anna wrote: Pavel... It's hard to escape the conclusion that it's the SATA dock that's the problem. It's surely worth exploring with the device's manufacturer. While like anything else involving a PC component it's possible that the motherboard's eSATA port is defective and that's causing the problem(s) you're experiencing. The reason I'm doubtful about that is because I'm hard-pressed to think of a single incident where I experienced a defective motherboard's eSATA port (as the *only* defect involving a particular motherboard), and I've worked with a fair number of MBs equipped with that type of port. I realize the SATA data cable that was included with your SATA dock would obviously have eSATA connectors on each end of the cable, but I was hoping you had available a SATA-eSATA data cable which would allow you to bypass the motherboard's eSATA port & *directly* connect the dock to one of the motherboard's SATA connectors. So you could diagnose whether the problem was, in fact, with the motherboard's eSATA port. I don't understand your final comment re "Will try to find another ESATA disk." Incidentally, I've worked with two different models of that type of external SATA dock (apparently similar to your Sedna product) - a Thermaltake & Vantec, both of which performed flawlessly. Anna "Pavel A." wrote in message ... Anna, How I can prove to the vendor that the dock is defective, as you suspect? What I've seen is just the contrary - the dock works with another machine, so I would like to test my eSATA port on the mobo with another eSATA device, _OR_ , as you advice, find a SATA to eSATA converter. ( Still can't find either. I no longer work for a big corp, where you could find all sorts of hardware... ) This vendor sells also Thermaltake, so I'd try to exchange the Sedna. Thanks again Pavel... As Shenan has inferred, the device is functioning erratically, or so it seems. The fact that the device (apparently) works in one PC and not in another (although there's no problems with the PCs themselves other than the problem under discussion) is *not* an indication that the device is non-defective. We experience time & time again external enclosures (or flash drive devices) that work fine in one machine but not in others. To be sure, most of the time these involve USB-connected devices and not SATA-eSATA devices. As far as we're concerned a device that performs erratically is a *defective* device. As I previously indicated I've never worked with this Sedna product nor have ever heard of this make before you mentioned it. My advice would be exchange it for the Thermaltake product if you can do so. The Thermaltake dock I worked with was their model ST0005U. While I used that device for only a short time (it belonged to a customer), it performed without any problems both with respect to 2 1/2" & 3 1/2" drives. If you're still uncomfortable with the idea of exchanging the device for another brand or returning it for refund and you want to bypass your motherboard's eSATA port (as we've discussed), see... http://www.satacables.com/html/sata_...al_cables.html http://www.cooldrives.com/sata-cable...-external.html for SATA data cables having a SATA connector on one end and a eSATA connector on the other end. Note these are not "converters". I'm sure there are other online vendors for this type of cable. Anna |
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#32
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ESATA box doesn't work??
It seems that all pieces of the puzzle are now fit...
After becoming confident that it won't work as is, I've set SATA to native mode in the BIOS. The Award BIOS on my GB mobo has two separate settings: SATA ACHI mode enable and SATA Port 0-1 Native mode. Both set to enabled. Then BIOS displayes a new bunch of Intel SATA something messages, and when XP started, all ICH9 SATA controllers and ports disappeared from device manager! instead, it found one new device VEN_8086&DEV_2923 ( and I thanked myself for installing Windows on a PATA disk Well, let the wizard to go and connect to Windows update... not found! Looked on the mobo CD - not found... Then, Google turned on this page: How to enable AHCI on Intel ICH9 under XP http://www.wincert.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2318 I've followed these directions, with the exception that I used the Intel Matrix setup file, iata_cd.exe, from my mobo CD - it is newer than the version described in the article; it knows models up to DEV_2922, which is already ICH-9R. So I've replaced 2922 to my id (2923) in iaahci.inf, installed it via dev.manager, and the SATA controller come up and it detected the ESATA disk. Cudos to Zagreb, Croatia! But this wasn't the end. Very soon, the disk drive again started to "behave", eventually it dropped from the dev.manager, with same timeout errors in eventlog as before. Then I've rebooted the machine with the ESATA dock powered on, and after couple of reboots the disk is reliably detected, and "hot plug" works too - though my WinXP won't detect the eSATA disk as removable, no"safely remove" icon, etc. Also it seems that the disk needs to be introduced to each user account: after logging on as my normal non-admin account (for internet browsing), the sata errors come back and this took another reboot. But once the disk is detected by the volume manager and mounted, there's no more device or controller errors. So, now my feeling is that the problem lies either in the Intel's driver (iastor.sys) or in the BIOS; the hardware is probably good. As noted in the above artice, hacking the Intel RAID driver is a suspicious idea - but I had no other choice, the driver is not available from Windows Update and hasn't been installed with the mobo INF package. And the last note ... Sedna support has not answered my email. Perhaps this is where they've cut their expences Thanks again for your advices and for reading. I'd be grateful for any comments - does anybody have a "standalone" ICH9 SATA driver not bundled with the Intel Matrix/RAID software? How to test that the disk is well and happy? Other tips for using eSATA docks like this one? --pa |
#33
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ESATA box doesn't work??
It seems that all pieces of the puzzle are now fit...
After becoming confident that it won't work as is, I've set SATA to native mode in the BIOS. The Award BIOS on my GB mobo has two separate settings: SATA ACHI mode enable and SATA Port 0-1 Native mode. Both set to enabled. Then BIOS displayes a new bunch of Intel SATA something messages, and when XP started, all ICH9 SATA controllers and ports disappeared from device manager! instead, it found one new device VEN_8086&DEV_2923 ( and I thanked myself for installing Windows on a PATA disk Well, let the wizard to go and connect to Windows update... not found! Looked on the mobo CD - not found... Then, Google turned on this page: How to enable AHCI on Intel ICH9 under XP http://www.wincert.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2318 I've followed these directions, with the exception that I used the Intel Matrix setup file, iata_cd.exe, from my mobo CD - it is newer than the version described in the article; it knows models up to DEV_2922, which is already ICH-9R. So I've replaced 2922 to my id (2923) in iaahci.inf, installed it via dev.manager, and the SATA controller come up and it detected the ESATA disk. Cudos to Zagreb, Croatia! But this wasn't the end. Very soon, the disk drive again started to "behave", eventually it dropped from the dev.manager, with same timeout errors in eventlog as before. Then I've rebooted the machine with the ESATA dock powered on, and after couple of reboots the disk is reliably detected, and "hot plug" works too - though my WinXP won't detect the eSATA disk as removable, no"safely remove" icon, etc. Also it seems that the disk needs to be introduced to each user account: after logging on as my normal non-admin account (for internet browsing), the sata errors come back and this took another reboot. But once the disk is detected by the volume manager and mounted, there's no more device or controller errors. So, now my feeling is that the problem lies either in the Intel's driver (iastor.sys) or in the BIOS; the hardware is probably good. As noted in the above artice, hacking the Intel RAID driver is a suspicious idea - but I had no other choice, the driver is not available from Windows Update and hasn't been installed with the mobo INF package. And the last note ... Sedna support has not answered my email. Perhaps this is where they've cut their expences Thanks again for your advices and for reading. I'd be grateful for any comments - does anybody have a "standalone" ICH9 SATA driver not bundled with the Intel Matrix/RAID software? How to test that the disk is well and happy? Other tips for using eSATA docks like this one? --pa |
#34
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ESATA box doesn't work??
Pavel A. wrote:
It seems that all pieces of the puzzle are now fit... After becoming confident that it won't work as is, I've set SATA to native mode in the BIOS. The Award BIOS on my GB mobo has two separate settings: SATA ACHI mode enable and SATA Port 0-1 Native mode. Both set to enabled. Then BIOS displayes a new bunch of Intel SATA something messages, and when XP started, all ICH9 SATA controllers and ports disappeared from device manager! instead, it found one new device VEN_8086&DEV_2923 ( and I thanked myself for installing Windows on a PATA disk Well, let the wizard to go and connect to Windows update... not found! Looked on the mobo CD - not found... Then, Google turned on this page: How to enable AHCI on Intel ICH9 under XP http://www.wincert.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2318 I've followed these directions, with the exception that I used the Intel Matrix setup file, iata_cd.exe, from my mobo CD - it is newer than the version described in the article; it knows models up to DEV_2922, which is already ICH-9R. So I've replaced 2922 to my id (2923) in iaahci.inf, installed it via dev.manager, and the SATA controller come up and it detected the ESATA disk. Cudos to Zagreb, Croatia! But this wasn't the end. Very soon, the disk drive again started to "behave", eventually it dropped from the dev.manager, with same timeout errors in eventlog as before. Then I've rebooted the machine with the ESATA dock powered on, and after couple of reboots the disk is reliably detected, and "hot plug" works too - though my WinXP won't detect the eSATA disk as removable, no"safely remove" icon, etc. Also it seems that the disk needs to be introduced to each user account: after logging on as my normal non-admin account (for internet browsing), the sata errors come back and this took another reboot. But once the disk is detected by the volume manager and mounted, there's no more device or controller errors. So, now my feeling is that the problem lies either in the Intel's driver (iastor.sys) or in the BIOS; the hardware is probably good. As noted in the above artice, hacking the Intel RAID driver is a suspicious idea - but I had no other choice, the driver is not available from Windows Update and hasn't been installed with the mobo INF package. And the last note ... Sedna support has not answered my email. Perhaps this is where they've cut their expences Thanks again for your advices and for reading. I'd be grateful for any comments - does anybody have a "standalone" ICH9 SATA driver not bundled with the Intel Matrix/RAID software? How to test that the disk is well and happy? Other tips for using eSATA docks like this one? --pa If you installed in AHCI mode from the very first day, the experience would have been smoother. You can find AHCI/RAID F6 drivers for Intel chipsets. You put these on a floppy and press F6 during the WinXP install onto an Intel chipset. A motherboard install CD may include a "MakeDisk" utility, to prepare this floppy. iaahci.cat iaachi.inf iastor.cat isstor.inf iaStor.sys TXTSETUP.OEM Also, if you had plugged in a separate controller card, that would have isolated the driver issues as well. Some motherboards drive the ESATA port from a separate chip on the motherboard, which again, separates the Intel driver issue, from the ESATA driver issue. A motherboard that drives ESATA from the main chipset, complicates matters. Paul |
#35
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ESATA box doesn't work??
"Pavel A." wrote in message ... It seems that all pieces of the puzzle are now fit... After becoming confident that it won't work as is, I've set SATA to native mode in the BIOS. The Award BIOS on my GB mobo has two separate settings: SATA ACHI mode enable and SATA Port 0-1 Native mode. Both set to enabled. Then BIOS displayes a new bunch of Intel SATA something messages, and when XP started, all ICH9 SATA controllers and ports disappeared from device manager! instead, it found one new device VEN_8086&DEV_2923 ( and I thanked myself for installing Windows on a PATA disk Well, let the wizard to go and connect to Windows update... not found! Looked on the mobo CD - not found... Then, Google turned on this page: How to enable AHCI on Intel ICH9 under XP http://www.wincert.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2318 I've followed these directions, with the exception that I used the Intel Matrix setup file, iata_cd.exe, from my mobo CD - it is newer than the version described in the article; it knows models up to DEV_2922, which is already ICH-9R. So I've replaced 2922 to my id (2923) in iaahci.inf, installed it via dev.manager, and the SATA controller come up and it detected the ESATA disk. Cudos to Zagreb, Croatia! But this wasn't the end. Very soon, the disk drive again started to "behave", eventually it dropped from the dev.manager, with same timeout errors in eventlog as before. Then I've rebooted the machine with the ESATA dock powered on, and after couple of reboots the disk is reliably detected, and "hot plug" works too - though my WinXP won't detect the eSATA disk as removable, no"safely remove" icon, etc. Also it seems that the disk needs to be introduced to each user account: after logging on as my normal non-admin account (for internet browsing), the sata errors come back and this took another reboot. But once the disk is detected by the volume manager and mounted, there's no more device or controller errors. So, now my feeling is that the problem lies either in the Intel's driver (iastor.sys) or in the BIOS; the hardware is probably good. As noted in the above artice, hacking the Intel RAID driver is a suspicious idea - but I had no other choice, the driver is not available from Windows Update and hasn't been installed with the mobo INF package. And the last note ... Sedna support has not answered my email. Perhaps this is where they've cut their expences Thanks again for your advices and for reading. I'd be grateful for any comments - does anybody have a "standalone" ICH9 SATA driver not bundled with the Intel Matrix/RAID software? How to test that the disk is well and happy? Other tips for using eSATA docks like this one? --pa Pavel: All I can tell you is that based upon our experience with Intel SATA Storage Controllers (in an XP OS environment) - their ICH8, ICH9, and current ICH10 & ICH10R models - we have *never* been able to set the BIOS SATA mode to AHCI without the system failing to boot. This had nothing to do with an eSATA device being connected to the system. The system would not boot when the AHCI mode was selected. No problem when the SATA mode was set to "Disabled" (the default setting re Gigabyte and other Intel-based boards we've worked with). We've never attempted any registry hacks to change this behavior and probably have no intention of doing so. In general, we've experienced no problems with eSATA-connected (external) HDD devices other than an occasional device that's simply defective. The only issue we've experienced with these devices (involving Intel-based systems) is the kind I believe I previously mentioned to you, i.e., if the device is powered-on *following* bootup of the system, it will not be recognized by the system until the "Scan for hardware changes" option is invoked in Device Manager. It's a minor annoyance but we've learned to live with it when we forget to connect/power-on the eSATA device prior to bootup. We have not experienced the same issue in a number of AMD-based systems we've worked with. Setting aside the problem you were (are?) having with that Sedna eSATA device... I believe you indicated that your boot drive was (is) a SATA HDD and that there was no problem booting to the system. I assume the motherboard's BIOS SATA mode was (is) set to "Disabled" and not AHCI under those circumstances. On the other hand perhaps you invoked that registry hack you mention whereby you were able to set the SATA mode to AHCI (rather than "Disabled") and you experienced no problem booting to your SATA HDD containing the XP OS. And somehow this also corrected the problem or problems you were experiencing with your eSATA device. But I'm not entirely clear on all this. Anna |
#36
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ESATA box doesn't work??
"Pavel A." wrote in message ... It seems that all pieces of the puzzle are now fit... After becoming confident that it won't work as is, I've set SATA to native mode in the BIOS. The Award BIOS on my GB mobo has two separate settings: SATA ACHI mode enable and SATA Port 0-1 Native mode. Both set to enabled. Then BIOS displayes a new bunch of Intel SATA something messages, and when XP started, all ICH9 SATA controllers and ports disappeared from device manager! instead, it found one new device VEN_8086&DEV_2923 ( and I thanked myself for installing Windows on a PATA disk Well, let the wizard to go and connect to Windows update... not found! Looked on the mobo CD - not found... Then, Google turned on this page: How to enable AHCI on Intel ICH9 under XP http://www.wincert.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2318 I've followed these directions, with the exception that I used the Intel Matrix setup file, iata_cd.exe, from my mobo CD - it is newer than the version described in the article; it knows models up to DEV_2922, which is already ICH-9R. So I've replaced 2922 to my id (2923) in iaahci.inf, installed it via dev.manager, and the SATA controller come up and it detected the ESATA disk. Cudos to Zagreb, Croatia! But this wasn't the end. Very soon, the disk drive again started to "behave", eventually it dropped from the dev.manager, with same timeout errors in eventlog as before. Then I've rebooted the machine with the ESATA dock powered on, and after couple of reboots the disk is reliably detected, and "hot plug" works too - though my WinXP won't detect the eSATA disk as removable, no"safely remove" icon, etc. Also it seems that the disk needs to be introduced to each user account: after logging on as my normal non-admin account (for internet browsing), the sata errors come back and this took another reboot. But once the disk is detected by the volume manager and mounted, there's no more device or controller errors. So, now my feeling is that the problem lies either in the Intel's driver (iastor.sys) or in the BIOS; the hardware is probably good. As noted in the above artice, hacking the Intel RAID driver is a suspicious idea - but I had no other choice, the driver is not available from Windows Update and hasn't been installed with the mobo INF package. And the last note ... Sedna support has not answered my email. Perhaps this is where they've cut their expences Thanks again for your advices and for reading. I'd be grateful for any comments - does anybody have a "standalone" ICH9 SATA driver not bundled with the Intel Matrix/RAID software? How to test that the disk is well and happy? Other tips for using eSATA docks like this one? --pa Pavel: All I can tell you is that based upon our experience with Intel SATA Storage Controllers (in an XP OS environment) - their ICH8, ICH9, and current ICH10 & ICH10R models - we have *never* been able to set the BIOS SATA mode to AHCI without the system failing to boot. This had nothing to do with an eSATA device being connected to the system. The system would not boot when the AHCI mode was selected. No problem when the SATA mode was set to "Disabled" (the default setting re Gigabyte and other Intel-based boards we've worked with). We've never attempted any registry hacks to change this behavior and probably have no intention of doing so. In general, we've experienced no problems with eSATA-connected (external) HDD devices other than an occasional device that's simply defective. The only issue we've experienced with these devices (involving Intel-based systems) is the kind I believe I previously mentioned to you, i.e., if the device is powered-on *following* bootup of the system, it will not be recognized by the system until the "Scan for hardware changes" option is invoked in Device Manager. It's a minor annoyance but we've learned to live with it when we forget to connect/power-on the eSATA device prior to bootup. We have not experienced the same issue in a number of AMD-based systems we've worked with. Setting aside the problem you were (are?) having with that Sedna eSATA device... I believe you indicated that your boot drive was (is) a SATA HDD and that there was no problem booting to the system. I assume the motherboard's BIOS SATA mode was (is) set to "Disabled" and not AHCI under those circumstances. On the other hand perhaps you invoked that registry hack you mention whereby you were able to set the SATA mode to AHCI (rather than "Disabled") and you experienced no problem booting to your SATA HDD containing the XP OS. And somehow this also corrected the problem or problems you were experiencing with your eSATA device. But I'm not entirely clear on all this. Anna |
#37
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ESATA box doesn't work??
"Anna" wrote in message
... ........ I believe you indicated that your boot drive was (is) a SATA HDD and that there was no problem booting to the system. No, my boot disk is PATA, it sits on a separate JMicron IDE controller outside of the ICH. So it is not affected by all these changes in SATA config. Other (data) disks are SATA. Regards, --pa |
#38
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ESATA box doesn't work??
"Anna" wrote in message
... ........ I believe you indicated that your boot drive was (is) a SATA HDD and that there was no problem booting to the system. No, my boot disk is PATA, it sits on a separate JMicron IDE controller outside of the ICH. So it is not affected by all these changes in SATA config. Other (data) disks are SATA. Regards, --pa |
#39
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ESATA box doesn't work??
"Anna" wrote in message
... ........ I believe you indicated that your boot drive was (is) a SATA HDD and that there was no problem booting to the system. "Pavel A." wrote in message ... No, my boot disk is PATA, it sits on a separate JMicron IDE controller outside of the ICH. So it is not affected by all these changes in SATA config. Other (data) disks are SATA. Regards, --pa Well that probably explains why you're able to boot the system even though you set the motherboard's BIOS SATA mode to AHCI rather than the default Disabled mode. As I indicated in my last post, our experience has been that in an XP environment (at least as it involves Intel-based systems) if the BIOS SATA mode is set to AHCI the result is an unbootable system. Naturally this involves situations where the boot drive is a SATA HDD. Anna |
#40
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ESATA box doesn't work??
"Anna" wrote in message
... ........ I believe you indicated that your boot drive was (is) a SATA HDD and that there was no problem booting to the system. "Pavel A." wrote in message ... No, my boot disk is PATA, it sits on a separate JMicron IDE controller outside of the ICH. So it is not affected by all these changes in SATA config. Other (data) disks are SATA. Regards, --pa Well that probably explains why you're able to boot the system even though you set the motherboard's BIOS SATA mode to AHCI rather than the default Disabled mode. As I indicated in my last post, our experience has been that in an XP environment (at least as it involves Intel-based systems) if the BIOS SATA mode is set to AHCI the result is an unbootable system. Naturally this involves situations where the boot drive is a SATA HDD. Anna |
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