Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATA Raid Controller

This my first post here so take it easy on me please
Here is a little of what my problem is so I hope you guys can help me

Last week my PC crashed and took out two Sata drives for some reason, after restarting I found both drives were missing, I have never had this before.

I finally bought a USB gadget and managed to use that to confirm that they were in fact working ok so at least I didn't lose any data.

After a few days of pulling my hair out I gave up and bought a cheap Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATA Raid Controller from Maplins (UK), installed it but now the device manager has a ! next to it.

I have to admit I'm not too sure what to do next, I did try to install 3rd party drivers through the XP CD setup but failed miserably.

Now I can't get the two Sata Raid/Sata Raid 2 sockets on the Mobo to do anything.

Does anyone know why I lost the two drives after the PC crash and how to get them back please or how to get the new controller card to be seen so I can use that instead of the onboard messed up Sata sockets:cry

Is this controller card any good, are they all the same, if I bought another one would it just install in XP?

Asus A8V Mobo
Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATA Raid Controller


thanks very much