Does NOT work with 11.1-U7: ASMedia 106x 6-Port SATA PCIe

[bal0an]

I've recently bought ASMedia 106x 6-Port SATA PCIe card as an affordable SATA controller for my FreeNAS 11.1-U7 setup
BUT I found that it doesn't work with FreeBSD.

Shouldn't it work? Are there drivers for that card?
Maybe there is a secret trick I don't know to make it work? Anyone?
Or is the card a lost cause - for the bin?

The card identifies as

and FreeBSD chokes when trying to send a CAM command:

The card seems to have 2 x 6 ports. There is a picture of the hardware layout on amazon:

 

[HoneyBadger]

That chipset should work with the default AHCI drivers. Something about that Amazon listing smells of knock-off product though.

 

[Johnnie Black]

These controllers with port SATA multipliers are usually very bad news, I see lots of timouts using them on Linux, assume the same would be true for FreeBSD.

 

[bal0an]

I got three of those budget ASM1061 cards, and they work fine with 5 harddisks. Only disadvantage is the flimsy SATA Port adapters which don't lock the plugs properly.

 

[Johnnie Black]

I got three of those budget ASM1061 cards, and they work fine with 5 harddisks. Only disadvantage is the flimsy SATA Port adapters which don't lock the plugs properly.

The 2 port Asmedia controller is very good, I've used several myself with Linux and FreeNAS and they work very well, the problem is when there are port multipliers involved, there's also a 10 port model with port multipliers which is also nothing but trouble, AFAIK Asmedia only makes a 2 port controller for addon cards, so anything Asmedia based with more than 2 ports should be avoided.

 

[Jaguar32]

Thanks for this, I also got caught by these sketchy cards and wasted a week trying various things to get it working, exactly the same error as OP. Ziyituod 6 Port SATA Card
I've requested a refund and reported the reseller and will be going with a QNINE PCIe SATA Card 6 Port, one of the reviewers confirmed that it works with FreeNAS.

 

[joeinaz]

If it were me, I would search on eBay and pick up a used IBM M1015 (pre-flashed to IT mode) for about the same price you would pay for the QNINE board. If you are willing to flash the card yourself, you can get one for less than $30. The M1015 supports 8 drives and with the addition of an inexpensive HP SAS expander can support 24 disks. Best of all, the M1015 is a business grade controller and is well supported in the FreeNAS world.

After you get the M1015, the only thing left are the cables.