Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

[dclayw]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

Just a quick question. What's the reason behind setting CPU Host Frequency to 399 or 401, rather then 400 which is what I have it set too.

[dclayw]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

And another quick question on drive config before I reintsall again. I've pretty much decided to go with PATA mode (no RAID or AHCI drivers required). Will this take away the ability to use esata. And if esata will still work, will the esata drives be able to be plugged in/unplugged without having to reboot.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

I suggest 399 or 401 because 400 is right on the NB Strap line, and can cause issues. Not always, but can sometimes.

Yes, you will need AHCI enabled to hot swap as you are asking about. But if this is a external case eSATA you can easily just disable the device/disk in device manager and then you can safely turn if off/remove it. Same as "Safely remove hardware" No reboot would be needed

[dclayw]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

Many thanks Lsdmeasap. I've just completed 3.5 hours of memtest86+ on those crucials running at 1066, all fine. I lowered the voltage to 2.1 or thereabouts, so that should keep them a little cooler. I also have a fan on them too (had that fom the beginning). I'm seriously considering taking your advice and trying to get them replaced with the 2.0v ones. It will be 12 months in a few weeks since I bought them.

And I've thrown out that 7600GT card too. If this setup proves stable now (pretty much proving it was the video card causing my problems) then I'll be investing in a couple of those ATI R4670s in a week or so.

No need for you to worry though, I'll be back if the problem is NOT solved.

[dclayw]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

Well, after exactly one month of rock solid stability since the problems outlined in this post one month ago, my PC has started the reboot cycle again. I wasn't actually on the PC at the time but when I got back to it it was sitting at the "Start windows normally screen". From there on it would just reboot straight after the Windows splash screen. Turned it off, then back on and it loaded Windows OK, no entries in event logs, no memory dumps, nothing indicating what the problem might be. From the next cold start I get checking drive C: for errors/recovering orhpaned files etc and from then on it just continually reboots after the Windows splash screen. I can no longer get into Windows.

As outlined earlier in this thread I thought the problem was a faulty gfx card, so one month ago I replaced both gfx cards with a pair of MSI ATI R4670s. Has been great and absolutely no probems for the past month.

Ran memtest straight away, only one full pass initially, but no problems. All my BIOS settings appear intact. No changes have been made to the BIOS over this past month.

I've been using Seagate discwizard for backing up partitions. The machine boots OK from the Seagate rescue disk and loads the Diskwizard s/w OK. So why can it boot into Linux OK and not Windows? I don't know what's causing the reboot cycle after one month of perfect stability but is the reboot cycle corrupting my system drive, and that's why Windows won't boot now?

I'm really at a loss as to where to go from here, but once again, any help would be much appreciated. Looks like I'm one of the unlucky ones. Could this be a motherboard problem, or could there be a simple solution to this situation where I'm stable for weeks and then starts the reboot cycle for no apparrent reason.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

I would run some Diagnostics on your drives, and run a longer memory test (4/5-10 Full passes of Memtest86+). Here is Seagate Seatools Diagnostic programs >>>
SeaTools Desktop Usage Instructions | Seagate

Chkdsk ran due to corrupted files on your hard drive, that could be due to incorrect overclock settings/voltages or a faulty drive

[dclayw]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

My system drive is a WD Raptor. I restored the entire partition, including OS (from Seagate Discwizard backup) and can now boot into windows OK. Used it for an hour or so and all seems OK. I ran WDs Data Lifegauard Diagnostics under DOS, both Quick Test and Extended Test, no errors on either test. This is my first ever WD drive, always used Seagate and Maxtor in the past. The Raptor is very noisy compared to what I'm used to, runs a bit hotter too, but this is all normal I believe. When I ran the Quick Test, seriously, this drive sounded like a jet engine that was about to take off, seemd to be a fair bit of vibration too. Didn't sound like that during the Extended Test. Is this normal?

I've heard of people running SeaTools on WD drives, would you recommend this? The other 2 drives in this build are Seagates and I tested both drives using SeaTools last month.

I will test the memory again, but one month ago I ran memtest for 3.5 hours without any errors, can't remember how many passes that was, but quite a lot.

So it would appear that something is causing the machine to reboot and when that happens the system drive gets corrupted, and once corrupted the machine just keeps rebooting just after it loads the Windows splash screen. My drives appear to be OK. My memory appears OK, I have new gfx cards. Nothing shows up in event logs about driver problems or whatever. Earlier in this post we have been through overclock settings/voltages etc.

There is one or two things I have not done. I have not upgraded to the latest BIOS and I have not tweaked MCH and FSB voltages. I will do both, but weeks of stability suggests to me that neither of these is the root cause of the problem, but who knows.

To me it looks like I have some kind of intermittent error that happens under certain conditions and I cannot pinpoint the error using any diagnostic type tools. I even thought I may have a short somehere that only comes into play when the machine reaches a certain temperature. Is there any diagnostoc tools I can run on the motherboard?

I do have that bodgy crucial memory (8500 tracers) if you remember (rated at 2.2v). But this memory has always tested out OK. I have RMAd it though and am waiting on the new 2.0v sticks.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

I am not sure what is normal for a raptor, but ya I would expect extended test to be louder then a short one as well?

I am not sure if you can run Seagate tools on a WD drive, I think it would be fine if it will allow it to run. If not it will just tell you unsupported disk is all.

I would update your BIOS, or if you want to put that off then at least you DO NEED to set your settings (Voltages, ect) as that may be the main cause of your issue. I am surprised you have not done so yet, memory corruption due to incorrect settings can do MANY things, one of which is corrupt your drive data and cause Various problems

I would do that with your old or new Crucial's either way it is a must

[dclayw]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

OK, I have updated my BIOS to the latest version F5. As usual, one problem leads to another. I have no floppy drive so updated via a USB stick. With the first stick I tried (formatted to FAT32 and with "Legacy USB Storage Detect" enabled) the machine would not even post, weird. With the second stick I tried, also fomatted at FAT32, Q-Flash wouldn't recognise it. I got Q-Flash to recognise this second stick by formatting it to FAT16, weird again.

Have also bumped up both FSB and MCH voltage by 0.1. The only bits I haven't done from your recommendations now are the Advanced Timing Controls, tRRD etc. etc. I have these all set to Auto but each of the values used are all within the ranges that you specified, except for the "Refresh to ACT Delay", mine is 52, the range you specified is 42-48. Is this significant? Remember that after much memtesting and Prime95ing, I was 100% stable for 4 weeks with the timings I have set, and before that 100% stable for 9 months.

Once again, thanks for your help. Lets hope I am long term stable with these changes.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

What you see on the left in the BIOS is not always what is used, just what may be in use in the BIOS or what has been used in the past. You would need to check with Memset to see what values are actually being used, it is linked here >>

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/memory-timings-explained-w-suggested-timings-memset-vs-bios-27283/

Do you have 4GB of ram or just two? If you have only 2GB you would only need 42 or so tRFC (Refresh to Act Delay)

Ya, some USB Sticks are just funky when it comes to Qflash. Nice to see you took the iniative and formatted to FAT16. It should work with any USB Stick on FAT32 if it is going to work. I'll have to keep that in mind to try FAT12/16 for ones that seem to be incompatible, thanks for posting your findings with that

[dclayw]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

I only have 2GB of ram, 2.2v crucial 8500 tracers that will be replaced with the newer 2.0v sticks soon. (I'm running them at 2.1v by the way). I tried running memset but it just said "Not for this chipset"

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

Sounds like you downloaded CPU Tweaker instead of Memset, here just to be sure >>

http://www.tweakers.fr/download/MemSet40.zip

[dclayw]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

Errrr....., no, I downloaded memset. It runs fine on my old Dell Dimension 5100. I did a bit of research on that memset error but it didn't lead anywhere, one suggestion was to re-install the chipset drivers, yeah right....

[dclayw]

Re: Advice on disk config on EX38-DS4

I got memset to run. Sometimes with programs that do not require actual installation I run from a network share, which is what I was doing with memset, I know, probably not a good policy.

Thanks for that link to memory timings, very informative. The actual values as shown by memset are quite different to those shown on the left hand side in the BIOS. It would appear the actual values are very conservative (increased stability at the expense of performance). Some examples:

Static tREAD: 9
Refresh to ACT Delay: 68
Write to Read Delay: 12
Write to Precharge Delay: 16

I'm more interested in stability right now. Would you stick with these values? Would it be best to set these values in the BIOS rather then leaving them at AUTO, I know how you stongly recommend not to use AUTO.