Re: Puzzling Problems -- Pulling Hair

Bill Anderson wrote:
Paul wrote:
Bill Anderson wrote:

Still, I'm waiting for the next disaster before I follow up completely on your suggestions.


Hey, don't fight it. If things are working, enjoy :-)

Paul

I left Avast antivirus running all day today while I was at the office. At a little after 1:00 (I could tell from the clock gadget) the system froze. Found it stuck when I got home. Hit the reset button. Computer wouldn't boot. Aha! I said, that's it for you, Crucial.

But no, the computer WOULD post, and I got into BIOS and discovered it was seeing all my RAM but the system wasn't finding the hard drive that contained my boot partitions.

I've learned through experience what to do with my P5K-E Deluxe WiFi Ap when that happens: Jiggle and re-seat the SATA cable. Finicky SATA connections came with the motherboard. Right out of the box it wouldn't see any hard drives. Jiggle cables -- it sees one. Jiggle more and more and more and now it sees all four. Today it was seeing three of the four.

I have built at least five computers using Asus motherboards, and this is the first one that has given me grief. Wish I could pin the blame unequivocally on Asus or Crucial or Western Digital or Maxtor or ... anybody but me.

When my computer works, it's great. But I'm getting tired of troubleshooting. The case seems to be open more than it's closed.


The SATA connector mechanical design, was an afterthought. The main
purpose, judging by how they did it, was to enable hot plugging of
SATA or SAS hard drives, into server "backplanes". The connector is
intended, to enable sliding a drive into place.

Butchering the concept, and making motherboard connectors was the
after thought. The first generation of SATA, did not have anything
to secure the cable at all. Some people had then fall off while in
use.

The second generation have a plastic feature, that mates with a
metal clamp on the cable. That kind should not fall off. The cable
type you select for SATA, should match the type of connector being
used.

This one has a metal latch, but needs the proper motherboard connector
to work properly.

http://www.cooldrives.com/lasaii30sida.html

Paul
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