Re: Here's a question for the Nvidia chipset / Windows Xp experts!
- From: milleron <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:07:32 -0500
On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 01:18:02 +0100, André, PE1PQX
<andre_geenviagra@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
mtimerding@xxxxxxxx formuleerde op zondag :
I have an Asus A8N SLI Deluxe motherboard, 4 gigs of Ram,
(only 2.75gb avail tho) 5 internal harddrives (1 IDE and 4 Sata)
and an ATI Radeon x1800 Video card. (the one with 512mb cache
I can't remember if that's the xl or xt tho, altho it probably doesn't
matter) The hard drive on IDE is partioned into 2 partittions.
(C and H). I am running Windows XP Professional. Computer
Management/Disk Management it listing the IDE drive as Device 0
Which is correct I assume, my boot.ini file says (also correctly so, I
assume), and my bios settings are correct also I assume, as
it is correctly showing the IDE drive as the FIRST hardrive out
of the list of 5.
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional"
/fastdetect
The motherboard is using bios 1016. (tho I have used earlier
versions also, no diff) I am using the Nforce 4 chipset drivers
version 6.86 (altho I started out with the 6.70's).I am using the IDE
disk as boot, cause it does actually benchmark much faster
than any of my Sata drives, even the 10k rpm Raptor I was using.
(Because of the 16mb cache the IDE drive has I assume)
(Something like 80mbs compared to 62 mbs tranfer rate if I
remember) The Bios is basically set to defaults, except the
RAM timings which I set to manual (to get the 400mhz clock
speed in lieu of the 333mhz it defaults to on auto) The rest of
all those ram timing settings I have left alone, cause I have no
idea what they are. All I know is I have 4gb of Patriot Ram, with
a 400mhz speed.
Okay, so that's everything I have. Now here's my question/problem.
The system always boots fine, pretty fast in fact, considering how
much crap I have auto starting at bootup, And it seems to
run pretty well. Due to certain issues, most notably frequently
getting errors on the C drive (daily) requiring booting from the windows
cd and doing a chkdsk /r (which takes forever on these 500gb
harddrives) I had wanted to just do a repair install of windows to see
if that would help. The problem is, when I boot from the windows cd,
it says it cannot find any previous instalations of windows to repair,
and wants to proceed imediately to installing windows fresh.
But, if I were to pick the C partion to do the install, THEN
it comes up and says "There's already Windows installed on
this partition" ... so go figure. The previous setup screen says
there is no windows on here then the next one says there is.
I've asked on here, because asking on the Windows XP groups
have got me nowhere, I guess cause there is no one on there
that understands the Nforce chipset mother boards. Most noteably
how they argue with me and tell me "YOU MUST press F6 and
install Sata drivers BEFORE installing windows". I can't get them
to understand a: I have NO floppy drive and b: How is it then
that the windows install cd "sees and identifies all the sata drives
without me pressing F6?" (the most common comment was
Sata drivers have NOTHING to do with the motherboard, bios
or chipset)
Sorry this is so long winded, but I just wanted to explain what I
had ....Is there anyway I can get this Windows to acknowledge
"my previous installation"
Thank you.
My guess is you have a failing IDE cable from the motherboard to your
IDE harddrive, try with an replacement cable.
An other thing might be the cable from your power supply, or te
powersupply itself. If possible, test with an other PSU.
Last thing is a failing harddrive, check in an other computer and if
needed and possible, backup data!
During the OS-install on a IDE drive, you do not need to access the
SATA drives, and to not need the drivers for it.
After OS-install, you allways can install the SATA drivers and drives.
One hint: after OS-install, first install the chipset drivers for
optimum result.
I hope this will help.
André
Ditto on the failing HD. I had a similar experience with a Raptor
that started 5-6 months after I built my A8N-SLI Premium system. The
OS would boot and then just freeze because it could no longer find the
HD. A warm reboot would show that the C: drive did not appear among
the detected devices during POST. Powering down the MB (with the
switch on the PSU, that is) would almost always allow the HD to be
detected properly on the next boot, but this recurred frequently. The
problem you're having with your C: drive may be similar. Replacing
the Raptor with reliable Seagate SATA drive solved the problem
immediately.
Suggestion: Download the free disk-checking software from the
manufacturer of your HD AND check its S.M.A.R.T. statistics to verify
that you have no problem there.
Ron
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