GA-8KNXP Setup?

[Raptorsys]

For the first time in the 21 years I've owned PC's I decided to build one from scratch instead of buying a packaged one form the likes of Dell etc. But, I've run into a few problems.

First the new componenets of the system: Thermaltake Case and 480W PS, Gigabyte GA-8KNXP MB, Corsair TWINX 1024MB 3200 LLPT DDR RAM, ATI AIW 9700 Pro, ViewSonic VX2000 20" LCD (1600x1200), Sony DW-U10A DVD R+/- RW+/-, Seagate 120GB SATA HD with 8MB cache, USR PCI modem with controller (not winmodem).

In addition, I've added, or am trying to add, the following components from an older PC this new one is replacing: IBM 75GXP 45GB HD, IBM 14GXP 14GB HD, Yamaha CDRW drive.

I purchased WinXP Pro amd Office XP Standard upgrades with the intent of using the Windows 98 and Office97 CD that came with the Dell XPS R400 this new PC is replacing as the full version for install verification.

Now to the "issues" ...

I assembled all the itmes in the new case and at first attempted to do a clean install on the virgin Seagate SATA HD, but I found there was a bad pin in the single SATA power lupg from the PS so I then decided to first install WinXP Pro over the Win98 installed on the IBM 75GXP HD. During OS install the system crashed numerous times and a different points in the install. I tried removing the modem but that didn't fix it. I then went into BIOS and slowed everything down to rule out memory or timing issues with mariginal hasrdare -- that did the trick and I was finally able to load the OS. I have since returned the settings to normal optimal values save for the clock being lowered from 200MHz to 190MHz -- I'll look into tweaking this later...

I downloaded all the updates for WinXP Pro and Office XP in addition to installing the following software and there updates: Easy CD/DVD Creator 6.0, Norton SystemWorks Pro 2003, several other apps...

I also downloaded the updates for the video card, and the latest BIOS for the MB (F5).

I then adapted a SATA power plug from the parts that came with the MB so that I was finaly able to power up the Seagate SATA HD.

Now I've been in the semiconductior business for over 20 years and I am at a loss as to the best method of connecting the HD's. What I want to do is have the Seagate SATA drive be the primary boot drive with the OS and also have the two IDE HD's. This in addition to the two IDE CD/DVD drives. I can not figure out what SATA connector I should plug SATA HD nor the IDE connectors I should plug my two IDE HD's and my two CD/DVD drives into. And, what the BIOS should be set to. Since I do not plan to use RAID as yet should I set all the RAID settings to disabled?

Lastly, is there a Windows utility that can monitor the CPU temp and fan speed in realtime as opposed to dropping out of Windows and looking at these values in BIOS?

Thanks,

 

[Twitch]

I have the same motherboard. I have two SATA hard drives running in a RAID 0. My original plan was to have these as the boot drives and install an 80 GIG Western Digital as the EIDE master 1. Now, here's the oddities I noticed while seting up the system:

1. If you have one SATA drive, and leave the SATA configuration set to "Auto" in the BIOS, the BIOS will change the SATA drive to EIDE Primary Master, meaning you can boot from the SATA drive, but the BIOS won't recognize anything else on the primary controller. In other words, it wouldn't find the Western Digital on my setup.

2. If you set the SATA configuration to "Manual," the computer will properly recognize both EIDE channels and all drives including SATA devices, but then it insists on trying to boot from HDD-0, a.k.a. Primary Master. you can't boot from the SATA drive!

Now, I was having an additional difficulty that you don't have to worry about--I was attempting to do a clean install on two Seagate 120 gig Barracudas using Intel's integrated RAID 0. But even when I finally gave in, and decided to install the O.S. on the Western Digital and run Primary Master as bootable, Windows XP installed fine, but <i>wouldn't recognize the RAID 0 on the SATA controller!</i>

So then I decided to pull out the WD and tried repartitioning the RAID 0 to see if maybe my problem was related to the EIDE controller. Well, everything was working pretty smoothly--I repartitioned the RAID array, started the installation of Windows XP, but when Windows setup executed its first automatic reboot, the system then would NOT reboot from the RAID array!

Needless to say, I was about ready to return everything and buy an AMD at that point. Then I noticed something else about the BIOS.

<i>It loses it's drive configuration on a soft reboot.</i>

That's right. When you hit the reset button or do a "restart" from Windows XP, the BIOS loses it's drive configuration DATA. This especially seems to effect SATA function.

For me, the workaround was to never ley the computer do a soft reboot--everytime I had to reboot, I powered the system off instead. For some reason, when you power off, the BIOS boots up correctly the next time. I have a suspicion this is related to Gigabytes Dual BIOS implemention, but I don't know that for certain.

Anyway, I haven't yet tried reconnecting the WD, though I have an idea that I can make it work this time, but that I'll have to delete it's partition so the system won't try to boot from it instead of the SATA. Since you brought it up, I'll go ahead and give it a try and see how it works.

I've been wondering how long it would be before someone else complained of having drive problems with this motherboard. The sad thing is, it's a great motherboard once you get everything working. Anyway, hopefully, some of this information will be helpful to you.


<font color=green>The Netherlands is where you go when you're too good for heaven.</font color=green> :tongue:

 

[Twitch]

And incidentally, if I were you, I would disable the onboard Silicon Image RAID and the GigaRAID, but leave the Intel SATA RAID FUNCTION option (the first enable/disable option on the BIOS list) enabled. Then, set your boot order to Floppy/SCSI/CDROM. This way, the BIOS won't try to boot from your IBM. You can then access the Intel RAID configuration utility, where you can confirm you have one drive setup as a single bootable SATA. Then, just bear in mind that if you do a soft reboot, the BIOS will forget to boot SCSI first...at least, that's what will happen if it's like my computer. I still don't do soft reboots. I turn everything off, and don't let any software or driver installation automatically reboot the computer.

Hopefully, Gigabyte will release a BIOS fix for this soon. Now that I know what is happening, it's more of an annoyance than a real problem--but it's still an annoyance.



<font color=green>The Netherlands is where you go when you're too good for heaven.</font color=green> :tongue:


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Twitch on 05/20/03 01:10 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Twitch]

Well, I now have my system working with two EIDE hard drives (80GIG WD and 30 GIG Maxtor just for experimentation) and my SATA RAID-0 in apparent harmony. As far as the settings in the BIOS are concerned, I don’t think it makes too much of a difference if you are running a single SATA drive or a RAID array. These are the settings that worked for me:

In “Advanced BIOS Features:”

SCSI/SATA/RAID Boot Order: [Intel] (Requires you to go into menu and prioritize the boot order)

First Boot Device: [Floppy]
Second Boot Device: [SCSI]
Third Boot Device: [CDROM]

In “Integrated Peripherals:”

On-Chip Primary PCI IDE: [Enabled]
On-Chip Secondary PCI IDE [Enabled]
On-Chip SATA: [Manual]
SATA Port0 Configure as: [SATA Port0]
SATA Port1 Configure as: [SATA Port1]
SATA RAID Function: [Enabled]
…
Onboard H/W SATA [Disabled]
Serial ATA Function (Auto when disabled)
Onboard H/W GigaRAID [Disabled]


Now, you might be able to disable the On-Chip SATA RAID, since you’re onle running one SATA drive, but when I tried this, it would automatically configure my SATA drive as the Primary EIDE 1. Weird.

Also, make sure you install the Intel Apllication Accelerator in Windows XP, so Windows will have all necessary drivers.

Good luck!


<font color=green>The Netherlands is where you go when you're too good for heaven.</font color=green> :tongue:

 

[Raptorsys]

I would like to be able to run the system with the following drives: 1-SATA HD of 120GB (Seagate), 2-IDE HD's of 45GB and 14GB (both IBM), 1-IDE DVD recorder (Sony DW-U10A), and 1-Yamaha CDRW.

As it is now I have the SATA drive connected to one of the SATA connectors on the MB and I have the DVD and CDRW drives connected as Master/Slave in the IDE2 channel. The IDE1, IDE3 and IDE4 connectors are unoccupied!

What I'd like to know is how and where the two IDE HD's should be plugged in, and what the BIOS should be set to.

 

[Twitch]

The HDDs should be master/slave on the IDE primary channel (IDE 1). Leave the CD burner and DVD player as they are. As far as the BIOS config is concerned, see my post above. It ought to work fine. Disabling the GigaRAID controller will disable IDE 3 and IDE 4. Fill up your IDE 1 and IDE 2 first.


<font color=green>The Netherlands is where you go when you're too good for heaven.</font color=green> :tongue:


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Twitch on 05/21/03 02:46 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Raptorsys]

I've tried every combination of BIOS setup I can think of including the setup you specified but I can not get the system to boot with all three drives usable. I have both IDE HD's connected to the primary IDE connector (IDE1) and the DVD/CD drives connected to the secondary IDE connector (IDE2). One HD is master the other slave and the same with the DVD/CD drives.

I should point out that I did my initial OS install, after I resolved the memory timings issue, on the IDE drives so I can boot from them and know that with them plugged in (IDE1 M/S) and the BIOS set to see them the PC will boot just fine with both HD's and both DVD/CD drives visible. But, no combination of BIOS settings has so far permitted me to see both the IDE HD's AND the SATA HD!

If someone, anyone, has a similar setup and has figured out how to make it work I would greatly appreciate any advise on getting my system up.

Thanks,