- Jan 2, 2001
- 6,399
- 0
- 25,810
To help peoples with their upgrade, I will tell you my story...
First, I had a Soltek k8an2e-gr with an AMD 64 3000+ socket 754. I have 2 Seagate 160 gigs SATA in RAID0 on nvidia RAID and some other drives on variuous IDE and SATA connector.
My friend, which have and old Soyo dragon+ with an AMD 1700+ was strarting to have some freezing issues whit his computer. I look at possible cause, but found nothing. But he told me that he want a new computer, so I offer to buy my setup which was fast and rock stable.
I just have to upgrade something every 8-9 month, so I was due. Another friend just got a new Gigabyte motherboard with a 3200+ socket 939 CPU. His setup was fast and stable, so I decide to have one too, and ordered a Gigabyte k8nf-9 with a 3000+ socket 939 cpu. I already had dual channel memory, so I was ok to go. Oh, I needed a new video card too, as my friend bought my AIW 9600xt too. So I ordered a x600xt vivo, as I need video capture.
I just got my new board tonight. I helped my friend to setup his computer when he got his board (same as mine) so I didnt have to READ ALL THE MANUAL, AS I DID IT WITH MY FRIEND'S ONE.
I started to remove my Soltek into my case, and I did some cleaning too. I tought that it was going to be easy so I didnt backup anything, as going fron nforce3 to nforce 4 should be as easy as... well, plug and play.
WRONG!
I assembled the cpu and memory outside the case. Then I put the board inside the case. I didnot connect my maxtor 200 gigs nor my WD 40 gigs now. I just plug my RAID array. I fired up the system, went into BIOS, leave sata 1 and sata2 on sata controller 1 configured as RAID, but I disabled RAID for sata1 and sata2 on sata 2 controller as I was going to plug my other drives on them later and EVEN THEY ARE ON SATA CONTROLLER, THAT DOESNT MEAN THAT THEY ARE RAID DRIVE. Then I rebooted.
system fired up again, went throu POST, and start to load Windows. It never finished...
So, I decided to try SAFE MODE. No. It doesnt work. I decided to try to repair the installation. He he.. I'm so smart! I start the install, pressed F6 to load third party drivers, as I use RAID. While doing this, I remembered that I didnt see any floppy for RAID drivers in the box. No big deal, I still have the floppy that was with my Soltek...
It didnt work... no, no drivers for RAID and no more computer to take the drivers from the CDROM and copy them on diskette, as THE MANUAL SUGGESTED TO DO.
So I called my friend, to know if he could come over here with his old computer case. My idea was to put the board I sold him in his case and have this computer setted up so I could at least have one running computer. You know how cooperative girlfriends can be sometime? So, alone I had to find another idea. But I'm still smart! I remembered about my USB drive having maybe enough room to install windows. I took it out of its enclosure, remove my array from the sata connector, pluged back my 120 gigs on connector 1 of sata controller 2 ( to help you understand how sata ports are configured, I have 4 sata connectors on my board. 2 controllers control 2 connector. so controller1 control sata1 and 2 and controller 2 control sata 1 and 2 too. My RAID is on controller 1 and use both connector. My controller 2 will have my 200 and 40 gigs , but no as RAID, only single drive. I have 2 IDE connector too, which have both one optical drive each.)
Ok, so I put my Windows xp CD in my dvd drive, and rebooted. start the install program, DIDNT PRESS F6, AS I'M NOT USING RAID' ONLY ORDINARY IDE DRIVE THAT HAPPEN TO BE PLUGGED ON A SATA CONNECTOR INSTEAD OF AN IDE CONNECTOR. No, I did not format the drive... Hey, I'm smart, I dont want to loose what is on that drive!! I then installed Windows and abou 25 minutes later, I was doing my floppy disk with the drivers for the RAID. Good. I unplugged me 120 gigs drive and plugged my RAID array back. Started the install, press F6 for MY RAID, NOT BECAUSE IT IS SATA, and started the repair. This time, everything was OK.
Now, in windows, I have some keyboard bugs that came back from my last keyboard change and that I've been able to "fix dirty", but the repair just messed this file again, so I just put back my old HP keyboard.
I can wait to receive my video card to fresh install Windows. But until there, I'm happy to still have my data.
Lessons from this story:
1- never assume anything, it might just not work.
2- Dont backup anything, unless you dont really know what you're doing.
3- You need drivers for RAID, not for SATA. And you can boot from any SATA connector
4- It is a good idea to unplug unnecessary drive when installing. Too easy to mix an empty 40 gigs partition with a 40 gigs hdd full of valuable data
5- Your manual is your best friend. It wont let you down, as it doesnt have a girlfriend.
6- BIOS is definitively something you have to know
7- Windows repair is good, but doesnt beat a fresh install.
8- I'm smart.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Part 2: Setting up the Soltek
Finally, my friend got here tonight with his case to have the board transplant. I removed its old board and put the Soltek in. I put the vid card, modem and plugged all the wire and power connector to the board and to the drive. I have connected power button, reset switch, hdd led and power led too. While I was doing that, I put the clear CMOS jumper to clear. When done, I put back the jumper in running position. I then connect the monitor, keyboard, mouse and power. I press the power button.
The fan spin for 2 seconds and stop. Give it another try, same thing. Something is obliviously wrong. But What. I unpluged everything except the video card and try to start the system. Still nothing. I try with the board out of the case, in case of short, but still nothing.
Was it possible that this perfectly functionning just died over night? No. I take the board next to my computer, and connected it to my power supply. It just start and keep going...
his power supply was rated 450W. Mine is 420W. his worth 50$ can, mine, near 70$. Good PSU are mandatory with newer system. He just had the proof tonight. But he still had and old QUALITY 300W psu so we gave it a try. The system started right on. Now ready to install windows.
He doesnt have any SATA HDD. But this board has the Promise controller. My idea was to put his HDD on the PATA connector of the promise controller, and the burner and DVD drive each on their own connector from the nvidia controller. I disable SATA ports in BIOS to speed up boot time.
I started the installation, and SINCE I'M USING A THIRD PARTY CONTROLLER, I HAD TO PRESS F6 TO INSTALL DRIVERS. Funny enough, the drivers on the floppy are not really compatible with XP SP2. I just remembered now that I had to download the new set when I had this board to have the Promise controller working... And no, I didnt put them on floppy. So, me and my friend had an important meeting. We finally decided to put the HDD master on the first nvidia channel and the DVD slave.. The burner would remain alone on its channel...
So we did the change, I went into BIOS to disable the PROMISE CONTROLLER TO VOID THE MESSAGE: NO DRIVE FOUND BIOS NOT LOADED and to speed up boot time.
New try again. but this time, we decided to try a repair installation instead of a fresh install. We went from a VIA chipset to a nforce3 chipset.. the repair install went good. But not the boot... So we decided to go with a fresh install, which worked good. Now, his computer is fine and run good.
Lessons from part 2:
1- never assume anything again...
2- PSU are really important to have a stable computer.
3- Always keep up to date drivers for controller on floppy..
4- VIA chipsets are really incompatible with nforce
5- His girlfriend was happy tonight.. well I guess
6- Repair install might be usefull for some occasions, but nothing beat a fresh install
7- Fresh install still took 20 minutes before getting into windows.
8- Saturday night are not the best one to assemble computers, but when they announce -30 celcius with wind, I dont matter about staying inside.
9- Even with PC2100 (ddr266) memory, AMD 64 still perform good
10- Manual are still a good friend even if it is not the first time you assemble a computer.
11- Good thing Im so smart ...
I hope that it could help somebody, because this story took some time to type....
-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Pat on 02/27/05 00:26 AM.</EM></FONT></P>
First, I had a Soltek k8an2e-gr with an AMD 64 3000+ socket 754. I have 2 Seagate 160 gigs SATA in RAID0 on nvidia RAID and some other drives on variuous IDE and SATA connector.
My friend, which have and old Soyo dragon+ with an AMD 1700+ was strarting to have some freezing issues whit his computer. I look at possible cause, but found nothing. But he told me that he want a new computer, so I offer to buy my setup which was fast and rock stable.
I just have to upgrade something every 8-9 month, so I was due. Another friend just got a new Gigabyte motherboard with a 3200+ socket 939 CPU. His setup was fast and stable, so I decide to have one too, and ordered a Gigabyte k8nf-9 with a 3000+ socket 939 cpu. I already had dual channel memory, so I was ok to go. Oh, I needed a new video card too, as my friend bought my AIW 9600xt too. So I ordered a x600xt vivo, as I need video capture.
I just got my new board tonight. I helped my friend to setup his computer when he got his board (same as mine) so I didnt have to READ ALL THE MANUAL, AS I DID IT WITH MY FRIEND'S ONE.
I started to remove my Soltek into my case, and I did some cleaning too. I tought that it was going to be easy so I didnt backup anything, as going fron nforce3 to nforce 4 should be as easy as... well, plug and play.
WRONG!
I assembled the cpu and memory outside the case. Then I put the board inside the case. I didnot connect my maxtor 200 gigs nor my WD 40 gigs now. I just plug my RAID array. I fired up the system, went into BIOS, leave sata 1 and sata2 on sata controller 1 configured as RAID, but I disabled RAID for sata1 and sata2 on sata 2 controller as I was going to plug my other drives on them later and EVEN THEY ARE ON SATA CONTROLLER, THAT DOESNT MEAN THAT THEY ARE RAID DRIVE. Then I rebooted.
system fired up again, went throu POST, and start to load Windows. It never finished...
So, I decided to try SAFE MODE. No. It doesnt work. I decided to try to repair the installation. He he.. I'm so smart! I start the install, pressed F6 to load third party drivers, as I use RAID. While doing this, I remembered that I didnt see any floppy for RAID drivers in the box. No big deal, I still have the floppy that was with my Soltek...
It didnt work... no, no drivers for RAID and no more computer to take the drivers from the CDROM and copy them on diskette, as THE MANUAL SUGGESTED TO DO.
So I called my friend, to know if he could come over here with his old computer case. My idea was to put the board I sold him in his case and have this computer setted up so I could at least have one running computer. You know how cooperative girlfriends can be sometime? So, alone I had to find another idea. But I'm still smart! I remembered about my USB drive having maybe enough room to install windows. I took it out of its enclosure, remove my array from the sata connector, pluged back my 120 gigs on connector 1 of sata controller 2 ( to help you understand how sata ports are configured, I have 4 sata connectors on my board. 2 controllers control 2 connector. so controller1 control sata1 and 2 and controller 2 control sata 1 and 2 too. My RAID is on controller 1 and use both connector. My controller 2 will have my 200 and 40 gigs , but no as RAID, only single drive. I have 2 IDE connector too, which have both one optical drive each.)
Ok, so I put my Windows xp CD in my dvd drive, and rebooted. start the install program, DIDNT PRESS F6, AS I'M NOT USING RAID' ONLY ORDINARY IDE DRIVE THAT HAPPEN TO BE PLUGGED ON A SATA CONNECTOR INSTEAD OF AN IDE CONNECTOR. No, I did not format the drive... Hey, I'm smart, I dont want to loose what is on that drive!! I then installed Windows and abou 25 minutes later, I was doing my floppy disk with the drivers for the RAID. Good. I unplugged me 120 gigs drive and plugged my RAID array back. Started the install, press F6 for MY RAID, NOT BECAUSE IT IS SATA, and started the repair. This time, everything was OK.
Now, in windows, I have some keyboard bugs that came back from my last keyboard change and that I've been able to "fix dirty", but the repair just messed this file again, so I just put back my old HP keyboard.
I can wait to receive my video card to fresh install Windows. But until there, I'm happy to still have my data.
Lessons from this story:
1- never assume anything, it might just not work.
2- Dont backup anything, unless you dont really know what you're doing.
3- You need drivers for RAID, not for SATA. And you can boot from any SATA connector
4- It is a good idea to unplug unnecessary drive when installing. Too easy to mix an empty 40 gigs partition with a 40 gigs hdd full of valuable data
5- Your manual is your best friend. It wont let you down, as it doesnt have a girlfriend.
6- BIOS is definitively something you have to know
7- Windows repair is good, but doesnt beat a fresh install.
8- I'm smart.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Part 2: Setting up the Soltek
Finally, my friend got here tonight with his case to have the board transplant. I removed its old board and put the Soltek in. I put the vid card, modem and plugged all the wire and power connector to the board and to the drive. I have connected power button, reset switch, hdd led and power led too. While I was doing that, I put the clear CMOS jumper to clear. When done, I put back the jumper in running position. I then connect the monitor, keyboard, mouse and power. I press the power button.
The fan spin for 2 seconds and stop. Give it another try, same thing. Something is obliviously wrong. But What. I unpluged everything except the video card and try to start the system. Still nothing. I try with the board out of the case, in case of short, but still nothing.
Was it possible that this perfectly functionning just died over night? No. I take the board next to my computer, and connected it to my power supply. It just start and keep going...
his power supply was rated 450W. Mine is 420W. his worth 50$ can, mine, near 70$. Good PSU are mandatory with newer system. He just had the proof tonight. But he still had and old QUALITY 300W psu so we gave it a try. The system started right on. Now ready to install windows.
He doesnt have any SATA HDD. But this board has the Promise controller. My idea was to put his HDD on the PATA connector of the promise controller, and the burner and DVD drive each on their own connector from the nvidia controller. I disable SATA ports in BIOS to speed up boot time.
I started the installation, and SINCE I'M USING A THIRD PARTY CONTROLLER, I HAD TO PRESS F6 TO INSTALL DRIVERS. Funny enough, the drivers on the floppy are not really compatible with XP SP2. I just remembered now that I had to download the new set when I had this board to have the Promise controller working... And no, I didnt put them on floppy. So, me and my friend had an important meeting. We finally decided to put the HDD master on the first nvidia channel and the DVD slave.. The burner would remain alone on its channel...
So we did the change, I went into BIOS to disable the PROMISE CONTROLLER TO VOID THE MESSAGE: NO DRIVE FOUND BIOS NOT LOADED and to speed up boot time.
New try again. but this time, we decided to try a repair installation instead of a fresh install. We went from a VIA chipset to a nforce3 chipset.. the repair install went good. But not the boot... So we decided to go with a fresh install, which worked good. Now, his computer is fine and run good.
Lessons from part 2:
1- never assume anything again...
2- PSU are really important to have a stable computer.
3- Always keep up to date drivers for controller on floppy..
4- VIA chipsets are really incompatible with nforce
5- His girlfriend was happy tonight.. well I guess
6- Repair install might be usefull for some occasions, but nothing beat a fresh install
7- Fresh install still took 20 minutes before getting into windows.
8- Saturday night are not the best one to assemble computers, but when they announce -30 celcius with wind, I dont matter about staying inside.
9- Even with PC2100 (ddr266) memory, AMD 64 still perform good
10- Manual are still a good friend even if it is not the first time you assemble a computer.
11- Good thing Im so smart ...
I hope that it could help somebody, because this story took some time to type....
-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Pat on 02/27/05 00:26 AM.</EM></FONT></P>
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram