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Funny problem, help requested

Last response: in Systems
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Dudes I am lost here.

Made first build yesterday as follows:
ASUS A8N-E mobo
AMD 3700+
200 Gig Samsung SATA drive
2x512 PC3200 CL3 DDR400 Value RAM from Kingston

Build went fine. First boot great. Installed XP.

PROBLEM: After downloading several apps like PC Mark and 3D Mark
latest 7800 GT drivers, all these files are corrupted and will not properly
extract!! ??

Any idea what is up?
My first thoughts were bad mem module but I reduced to only
1x512 stick and then tested the other with same results.
funny Auto DRAM settings but I do not know enough how to
configure them manually and after searching on Google
could not find any explaination. They are currently:
Tcl=3
Tras=8T
Trcd=3T
Trp=3T
Trc=11T
Trfc=14T
Trwt=5T
Twr=3T
1T/2T Mem timing = 2T

Does this match PC3200 CL3 DDR400 module settings?

Many thanks for any pointers.

And here was I thinking this morning that I would have a perfect
incident-free build :-)

More about : funny problem requested

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Does that mobo have a nForce4 chipset? I remember something about certain HDDs having problems with nForce4 sets. See if your HDD has this problem. From what I read, some drives corrupt data when they're plugged into a mobo with this chipset.

It can usually be fixed through a firmware update from the HDD manufacturer.

Doesnt sound like a memory problem. But if you like to check use memtest. Sounds more like a problem with either the driver used or the site you are downloading from. Also what other software have you installed such as anti virus or such? Not saying you have a virus but sometimes antivirus programs corrupt downloads.
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Quote:
Does that mobo have a nForce4 chipset? I remember something about certain HDDs having problems with nForce4 sets. See if your HDD has this problem. From what I read, some drives corrupt data when they're plugged into a mobo with this chipset.

It can usually be fixed through a firmware update from the HDD manufacturer.


Maxtor Diamondmax 10/11 are known to be WIDELY incompatible with nForce 4 chipsets, so check that first. If you read my sig youll see I have them, DONT ask how they work, bc idk lol.

Its also possible when you installed windows your HDD wasn't totally formatted correctly. I just had this problem with a friends computer. I had to yank his HDD and use my comp to format it bc his was bein stupid. As a rule I always use Regular formatting, NOT quick format. Honestly it makes me feel better but also seems to do a much better job in prepping a drive for install.

The memory timings are correct with the exception of the 1T/2T setting. Changing to 1T in the bios might give you 5% or so at most.

I don't think it's the memory either though. The hard drive suggestions sound logical.

Thanks for the tip on the memory.

Thanks to the comments in previous messages I looked further
into the SATA/HDD/nForce4 problem. It seems there is a big problem
with compatibility and lots of angry people. I never got to fully
understanding the whole issue but am running some tests after
following some of their advice:

1. get latest ASUS mobo BIOS
2. get latest HDD firmware if possible
3. DO NOT install the nVidia own IDE drivers.

I will report back on the stability tests (=downloading lots of big archives
and then trying to decompress them).

Cheers,
Leon.

I've seen this problem before - it's likely caused by the nVidia firewall. If you installed the nVidia firewall, you need to uninstall it. Disabling it will NOT help (apparently, it has a tendency to turn itself on). You must remove it.

Quote:
And here was I thinking this morning that I would have a perfect incident-free build :-)


FOOL! (sorry, couldn't resist - I've built about a dozen computers and never had one that was incident free. I'm begining to think "incident free" is a myth :)  )

See my above post for a helpful suggestion.

Not a fool, but even worse!! Naive :-)

Thanks for the suggestion. Last nights tests looked ok
using MS IDE driver. Will do some more tests and then if
it looks okay still I will install the nVidia IDE driver.
Staying away from the firewall :-)

I tend to agree with your suggestion that it was the
firewall as I only had problems with files downloaded
over the internet like PC Mark. Installed a few games
which all ran ok => less likely to be a HDD/interface issue.

More later...

The tests have been completed and looks like the build stable
both with stock MS IDE/SATA drivers AND the latest nVidia ones.
(Note: the HDD is a Samsung Spinpoint, can say nothing regarding
other HDDs). I also upgraded to latest BIOS for the mobo (1010).

Looks like the culprit was the Firewall as mentioned before.
Even if it is disabled, once it was installed it seemed to cause the
file corruption on download.

My next step is to quiten down the rig which is way to noisy.
CPU is running at 40C, mobo at 33, and GPU at 45C under heavy
load. I am guessing there is plenty margin for slowing down the cooling
fans. I guess that is my next step before configuring my system for
use.

Thanks for the help!
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