Asus A8N-E and Hard Drive Problem

[turbo_mcgillicutty]

Ok all, here is my system:

asus A8N-E - Nforce 4 ultra chipset (of course)
A64 x-2 3800+
Ati X1800XL
2gb kingston value ram (4x512)
2 dvd burners (LG and NEC)
1 PATA Maxtor Diamond Max 9 120gb
1 PATA Maxtor Diamond Max 9 160gb
1 SATA Maxtor Diamond Max 9 120gb
1 WD Caviar SE 16mb cache 250gb (wd2500)
sound blaster audigy 2 zs
hauppauge mce150 tv tuner

and now my problem.

I purchased the 250 gb WD HD about 2 weeks ago and installed it. i thought that everything was ok, but i started to recieve strange errors (BSODs each saying am unknown device driver was the cause, radom hard locks, etc.). Then one day it would hang going into windows. I tried a repair install and that hung at the detect devices stage. I pulled the sound card and the tv tuner and tried the repair again. This time it said something about a file error on the HD. I finally did a complete format and reinstall and it went fine. I then started to recieve the random errors again. I thought that maybe my 350 watt enermax PSU was starting to get strained. I purchased an Antec TruePower 2.0 550watt PSU. No change. This morning it hung going into windows so i unplugged the 250gb drive and it booted windows fine.

ive heard that some people have been having trouble with the nvidia nf4 ide drivers. I did have the 6.70 drivers from nvidia's site loaded. Could these be the cause? Should i load the windows drivers? Which ones do i load? Ive looked over the internet this morning and i have found some sites where people have had some major trouble with maxtor drives and the sata controller, the only thing is, this didnt appear until i installed the 250gb WD. Has anyone had any experience with this type of proplem? did i get a bad drive? any and all help will be greatly appreciated!

thank you all in advance.

now that i have been sufficiently frustrated for about 2 days, im off to enjoy my birthday with a pint of bells two hearted ale and some friends!!

 

[timberwolf1]

If you have an nVidia based mobo and you're installing the nVidia Forceware drivers, - please click no when it asks if you want to install the nVidia IDE drivers.

You'll get fewer "Blue Screens", and fewer drive corruptions. I'm a sissy, and I've just stopped buying nVidia based mobo's after having this problem come up several times. I'm a slow learner, I know. VIA really makes some good chipsets. If you want SLi fine get an nForce 4, but save yourself a lot of trouble, and an almost guaranteed reinstall, and do not install the nVidia IDE drivers.

I've heard of systems installing that IDE driver crashing within 3 to 6 months!

 

[turbo_mcgillicutty]

thanks for the reply. i dont care about sli, and am thinking about buying one of the asus boards with the ati chipset.

 

[Tattysnuc]

I recommend the Asus A8V-E SE board. Selling one on Ebay right now in fact

No problem with it, and it runs REALLY cool. Quiet too, and it does overclock a little if that's your game.

Believe me when I say it's a reluctant parting. Need to buy a watercooling kit

Here's the manufacturers page...

http://uk.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=0&model=576&modelmenu=1

 

[turbo_mcgillicutty]

well, i fixed the problem. I reinstalled windows and did not install the nvidia ide drivers. works like a dream. funny how they started acting up when i added another SATA drive....

 

[MrCommunistGen]

Is there an easy way of removing the nvidia IDE driver if you already have it installed or do you have to do a system reinstall to get rid of them?

-mcg

P.S. I haven't looked yet and I'm not actually at my computer with the N'vidia chipset right now, I'm on my laptop (an Asus z71v) otherwise I'd check it myself

 

[turbo_mcgillicutty]

that is a good question. i dont know. by the time i figured out what was going on i had so much corruption, i just reinstalled. i did uninstall them from device manager, but i was still getting a bunch o BSODs. its all fine now though after the reinstall.

 

[MrCommunistGen]

Well, I have a pair of WD 160GB hard drives coming in (hopefully tomorrow) that I'm going to RAID 0. I'll be making this my boot drive anyway so I'll just skip installing them. I was just wondering if I could easily remove them from my computer for the time being. Also, it would be good to know for others. A couple of my friends have Nvidia chipsets and prob also have the IDE drivers. I'd probably recommend that they get rid of them if its not a big deal.

-mcg

 

[turbo_mcgillicutty]

i think that if you remove them with the device manager and reboot, then windows will default to its normal drivers. they work fine and there is negligible, if any performance decrease. if they work for you now, then i think you are ok. if they go to hell, you WILL know it. as for the raid thing, i think you have to have them installed to enable raid. im not for sure, ive never raided before.