ivelimirovic

Thank you all, I've replaced the HDD cables, and the drives started to work correctly again. Funny thing is that at least two cables became defective at the same time...

Tried that already... RAID array didn't report any errors from chkdsk, but had 3 errors in Partition Magic. SATA drive wasn't accessible in command prompt I didn't want to make a mess, so I choosed not to fix them (for the first time, at least)

Hi! Yesterday I've encountered strange problem. After normal shutdown, I tried to boot up my system, and received "Insert boot disk" message, but only after a long time (5 min). Immediately, I've checked BIOS boot parameters, everything is OK. Now, I have two operating systems on my machine, XP-SP2 installed on my 400GB RAID strip hard drive (which is the system I normally boot from), and 2003-SP1 Server installed on second SATA drive, both of which worked without any problems. When I tried to swich to boot device to 2003-SP1, I got exactly the same result. I've booted from several boot cds, with following results: - hirenBOOT - system boots after long waiting (5 min), Partition Magic couldn't start. NTFSDOS can read the RAID array, data on it seems OK, but it doesn't recognize the SATA drive. chkdsk reported no errors on RAID array - WindowsPE - it does not recognize any drive - Linux PE (don't remember which version it is) - recognized SATA drive (but not the RAID), everything seems to be OK - I've also tried to boot up from windows install cds (both XP and 2003), but they don't seem to recognize drives. On 2003, I've managed to enter recovery console (same thing didn't work on XP) and tried FIXBOOT and FIXMBR, they reported no error, but this didn't fix the problem - currently I'm making the BartPE with UBCD, which is supposed to have integrated support for RAID controller, I will try to read RAID array after I finish it. Does anyone has suggestion what to do next? My configuration: Athlon 64 3000 1GB Kingston RAM Asus KN8-E Deluxe 2x200GB Maxtor DiamondMAX RAID array (strip mode, SI controler) 250GB SATA Maxtor DiamondMAX Radeon 9800pro Pioneer DVDRW XP-SP2 and 2003-SP1 Server Also, I didn't made any changes to hardware and software recently, and the whole system is on the UPS, so I believe power surge isn't the problem... Thank you in advance! more info: I put in another (PATA) drive, installed XP-SP2 on it, installed motherboard drivers (didn't bother with video and audio, used default). The new OS can see correctly the RAID array, I can access it, but when I try to copy data, the system stops responding at random intervals. To put it more clearly: - when copying one folder, the explorer stops responding after few seconds, so I have to kill it in task manager (copied files work correctly). when i delete copied files and try to do the same thing with the same folder again, explorer stops respondig, but on different file (it copies more or less files). The amount of copied data is small (averages 100MB), so I'm unable to copy larger files. The new OS is unable to see SATA drive, while the BIOS detects it. When put in another machine, SATA drive is recognized, it can be accessed, but it reports I/O errors when I try to copy data

does the driverpack contains 64-bit versions of catalyst? i've looked at supported devices, couldn't find any info. also, is it possible to install newer 64-bit driver (like 6.3 or 6.4) in old CP style? i've read the thread regarding catalyst 5.12 and 5.13 (32-bit), so i wondered if anyone tried the same with 6.x and 64-bit driver... thanks in advance, Ivan

LAST time i bought a system, i planned it for overclocking. it was 4 years ago, i bought a EPOX VIAKT233 based board (overclocker's choice, in that time), quality RAM and an unlocked Athlon XP (not of them were, in that time). in past four years, i tried how much can i overclock my system, gained something like 20%, felt happy and then returned to fatcory settings. currently, i overclock graphic card with ATITool in 3d apps, and 'overclocked' the mb from 133 to 140Mhz (pathetetic). so, this time (based on my expirience) i don't really mind how much system is overclockable. as for RAM, i only want to have lots of it, it really speeds my ususal work (currently i have 768mb, but, hey, it's an UPGRADE, why not go for 1GB ) as for the CPU, i have a friend who gives me a discount on hardware, and he has a AMD 0.13 newcastle 64 3000+ and AMD 0.09 venice 64 3200+ for 50EUR more, so i consider upgrade this is not really worth it, and the MB is also slightly more expensive. for that money, i would rather like to see ANOTHER hdd in my machine, yes, i'm a maniac, i know as for pci-e, i already own AGP card which suits my modest gaming needs, and i don't think AGP will die THAT fast... my main question was if there is a point of NOT connecting two MAXTOR SATA 200mb (also on discount) in RAID or not, but i think you guys have a point - i'll do what you suggested (make a RAID), thanks everybody! of course if you have any suggestions, i would welcome them! thanks!

First of all, thank you guys! i'm looking for not-so-expensive system to replace my older one, and also get lots of storage. ok, here it is: 1) MB: ASUS N8F-E (or something like that, nforce3 the one with FireWire), this may yet change. nforce3 mainly because i plan to keep my old AGP card 2) CPU: AMD64 3000+ (socket 754, cause of MB) 3) 2x512 DDR400 4) keeping my AGP ASUS 9550GE/TD (overclocks nicely, to 375/250, good enough for me, I'm not a great FPS-maximum-detail-fan) 5) keeping my Audigy2 6) keeping my NEC FE1250 22" monitor 7) 2 new hard drives, Maxtor 10 SATA 200MB one more thing, i get some discount for maxtor drives and asus boards, my friend is a dealer one more question: i really don't need a really big GPU and CPU, basically am satisfied wih my current overclocked Athlon XP overlocked on 2000+ and overclocked 9550GE/TD. i do a upgrade mainly for SATA controlers, USB2.0 and FireWire does is make sense, in money terms, for me to jump over to nforce4, buy a AMD64 for 939 and have to buy a pci-e card? how big are the benefits, compared to cost?

Hi! iI'm newbie to this forum, this is my first post, blah, blah, blah currently, iI'm upgrading my computer and am faced with a dilemma. already i posses a 160mb parallel ATA drive, and i'm planning to purchase a new motherboard, CPU and another two SATA 200mb drives (that's right, I need a lot of space). the whole idea is to keep all my mp3 on a hard drives for easy access (i have lots of them). my question is: should i use RAID or not (the one which supposedly 'doubles' the speed of drive, I forgot which number it is)? recently i've read an article stating that, for the most practical uses, RAID of this kind is next to useless, since it improves the performance for, like, 3% in normal use, and decreases data security drastically, since the damaged data cannot be restored easily. my other idea is, as it may look stupid, the following: 1) keep windows, and only windows on the first (boot) drive 2) keep all other software, (like program files folder, installed applications, games, etc.) on second hard drive 3) keep mp3 AND swap file on third drive that way, windows, drivers and such are on first disk, all other software are on second, and swap file on the third disk (all on the separate channels, of course), which could provide all drives are accessed at the same time, providing a good speed AND security? at the same time data for which access speed isn't important (like mp3, divx and such) are on all drives with enough space? does this look stupid? should i just connect to SATA in a RAID, and parallel ATA on separate channel and shut up? please answer me, i'm really in need of an advice? thanks in advance, Ivan