Got my new build up and running, exept a few problems.

[sornborger]

This stuff is voodoo science. No one knows until someone knows and right now no one knows. Has to be a precise sequence of events to make it work and that sequence hasn't been found yet...ahhh, the plot thickens.

 

[Chaosblade02]

If you want to make sure that the HD is wiped, such that the "tattoo" information from the RAID controller is gone, then unplug the SSD, plug the HD into a SATA port, and boot off of a DBAN disc. (Set the SATA port to IDE mode before you do this.) Wipe the drive completely, and then attempt to re-install Win7 onto the HD. Set the BIOS to RAID mode before you install Win7. Put the Intel RAID drivers onto a USB flash drive, it may be necessary to get Win7 to be able to see the HD in RAID mode.

What is a DBAN disk? I am also not sure how to wipe the drive completely unless I can get it to show up in windows so I can format it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

What is a DBAN disk? I am also not sure how to wipe the drive completely unless I can get it to show up in windows so I can format it.

http://www.dban.org/

 

[T_Yamamoto]

it cleans out your WHOLE harddrive.

 

[Chaosblade02]

The HDD doesn't work. I can't even get my other PC to recognize it. DBAN cannot detect the HDD either.

Technically the PC works, as well as all of the other hardware, but it looks like I am gonna have to buy another HDD. Which I will not be able to return, the warranty is over, and I got no idea how to contact Samsung for the manufacturers warranty. Which means I will probably end up having to drop another 80-100 bucks in a new HDD. Next one I get is going to be a Western Digital.

I'm done trying to troubleshoot this and I have in fact lost the enthusiasm of getting this PC working to its fullest extent after running into one problem after another over the period of more than a month. I will get it working eventually but I am no longer in any hurry to get this PC up. I am not even confident that getting another HDD will solve this problem.

Right now its just sitting in the corner collecting dust, while my 4 year old PC is being used. Its a shame, but the limit of my patience has been exceeded.

I think this thread is the perfect example of a worst possible scenario someone could ever run into building a PC.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Worse case scenerio? not really (multiple DOS's and stuff like that)
Bad scenerio? yes

 

[Chaosblade02]

Worse case scenerio? not really (multiple DOS's and stuff like that)
Bad scenerio? yes

Summary:

2 motherboards in a row with bent pins in the CPU socket, the first you needed a magnifying glass to see, the second one was visible from 10 feet away. Result was a fried CPU from the beginning that made me troubleshoot everything else BUT the CPU until the very last step. I likely RMA'd a PSU that was in fact good, because I couldn't test the CPU.

Once I finally get it to post, a HDD suddenly goes bad from me separating them from RAID 0, and I cannot find another case of this happening to anyone else.

Also they sent me the wrong GPUs originally and I had to send them back.

I dunno on a scale of 1-10, that would be at least an 8... It could have been a 10 if I had to pay for a new CPU and MB.

Overall a horrible experience for my first build, and I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

The only mistake I made was I didn't check the CPU socket with a magnifying glass to check for bent pins before I put that CPU in there. I consider it a noob mistake on my part. But other than that I made no mistakes on the hardware assembly.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Well that sounds pretty awful. Im sure you learned alot as this was your first build. alot of people will go through the same things.

atleast we are here to help you

 

[mfenn]

Technically the PC works, as well as all of the other hardware, but it looks like I am gonna have to buy another HDD. Which I will not be able to return, the warranty is over, and I got no idea how to contact Samsung for the manufacturers warranty

First hit on Google. I know you're frustrated, but if you're going to stop even trying, then why bother posting?

Cheer up, it's just a computer. Yes you've made some mistakes, but nothing too egregious. I just wouldn't want to go with you to buy a lotto ticket. :awe:

 

[Chaosblade02]

First hit on Google. I know you're frustrated, but if you're going to stop even trying, then why bother posting?

Cheer up, it's just a computer. Yes you've made some mistakes, but nothing too egregious. I just wouldn't want to go with you to buy a lotto ticket. :awe:

At no point did I say "I give up" I already have too much invested in this to just give up on it now. I said I am going to basically slow down and take my time with it, instead of being in a rush to get this PC working.

Thanks for the link, I tried google before and couldn't come up with what I was looking for. I clicked on the samsung "troubleshooting" link, and it was invalid. They said most of the HDD they get are in fact good. I am still not 100% certain the HDD is bad. It could just be corrupted, but I tried DBAN and it couldn't recognize the HDD.

If anyone knows any other alternative ways you can clean a HDD that cannot be recognized by windows, or DBAN, I am open to ideas.

 

[Chaosblade02]

I got it to recognize my HDD, and I'm not sure why what I did worked but it did. I put both drives back in Raid 0 then separated them again, and suddenly windows sees it.

But as usual, I'm running into one problem after another trying to setup Intel Smart response .

I open it up and click accelerate, it seems to work, but when I reboot the PC, it won't boot back up in windows, and in the raid controller it lists the SSD as a caching device, but lists my HDD as disabled?????

I had to set the HDD as a non-raid device for it to boot back up into windows, but when I did this, there were several programs I installed that suddenly disappeared, catalyst control center is nowhere to be found, and parts of Intel Smart response are missing, so I click to uninstall Intel Smart response so I could ininstall it and it tells be its already been uninstalled and would you like to remove the icon, so I click yes, but the program isn't actually uninstalled because the icon is still there on windows search?

WTF is going on here!??????

I am so confused.

I am ready to give up on Smart response technology and just use a single 1TB 7200 RPM HDD. Why does this have to be so difficult to get working? I have never in my life seen anything this difficult to get working on a PC, and I am following every set of instructions I can find on the internet, and not a damn one of them is right.

My motherboard is supposed to have an EZ smart response utility that doesn't even work properly, I download the program and installed it just to open it up and see an error pointing up and another pointing down with no options to do anything on it.

It won't let me reinstall Smart response either.

Should I just scrap everything and start over for the 20th time?

 

[mfenn]

Yes, you should probably format everything and start over.

1. Format both drives (use DBAN).
2. Unplug SSD.
3. Make sure that the SATA controller is set to RAID mode and that the HDD isn't in a RAID set.
4. Install Windows as normal (using RST F6 drivers if necessary).
5. Install RST Windows drivers with control panel.
6. Shut down and plug in SSD.
7. Go into the BIOS and make sure that the HDD is before the SSD in the boot order.
8. Go into the RST control panel and choose accelerate.

 

[Chaosblade02]

Its up and running, what I did was upgraded the BIOS for my motherboard, which I was very reluctant to because I heard of lots of people having problems with the latest BIOS version of this board, and SRT was supposed to work with the stock BIOS on this board. But upgrading the BIOS seemed to solve the problem of it disabling acceleration on reboot.

I ran a few stress tests on my GPUs with Kombuster and MSI afterburner, and for GPUs that are supposed to have better than stock cooling, I am just not seeing it. At 100% fan speed the cooling system cannot keep the GPUs from overheating running at maximum capacity. That is crazy, do you need a water block to keep these high end GPUs cool at 100% capacity? Both of these GPUs are HIS Radeon 6970 Ice Q turbos. I haven't tried any gaming on this rig yet, I still have some other software I need to get installed on it first, but the results from Kombuster have me a little paranoid that I am going to be overheating. My case has very good airflow, its a full tower with 2 large fans in the front pulling air in, and 2 in the back pushing air out. The board is positioned to where the large fans in the front are blowing right between the GPUs. I can take the cover off and feel the air flow around the GPUs, its very good.

 

[mfenn]

Glad that you were able to get SRT working!

Looking at the IceQ, it looks like a shrouded, fully-exhausting cooler, which is good. However, that doesn't guarantee good performance. It really depends on other factors. Things that jump out at me:

1. Are the GPUs actually overheating? What are the temps (upper GPU and lower GPU)?
2. What motherboard do you have? What is the spacing between the PCIe slots?
3. Are the GPUs overclocked?
4. Stress test programs like Kombuster or Furmark are designed for maximum burn. Temps in actual games will be much lower.

 

[Chaosblade02]

Glad that you were able to get SRT working!

Looking at the IceQ, it looks like a shrouded, fully-exhausting cooler, which is good. However, that doesn't guarantee good performance. It really depends on other factors. Things that jump out at me:

1. Are the GPUs actually overheating? What are the temps (upper GPU and lower GPU)?
2. What motherboard do you have? What is the spacing between the PCIe slots?
3. Are the GPUs overclocked?
4. Stress test programs like Kombuster or Furmark are designed for maximum burn. Temps in actual games will be much lower.

The overheating isn't as bad in actual gaming as I thought it would be. After an hour of gaming on Dragon age 2 the cards didn't get past 65C and that was the top card. It played on maximum possible settings with great frame rates. These cards are stock overclocked a little bit, they run at 900 core clock which is a little faster than stock for a 6970. I might even be able to overclock them a little bit more and still be safe.

The motherboard is a gigabyte Z68 UD4-B3, the spacing between them seems fine.

As long as the GPUs aren't always at 100%, I should be able to keep them cool. During gaming it hovered in the 60-90% usage range spiking up and down in that range, heating up a little at 90% and cooling down when it drops in the 60% range. At 65C my fan speed is around 70%, and I can barely hear them running.

I'm downloading Witcher 2 ATM, and am going to try that later on. I expect to max it out also with no problems and get great frame rates.

 

[zCypher]

It doesn't sound like they are overheating at all. I wouldn't be the slightest bit concerned at 65C. My GTX 460SE can get a whole lot hotter than that, and I've never had any issues with it. Sounds like you've had an almost comical (not for you) series of failures, I cringe imagining what that would have been like. On the plus side, you've learned a hell of a lot more than if everything had went smoothly.

As usual mfenn, mnewsham and everyone else have been amazingly helpful as I can see throughout your ordeal! Don't forget to give them all a big thankyou!

hehe enjoy your new system

 

[Chaosblade02]

I do thank everyone for the help and input. After everything is up and running I'm satisfied with it.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Do you have a picture(s) of your build?

 

[mfenn]

It doesn't sound like they are overheating at all. I wouldn't be the slightest bit concerned at 65C. My GTX 460SE can get a whole lot hotter than that, and I've never had any issues with it.

Agree 100%. I wouldn't worry about the GPU until it got up to 90C or so.

 

[mfenn]

I do thank everyone for the help and input. After everything is up and running I'm satisfied with it.

Glad you like it!