Help again with a new computer..possibly ABIT KT7A-RAID related

DavidTigerFan

Senior member
Nov 13, 2000
474
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For those of you that helped me get over the fan header 2 problem thank you. Now I have a new problem. Let me decribe what I did in the process of installing the software. First off here is my system:

ABIT KT7A-RAID mb with an AMD Athlon 1.33ghz (133fsb)
512 MB crucial cas2 ram
2 40 gb Maxtor Diamondmax 60 hdd's in a RAID-0 array
Innovision geforce2-pro 64mb video
3com 3c905tx network card
Soundblaster live value card
Plextor 16x ide burner
Toshiba 12X dvdrom
Microsoft Intellimouse optical USB

Now heres what happened:

I wanted to install Win2000server because I run my own web server. I go about booting off the floppies and hit f6 to install the highpoint raid drivers. I make it past that and make it to the detecting hardware part (you know, the part where it says the screen may flicker). It made it through about halfway and then froze solid...no ctrl-alt-del or anything, had to do a hard reset. Went back in, and it did it again. Now I am thinking it is because I tweaked the memory settings in the BIOS before I installed. So I go into the BIOS and reset the memory timings. Go back into setup and it only makes it a little way into the detecting hardware part and it freezes. I finally go back into the BIOS and reset EVERYTHING to factory defaults. Go back into setup and it makes it past the detecting hardware part and installs ok.

Now once I reboot and make it into the OS I downloaded the latest nvidia drivers. I then downloaded and installed the latest VIA 4in1 drivers, then I updated the High point drivers to v1.11. Now I am thinking everything is peachy and the system locks hard. I mean, only a hard reset would get it to reboot. I think it's a fluke and I reboot and make it back in. Then randomly it freezes again. So basically I have a system that freezes randomly when I am doing something on the computer. I tried reinstalling all the drivers before I went to bed again and everything seemed to be working so I started running Prime95 to burn it in overnight.
I came in the next morning and prime95 was still running and nothing had froze. So I figured I had fixed it. Well I didn't. I started chatting on AIM and it froze. Reboot. Started transferring files from another share. Froze, Reboot.

Basically if I left the computer alone, it wouldn't freeze, but if I did anything with it, it froze.

I thought it might be a heat issue, but I used an FOP32 with articsilver. I checked the CPU temp in the BIOS and it was holding steady at 44C and system temp was around 27C.

So now I am thinking that it is some sort of incompatibility with win2000 server. I wipe everything and go about installing Win2000 Professional. Well last night I started installing it and started formatting the drives and went to bed. I woke today to find that it had frozen at 64% formatted. ARRGH! I started the install again and formatting, then came to work.

With all the intelligence here on anandtech can anyone give me any ideas?

Then next thing I am going to try is swapping the PCI cards (Network and sound) around into other slots because I found that slot 6 (where my soundcard is) shares an IRQ with the USB contoller. Also the slot 5 shares one with the HPT370 controller.
 

Jvolm

Member
Apr 4, 2001
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Sounds like a HD (prob RAID) problem to me, but a few questions 1st...

Is there any activity when it locks up? What action is going on before the lockup?

Have you tried installing without the RAID setup?

Are these virgin HD's or have they been used before?

Friend of mine had a similar problem when he was RAID 0'ing. Turned out he had an old LiLo chunk on one of the HD's that the RAID BIOS ignored; it tried to write to it anyway and locked the box up. He had to fdisk /mbr both drives.

Try installing one of the HD's in a non-RAID IDE port, reinstall and see if maybe the RAID is trying to write a pagefile somewhere that it shouldn't.

 

DavidTigerFan

Senior member
Nov 13, 2000
474
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Ok answers...

1) Nothing happens when it locks....one second I am typing, or copying and it freezes solid, not hard drive activity, nothing.

2) I haven't tried installing without raid, I'd really like to keep it if I could

3) Yes they are Brand spanking new hard drives.

Any other ideas?

-D
 

Jvolm

Member
Apr 4, 2001
102
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I'd try to isolate the problem....see if it is the RAID by not using it & checking for stability.

IDE RAID 0 isn't that useful anyway (IMO) unless you make a habit of moving huge files around a lot. Otherwise, it just eats up your CPU.

The thing where it crashed in the middle of a format makes me think it has to be HD related. Maybe one of the HD's has a bad spot on it? Have you done a surface scan on each? (Go see a movie or three while you do it)
 

billyjak

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,869
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Iv'e been reaing reports like crazy that the Abit KT7A Raid board is fussy about ram, especially crucial ram.
Try a different stick of ram if you can borrow one.
I use Mushkin rev 3 with my KT7 Raid and have never had a problem with it.
I know I tried Kingmax pc 150 Tiny and it worked also