HELP! ASUS-A8n-SLI HARDRIVE POSTING ISSUES!

[Shadizzy]

Allright let me lay this out for you guys, first this problem really sucks cause the computer is playing mind games with me :|

I have 4 hd's mentioned in my sig, the system is the raptor and the other three are pure storage. I am using Bios version 1013 (date 7/26/05) on windows xp sp2


This started happening like a week ago, at first one of my 120 gig drives (F) drive would just turn off during use, meaning i would go to my computer and it wouldnt be there. At first I thought it was the connector and messed with it and got mixed results but not constant enough to tell me if it really is the problem. Then it started! all of a sudden my 300 gig drive (D woulndt post at startup it would take forever at the detecting ide drive screen on bootup, and the computer wont even start, even with the system drive being detected. and now all three drives are causing problems and the only way i can get the computer to post and startu pinto windows is to just have the system raptor drive on and connected.

Now if i mess around enough I can get one or the other drives to boot, which rules out drive corruption, but then again I have no clue what it could be, it could be the motherboard, software, hardrives, alienss anything???

Guys I love you like my own and youve always helped me, soo please relieve me of some stress

Thanks


(mind you its pretty hard to run hd tests too when they wont boot when i connect them to the sata link) :|

 

[shawn130c]

Does this only happen with all 4 connected. What about just trying two for a couple of days and see if it it still happens.

 

[Shadizzy]

I cant get all 4 to work at the same time, i just updated the bios again and got them all to work for like 5 min then the maxtor 300 gig just dissapeared. soo i unplugged it and now its the system drive and the two wd's data drive :|


its possesseddddddd

 

[stevty2889]

Did you do a bios update prior to the problems starting, or just did one after the problems started?? You said you now have the system drive and the 2 WD data drives, is it working normaly that way? Have you run the manufacturers diagnostics on all the drives? If it's lagging at the detecting IDE drives screen, thats what mine was doing when my drive was dying, so it's possible that one of your drives is dying, and could also prevent other drives from being detected.

 

[Shadizzy]

ehhh I am starting to think that you may be right, however the drive i think may be in question seems to start up detect quickly as long as the 300 gig maxtor isnt in the chain.

The drive I am thinking about is one of the WD's I havent figured out which one specifically is making the sound but, whenever i start the computer i hear two scrapes and then nothing. Now I dont know how to describe a sound but its sort of goess (pssck-pssck) followed by another (pssck-pssck) pretty good description well it sounds like metal and it bothers me. but the drive boots and works fine soo who knows whats really going on.

Is it safe to rule out the motherboard though? cause I've allready had huge problems with the chipset fan and i cant mentally handle taking it out again :|.

Thanks for your help

 

[birdpup]

perform a test on each of your hard drives with the manufacturer's diagnostic utility. Possibly reisntall the drivers for the hard drives, or re-prepare the system for the drive using the drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility. If all of that happens without problems, then run memtest through at least one complete pass.

It is not a good thing to hear your hard drive seeking like that. I think a hard drive is dying. It is best to disconnect all but one at a time, run the manufacturer's test on that drive. If the drive passes the test, disconnect and connect the next drive. Test one drive at a time until you find the problem drive. Then determine if this drive is still under warranty, grab error code from test, and RMA the drive.

Copy the data off the failing drive as soon as possible. Do not let the drive run for long periods of time if you have not yet copied the data off of it since the drive may permanently fail at any time and the chance of permanent failure increases with use.

Preventive measure, ensure proper cooling for all the drives. I bet they are overheating since you have so many in the case.

[*]Hard Drive Manufacturer Diagnostic Utilities

• Seagate
• Western Digital
• Maxtor
• Fujitsu
• Hitachi
• Everest Diagnostic Software (not confined to any one hard drive manufacturer)

[*]Data Recovery Programs

• TestDisk
• R-Studio
• Runtime's GetDataBack
• Ontrack's Easy Recovery Pro
• Quetek
• File Scavenger
• HDD Regenerator
• Freeware Data Recovery Tools ***Free***
• PC Inspector ***Free***
• ACR Data Recovery
• DataRecoveryWizard
• Digital Camera Memory Recovery: PC Inspector

[*]Rescue Disks

• UBCD4Win
• BartPE
• Insert
• Knoppix

[*]Memory Tests

• memtest86
• memtest86+

 

[Shadizzy]

Thank you very much for your help!

such much for lian li's revolutionary hardrive placement for better cooling

 

[birdpup]

Originally posted by: Shadizzy
...
such much for lian li's revolutionary hardrive placement for better cooling

I do not have experience with Lian Li cases. Is there a fan, or fans, directing air over each of the hard drives? I looked up your case just now but could not really tell how the hard drive cooling setup is.

 

[Shadizzy]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Showimage...m+ATX+Mid+Tower+Computer+Case+-+Retail

phew theres a link to a good open picture of the case, you can see the 120mm fan on the bottom left right before the 6 bays , there is also one on the back end, and i have a 120mm fan on the cpu soo cooling all around and i dont even overclock.

here is the full new egg link

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112052

Mines just like that except its black.

Thanks again!

 

[birdpup]

Thank you, that picture showed the lower cages a little better, and I just saw the fan that appears to direct air over the six drive bays. Are you able to feel airflow between the drives in the second cage away from the fan? That would be a good indicator of whether or not they are overheating. If you can feel airflow, even slightly, then it should be fine. I am not sure how much the sides of the drive cages may obstruct the airflow.

 

[Shadizzy]

Hmm, I will check that out when I get home from work, its obvious that i need to swap those two 120 gig drives out soon and grab two 400 gig's and just raid them. Money doesnt come close to piece of mind

 

[Shadizzy]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well the 300 gig wont even post anymore :|, i hooked only it up and put the maxtor diagnostic disk and and it wont even identify the drive. As for the sound it wasnt comming from the drives but from the dvd burner even with no cd in it, its creepy.

but yea now i have found out what the cause is and its the piece o crap maxtor with 250 gigs of mp3s on it that i kinda sorta wanna keep :|

 

[stevty2889]

Ouch, well you could try the freezer trick, but may not work in your case. I'd replace it with a seagate, they seem to be the most reliable at the moment and have a 5 year waranty, although I am also very happy with my WD SATA II drive.

 

[Shadizzy]

I would love nothing more than to get rid of this maxtor pos, but knowing newegg they are just going to give me the same drive :|

but yep, thanks to everyone who helped me during this

 

[birdpup]

Try rebooting the machine multiple times until the bios recognizes the drive. It sometimes happens that a drive will later be recognized when it is not recognized now. Then you can use one of the data recovery programs provided earlier to recover your data.

Another possibility is to disconnect the drive and let it sit for a couple days. Then attempt to recover the data. I have successfully recovered data from a drive months after I had previously attempted and then given up hope.

 

[Shadizzy]

I found out what it was!!!!! it was a bios and chipset issue. I guess according to asus the newest bios needs to have a newer chipset drivers alone with it or else it will cause problems. I am still cautious and investing in a NAS or MP3 server just so i can raid and get a peace of mind.


Thank you to everyone for your help!

now i am going to enjoy my vid card fresh from newegg <3