Help me out with my dilemna please

[AznVenom]

Please help me Techie Gurus,


I own an ABIT-IC7 motherboard and it has been crashing ever since I got it. I upgraded the BIOS and all and it's not doing anything. I have given up on it as the NorthBridge Fan is dying as well cuz it wont spin and when it does - IT'S LOUD!!!

I have like 6 IDE hard disks in there and only 3 run because the pc crashes when I have the 4th (or more) hard disk connected to my Promise Ultra ATA IDE PCI card. When I loaded the hard disks in there - It would crash EVERY hour on the hour. I timed it ... It was amazing!!! 60 minute intervals checking with my digital watch >=oT


The info in my hard disks get corrupted all the time and I'm finally fed up with it.

I have

P4 3.0E Ghz Socket 478
2x512 CorsairValue Ram DDR1 (I dont mind getting new ram)
6x IDE hard disks (I dont mind buying externals for them and getting a SATA)
DVD Burner and DVD Rom
NEC Iomega Drive
3.5 Disk Drive
PowerColor ATI 9800NonPro AGP 8x Video Card (My brother has an x300 PCI-Express Card)
Sound BLaster Audigy2 PCI Sound Card
Intel PRO/100+ PCI NIC Card
Promise Ultra 100 ATA IDE Controller Card
ANTEC TrueBlue 480Watt Power Supply

Should I just get a new motherboard or should I go SFF cuz I kinda want one with a handle for lanning?

Either or - I would like suggestions on what motherboard or SFF to get. I am willing to spend $250 max on either piece of equipment.

P.S. Thank you in advance!




Veno(V)

 

[stevty2889]

A flamethrower prescott core in a SFF system is a bad idea. The Asus P4P800 or P4C800 are good boards, I also liked my gigabyte 8IK1100.

 

[lastig21]

I've used an IC7 with a 3.0E without any problems. It is a good board. What power supply do you have in your system?

I currently have the Asus P4P800E. Its also a great board, and runs the 3.0E without any problems. You should be able to find a nice socket 478 board in the FS/FT forums.

 

[Blain]

Get a MB & PS.
> Asrock P4I65G @ $54.49 shipped.
I'm running one right now. It's not a feature rich master blaster. But good socket 478 MBs are getting harder to find. At least get one with a solid Intel based chipset (865/875).
> Enermax Liberty 400W @ $75.75 shipped.
These are very nice PS for the money. Nice stable voltages and very quiet, besides being affordable.

$130.24 gets you back in the game without sinking a ton of cash in old technology. :laugh:

 

[AznVenom]

Originally posted by: lastig21
I've used an IC7 with a 3.0E without any problems. It is a good board. What power supply do you have in your system?

I currently have the Asus P4P800E. Its also a great board, and runs the 3.0E without any problems. You should be able to find a nice socket 478 board in the FS/FT forums.

It's an ANTEC TrueBlue 480Watt Power Supply.

Sorry, I forgot to add that in and I edited the post up top hehe.

When I loaded the hard disks in there - It would crash EVERY hour on the hour. I timed it ... It was amazing!!! 60 minute intervals checking with my digital watch >=oT

I bought all this stuff like 4yrs ago - It was top of the line stuff as I went thru all the forums watching ppl going over-clocking crazy with the boards.

I looked everywhere and I could not find the Asus PC800-E Deluxe on any major websites being sold besides EBAY asking $200 for it.

Is that ASROCK Board any good? I'm so used to Asus and ABit boards only.

P.S. No, I did not OC my system at all and everything is left default besides turning off the onboard sound.

BTW - I have searched and posted in the For Sale/Trade thread and see no luck on it and thank you everyone for posting and being so helpful. Much is appreciated!!!

 

[AznVenom]

bump? If I can't find any of the good old ones - what is the best thing out now I can order rite away?

 

[Auric]

Whaa? Yer blaming the mobo but have not given any evidence why except for a failing NB fan (FYI, I have run an equivalent mobo for years with such fan disabled and the HS cannot be considered large). From what you have stated the Promise card seems the more likely culprit. Have you run from a basic DOS boot disk to eliminate software as a suspect? If so, updated Promise BIOS? Why are you not utilizing the ICH for HDDs?

 

[AznVenom]

Originally posted by: Auric
Whaa? Yer blaming the mobo but have not given any evidence why except for a failing NB fan (FYI, I have run an equivalent mobo for years with such fan disabled and the HS cannot be considered large). From what you have stated the Promise card seems the more likely culprit. Have you run from a basic DOS boot disk to eliminate software as a suspect? If so, updated Promise BIOS? Why are you not utilizing the ICH for HDDs?

The promise controller bios and the motherboard bios was updated as well as drivers for it.

I have 1 hard disk (the OS), my zip drive, and DVD Burner and Rom connected to the onboard IDE. My other drives are connected to the promise controller because you arent supposed to put any other devices on there besides hard disks (stated in the manual and that is my reason for it). It has been like this since I got the board (nb fan was fine then).

I wouldn't call myself a pc n00b because I have been working on PC's since the days of the 386 16mhz machines. I did sales and tech support as well as roll outs for 4+ years and I built 10+ Pentium4 (running Asus P4P800, P4C800, and P4S8x) machines which still run flawlessly but of course it doesn't have the heavy load this one has.

I even took out all my pci cards (placed the controller on a different slot) and only had that running along with the AGP video card and the problem still existed. I re-installed (fresh) XP 3x and had SP2 each time to break the 128gb barrier because most of my drives are over that size.

I went through 4 bios updates and still nothing was rectified. So, for now, I blame it on the motherboard (I put in 3 different promise cards also - they came with my WD Drives and all of them are bios updated) =oP

I did not go through DOS because:

1 - my drives need to be connected thru the controller card
2 - there are no DOS Drivers for it
3 - I don't see it as solving my problems cuz I run XP 99% of the time

If there was more I can do instead of buying a new motherboard - I am more than willing to.

P.S. I'm just using the nb fan as an excuse to buy a new motherboard.



Veno(V)

 

[myocardia]

You've done all of the right things for troubleshooting your rig, except for what I would have checked first thing: your psu is causing your problems, not your motherboard. Buy yourself this psu: link, and your problems will be solved. Your IC7 is top of the line, for Socket 478 boards. Your psu isn't.

edit: Just to clarify, your psu was the sh1t at one time, back when motherboards powered the cpu and video card from the 5v rail. That's why it has 45A on the 5v rail, it's an ATX ver. 1.1 psu, meant for powering things like dual 1Ghz PIII's, along with an AGP video card that didn't use 12v power (GF3 series, etc), like the 9800 series does. Back then, the only thing being powered by the 12v rail was fans and drives, so 24A was alot.

Once motherboard manufacturers switched to ATX ver. 1.3, which powers the cpu from the 12v rail, and video card manufacturers needed more power and also started using the 12v rail, 24A wasn't anywhere near enough, especially for a power hog like the Prescott's. That psu I linked you to is ATX 1.3, and has 33A on the 12v rail. It won't have any problems powering all of your drives, plus your 3 Ghz Prescott; it won't even work up a sweat.

 

[Auric]

Good call myocardia. I must confess I cringed when I saw "Antec" but kept my piehole shut. If a good PSU does not solve it I would still fall back to the Promise premise though, suspecting a general incompatability as several of the same model were tried and thus at least try a $15 Silicon Image controller before even thinking aboot replacing the mobo.

If the NB temp is at all a concern then by all means install a new fan or perhaps better yet replace the whole assembly with an adequate HS.

 

[AznVenom]

I will try out a different PSU tomorrow - I have a 500 watter (should be ATX v1.3) laying around some where and see how that goes. I will def reply with an update on it. Replacing a PSU over motherboard is enough motivation to do just that than to dis-assemble everything. Thank you myocardia and Auric on being detailed about my crappy PSU or else I wouldn't have thought 2x about it.

I was wondering why Antec discontinued their TrueBlue series LoLz - They were freaking boasting about being P4 certified then while the others were not.


P.S. I hope I can hit you guys up in PM later



Veno(V)

 

[AznVenom]

Okay sorry for the late reply ppl.

I went and got a Corsair 620W and also a Zalman NB47 last week. My system hasn't gotten any better but worse. It has ran thru checkdisk 3x this week (corrupting the files on my C: and D) and it has totally pissed me off (not blaming you guys at all - you were all great with the help).

I run nod32, nav, adaware, spybot, spyware doctor, and windows defender regularly.

Now, my friend sold me his A8N-SLI Premium for $50. I have $300 more to spend for a pci-express gpu and cpu. I can't decide between opteron, fx, or x2 chip. I'm willing to spend up to $300 for the cpu and run on a free ATI x300 card for the mean time. I only play CS1.6 and Source @1600x1200 or should I just return it (unplug all my hard disks) and save money for a C2D which means I need to spend money on DDR2 ram also?

I really do apologize if this belongs somewhere else since I started it here previously.


Veno(V)