KT7-RAID and ACPI - your comments/experiences, please

[timco]

Hi,

I have a KT7-RAID with a Tbird 800 and Windows 98SE. I got the motherboard on Saturday and it has taken three days to get it working properly (i.e. no crashes or weird behavior). I have managed this by disabling ACPI when installing Windows (using the "/p i" switch). Has anyone else had any problems with this setup and if so, what solution did you come up with.

I have had the following problems:

1. Clashes between Sblaster Live and USR internal modem, despite them being in slots 2 and 4 (supposedly not sharing the same IRQs). Now fixed.
2. Windows duplicating my CD Roms and zip drive in device manager (four CD Roms (instead of 2) and two Zips (instead of 1)). This causes an instant reboot.

I have got round it by disabling USB in the BIOS and by making liberal use of the reset ESCD data option in the BIOS. Turning off ACPI has helped a lot but I am slightly conscious of the fact that the machine might crash at any time it feels.

My setup:

KT7-RAID with UL revision BIOS
AMD 800 Thunderbird SktA
128mb SDRAM
Two 30G 75GXPs on IDE3 connector (ATA100)
Floppy, zip
CDRW 4x4x32
CDR x32
Creative GTS2
Soundblaster Live 1024
USR V90 modem

Drivers:

VIA 4in1 4.24 (I think)
Nvidia drivers (from the W9x_626.zip file)
Creative SB1024 drivers
USR modem drivers
HPT370 1.0.3

I have checked the temperature of the CPU (has a Taisol fan) and it ranges between 28C and 34C, usually about 32C. The case temperature is about 2-4C cooler than the CPU.

I have used the following method to get the stupid thing working:

1. Fresh install of Windows on blank hard drive.
2. Install VIA drivers. Reboot.
3. Install W9x_626 Nvidia drivers. Reboot.
4. Install modem drivers. Reboot.
5. Install sound drivers. Reboot.
6. Install HPT370 drivers. Reboot.
7. Install 98Lite (just my own personal preference - not essential).

Basically, I have let Windows reboot whenever it wants to.

So... that was fun. That's the last time I buy an Abit mobo if that's what they are all like. I probably should have gone for an A7V or a K7T Pro plus a Promise ATA100 card. But I didn't.

Any comments?

Tim:disgust:

 

[SkyDiver]

Timco: I just built my new system on Saturday night/Sunday. Very similar config. to yours.

Here is setup:
KT7-Raid
800 T-bird
SB Live X-gamer (from previous machine)
128 Meg Mushkin Rev2 222
30 GB IBM 75GXP ATA-100
Plextor 12/10/32A
Win98SE

I took a different route than you. I used PowerQuest's DriveCopy to copy my 27GB Maxtor on my old system to the new system. Set them up as master/slave, boot from a floppy which DriveCopy creates and, boom, 20 minutes later it is done. (They recommend that you DONT do this.)

Then, I booted into safe mode and tried to remove all the hardware that was not applicable in Device Mgr. I had all the latest 4-in-1 drivers from Via, but had a problem with USB at first. I had to download a driver from Microsoft and a "USB filter" from Via.

Overall, this was relatively painless, and I maintained all the latest updates to Win98SE, etc. I have had to disable SB 16 emulation on the SB Live card, but I think I'm going to get rid of the ACPI anyway, because I can't re-set the system and it won't continue booting after I make changes to the BIOS.

Have you seen the unofficial KT7 FAQ? I printed it out before installing. It is 42 pages--quite comprehensive. It tells you which drivers to update and in which order to install them. Came in VERY handy for me.

Lets talk, I'm not all the way through my install. I still have a 15 GB IBM GXP that hasn't arrived and I've got a DVD player to go in also.

Unofficial KT7 FAQ

SkyDiver

 

[timco]

Well, it almost seems to be okay now. When I turned the machine on after arriving home from work, it got into Windows and automatically rebooted itself, just before it displayed the task bar. Next time round, it booted perfectly. Very strange...

Anyway, I rebooted and went into Safe Mode and got rid of the SB16 emulation using the msconfig program (already disabled in Device Manager). Mysteriously, a network adapter had appeared too, which is quite strange, seeing as I don't have one. Removed that too and rebooted. Seems okay at the moment (using it now).

Insofar as slots are concerned, the modem is in slot 4 and the sound card in 2. That's it. I also had a prehistoric ISA card for my equally ancient scanner, but I've got rid of that as I never use it really.

I've installed Windows about 10 times since Saturday afternoon. Fortunately it only takes about 25 minutes at most but it's still a pain. You'd have thought that modern technology would be such a pain in the ass. I'm not entirely sure to blame: ABIT for the motherboard, Micro$oft for the OS or me for choosing the two of them as an ensemble. Roll on Whistler (Win "2001&quot. Perhaps that might be better.

My IRQs seem to be very logically laid out for some reason at present and there are no shared ones. Here they are in case you're interested:

00 System timer
01 Keyboard
02 Programmable interrupt controler
03 COM1
04 COM2
05 Sound card (SB Live!)
05 IRQ holder for PCI steering (no idea what this is, it seems to be required though).
06 Floppy controller
07 Free! Might try re-enabling USB just to see...
08 CMOS/clock
09 PCI modem
10 Graphics card + another IRQ holder
11 HPT370 RAID thingy (not used in RAID mode, just as a normal controller), plus another IRQ holder.
12 PS2 mouse
13 Numeric data processor
14 Primary IDE
15 Secondary IDE

Well, that's about as far as I've got. I'll have to see what happens over the next few days. I've installed a load of software: email client, browsers, Office, games, Java, WM7 and it all went on okay. I'll update you in the next few days.

Have fun (and plenty of luck).
Tim

 

[jakinney]

Timco, I had the same problems with both windows 98 and ME. The first time I booted the machine every day, windows would almost load, reboot, and then load completely on the second try. I have since installed ME, using the /p i switch; I also disabled windows ME's "PC Health". So far, I've had no problems, the system is quick, stable, and doesn't reboot spontaneously anymore.
To disable PC health run:
c:\windows\pchealth\support\pchsetup /uninstall

I've also disabled the system restore feature.

By the way, I did have a few irq problems, but juggling card placement fixed them.

system setup follows:

T-Bird 800 (oc'd to 950)
KT7-RAID
(2) 20.4 GB Maxtor 7200 rpm ATA/100 striped
128MB Mushkin PC133 CAS2
VisionTek GeForce 2 MX
3com 56k ISA modem
SB Live Value
SMC EtherPower 10/100

I consistently get between 56000 and 57000 kps (according to HDTach) and 60-65 fps in Unreal Tournament at 1024x768, with all details pegged.

The SB Live is in slot 2,
The SMC is in slot 3,
and the modem is in the isa slot.
I have USB enabled and the hpt370 of course.