Problem with over 200GB and KT266a

[compnurd0977]

Has anyone heard or seen anyone have problems with having more then 200GB and running on a KT266a. i have a total of 220GB and the system is always giving IRQ errors and crashing and running slow as hell. when i take one out everything works fine and it does not matter which one.


i have a WD120 MAX60 and a WD40. i have a epox board and athlon xp1800. i have the newest BIOS

 

[Wolfsraider]

i am not sure so i am asking a question here too

the KT266a doesn't support ata133 but is ata100 able to support the capacity of those drives combined?

 

[compnurd0977]

that i dont know i am trying to figure out. i need to know if this chipset cant support over 200GB total combined HD space. all the drives are UDMA100.

 

[Bovinicus]

Yeah, you should be fine then.

 

[compnurd0977]

huh? should be fine with what. the key thing is i am no where near fine

 

[KF]

The combined capacity is not a mobo problem, whatever your problemi is. If the BIOS supports 120G drives is the only question, and it appears that it does.

If Windows Device Manager is objecting to conflicts, that could definately be a problem. Why there is an IRQ conflict operating 3 drives but not 2, I don't know.

 

[compnurd0977]

thats the weird thing. windows is not reporting any conflicts whatsoever. my friend has the same mobo plus a 120 and a 80. he runs fine.

 

[ElFenix]

i had an ata 133 card that wasn't working right... so i pulled that and now my computer works fine

 

[KF]

> i have a total of 220GB and the system is always giving IRQ errors...
>thats the weird thing. windows is not reporting any conflicts whatsoever.

Where are the IRQ errors coming from?

Make sure the drives are set to Auto or None in the BIOS. No forced setting for any drive parameter, including PIO or DMA.
Make sure there are no drivers in the Config.sys or Autoexec.bat.

Recheck jumpers. Some drives are very particular about whether they are running with a slave or by themselves.

Reseat and/or substitute cables. I have had a few bad cables in my life.

Switch positions of the drives on the cables. This worked for one guy.

Go from master/slave jumpering to cable select (or visa versa).

Some drives will not work with others on the same cable. Very rare nowadays.

Delete all drivers while booting to Safe Mode. Have Windows redetect everything.

Pull all PCI cards but video.

Clean install Windows.

Substitute power supply.

 

[compnurd0977]

okay i re-installed windows and only had the 120 in when i did it. so when i booted up it re detected the drives and stuff and so far so good. i just gotta wait and see. thx for the help guys

 

[zephyrprime]

How much power do you have?

 

[compnurd0977]

at the moment a 300W

 

[Linux23]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
How much power do you have?

good question. you said when you pull one of the drives, the problem goes away. if it continues to happen, it may be time for a PS upgrade.

 

[compnurd0977]

i am doing that soon but i only pulled the IDE cable not the power