Raptors won't format

[SAW]

Hey Sages,

Trying to add a WD 74GB raptor to my system as a solo high speed drive (not raid array) to speed up the loading of certain apps. I've gone through 3 raptors in a row without getting one to complete formatting. Bad luck????? The drives would always complete the "quick test" and initialize fine, but will not complete formatting???? It sure is a pain to have to keep returning them even though my local retailer has been fine about it. 3 in row seems wierd to me for such a highly regarded drive.

I've tried the windows XP utility (my OS is XP SP1) to get them to format and the WD "Data Lifeguard" utility and neither have worked. I'm worried that it is my system (see sig) at this point rather than the drives???? Any suggestions????


thanks for any help


SAW, out

 

[ribbon13]

Controller issues? Thatss purely nf4 right? no silraid?

 

[Gerbil333]

Have you installed a SATA drive on that machine before? I'd installed one SATA drive in another computer before I got my Raptor, and that installation went smoothly. When I got a Raptor for my Abit NF7-S, I had to figure out the correct BIOS settings before it would format.

 

[SAW]

,

N-force-3 Ultra is the chipset. I *am* worried that the bios settings are the key, some tweak I can't figure out with MSI's largely useless manual...the SATA ports are enabled and like I said, the drives have been recognized, initialize fine, but will never complete formatting????

bios settings for an idividual SATA drive???? Anyone????

thanks again for any much appreciated help!

SAW, out

 

[Tiamat]

Are you hitting F8 during windows install to install SATA RAID SCSI adapters? Or are you using a slipstream Windows XP SP2 cd?

 

[Blain]

F6

 

[imported_g33k]

Ive had this problem before with my raptors. You need to hit F6 to install the SATA RAID drivers ( I know your not using RAID but you still need them) and use a slipstreamed sp2 installation disk. Your problems should be solved after that.

 

[Blain]

This seems like a hit & miss problem. :shocked:
I've got a Raptor that I've loaded Windows XP on, with two different MBs and never had to install SATA drivers first. One was an Abit NF2 and the other an Abit 875PE.

 

[airfoil]

Maybe it's passing information to the controller too fast for the controller to register? :roll:

 

[SAW]

Phew, got it....

Went into bios and enabled disabled stuff until it worked. My solution: Enable SATA/UDMA transfer but NOT enable RAID. Even though I was not creating an array, ever, if RAID was enabled it wouldn't let the drive wouldn't format. Why? Don't ask me, i'm a noob .

For the record also, the SATA drivers were loaded all along etc. MSI just seem to assume in their manual for my mobo that if u had a SATA drive it would be in an array with another, rather than to be used as a solitary drive (which Anandtech says is the way to go for a *single user* as there is no speed up in data transfer 2 x RAID 0 vs. solitary drive) and provided no info as to bios settings in this particular case.

All's well that end's well! Thx for ur replys!!

SAW, out