nF3 250Gb Sata 1-2 Raid Issue

[tdr1954]

This system is an upgrade from a Soyo K8USA w/AMD 64 3200+. See my Sig for current components. I have been battling this setup for over a month and have read so many forums, that I thought I had read the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica.

 

First thing I did was zero out my hard drives after everything was moved to this motherboard. The bios was set up for optimized with the following adjustments made in the Bios:

Hard Disk Boot Priority:

SCSI-0: Nvidia Stripe 138.4

SCSI-1: Nvidia Stripe 372.6

First Boot Device: Hard Disk

Second Boot Device: CD ROM

Third Boot Device: Disabled

Boot Other Device: Enabled (If I Disabled, my Stripe 138.4 was not detected during bootup and of course system would not load for it could not find Windows. With this Enabled if I left my external drive plugged in, Windows would not boot for it picked up my external drive and not my raid drive. I had to ensure that the external drive was disconnected prior to boot.)

Full and Small Screen Logos: Both Disabled

 

Advanced Chipset Features:

AGP Aperture Size(MB): 256MB

 

On Chip Primary IDE: Disabled

On Chip Secondary IDE: Enabled (Both my DVD Writers were connected here on MB)

 

Initial Display First: Onboard AGP

USB Keyboard Support: Enabled

USB Mouse Support: Enabled

On Board IRDA Select: Disabled

 

GENIE BIOS

DRAM Configuration: Mhz 200

DRAM/FSB: 1/01

CPC: Tried both 1T and 2T

Tcl: 2.5

Trcd:04

Tras:08

Trp:04

Trc:12

All other settings were left alone

 

Sata1/2 Control: Enabled

Sata2/3 Control: Enabled

AC97 Audio: Disabled

On Board 1394: Disabled

 

I saved my Bios set up and ran Memtest86: 12 Passes with no errors.

Booted to Windows went without a hitch. Started browsing the internet, boom BSOD. Restarted the computer no error messages from Windows no error messages found in Administrative tools. Tried to run Doom, it would crash within the hour. I then went in and changed my Bios Memory timings and tried both T1 and T2. New timings were:

TCL:2.0

Trcd:03

Tras:08

Trp:03

Trc:12

All other settings were left alone.

 

Rebooted and loaded Memtest86, again 12 passes no errors.

Booted to windows again the same problems could not keep windows up for very long.

I had read issues with Corsair compatibilty problems with this Motherboard and was getting ready to order new memory. I then decided a different approach since I'm a NOOB to OC'ing and playing with memory timings has been a problem for me.

 

I started all over, zeroed my drives, reloaded Windows and put my operating system on the Marvel Chip Sata3/4:

The only adjustments made in the Bios were:

Hard Disk Boot Priority:

SCSI-1: Nvidia Stripe 138.4

SCSI-0: Nvidia Stripe 372.6

First Boot Device: Hard Disk

Second Boot Device: CDROM

Boot other Device: Disabled (This has allowed me to leave my external hard drive attached and running instead of turning it off and disconnecting)

DRAM Configuration was left at 200: 1/01 with 2-3-3-8 2T.

No other adjustments were made.

 

My system has been running for three days now without a single problem. Ran Prime95 for 14 hours with no errors. Played Doom for 8 hours without a single hitch. Aquamark Scored 69,572: GFX 10,929; CPU 9,571

I tried to go back to the Corsair stock timings of 2.5-4-4-8 in both 1T and 2T and had BSOD's again. I know the Corsair memory is part of my problem.

 

However, part of my conclusion is that the SATA1/2 Raid (Nvidia chipset) has been the major contributing factor to my headaches. I was able to duplicate by putting my Operating system back on the SATA1/2 and the BSOD's were jumping all over me again. Sorry for being so long, but I was trying to give as much detail as possible in order for a hopeful BIOS update that might fix the SATA1/2 Raid issue. If nothing else it will be informative to others to try and switch to SATA3/4. Now its off to playing with OC's to see if I can learn how to get a little more out of the system, now that it is stable. Hope this information is helpful to someone.

[THunDA]

Sorry for being so long, but I was trying to give as much detail as possible in order for a hopeful BIOS update that might fix the SATA1/2 Raid issue..

 

Never be sorry for providing alot of info.. Thats a VERY good thing to do and we encourage people to do this.. too many people want help and provide nothing..

 

 

So basically you have problems running your OS raid array on 12 ?

 

But it works fine on 34 ?

 

I personally dont think this is any type of bios bug .. I think that ports 12 might be bad and maybe you need to rma the mobo.. But wait for other opinions because maybe im missing something..

 

Did you try different cables ( sata and power ) when using 12 to make sure one isnt faulty ?

 

There is a flaw in nvidia's chipset that prevents you from using ports 12 when clocking to 240htt or higher.. But this shouldnt effect you when running stock or under 240..

[tdr1954]

Did you try different cables ( sata and power ) when using 12 to make sure one isnt faulty ?

 

I disconnected the Sata 1/2 from the Raptors and hooked them to the WD200's, then hooked the Sata 3/4 that were on the WD200's to the Raptors. The connection to the Motherboard did not change. I did not change the Power Supply connections. This would rule out a bad power supply connectors for the system is still doing fine at stock settings. I only did the swap on the SATA cables, no replacement. Presently I have not attempted to do any OC's except the GPU. Still tickled that the system is stable and not crashing. It will probably be a while before I make that venture. Received to many gray hairs trying to keep it running and am content at the moment. :nod:

[learners permit]

sata ports 1&2 are not locked on this board 240 and higher on the bus causes major headaches use port 3&4 only for ocin.

[tdr1954]

sata ports 1&2 are not locked on this board 240 and higher on the bus causes major headaches use port 3&4 only for ocin.

 

Thanks for the info, I have switched to sata ports 3/4 and was able to OC to 2.64Ghz and was stable. My only limitation for going higher is my being air cooled. Temps stayed between 48-52c during all of the stress and stability tests. I was also able to get the Corsair memory to run at its factory settings of 2.5-4-4-8 but can only get DDR440 out of them on 200/1:01, anything above that fails memtest. But that is another issue.