Criminal_Colt

I just installed the latest drivers from nVidia and it corrupted my partition. Fortunately I could boot into the Vista repair utility using some older raid drivers from a floppy. All is fixed now but next time I'll check for feedback before I install. This is the correct driver pack to install right? I can't find anything more relevant in the category selection. nForce4/500 Series AMD - Windows Vista 64-Bit Version: 15.00 Release Date: February 5, 2007 WHQL Certified Release Notes: * WHQL driver package for nForce4/500 Series AMD motherboards. Driver Versions * Ethernet Driver (v65.55) WHQL * SMBus Driver (v4.60) WHQL * Installer (v5.40) * IDE SataRAID Driver (v9.31) WHQL * IDE SataIDE Driver (v9.31) WHQL * RAIDTOOL Application (v9.31) * SMU (v1.23) WHQL

...together with a small increase in speed (at least in theory). It would be interesting to see some real comparisons on more recent HDD's regarding RAID and cluster size. Colt

Yeah unfortunatly this became to much of a pain in the butt so I just installed with a 4k cluster. There seems to be a huge number of people who think that the stripe cluster size is the same as the partition cluster size. One question though, did not changing that file result in the problems mentioned above or was it only after the install had finished completely and you tried to run windows? I just cannot fathom why windows would reject a perfectly formatted partition. Colt

There are various reasons for choosing 16k and the choice is mainly dependant on what you use the drives for. No it doesn't, not unless you are in windows. If you are in setup (blue screen) it does not have an option to select from and will always choose 4k. I am now unable to access explorer or computer management from the previously stable OS (on the 200GB WD) and yet I have installed a 4k cluster of XP on the raid drives which works fine. WTF is going on! Colt

The problem I am having exactly is exactly as detailed above, I really can't be any more specific. Setup will not proceed without making me delete the partition and create a new one but if I do that it will create it as a 4k partition by default which isn't what I want. The partition works fine from the OS install on the 3rd drive a WD200GB so why would setup refuse it? Colt

That would eliminate step 5 but otherwise things would stay the same, correct? I have a new problem though. When I go to install on the RAID partition it says setup cannot recognise the partition (despite the fact it accuratly reports it as a NTFS drive with ~160GB of data). It recommends I go back and delete the partition and create a new one. Of course if I do this it will create it with the default 4k cluster size, correct? 1) What is causing it to not recognise the partition despite it working fine in XP on my 3rd drive (I can copy and delete files on the Raid partition fine using that install)? 2) How do I fix this? Colt

Ok I have 2xHitachi Deskstars and am about to install XP on them in a striped RAID setup. The problem is that my XP CD is SP2. I have heard about a lot of problems when it comes to using the 16k install method and SP2. I was wondering if there are any new ways around this problem yet or do I still have to do it the old way (which is the biggest pain in the butt ever). The way I will have to do it atm: 1) Recreate my SP2 CD and replace the following files in the I386 directory in SP2: dmadmin.exe (dmadmin.ex_) spcmdcon.sys (spcmdcon.sy_) setupdd.sys (setupdd.sy_) autochk.exe autoconv.exe (autoconv.ex_) autofmt.exe untfs.dll (untfs.dl_) 2) Install XP on a 3rd drive (already done). 3) Setup the Raid and format the drive(s) as NTFS and 16k cluster size. 4) Change drive boot up priorities. 5) Reboot and load raid drivers then install the modified XP onto the drive(s). 6) Install latest 6.86 chipset drivers from nVidia (all except smart gardian). 7) Install hotfixes from Microsoft. 8) Install graphics drivers. 9) Install audio drivers if they havn't already been installed during chipset drivers. Is this right??? Colt

What about Winchester CPUs? I heard you need to drop the FSB down or some crap like that because it can't control all 4 at once. Manchester should be fine though but I'm just wondering...

I missed the command rate...running it at T2 solved the issue. It's a bummer that they will only run at T2. Colt

Updated to latest BIOS Not sure on the chip but apparently any of the following in decreasing likelyhood: # Hynix D43 # Micron -5B ? # Samsung UCCC # Possible Nanya/Mosel/? I ran memtest on both chips running on their own and they both produce 100+ errors. I've done everything I can realistically without being some major computer science nerd. I think its time to RMA. Colt

No offence taken. I very much doubt it is the ram, it's either an incompatability issue with my mobo (which I am not aware of) or I'm setting the timings incorrectly. I do not have anyone handy right now so trying them in another rig isn't possible at this stage. If it was a problem with 1 ram stick I would put it down to DOA but not when it is both sticks. Any other ideas though? Assuming everything is ok (not broken) what should I try next? Colt

Linky Ok I still cant get these to work. Gah! I think it may be related to BIOS timings so some help would be great. Basically it boots up, sees the ram and then when the windows loading screen comes up it freezes and I get this random glitch at the bottom right half of the screen. I've tried adjusting the timings and also used this template but none of it worked. I'd like to give them a good go first as I know the DFI can be fussy over timings... Now I can't even get any of the sticks to boot in any of the slots single or dual. Any ideas? Colt