8RGA+ question.

Got a new WD800 Protege HD, hooked it up and all it would do is click-click so it was bad and exchanged for another. New one formatted no problem and got ME and about six programs installed, then after restart I got the BIOS one short beep then went to spec page test memory, show temps, voltages, IDE drives, etc, and hung there unable to detect or list drives. Post code 77 - detect serial & parallel ports. I have my camera dl cable on the serial port but no paralell port device.

Punch the reboot button and same thing except this time post code 66 - reserved. Ctrl-Alt-Del had no effect so no option but to hit reboot button a few more times but no go, got to the same specs screen and hung unable to detect HD or any drive.

Hooked my old WD 60Gig HD back up and posted to ME desktop no problem, using it now so obviously it works. This WD maybe year and a half old and has worked fine since day one.

It gets better . . . Also have an el-cheapo Maxtor 30Gig about a year old and also worked fine UNTIL the other day, when after a restart, I had exactly the same problem with not being able to detect any drives, went to the same screen and hung same as with the new WD. I ran DOS scandisk on the Maxtor and it checked out good so tried to get it to post a few more times but got to the same specs screen and couldn't detect any drives. Thought the Maxtor going bad so got the new WD, and here we go again, same old, same old . . . .

Wondering if by coincidence the Maxtor going bad then I get a new WD and it's bad to . . .?? Have three 'puters so later on when I get woke-up going to try the WD and Maxtor on the Soltek board and see if they post and meantime I would appreciate your sharing any similar problems with Epox boards.

Went to the epox.com website and found a BIOS flash update dated 2-12-04 so maybe I need to flash the BIOS. Wierd thing is this 8RGA+ is about a year old and never gave me one problem and hate flashing the BIOS if the HD's are going bad. Also have an 8RDA and flashed it's BIOS no sweat.

Have a 2500 Barton on the 8RGA+ OC'd 2.0GHz and after post problem cleared CMOS and loaded Fail Safe then Optimized Defaults but same thing unable to detect drives. 512MB's Samsung PC2700, ran memory test eight hours and all test passed. All temps cool so not a heat problem. IMHO, I have two bad HD's but your comments, thoughts and suggestions much appreciated and have a nice day. OldBird

Interesting problem. It will be helpful to know what happens when you try the HDD's in another machine. At the moment, I don't think it's bad drives. Have you tried unplugging the camera cable? Also, what about booting from a floppy?

Thanx for the come back Cuda.

Sunday was such a beautiful, warm day we did yard work so didn't mess with it until last evening. Same problem so went DOS and able to reformat the new WD no sweat. Not going to fool around installing everything again and let the same dog bite me twice so will return it. Have the el-cheapo Maxtor to try on the Soltek sometime today and willl you know how goes it.

Decided to flash the 8RGA+ BIOS and that went smooth and added 200MHz FSB option. Not a heavy-duty OC'er so I kick the 2500 to 2.0 or 2.1 GHz and I'm happy.

Another wierd thing; Got a new 512MB stick of Samsung PC2700 to add to my two sticks of 256MB Crucial PC2100 and they married well for a day then on a reboot dumped the video drivers and wouldn't boot 'cept in safe mode. System Restore from two days ago didn't bring the drivers back up so had to reinstall them and went back to work. After a couple more reboots it dumped them again so took out the two PC2100 sticks, reinstalled the drivers and OK now. Strange the MB accepted the different RAM sicks for a day then all of a sudden doesn't like the combo and can't figure how different RAM sticks would cause it to dump video drivers. Low end 64MB PNY Video card and Hercules-Fortissimo II sound card.

Thing that makes me think the MB might have developed a bug is it worked super for a long time then all of a sudden all this hog wash hassel and various wierd problems. On the other hand, this old WD 60Gig is hummin' along fine as can be. I'll punch back in after I get the Soltek hooked up and see what gives. Have a nice day and thanks again. OldBird

REPORT:

Found out the 8RGA+ and later models have issues with some WD HD's whereas the 8RDA+ and previous models no HD issues. The one 69Gig WD I have works fine so I'll cross my fingers and hope it doesn't die. Confirmed by personal experience because I tested all three of my HD's on the Soltek 75MRN-L and they all run fine.

Two WD's, one Maxtor and one WD works fine, so go figure.

Sorry I haven't been back, put in 85 hours at work last week, whew, sounds like you solved the problem though. It's good to know about the WD and 8RGA problem. I am looking for an 8RGA myself to build a machine for somebody else. I have not decided on a HDD yet but thanks to your info I will avoid WD for this particular build.