8RDA keeps saying HD is corrupt

[Wedo]

Howdy,

I have an 8RDA, xp2100, 512mb OCZ (2x256) pc2700, gf4 mx440, lite-on 52x cdrom, and an 80gb western digital hard drive.

The odd thing is that is refuses to take an OS. I'm trying to install w2k pro with sp3 slipstreamed in and the set up continually gives me "hard drive is corrupted" errors.

This a brand new HD and it's the second one I've tried on this rig so I'm positive it's not the HD.

I replaced the ribbon cable and still no luck.

Is there some BIOS settings or config that I'm unaware of that makes the 8rda a little touchy?

Any help would be appreciated.

Wedo

P.s. I have the new BIOS installed already and have fdisk'd appropriately.

 

[glock19owner]

Is there some BIOS settings or config that I'm unaware of that makes the 8rda a little touchy?

Yea, its called the memory settings...the 8RDA+ is very touchy about memory timings...are you OCed or running preset timings?

 

[Wedo]

Stock clock right now and the memory settings are just set to "By SPD" so I thought that would be ok.

I'm going to try to use "Auto" and see what happens.

Wedo

 

[glock19owner]

make sure your memory is at 100% also...my 8RDA+ hated running at async...especially durn a install...

 

[Wedo]

make sure your memory is at 100% also...my 8RDA+ hated running at async...especially durn a install...

Excellent, I think that's on auto now and running at 166(333), so I'll try that too.

Wedo

 

[glock19owner]

If that does not work...set you memory timing to expert and set them yourself...memory at 100%...5-2-2-2...those should be perfect for you memory...worked great on my PC2700 Kingston...also make sure you are pushing at least 2.63v's...on mine...the 2.5v's choice undervolted by about .25v's...but the 2.63 and 2.77 was right on...then at 2.9...it undervolted by .25 again...

 

[Wedo]

Crap... still isn't working. Changed IDE cables, memory settings, and voltages.

I'm going to try another HD, I'll give the Maxtor ata133 a go again with the new cable and memory settings.

Wedo

:edit: Update >> I disabled the "IDE Prefetch Mode" in the BIOS (Integrated Peripherals) as the manual noted if there were HD troubles to do that. No luck though. Trying something else.

 

[glock19owner]

I know you are not a noobie...but sometimes I even forget...but did you check the BIOS to make sure the WD is reading right...

 

[rivercom9]

I am having the same problems also.

 

[glock19owner]

WD also?

 

[rivercom9]

Yup.

 

[glock19owner]

This might be an issue with the WD and 80G HD's...I know there was an issue with the 8KHA+ and WD 30G HD's...I had a similiar problem and called WD Tech support and they updraged me to a 40G HD because of a known issue with the 30G and 8KHA+...but WD never made the issue public...

Does yours read right in the BIOS....as in proper sectors and right size...etc.

 

[rivercom9]

Yeah. Everything looks normal in BIOS. I dont know why the hell it keeps giving me the damn blue screen everytime I try to boot.

 

[Wedo]

Here's the update and wrap up.

The WD drive did post correctly in the BIOS as did the Matrox 40GB ATA133 drive, but both failed at the same point which was right after W2K pro tried to format the partition during the install.

I changed:

IDE cables, memory, memory timings, memory voltages, psu's, and tried the two hard drives.

So I decided to let it go and walk away.... RMA'd it to Newegg. I've bought about $10,000 from Newegg in the last year and I was kind of bummed to see that their standard policy is to charge a "re-stocking" fee.

Anyway, I do appreciate the help, but for a mobo that's going into a workstation, I have to draw the line somewhere in the trouble vs. performance battle.

The good thing is that I have a MSI M7VIT that I can use so it should be plenty fast for work.

Thanks again for the help,
Wedo

 

[glock19owner]

Personally, I would never use a 8RDA+ as a workstation platform...just for the main factor of it being such a power hog...and if it starts to take a heavy usage...your PSU will be in a world of hurt and possibly fail durning those times....for a workstation...best to stay away from a NF2 right now...that MSI will actually be better for what you need/want out of it...good luck with everything...

 

[obyz21]

Did u check to see if your memory wasn't the problem.....bad stick???

 

[musk]

Same Problem

Same problem for me. I have used OCZ on this board with no problems but with some generic PC2700 I cannot get stability over 133mhz. I have played with mem timings but to no avail.

I am frustrated as well.

Any suggestions would be welcomed

musk

 

[Wedo]

I tried three different kinds of memory and used the Mem86 test on all of them "just to be sure". I used Kingston, OCZ, and Mushkin that were all PC2700 and higher with different memory timings set up for each of them.

As mentioned above, I also swapped everything else, and I mean everything, to see if that was the problem.

There are three nf2 workstations in my office now that I have built with no problem, two MSI boards and a Leadtek. I usually use at least a 400W psu from a good manufacturer so maybe that's why my nf2's are running great.

Thanks again for the help, bummer that I couldn't get the board running well. I think that will be the last Epox board I buy for quite some time.

Wedo

 

[Furious]

So I decided to let it go and walk away.... RMA'd it to Newegg. I've bought about $10,000 from Newegg in the last year and I was kind of bummed to see that their standard policy is to charge a "re-stocking" fee.

They'll wave the restocking fee if the part is bad. Give them a call. It worked for me.

I had the 80gig WD and after installing windows everything seemed fine. Suddenly the computer powered off. Upon reboot the 80gig was detected as 120gig. I tried it in another computer and the same thing.

Initially the RMA said they'd charge a restocking fee but I called them and they reversed the charge when I told them the drive was simply bad and I wasn't just returning the drive because I didn't want it.

BTW I was using an 8RDA+ when the drive went bad. Weird.