changed motherboard... now it won't boot

SERprise

New Member
I made a mistake by going from my Gigabyte k8nf ultra to a Biostar SLI board.. I don't use the SLI so really there is no benefit.. At the time of the upgrade I also installed 4xSATA II drives and I run them in Raid 0. Well my computer gets "REALLY" choppy after about an hour of gaming on Battlefield 2 which I never had a problem with before the upgrade. I have 2GB of ram in dual channel and a 6800GS video card... That definately isn't the problem. Only thing I can think of it being is the Biostar motherboard.

Well I decided to give it a shot and after swapping the motherboard out, it won't boot. It says my raid is healthy... I went and enabled sata raid in the bios, I even re-setup the raid array. It goes to "Verifying DMI Pool Data ...... Update Success" and just sits there.. my PC won't boot.

I've tried the drives in sata mode, and sata II mode?? What do I do to just get the damn thing to boot?? I don't feel like reinstalling the Biostar board just to save some files, then reinstall the Gigabyte board just to reinstall the OS... Thanks all

-Cory
 
Frome the sound of it, I feel it's just a problem with your RAID. I'm still rather new to the RAID setup, but one idea would be are raids interchangable between motherboards. Plus, as you probably know, windows doesn't really like it when you change things like your motherboard...

I would almost bet money you could format and reload the system and it'd be fine
 
The_Other_One said:
I would almost bet money you could format and reload the system and it'd be fine


but that'd involve having to call Microsoft again when I reinstall XP x64... Wonder if there is a limit with how many times I do that :D


I really hope there is a way to allow it to work
 
I made a mistake by going from my Gigabyte k8nf ultra to a Biostar SLI board.. I don't use the SLI so really there is no benefit.. At the time of the upgrade I also installed 4xSATA II drives and I run them in Raid 0. Well my computer gets "REALLY" choppy after about an hour of gaming on Battlefield 2 which I never had a problem with before the upgrade. I have 2GB of ram in dual channel and a 6800GS video card... That definately isn't the problem. Only thing I can think of it being is the Biostar motherboard.
FYI Neithe RAID nor SATA3.0 will help with games.

but one idea would be are raids interchangable between motherboards.
With same RAID controllers

nobody knows what I can do??
Well we dont live here ya know ... bumping after 2hrs isnt gonna get much :P

Now the question is ....
1. What are your systems specs (and yes i read post1)
2. Have a hardware monitoring program monitor temps and voltages, you might be able to isolate the problem there
 
Yes, you will need to do a fresh install after changing motherboards. You can activate your copy of XP as many times as you want. You will probably have to call microsoft and get a new ID number to activate though if you have an OEM version of XP.
 
Thanks for the replies, I guess I'll just reinstall Windows.. I'm sick of using this $378 WM black friday special notebook for everything, although times like this where I am laid back on my bed chillin with Simon(my lil Jack Russel) it is ok ;) . Btw Praetor, thanks for looking out for me but believe me I already know about the SATA II drives not performing any better, unfortunately a lot of people don't realize that. I got the drives I purchased(Hitachi 7k80's) because I wanted to try a sata raid setup and those were the cheapest($200 shipped for all 4) and they just so happened to be SATA II, so why not ya know?? Only reason I went in with Hitachi's "Feature Tool" was to disable the SATA II function so it would work on my NF4-4x board I am going back to..

My old Gigabyte board can be flashed to an NF4 Ultra, I just gotta get it up and running again. I need to locate the NF4 sata raid drivers that work for installing then I will just reformat :(

I actually was about to sell my Gigabyte board in a 64 bit PC I pieced together with old parts when I upgraded mine, but I had to take that MB back.. Biostar really really really sucks. I'm almost positive the motherboard is the problem. If the Gigabyte board has the same problems, I will come back here and retract the statements about Biostar, but until then I'll stick to them suckin. I read about horror stories but they were all about the memory controllers they have.. well with the memory controller being in my processor I didn't think I had anything to worry about.. I was wrong.

You say the Raids are interchangeable with the same controller? Does the Biostar N4SLI-A9, and Gigabyte K8nf-9 have the same controller?? they are both nforce4. I know the Biostar does support SATA II where the Gigabyte doesn't, is that because of the controller itself or the bios?? Does that mean if and when I flash my board to run as an NF4 Ultra the SATA II won't work on it?? not that it really matters.. speed is the same, I'll just lose that ncq or whatever the hell it is.

The Biostar board has it's sata drives labled 1,2,3,4

the Gigabyte board has 1,c,3,4(I believe)

I know there is 1 number missing, not exactly sure which.. but it is replaced by a C.. I moved the 3,4 from the biostar board right to 3,4 on the Gigabyte and I tried the 1,2 both ways with the other 2. Anybody know exactly what to do? like where to put what so it is the same?? probably not but it doesn't hurt to ask.


and I hope y'all have a great new year

-Cory
 
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and they just so happened to be SATA II, so why not ya know??
You want an answer to that? ;) (if yes, than ATA133 cables can be folded much easier and dont have to deal with unlocked SATA controllers for OCing)

Biostar really really really sucks
Welcome to the club

I read about horror stories but they were all about the memory controllers they have
Those stories are crap. The memory controller is embeded in the CPU not the mobo so the mobo has nothing to do with the memory controller

well with the memory controller being in my processor I didn't think I had anything to worry about.. I was wrong.
How do you know the memory is the problem? or the memory controller to be precise

Does the Biostar N4SLI-A9, and Gigabyte K8nf-9 have the same controller??
Well look up the specs! Im sure you can use google ... if not, look at the manuals, they list them in the first few pages anyways

I know the Biostar does support SATA II where the Gigabyte doesn't, is that because of the controller itself or the bios??
Well if you're using that SATA RAID controller than no they arent the same
 
SERprise said:
well with the memory controller being in my processor I didn't think I had anything to worry about.. I was wrong.

Praetor said:
How do you know the memory is the problem? or the memory controller to be precise


not saying that is the problem, it obviously is not.. That was the point of my comment. Biostar is supposively notorious for bad memory controllers.. Not one being on this board, I didn't think there would be anything wrong with using the NF4 board from them. I "read" that the main problem with Biostar motherboards was their memory controllers(on all of their boards, not "this" one in particular). After reading that I thought "oh I don't have anything to worry about then" but it turns out that something else is messed up with that board. NOT the memory controller since it doesn't have one.. I thought I was pretty clear with that comment.

now I hate being a dick, but I took this as you trying to say me asking a question here is a bad thing

"Well look up the specs! Im sure you can use google"

yes I can use google, but guess what, practically anything can be found on google. Since that is the case, what is the purpose of having this forum?? I did research it btw, and no they are not the same. I posted that question hoping somebody who had already had a similar situation already did the research and seen my thread before I got around to doing it myself. Well I didn't get a reply, boo hoo, I did it myself, no big deal... please just don't talk to me like I'm an idiot.
 
not saying that is the problem, it obviously is not.. That was the point of my comment. Biostar is supposively notorious for bad memory controllers.. Not one being on this board, I didn't think there would be anything wrong with using the NF4 board from them. I "read" that the main problem with Biostar motherboards was their memory controllers(on all of their boards, not "this" one in particular). After reading that I thought "oh I don't have anything to worry about then" but it turns out that something else is messed up with that board. NOT the memory controller since it doesn't have one.. I thought I was pretty clear with that comment.
It's clear now :)

now I hate being a dick, but I took this as you trying to say me asking a question here is a bad thing
"Well look up the specs! Im sure you can use google"
LOL nah, said it more in a fun heckling kinda way, text doesnt convey that very well, apologies if that was not well recieved
 
werd ;) my bad man.. I should have my PC back up and runnin today. I thought I'd go through withdrawls without having BF2 but surprisingly I'm not.. guess that's a good thing, I am finally getting over that game.


time to find a new one :)
 
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