Two hard drives leading to same problem?

That's mainly due to a much friendlier atmosphere instead of the bickering, name calling, and list of other garbage seen on other forums. At least someone here will try to make a good suggestion in trying to help. I guess you found a new home. :P
 
So tell me do you think that the power supply would be a good starting point or do you think it is a combination of things.If yes where and why. My curiousity has peaked. Not to get off the topic of this thread but I too have a hard drive problem concerning RAID 0 and Linux, but I will post on that later. Getting back to the topic what are you thoughts.
 
With the supply you also bought a tester to see if there was a problem there which is less likely. The one thing that comes to mind immediately with RAID or even onboard SATA controllers is whether or not there is an eide controller on the board as well. To set the drive(s) as master you would probably have to first disable the eide due to that automatically overiding either.

Unfortunately I've never used the RAID setup here to get familiar with debugging things. The next build will probably see a dual SATA setup along with an eide drive as host. In fact someone at this end had to borrow an ide drive when the XP installer wouldn't see the drive he planned as a stand alone while the drive was clearly seen in the post tests. I don't have the system here to play around for a solution while disabling the eide controller may or may not help. Linux is another area where I find myself a newbie as well. On getting Linux running I could point you at a couple of good Linux forums for help there if no one here can help with that.
 
The weird thing is that when the computer boots there is a couple of key combinations to get into the RAID configuration utily. I am able to configure the RAID so I know both drives are being seen. When installing Windows XP it asks for the RAID driver which I supply and then the install goes fantastic. Well with 4 computers I get kinda board with windows. If you know what I mean. So I decided to make one a Linux system. With the RAID setup and formated I start the linux install. Now here where it gets weird. Everything goes great all the way up to the point where it says congradulations setup is complete. It reboots and then I arrive at a prompt that says bash. Now bash is a linux thing meaning something went wrong. If I remove 1 drive and delete the Raid setup then install linux on 1 drive again everything goes great and boots right into Linux? I know that there is a way of installing linux on the RAID and if I am going to do it then it will be with help from people just like yourself. Maybe I am diving off the deep end with linux. I should learn alot more before trying advanced things. I am a member of a good linux forum but have not posted my problem yet. I want to learn something different instead of windows all the time and if I have to learn it on a single drive then so be it. I want to thank you for listening to me. Now that I have been exposed to these boards I will be a frequent poster. Thanks again!!
 
There are two Linux forums I could send you to right away. Believe me when I say I had some fun just getting a Linux distro to even run on a single drive split with 98SE then upgraded to XP. I even downloaded and burned that 4 cd distro over and over trying to find out why? it wouldn't load. Just one little thing that refused to copy to the hd caused that one. Besides getting good advice from one of two forums I could point at you try a few Live distros to get familiar there.

Sorry to say "baby steps" at first are what are needed. Once you get familiar with the command structure you can see how to get things running good. It's not easy at first though. Some of the newer distros have simplified it a little for Windows users however. Once you get confident then try custom installations to RAID/SATA arrays and other things.
 
The GUI in linux is not all that bad but I have a wireless notebook adapter and somewhere I found the driver for it. In linux you just can't click on the file and everything installs. There are 3 pages of instuctions to get this driver loaded. I am kinda glad I got 4 computers because I can always go to the XP computers and get the things I need done. It's going to take awhile because it is not as easy as dos. You almost have to do everything from a terminal window. Lots of commands to learn. I am going to play with it, maybe pick up a book or two. I am in it for the fun. I hope!!!
 
You'll have fun alright mostly "pulling hair by the roots"! Linux is based on the old UNIX command structure while everyone recommending Linus seems to leave out that fact that it is far from the "point and click" GUIs that Microsoft puts out. Red Hat distros are geared more for networking and servers rather then the usual Windows desktop OS most are familiar with. Mandrake, SUSE, LiLo, Puppy, Ubuntu, and Most Certainly "Grub" are the big names around for those looking a distro to try out along with which loader to use.

Before I loaned out a spare 120gb drive used here for a new build XP shared space with Fedora Core 4 and was planned ubuntu. A friend go stuck without a working system when trying to install XP on a SATA drive with no ide master as the host drive on a board with an ide controller. What a mess. The ide controller will always overrule the SATA. SATA there was meant for storage and not a stand alone apparently. Linux could offer an alternative there however since many distros are geared towards network setups.
 
Well After I install this driver I think I won't have to worry about hair anymore. I already pulled half out before I started work this week. Fortunately I work 12 hours a day but only 4 days. 4 on 4 off so I don't touch the computer on my work days. In fact I think that some of that hair that I pulled out on my last set of off days is starting to grow back:eek:
 
12 HOURS A DAY? IS THAT ALL? Besides having some of those 12-a-day work schedules I now have to look after someone close with a medical condition let's say "24/7". You often don't see much sleep. Just before all this suddenly came up last fall I ran across a few that knew how to get Linux up and going on several drives in one case along with having multiple setups on each drive. But you still have to get the basics down. Grub, Lilo, Bash(urgh! :mad: ), and many other good things.

Now that the old drive can now be used for storage with a large primary set to a fixed size to backup the new one bought along with a new mb battery some space is again open on a second drive for "Linux"! :) Having one Fedora and not quite getting ubuntu running along with FreeDos those would be two to start with there. And then? Maybe the "flavor of the month" as some critics refer to it as when someone comes out with a new variation. :D
 
I am sorry to hear of the problems you face. Life is not always fair and I have wondered about that. I have 2 girls fully grown 24 and 22 that are still in school. The way time seems to move faster than I think it does makes me wonder how these very successful women are going to feel when I reach the age. You know what I mean. I already have a condition that at this time that is well under control thanks to medical technology. I have started a web site that has a story page where I explain my condition (Epilepsy) and how I have been dealing with it. On the site there are 3 pages and one is computers which at this time is currently blank. I don't want a site that is all about me but a site that is informative. I don't know if anybody will ever see this site but if some do the computer page has got to be able to help visitors with computer problems. In the last 4 days I have decided that I will keep Linux on the laptop in a dual boot with XP but will use the newest build for VISTA. What are your opinions on vista. Is it just windows with different curtains or something that I will what to learn. I have read some reviews in magazines and it has some new features that appear to be intersting. Any ideas on my site paulygigs.net will be greatly appreciated.
 
I once worked with one Epileptic who could only use one arm. Yet he could outwork the people that worked with him because he put in more effort! You get that site running. I want to see it when you are done getting it up. I can then refer people to it.
As far as the system here is going a backclocking of the Atholon XP3200 down to 133mhz instead of the full 200mhz(x2=400) seems to have helped see a more stable system. It implies the cpu will not make it much longer where now a good price on a leftover to replace it in a few days is in the works. The current idle temp is stable at 52C where it did go down to 47C briefly. The new drive is otherwise running smooth with no issues along with the Zalman cooler just added. Some of this is also letting the Antec labeled thermal paste get a little more firm from usage. With a couple of good reseats of the cpu the compound is now starting to see results. But keep us informed about the progress on your site. :)
 
Have you ever tried Artic Silver thermal grease. I have used it on the last few builds and found it to be pretty good. I use a copper heatsink, variable speed 1300 to 6000 rpm, sitting on top of a P4 3.0ghz processor. I am not a big time gamer but if I ever decide to. I will be able to keep my investment cool.
 
I know quite well what AS5 is. But when you have to make a quick buy at a local retail store you don't always have the options there. But the Antec brand is starting to settle somewhat where the temps have fallen. And their stuff isn't that white colored cheap stuff that surprisingly came along with the Zalman cooler itself. As soon as I saw that stuff when first going to mount the HSF down inplace.... "YECH! WHAT THE..." could be heard. Zalman and Artic Cooling seem to have the best names. But seeing some garbage compound was a little irritating if you know the feeling there. Yoiu know the top stuff is still going to Artic Silver 5.
 
Hey guys, I decdied to take the problem up again. This is what i've done so far. I first began by revisiting the issue. It says this which doesn't allow me into windows:
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting windows ... using the oriiginal Setup Cd-Rom.
Select 'r' at the first screeen to start repair.

then I searched for the error on google and microsoft had a series of steps to fix it and it required going to the recovery panel thing. I went in and typed in chkdsk. to my amazment it said it couldn't be found. I said to myself, thats wierd. I then checked to see if the partitions were still intact, I looked for my c parition and it wasn't there! it said 15 gigs of free space where the c drive is supposed to be!

I decided to give up then, I ran diagnostics to make sure the hdd was dead again and it was, I'm not RMAing back to maxtor. If i don't use i'll sell it to someone.
Any ideas of why the partition would delete itself? I didn't delete and correct me if i'm wrong but a virus wouldn't do such a thing either.
I tried to connect the hdd to a dell as a second sata but it went to the chkdsk screen and stopped there. I rebooted it and took it out. Now i'm scanning the dell with an online virus scanner.
 
Today i tested out power supply with a tester and it gives accurate voltages, I RMA'd the maxtor hdd (the second hdd) today. What would cause it to happen? The hdd was fine when i initially installed it. I ran the diagnostics and it was fine. Now if i run the diagnostics it fails.
 
It sounds like the controller card on the drive itself went if you simply don't have a bad cable to contend with. But another thought about the cmos being effected with let's say a weak battery. A little over a week ago the XP installer couldn't even see a brand new WD ide drive added to be the replacement master with the old as a storage and possibly multiboot drive. The old drive seemed to have a clicking sound mandating a the new primary at first until OOPS! XP didn't see it. Wait a minute the battery? As soon as the replacement battery went in XP saw both drives. Hopefully all you need there is a CR2032 lithium battery. A weak battery can display a long list of items where you may think Windows is polluted with a virus, corrupt boot sector, or even a failing psu.
 
I can check and replace the cmos battery, but, its a brand new motherboard only 2 months old. I atempted to try to retrieve some info by plugging the drive into a dell an it wouldn't read it, it got to the checkdsk screen in windows its like ablue nice one, and then it stopped there. I don't know about the cable, it was brand new when I used it and same with the adapter for the psu.
 
Besides a battery being replaced along with a WD 250gb drive here only to see that the battery at that time seemed to be the cure. Surprise! After the first 1 1/2 weeks with the new HD running as master having used the old as a slave for storage and the eventual Linux/Vista/whatever on a second partition there the 400mhz fsb suddenly had to reduced to 333mhz in order for Windows to even load. The screen with the scroll bar would appear briefly to see the post screen repeatedly when the system rebooted. Memtest suddenly saw 536 errors being reported. What?

The previous pair of dimms found with errors only had 4! When tested separately afterwards none showed. At 400mhz with the post seeing an Atholon XP3200+ the reduced multiplier saw a 3000+ until that didn't work. The only way to run the system now is at 333mhz where the cpu is now seen as a 2500+! The last bios update being a beta couldn't even be flashed at first. Either the programming in the non volatile ram is losing info or the chipset is almost.... DOA?! :confused:
 
Update bios
Get latest drivers
New antivirus program
And get to know Norton GHOST it will end up being your best friends 5 minutes to recover your whole system it works alot like windows system recovery but 100% full proof unlike windows system recovery which only works about half the time if your lucky
 
Hopefully you are not seeing the similar problem with a failing or simply faulty bios chipset. A replacement board is now in the process of being ordered. I intended this case as a backup for the new build if problems were initially seen there. A backup for a backup? If you have never updated the bios it would be a good time for it to see if that helps with this as well as a cloning software. Another one besides Norton is DriveClone. http://www.farstone.com/home/ensite/products/driveclone.shtml
 
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