# ASUS Motherboard with Raid



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

I made the biggest mistake of my life and about a year and a half ago, I purchased an Alienware box.. It's was state of the art at the time "supposable", but at a serious price.. Specs on it: http://www.chizl.com/comp/. From day one, nothing but problems. Found out it was over clocked and was getting over clocking errors at least 3 times a week. I called Alienware and over the year of support I must have talked to them about this same problem at lease 15 to 20 times.. I never got a real solution and after the year ended, they refused to support me without a $400+ cost and $75 an hour for labor. 

I tried burning the box and ever since, I don't have that machine working anymore.. I'm not sure what the problem is, but when I drop the CD in for Windows XP, I get to the windows install blue screen saying "Windows Setup", but it never does anything after that.. It's like all of a sudden it can't find the array.. I went in and killed the array and recreated it. Still same thing. So then I unplugged the array and plugged in a 2GB harddrive I had lying around, figuring maybe I have an array problem all together. I can't get this hard drive to even show up as plugged into the mother board. Ive triple checked the jumpers and it's setup as master, it's the only drive plugged into the mother board, and it still tells me, no Hard Drive found.

I'm not sure what to do from this point, but thought about just going out, buying another motherboard, CPU, case and Hard drives, pull out all my cool stuff from this box and moving it over. Unless someone here can tell me a better way to fix my problem.

I haven't built a computer since 1995 and things have change a lot since then. I remember when IRQ's was the only issues people really had to worry about. 

Any direction would be greatly appreciated.

Chizl:


----------



## jimscreechy (Jan 7, 2005)

It' is quite likely that this is just a setting in the bios that needs to be changed. (have you attempted to acess the bios and see how the RAID config is setup?)

What type of mother board is this anyway. A little more information will go a long way to advising you here.




> I tried burning the box and ever since, I don't have that machine working anymore..


YOu set the Box on fire!!! 
'Lord! Please forgive him, it was done in a moment of madness!'


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Thanks for the reply.. It was in the link above (http://www.chizl.com/comp/), I just didn't want to fill up the page with the exact same info.

Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-53 Processor with HyperTransport Technology 
Motherboard: ASUS® A8V Deluxe - VIA K8T800 Pro Motherboard 

Yes, I've been into the Bios (AMIBIOS FastTrack 378). I don't see anything about a Raid under that.. This is a hardware raid coming right off the mother board. There is a raid configuration after the bios startup and I've going into it, but there's no disable, only create, delete, select boot array, and view.. I've deleted the array and it still looks for one so that's not working, I've recreated the array with the array drives in it, still doesn't work. This configuration can find the drives, its as if Windows install can not. 

After deleting an array is there something like fdisk for arrays to create partitions or format? I was assuming Windows would do that for me, which it had in the past with NT 4. Maybe that's my whole mistake.. I'm not sure..

I'm about to throw this $4k box in the trashcan, I'm so ticked off about it.

Is it possibly a jumper setting?


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

I think from now on, I'm going to stick with non-array, pentium, custom built machines. I've always heard the rave on how great alienware is, so I finally decided to buy one. Out of the 8 or so boxes I've ever purchased, this was the most expensive and had the most problems from day one.


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

1. First create a new array in raid option screen. Set it up as raid 0 or raid 1 depending on what you want.

RAID 0 - faster but if one harddrive fail you loose the data from both harddrive.

RAID1- only get the space of one harddrive but if one harddrive fail you can use the other harddrive with no data lost.

2. during windows installation at the buttom of the screen near the very begining it should say something like hit f8 to install drivers. You will need to do this. Then when the install driver screen comes up a little bit later you must install the drivers for your raid controller. after that you should be able to install windows.

Also since you was having problems besides that I would un-overclock it.

Not sure the layout of the bios but try to find mutiplier and FSB. set the mutiplier to 12 and the FSB to 200.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

yea, that's the thing.. It never does.. Never says anything outside of Windows Setup at the top.. I've install Windows around 400 times.. I know it like the back of my hand and it seems to be freezing as it starts.. I have four different XP CD's including a 64 bit version that all do the same thing at that point in time..


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

try the un-overcloking thing I mention. I just added it to my last post proberly as you was posting.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

I just booted the machine and got a CPU Over Temperture Error.. Didn't change a thing.. This box is on crack.. I'll try it, one sec..


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

I tried rebooting and my box started beeping like crazy.. I touched my CPU and it's on fire..


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

CPU is too hot, I guess.. My machine will not boot without beeping like crazy at me.. I've put a small box fan on the CPU and unplugged the box .. let it set for a few min then I'll try what you said..


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

What does it mean when the CPU is hot as fire, actually burned me, and the power supply is ice cold?


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> What does it mean when the CPU is hot as fire, actually burned me, and the power supply is ice cold?


It mean your cpu is proberly overheating. could be because it overcloked and need to be un-ovclocked.

I have anouther quick question thoe. How did you touch the cpu? there should be some type of cooling over it like a big heatsink and fan.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

The only thing I can find is under "Advanced" | "System Frequency/Voltage Configuration" there is an AI Overclocking. It's set to standard with the options to change it to.... "Auto", "Manual", "Standard", "Overclock 3%"
, "Overclock 5%", "Overclock 7%", "Overclock 10%", or "Adaptive Overclocking". When I take it to manual, I see the FSB Frequency is set to 200 MHz, but there's nothing about a multiplier. There are options for 
DDR Voltage with settings of "Auto" but can be set to 2.6V, 2.7V, or 2.8V.
Also
AGP Voltage with a setting of "1.5V" but can be set to 1.6V
Also
V-Link Voltage with a setting of "2.5V" , but can be set to 2.6V. 

That it..


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

I reached over the heat sink and fan.. I touched the side, then again it I can't see the side, so it may of been the side of the heat sink..


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

I never knew this comp was over clocked until I got the first error.. I never over clock my machines.. Actually hate it.. I talked to Alienware while the box had this error.. They told me to press F2 to Default and it would set it to not be over clocked.. I think that was a lie, because I still get the error over and over.. There support was great with answering the phone and keeping me running in circles, but they never resolved anything.


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

let reset everything to factory defaults just in case that helps. 

There should be a jumper setting to reset CMOS. I looked up your motherboard and to the right of pci slot 4 there should be a 3 pin thing that have a jumper over pin 1 and 2. change it to pin 2 and 3. leave it like that for about 30 secounds then change it back to pin 1 and 2.

After that if your bios says the cpu temperture please tell me what that temperture is. not sure if the bios will show temp or not.

If it not overheating I will tell you some bios changes you will need to make but first let try to get this thing to boot with out overheating error.


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

just looked up Power menu, hardware monitor will show the temps so do tell me the temps after reseting cmos.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

so do I start the machine up and let it set for 30 seconds? Or just let it set for 30 seconds with it off? Sorry, not sure these days..


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

nevermind.. The machine will not even boot with the jumper that way


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

ok, I changed it back.. I get a CMOS Checksum Bad.. CMOS Date/Time Not Set.. F1 to run Setup, F2 to load defaults..


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> so do I start the machine up and let it set for 30 seconds? Or just let it set for 30 seconds with it off? Sorry, not sure these days..


dont turn on the machine. acturally I doubt the machine would even turn on when set to clear mode.


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

choose set to defaults and then tell me the temps under power, hardware monitor.


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

when you start your system does your heatsink fan start up and spin ?

if you are going to create a promise raid array have you made a floppy with the correct raid driver so you can install it by hitting F6 during install when prompted ?


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

CPU Tmp is 70.5 C/ 158.5 F


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Yes, the fan is blowing hard, along with 2 other fans in the back..

Yes, I have the disk, but never get to the point of being prompted.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

BTW, my CPU Fan speed is running at 3300 RPM and the power fan speed is 1824RPM


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

My temp on my CPU is dropping. It's 66C/150.5F


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> CPU Tmp is 70.5 C/ 158.5 F


Ok that a problem. That way to high for a idel cpu. hell that even to high for a cpu under full load.

Anything over 70C is consider dangerous for that cpu.

Before we can do anything we must get that temp down some how.

I think the first step would be to take the heatsink off clean off the cpu. reapply a thin layor of thermal grease and then reseat the HSF. You should be able to buy thermal grease like artic sliver 5 for about $5. Also try to clean the HSF of any dust the best you can if there is any dust on it.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

What is considered normal temp? And could it be the hot, because I'm turning it on and off.. I noticed the temp is going down, now that I'm leaving it on. It's at 63.5C now.


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> What is considered normal temp? And could it be the hot, because I'm turning it on and off.. I noticed the temp is going down, now that I'm leaving it on. It's at 63.5C now.


You want the cpu to idel around the low 40's C or lower. Under full load you dont want it to get past 60C.

it really should be no time that you want it over 60C in my opioun.

I dont thing turning your computer on and off alone would cause it to get that high.

What is the room temperture in your house. do you keep the computer in a really hot place?

when it reach 70's your computer going to throttle meaning slow down the cpu in order to pervent if from being broken. it might be getting lower now just because it throttling and not because of any other reason.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

no.. I live in TX, but it's about 70 in the room. I have the cover off the box and I have a box fan blowing on it.. Is there something special I have to do to get this CPU off? I pulled the lever on the side, but it doesn't seem to be moving.. Do I need to unscrew the srews holding the fan on first? Wasn't this complicated back in 95.. lol


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

I unscrewed the HSF and it's got crap caked on the HS. Move my finger across it, it feels like lint.. I still can't seem to get the HS or the CPU off though.


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> no.. I live in TX, but it's about 70 in the room. I have the cover off the box and I have a box fan blowing on it.. Is there something special I have to do to get this CPU off? I pulled the lever on the side, but it doesn't seem to be moving.. Do I need to unscrew the srews holding the fan on first? Wasn't this complicated back in 95.. lol


You dont want to remove the cpu it self. just clean any thermal grease on the front. To remove the heatsink you usually dont need to unskew anything. I forget how the stock amd HSF is connected. I have a different HS on mine then the stock one.

There should be some way of pushing the black lever to get it off I believe.

After removing the HSF clean off the part that touch the cpu.

Before putting it back on you will need to put some new thermal grease on the cpu.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Humm.. I flip the lever, but it's like the thing is welded to the mother board.. http://www.chizl.com/comp/cimg1037.jpg


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> Humm.. I flip the lever, but it's like the thing is welded to the mother board.. http://www.chizl.com/comp/cimg1037.jpg


Hmm I never had a alienware computer so I not sure if they use some type of special method to putting the HSF on. 

Well that thing looks pretty dusty so why dont you get some canned air the type ment to be used on computers and clean that thing off the best you can.

I guessing you removed the fan already since I dont see it on there. make sure that fan is also clear of dust before putting it back on. 

the problem might be all the dust on the HS is perventing the fan from cooling it.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

didn't have a can of air, so I used my mini-vac.. Sucked up all the lint.. pretty clean now.. I have pulled and tugged, but not enought to break something and I can't get that HS off.. When you say HSF , that stands for Head Sink Fan, right, or what are you refering too? 

And yes, I had already taken the Fan off the top.. It's hanging below.


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> didn't have a can of air, so I used my mini-vac.. Sucked up all the lint.. pretty clean now.. I have pulled and tugged, but not enought to break something and I can't get that HS off.. When you say HSF , that stands for Head Sink Fan, right, or what are you refering too?
> 
> And yes, I had already taken the Fan off the top.. It's hanging below.


yeah when I say HSF I mean the heatsink + the fan and when I say just HS I mean just the heatsink without the fan.

well if you want you can take a look at the temps now (after putting the fan back on) to see if cleaning the dust off helped any. I had one computer once that just cleaning the dust off the HSF lowered it 10C.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Just started my box back up.. Temp started out at 35C, but I'm watching it get hotter.. Looks like it finally stopped at 49C/120F..


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Well I think that solved my CPU over heating issue, I just turned on my box fan and it's now down to 42.5C .. 

Now if I could only install my OS on it, so I could use it.. lol..


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> Just started my box back up.. Temp started out at 35C, but I'm watching it get hotter.. Looks like it finally stopped at 49C/120F..


That much closer to what I like to see. 35C would of been great. 49C about 4 degrees hotter then I would of liked to see it when it not doing anything heavy but should be fine.

Now let try getting windows to install.

I found your motherboard manual so I going to give you paraphase instructions of setting up raid and installing windows on it stright from there.

1. In bios go to advanced, onboard devices config, make sure onboard promise controller is enabled.

2. set operation mode to RAID

3. save changes and exit

4. delete the arrays you have

5. create RAID 1 ARRAY

6. try installing windows and tell me how it goes


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Ok, It's started creating the raid 1.. Says Duplicating.. This may take a while, since it set for 1 min, before one red mark showed up.. Guessing going to be 30 min or so..

By the way can you post the link for my motherboard manual?


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

By the way, how do I know if I have the right drivers for the raid? I know I looked it up about 4 months ago on Alienware and I think I found it was VT6420, but when I'm in the raid config, creating the array, I noticed at the top it says VT8237 SATA Raid Bios Ver 2.01. Does that mean I have the wrong ones on Disk?


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Should I download these instead? 

http://www.softwarepatch.com/utilities/via-sata.html


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Manual
http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket939/a8v-deluxe/e1878_a8v_deluxe.pdf

The manual says to use fdisk but to me that more of a pre windows xp requirment. You should be able to paritiion your computer through the windows xp setup instead. Skip the fdisk step unless it wont let you install windows. At least in the past when I done similar RAID setups I had no need to fdisk before installing windows xp.



> Should I download these instead?
> 
> http://www.softwarepatch.com/utilities/via-sata.html


Am not 100% sure those are the correct ones for you yet so I would just use the ones that came with your computer.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Thanks.. The red bar is about 7/8 full..


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> By the way, how do I know if I have the right drivers for the raid? I know I looked it up about 4 months ago on Alienware and I think I found it was VT6420, but when I'm in the raid config, creating the array, I noticed at the top it says VT8237 SATA Raid Bios Ver 2.01. Does that mean I have the wrong ones on Disk?


Oh I thought you had some that came with your computer. I believe the VT6420 is the PATA raid controller. in your computer you can both do PATA raid and SATA raid. since your harddrive are SATA you using the SATA controller which am guessing is VT8237. 

I would download them stright from ASUS instead of there.

I blieve these are the correct drivers
http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/ide/pdc20378/378raid_100137.zip

Which I got from this page
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=A8V%20Deluxe

They are the promise 378 drivers v 1.00.1.37 about have way down the link. The first link will download it stright for you but I gave you the other link so you know what I gave you.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Ok, it's creating the new disk now.. On the Raid It's done.. Should I select Boot Array or exit screen?


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

ok, this is a weird one.. After MakeDisk.exe finished, I tried accessing the disk and it tells me the disk isn't formated, do I want too? But I formated it, just before I ran MakeDisk.exe.


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> Ok, it's creating the new disk now.. On the Raid It's done.. Should I select Boot Array or exit screen?


Acording to the manual is should say

ARRAY has been created

press any key to reboot.

I would put the windows xp disk in and hit any key to reboot the system.


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> ok, this is a weird one.. After MakeDisk.exe finished, I tried accessing the disk and it tells me the disk isn't formated, do I want too? But I formated it, just before I ran MakeDisk.exe.


All that should be un-needed. After creating the array I would just boot from windows xp disk and see if you can install it. do all formating from windows xp setup.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

No luck on the WinXP install.. Same thing, "Windows Setup" blue screen, nothing shows up at the bottom, CD quits spinning, just sits there..


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Just so you know, I'm not offline, no matter what that little ball under my name on the left says.. I think I've tired out the little graphics on this forum.. lol


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> No luck on the WinXP install.. Same thing, "Windows Setup" blue screen, nothing shows up at the bottom, CD quits spinning, just sits there..


I dont think this is a harddrive problem because it not even getting to the point it uses the harddrive. I believe it loads things into ram before it installs anything on the harddrive.

Do you have a floppy drive in your computer? If so I want you to make windows xp boot disks. in bios in boot menu, device priority set floopy 1, cd/drive 2, harddrive 3. Then boot from the floopy disks. you will need about 6 floopy disks to make the boot disks.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

That's what I was doing before we started this process.. I was using 6 floppy disk.. It was doing the same thing.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

You know what I just realized in Bios.. My CD Rom is setup as Master. That would be why I couldn't get my IDE drive to come up. Could that be the problem with Windows as well?


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Yea, tried to do it from Floppies again still same issue.. Is it possible that since my CDRom is setup as the MASTER IDE, that windows is trying to copy tmp files over from the CD to the Master IDE, which in the case isn't possible?


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

Chizl said:


> ok, this is a weird one.. After MakeDisk.exe finished, I tried accessing the disk and it tells me the disk isn't formated, do I want too? But I formated it, just before I ran MakeDisk.exe.


you need this to be accesable or your drivers will not load, do you have another floppy to try and create a driver disk

also how many drives do you have and what is your total boot order, does the array show up in that boot order ?


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> Yea, tried to do it from Floppies again still same issue.. Is it possible that since my CDRom is setup as the MASTER IDE, that windows is trying to copy tmp files over from the CD to the Master IDE, which in the case isn't possible?


Dont think so because I believe it goes from floppy to ram at the very begining or cd rom to ram.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

blackduck30 said:


> you need this to be accesable or your drivers will not load, do you have another floppy to try and create a driver disk


The floppy is accessible. I copied files to it, I deleted them, I formated it, but when I run MakeDisk it said it created the disk, but the floppy couldn't be accessed once it was done. Something is screwed up with that MakeDisk.exe


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

mgoldb2 said:


> Dont think so because I believe it goes from floppy to ram at the very begining or cd rom to ram.


So does that mean there is possibly a ram issue?


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

Chizl said:


> The floppy is accessible. I copied files to it, I deleted them, I formated it, but when I run MakeDisk it said it created the disk, but the floppy couldn't be accessed once it was done. Something is screwed up with that MakeDisk.exe


this will be one of your problems , you may need to try and download the driver again as makedisk might be corrupting your floppy, let me look into this a little further.

I have been watching this thread all arvo and mgoldb2 has been doing a great job :grin:


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Also when I go under "Boot" | "Bot Device Priority", I only show 2 devices.. My floppy and my CDRom.. Shouldn't I see my harddrive or is that not the case with Raid?


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Noone responded earlier.. Should I select Boot Array? When I do it changes the status of the array from "Source", "Mirror" to both "Boot"


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

Do you have this driver from the asus site

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=A8V-E Deluxe

VIA VT6420 (VT8237) SATA RAID Driver Package Version 4.30C & 64bit XP/2003(WHQL).


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> So does that mean there is possibly a ram issue?


Not sure I suppose that is a possibity. I would of thought thoe the computer would not of started if the ram was not working bad enough that you cant get pass the first step if windows install.

I guess if you wanted to check the ram I would take every stick but one out. leaving just one stick in DIMM_B1 (see 2-12 on your motherboard manual). Maybe try it twice with different sticks if it does not work the first time to make sure you did not try it with a bad stick. it unlikly more then one of the sticks are bad.

After that the only thing I can think of is updating to a newer version of the bios.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

I think I answered my own question.. I changed it to boot and it now shows up in bios under boot priority. Didn't fix my WinXP install issue though.


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

Chizl said:


> Noone responded earlier.. Should I select Boot Array? When I do it changes the status of the array from "Source", "Mirror" to both "Boot"



yes select boot array


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

try downloading the driver again from the link I gave you, it is vital that you get that driver to work on the floppy

If you have your boot order as cd / raid array / floppy the F6 function should always look for the driver on your floppy


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> Also when I go under "Boot" | "Bot Device Priority", I only show 2 devices.. My floppy and my CDRom.. Shouldn't I see my harddrive or is that not the case with Raid?


hmm I not liking the fact it dont see the harddrive at all.

You followed step 1 and 2 from way back then about going to advance and enabling the raid controller and setting to raid mode right?


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

Chizl said:


> I think I answered my own question..  I changed it to boot and it now shows up in bios under boot priority. Didn't fix my WinXP install issue though.


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Yeah the only thing I can still think of is trying with only one stick of ram and updating the bios.

blackduck30 is very correct that we will need the drivers but we have to get to the part we install the drivers before we worry about that.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

blackduck30 said:


> Do you have this driver from the asus site
> 
> http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=A8V-E Deluxe
> 
> VIA VT6420 (VT8237) SATA RAID Driver Package Version 4.30C & 64bit XP/2003(WHQL).


This is a windows installation disk for after windows is installed.. I can't get windows installed to get to that point.. I launched the setup on my second computer and it's telling me it can't find an ASUS mother board..


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

Chizl said:


> This is a windows installation disk for after windows is installed.. I can't get windows installed to get to that point.. I launched the setup on my second computer and it's telling me it can't find an ASUS mother board..


you will have to use explorer and then find makedisk
also have you checked that your windows disk is not damaged


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

This installation doesnt have makedisk.exe in it.. Only has 9 files and it's a setup to put on floppy with only a windows application setup.exe. When I ran the setup exe it starts looking for the ASUS on the local machine. This isn't a setup to create a disk.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

BTW mgoldb2, I've taken out all the ram, put on one in at a time and it does the same thing.. I dont think it's a memory stick.


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

ok then do you have the original mobo disk


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

yea, I just dug through a closet and woke up everyone in the house falling over, but yes, I found all my old alienware cds.. A8V Series Montherboard VIA K8T800Pro Chipset Series Support CD v77.01


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Looking into the CD, I see make disk for the 6420, which I already had..


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

go ahead and get all the drivers you need on to floppy disks from the support cds.

As far as the fact that windows xp install freezes at the very start before you can do anything am running out of idears. Acturally only got one left.

This would be to update your bios. the directions for this is in section 4.1 of the mothboard manual.


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

make sure you have a formatted floppy

browsw the contents of the cd to locate the driver disk utility 

/drivers/viaraid/6420raid

and see if it will make a driver disk, the only reason is because if you get to the point were you can install and you don't have a floppy ready you will not be able to install the OS


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

also can you confirm that your windows CD is ok on your other computer


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Well, hate to do this to ya, but this MakeDisk.exe did the exact same thing to a totally different disk.


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

blackduck30 said:


> also can you confirm that your windows CD is ok on your other computer


He tryed booting from 6 floppy windows xp boot disks and had the same problem so I dont think it the cd.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

blackduck30 said:


> also can you confirm that your windows CD is ok on your other computer


I have 4 CD's including one that is 64 bit.. They all do the same thing.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

blackduck30 said:


> also can you confirm that your windows CD is ok on your other computer


Try creating a disk yourself and see what happens..


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

It's 2:30 am here.. I gotta go to bed and get up in 4 hours.. Wonderful tech work.. I'll need to pick up on this tomorrow.. Thanks for all your help this far.. You have no idea how much I do appreciate it.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

I'll try the BIOS update tomorrow before I get back on.


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

I will try to create a driver disk on this end and see how I go, mgoldb2 has done a great job here so far and I take my hat off to him, I have just try'd to jump in as a 3rd wheel here


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

Much thanks to you both. See ya tomorrow.


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> You have no idea how much I do appreciate it.


Am happy to help I just regreat we could not get it to work yet. hopfully the bios upgrade will be the solution.



> mgoldb2 has done a great job here so far and I take my hat off to him, I have just try'd to jump in as a 3rd wheel here


Thanks and I welcome any one help that might think of something am missing or forgetting.

Maybe something will come to me between tonight and tommrow. Sometime when you think about a problem to long you start to miss the obvious. Maybe with a fresh mind I have more idears.

As it stand now the only thing I got left is the bios upgrade.


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

I have just made a driver disk
I will see if I can zip it up and post it


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

there should be 2 folders and one file , you should be able to copy these straight to a floppy


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

there should be 2 folders and one file , you should be able to copy these straight to a floppy

EDIT: winzip seperated all the folders so I will have to figure out how to get this to you

I will send you a PM ( personal message)


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

I just try'd extracting the zip again and it extracted fine in the correct folders so the zip should be fine to use


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

ok just been thinking and are just throwing some things in to check

first thought is to remove all stuff that is not essential to running so as we can eliminate any conflicks ( anything that is removed may be added back 1 at a time so as we might narrow down any failures to 1 device if it boots up with bare essentials.) , so remove any extra hard drives ( disconection is fine ), remove any usb devices such as modems, printers ect. remove any pci devices that are not essential. so really all we want is mobo, H/D's , CPU , video, ram, floppy, cdrom.

next in the bios make sure your 2 sata drives showup in the main menu
next under the advanced then onboard device config, make sure *onchip Sata is enabled*
in the same section make sure *sata mode is set to Raid*

then exit the onboard device config section and scroll down to *jumper free config* and *disable Overclock Options and AI NOS*

also make sure the boot priority is *CD/raid array/floppy*

also under the hard drives section in the boot section make sure that the raid array is the only thing listed there , if there is anything else disable it *( note that this is a seperate section to the boot priority, is generally under boot priority )*

still under the boot tab, in the *Boot Settings config*, make sure *Quick boot is enabled*

Then make sure you *exit and SAVE chages*

On reboot hit the tab key to enter the raid utility, once that is up you can press F1 key to view the array status, make sure it is healthy and is bootable.

Make sure you have a Raid driver floppy ready and working

then I suppose you can try to load your O/S and if it does not freeze up keep a sharp eye out for the prompt to hit F6 to load the raid driver and follow the instructions given

These are just some things I can think of that might help

Good luck and let us know how you go


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

blackduck30 said:


> first thought is to remove all stuff that is not essential to running so as we can eliminate any conflicks ( anything that is removed may be added back 1 at a time so as we might narrow down any failures to 1 device if it boots up with bare essentials.) , so remove any extra hard drives ( disconection is fine ), remove any usb devices such as modems, printers ect. remove any pci devices that are not essential. so really all we want is mobo, H/D's , CPU , video, ram, floppy, cdrom.


Theres nothing plugged in that I can remove. I dont have any USB devices plugged in, no extra drives, nothing more than the computer.



blackduck30 said:


> next in the bios make sure your 2 sata drives showup in the main menu
> next under the advanced then onboard device config, make sure onchip Sata is enabled
> in the same section make sure sata mode is set to Raid


OnChip SATA BOOTROM is enabled, OnBoard Promise Controller is enabled, Operation Mode is RAID Mode.



blackduck30 said:


> then exit the onboard device config section and scroll down to jumper free config and disable Overclock Options and AI NOS


I dont have a jumper free config section. My only options are:
* CPU Confi
* Chipset
* Onboard Devices Config
* PCIPnP
* System Frequency/Voltage Config
* Speech Config
* Instant Music Config



blackduck30 said:


> also make sure the boot priority is CD/raid array/floppy


Done



blackduck30 said:


> also under the hard drives section in the boot section make sure that the raid array is the only thing listed there , if there is anything else disable it ( note that this is a seperate section to the boot priority, is generally under boot priority )


It is..



blackduck30 said:


> still under the boot tab, in the Boot Settings config, make sure Quick boot is enabled


It also is..

I've just updated my bios from 1003 to 1017 and guess what.. I can get past the Windows Setup screen now.. I have all the standard window questions.. 

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I would have never thought bios update would keep windows from installing.. Makes no since to me..


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

Chizl said:


> I've just updated my bios from 1003 to 1017 and guess what.. I can get past the Windows Setup screen now.. I have all the standard window questions..
> 
> THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I would have never thought bios update would keep windows from installing.. Makes no since to me..


Glad the bios update worked. I just regreat that the bios update was the last idear I gave you instead of near the front.

I think you should be good to go now. We fixed the overheating problem and windows is now installing. Let us know if any other problems come up but I think there a good chance you will have a working computer now that you very happy with. The specs on your computer great.

One last thing I recommend cleaning your HSF of dust maybe once a mounth to make sure it continues to cool your computer well.


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

did you get a driver disk made OK, I also find it surprising that it was the bios if you had the system running with raid previous, it may have become corrupted though. I do not take bios update lightly as I have seen a lot go wrong so I think it was wise to explore other avenue's beforhand.

Glad to hear all worked out well


----------



## mgoldb2 (Dec 16, 2004)

blackduck30 said:


> I do not take bios update lightly as I have seen a lot go wrong so I think it was wise to explore other avenue's beforhand.


Yeah that one of the main reason I did not say the BIOS update idear until I ran out of other idears. On the good side that motherboard a little safer then most for bios update. Unlike most motherboards if you skew up the update on that one the computer will still boot to a screen that will allow you to reflash the bios. I think ASUS advertised this feature as CRASHFREE bios.


----------



## Chizl (Jan 6, 2006)

blackduck30 said:


> did you get a driver disk made OK, I also find it surprising that it was the bios if you had the system running with raid previous, it may have become corrupted though. I do not take bios update lightly as I have seen a lot go wrong so I think it was wise to explore other avenue's beforhand.
> 
> Glad to hear all worked out well


I'm acctually typing to you guy from my old door stop.. Got XP installed on it and everything is running fine, but I at no time installed the raid drivers.. Windows must of picked it up. I went back and deleted the raid and made it a raid 0 for speed, hell this is a gamming box, I dont care about loosing data..


I talked to a buddy of mine and the only thing we could come up with is Alienware imaged the box, therefore they wouldn't have had this issue, they kind of by passed the issue. What we are guessing is that the BIOS didn't support Raid very well, or maybe not the raid type I had, not sure, but once I updated it, everything came into place. 

I've taken the Overclocking to Manual FSB 200 and left everything else default.. Hopefully that will keep me from getting over clocking errors, then again that may have been from the lack of BIOS update as well. We'll see.. 

I'll let the run from about 2 weeks and if I dont see the problems I was seeing, I'm going to call up Alienware and give them an ear full.

Thanks alot guys.. If you ever need anything, give me a ring over at www.Chizl.com, I have a contact me there.. I'm a software engineer/developer for the last 20 years and can knock something out pretty quickly.. I've created many little utilities over the last 10 years for network guys to make their job a bit easier..


----------

