Abit KT7A-RAID and the Funky IDE

[bigpoppasmooth]

Athlon 1ghz 266 FSB (trace Tape on but not oc'ed yet)
Spacer/Arctic Silver 2
Global Win FOP38
Abit KT7A-RAID
768 mb SD133
Windows 98se w/IE 6
350 watt Power Supply
Power Color Geforce2 MX 32meg tv/out AGP
SBLive Value (PCI 2)
US Robotics 56k (PCI 4)
Western Digital 20gig ATA100 (IDE 3)
Seagate Baracuda II 20gig ATA66 (IDE 4 Master)
Maxtor 13gig (IDE 4 Slave)
Toshiba DVD-Rom (IDE 1 Master)
Acer CD-RW 8x4x32 (IDE 1 Slave)
Iomega Zip 100 (IDE 2)
---------------------------------------------
Here's the story. I put this bad boy together one piece at a time. Put the OS on with nothing but CD-Rom and video. To make a really long boring install story short, it went well.
I was up and running for about 24hrs with no prob. Not even attempting to OC or set up RAID until I get a couple of things done first. I shut down, go to bed and go to work the next day.
I come home and hit the power button and I freeze in the Highpoint Bios, where it reads all the drives. It read the Wstern Digital on IDE 3 as the Master with no Slave and then nothing. The drive light stayed on for a minute or two and then stopped as well. After 15 minutes I hit the reset button...same thing.
Popped the case open, chcked all the power cables, drive cables, flipped the switch, same thing.
So now I unplug the 2 drives on IDE 4. Boots up no prob. I decide to shut down again and plug the single drive into IDE 4 to see if its a bad controller. Boots no prob. Shut down, put everything back the way it was. All drives connected. Boots like a dream.
I shut down that night. Boot up the next day...same problem, freeze at the Highpoint Bios. Check everything again...I wind up doing the same thing all over again to get up and running.
I'm thinking New Bios at this point because I have the 4.29 4-in-1 drivers and I also set everything in the bios to default including running the fsb at only 100 wasting my Athlon. I get the YH bios w/ the new Highpoint Driver and load up masterfully. I even got to reboot a couple of times without a hitch. Shutdown that night, go to boot up the next day...guess what? I'm loosin my friggin' mind!!!
I've read Paul's Unofficial KT7-Guide, I've checked Abit's FAQ, read my manual for a 31st time, searched this site and a bunch of others as well. The only thing I haven't done is check out Abit alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit because I am having trouble making a connection.
I have tried my cards in different slots but this is the only config that dosen't cause adn IRQ conflict with my sound card.
I am drawing a complete blank at this point and am writing to you from a one drive connected computer.
Any ideas or if someone can check out the newsgroup for a fellow in need, it would be much appreciated.

[This message has been edited by bigpoppasmooth (edited 04-22-2001).]

[LACEY]

MAKE SURE THAT YOUR WESTERN DIGITAL DRIVE IS JUMPERED AS SINGLE AND NOT MASTER. THE "FREEZE" THAT YOU ARE EXPERIENCING IS PROBABLY THE SLOW BOOT (10-20 MINUTES) THAT YOU WILL GET IF YOU MASTER THE WESTERN DIGITAL WITHOUT A SLAVE.

[bigpoppasmooth]

Thanks Lacey, but the Western Digital is set as a single drive.

(I'm loosing my mind)

[Bovon]

bigpoppasmooth...You know that I don't know anything about these problems, other than what I read...so, take anything I mention as just so much thinking.

Can you do without sound for a day or two?...if so, try pulling the SB live! card, and see what happens. So many ppl are having all kinds of problems, that have been pretty well confirmed to the use of that sound system.

Other than that, I really don't have a suggestion as to which way for you to go..

Wish you well tho...

[Kuasimodem]

You should upgrade the bios to the WZ bios. Also check the jumper settings on the master and slave drives on IDE 4 to make sure they're set right. If you have them set as master and slave right now, try setting them to cable select.

Bovon is right, there is a know conflict between the KT133 chipsets and the Soundblaster Live sound cards, see this site... http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/faqsound.html

It lists a couple fixes you might try.

[bigpoppasmooth]

Thanks for the reply Bovon.
At this point I'll give anything a try, and I'll let you know.

...and just to keep anyone who cares, in the loop. I actually set the western digital to master and put all 3 drives back on. it only takes 3-5 mins to boot. Only the WD gets identified on the Highpoint and when I'm finally in Win98 only the 1st (WD) and last (Maxtor) are there.

I love this @#$%!

I'll let you know

[bigpoppasmooth]

Thanks Kuasimodem, I'll give it a look over and get back to you guys

[Bovon]

More on the SB Live issue...
http://www.realworldtech.com/page.cfm?ArticleID=RWT042201222938

[bigpoppasmooth]

Just an update.

I've tried every possible HD jumper config/combo that can be done with the three HDs. The best that it gets is booting up w/ normal speed but only reading the first and last drive. (The third as the master, no less.)

I've read over the soundblaster info, and while it all makes sence I'm reluctant to even bother with taking the card out...because, what's the point. I don't think I can consider that a real fix. Sound isn't really major but I do enjoy it and I did pay for it, right?

Kuasimodem, Bovon, thanks for the links it's always good to have the knowledge. Just in case.

I'm gonna keep tinkering and I'll keep you aBREAST of what happens. (Sorry the TV is on. God I love Marge Simpson.)hehe

[jonboy139]

KT7ARAID MOTHERBOARD AND BOOT CONFLICT INC SOUND CARD CONFLICT
I HAVE HAD VARIOUS PROBLEMS WITH BOOT CONFLICT AND SOUND CARDS FORCING THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH .....TO ALL KT7A RAID USERS WITH VIA CHIPS ......TRY DISABLING LPT2 IN THE BIOS IN ALL PROBLEMS IT HAS ALLOWED THE BIOS TO REASIGN THE IRQ FOR THE SOUND CARD AND HARD DRIVE WITHOUT ANY CONFLICTS AND HEY PRESTO A SYSTEM THATS LIKE SILK.....SMOOTH AND TROUBLE FREE
HAVE FUN ....JONBOY139

[Kuasimodem]

Just a couple thoughts...

Go into the bios for the RAID controller and check to see what the DMA mode is set at for the Barracuda. It should be at DMA mode 4 for ATA66, if it's set wrong, it might not recognize the drive properly.

Also, try setting the FSB timing to +2, this will bump the PCI bus to 34Mhz and might resolve a conflict.

[bigpoppasmooth]

-=Update=-

I've flashed to Bios ZTB01 and did some testing and all seemed well. I shut down, went to the movies. And upon boot-up, I had the same prob again. Reading the single on RAID 1 and the second drive on RAID 2.
I've changed the fsb. Changed the fsb along w/ lowering the multiplier. Nada.
Disabled a port that was on irq3 (don't 'member the name, it's late.) Dosen't matter, it didn't work.
I am currently downloading some updates from Creative right now.
For those of you that wish to see. http://www.soundblaster.com/drivers/welcome.asp?reg=0&OS=Win98&prod=sblive&Select=Get+Files&x=52&y=14
We'll see what this does.
If it dosen't work I'm going to uninstall my Gravis Xterminator USB and see what that does. I believe that is the last thing that I did before I noticed this pain in my @#$%! problem. I should have done that first, but hey, I bought it, I should be able t use it.

...and did anyone else notice that there are a few settings missing in BIOS ZTB01

Thanks for the help so far peeps. Keep it commin'.

[bigpoppasmooth]

I also found that the viahardware Abit KT7 info/Paul's page has been updated for those of you wishing to peruse through the info. http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/kt7faq.htm

[bigpoppasmooth]

-=Update=-

The creative updates didn't solve anything. I'm gonna flash my BIOS up to ZTB01+ w/ the 1.1 Highpoint BIOS. It's unnoficial but at this point I'm almost willing to try anything. I think after that I might just yank out the other two drives all together. I haven't decided yet.

[tantone]

I am having a VERY similar problem with my KT7A-RAID and 1.33GHz. My system will boot up and will lock up while posting. It might stop as it displays the CPU, or the RAM, or even as it detects the HDD. Sometimes there won't even be a signal getting to the monitor. Other times I can get in just fine and it will lock up in Windows playing UT. I also have a Western Digital drive. I also have an SB Live, that I have removed and still had problems.

I've had the problem with the cover on, and with the cover off (thought it might be heat related). I've even had it when I swapped out the non-generic 256 PC133 with my older generic PC100 RAM and dragged the system speeds down to match.

All that's left is to try another processor. BUT, I'm not going to kill myself trying to get my components to work with the KT7A-RAID. My first KT7A had a bad CMOS chip so I replaced it with a 8KTA3, which had absolutely no problems with my system at all!! It was, however, a bit larger than the KT7A and it didn't fit well with my case.

I am beginning to think that all this is related the motherboard. Anyone know of a very good motherboard that is the same size as the KT7A-RAID that will support the 1.33GHz with a 266FSB? I want my **** computer back!

[AdamAdsy]

Go look at the iomega web site, there are quite a few people that have found that the KT7A-Raid have conflicts with the IDE Zip100 drives. I had to swap my internal zip drive for an external one because of it causing all kinds of lockups and stuff.

Hope this helps.

[tantone]

Sure it helps. It helps me in forming the opinion that Abit's KT7A/KT7A-RAID is just not worth the hassle. Anyone know much about the Soyo KV7TA or whatever it is? Any other recommendations for a good motherboard?

[bigpoppasmooth]

-=Update=-

Flash to ZB01+ complete and although it's a little bit faster in getting up to WIN98 it's still slow and it's still not reading my second drive. Reads the third, but not the second. I'd rather it only read the first at this point.

AdamAdsy, thanks but I've already booted a number of times without the Zip plugged in and still the same crapolla.

I think that the only thing left for me to try is getting another 20gb ata100 drive and put that in.

Anyone have a drive they want to lend to a brother?

This is what I've attempted so far.
Upped the voltage.
Lowered the voltage.
Disabled both serial ports.
Changed the fsb up and down as well as the multiplier.
All the mem tweaks on and off
Changed jumpers on all the drives
Flashed Bios 3 times
Zip drive out
Cover on/off (I get better temps w/ it on. Go figure)
Updated SB drivers and software
Checked the Highpoint for correct settings.

Any ideas anyone? I'm just about fresh out.

[Kuasimodem]

Just a thought, did you go into the RAID bios and set that?

DOH!! I didn't see the last line of that list. It's been a long day...

Flash to ZB01+ complete and although it's a little bit faster...

Where are you getting this bios? The file that I downloaded was direct from Abit and labeled "kt7wz.exe." This is where I downloaded it from... http://www.abit.com.tw/english/download/bios%20update/bios-kt7a-raid.htm

[This message has been edited by Kuasimodem (edited 05-01-2001).]

[AdamAdsy]

Did u try new ide cables. I had a problem with the one with the hole in it that came with mine as it kept getting strange numbers and stuff for my hard drive until I change the ribbon cable.

->Have you tried getting a new board in case its the board thats faulty, there have been quite a few returns to abit and they should change it if its faulty.

[bigpoppasmooth]

Kuasimodem: I started to get my BIOS from Abit's site but then I found BIOS and Drivers directly on viahardware.com. http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/faqdownloads.html.

AdamAdsy: I have tried different cables but I don't remember whats in there right now. I'll give them a change and let you know.

[tantone]

With my similar problems (not using the RAID function at all), I have narrowed it down to the motherboard or the processor. I have swapped everything else out, one peice at a time (this includes the p/s as well). I'm going to exchange this KT7A-RAID P.O.S. for another KT7A-RAID P.O.S. to see if it's the motherboard. Then I'll replace the CPU.

I'm still waiting for someone to cast enlightenment upon us problemed KT7A users. Abit sure hasn't been able to.

[tantone]

I swapped the mobo out (another KT7A RAID) with the same problem. What a P.O.S.

[lazerbeam]

I had a similar problem with my Abit KT7A raid board. Constant lock ups, freezing, especially when I was installing all of my drivers & s/w. My problem seems to have been & still is, the mobo. My first real clue was failing memory test using Norton Diagnostics. With one mem-stick in it would pass, but anytime I put in more than mem-stick it would fail. Individually each stick would pass.. I received many suggestions from Sysopt members, including new/bigger PS, etc. Tried them all with no luck. I went & bought better memory (had 768 MB of Micron CL3). Bought 512 MB of Crucial CL2. Also got the vendor to replace the mobo. With these sticks & new mobo it would fail with one stick at approx 255MB point.. and flat out crash with more than 1 stick in it. I used all 5 of my mem stick in another computer in varying combos and they all passed fine. I'm of the opinion there are some intrinsic problems with some of the Abit KT7A mobos. (and like you I have all the latest bios upgrades 4.29.., Via bios ver YH, etc. My work around for now is to use one mem stcik and using msconfig, limit Windows (98SE) to using only 253MB. That has stopped 99.5% of the crashing & lockups and the only serious problem I have left is when I access my external 30GB USB drive it locks up unless I go into the control panel//system//hadware manager and do a "refresh" on all USB devices before access the drive.. What a royal pain. I'm looking for a new motherboard but I want to stay away from Via bios.. The problem is if most new mobos that use AMD chips are only for DDR.

[Kuasimodem]

Could it possibly be that YH bios from VIA? Who's to say that there aren't a few little bios tweaks in the Abit WZ bios that are not in the "generic" bios from VIA?

I'm running the WZ bios, 4.29a drivers, and 512Mb of Micron CAS3 PC133@CAS2. The Norton memory test fails every time I use more than one ram module, but DocMemory says everything is cool.

No crashes, no BSOD's, no problems. Just a thought, you might try reseating the processor in the socket too, just for the heck of it.

[bigpoppasmooth]

Kuasimodem: That is a windows problem. I went to thier knowledge base and found that out. You're getting a "Not Enough Memory" message? It has something to do with the the way Windows handles large amounts of RAM.
In the "system.ini", you need to make this entry under [vcache]. It is down near the bottom of the file.

[vcache]
MinFileCache=524288
MaxFileCache=524288

You may want to search the microsoft knowledge base to check to see if you're having THIS problem for sure.

This is the search that I did: http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/psssearch.asp?SPR=w98se&T=B&KT=ALL&T1=7d&LQ=not+enough+memory&PQ=PastQuery&S=F&A=T&DU=C&FR=0&D=winmil%2Bor%2Bwin98x%2Bor%2Bcustserv&LPR=&LNG= ENG&VR=http%3A%2F%2Fsupport.microsoft.com%2Fsupport%3B http%3A%2F%2Fsupport.microsoft.com%2Fservicedesks% 2Fwebcasts%3Bhttp%3A%2F%2Fsupport.microsoft.com%2F highlights&CAT=Support&VRL =ENG&SA=GN&Go.x=26&Go.y=24

It was #20,
Q253912 - "Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed

In case the links don't work. The search query I used was: not enough memory

Hope this helps. Good Luck

[bigpoppasmooth]

BTW, I am still having problems. I thought I was cool for a day or two. But she was messin' with me.
I am waiting for VIA to come out thier fix. There was a news post on www.viahardware.com (http://www.viahardware.com) the other day, from VIA. Basically they said that they were aware of A problem, but it's not solely thier fault, (Creative), and that a new driver solution will be available soon. That was late last week.

lazerbeam,Kuasimodem: I don't think this is limited to the YH Bios or the 4.29 drivers, because I am running the WZB01+ Bios and the 4.30 beta drivers available at http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/faqdownloads.html

Happy Tweaking
Smooth

[bigpoppasmooth]

-=Update=-

Installed Official Bios ZT. Hated it. Couldn't even get past the **** Win98 screen. Waited almost an hour before I'd had enough. Put the old stuff that I had back on. But now I'm having trouble with my CD-DVD Rom drive. I can't open any disk I have. No disk will autoplay and when there is a disk in the drive. The light stays on.

The new 4-in-1 drivers are out. Official!!! http://216.122.141.7/drivers/4in1431v.zip
or if you prefer to do a little reading first. www.viahardware.com (http://www.viahardware.com)
I'm not going to get to try these bad boys until later tonight.

[obenton]

Slow spinup? Does this MB have an IDE boot delay BIOS setting?

[bigpoppasmooth]

obenton: yes it does. I have changed it to 0 and as high as 5. No luck.

[Overkill[TBP]]

I noticed this when running my HD's on the RAID device "IDE 3 and 4" that when ever I have only one HD on that chain with a jumper in it set to master that I will get slow preformance on boot, but if I remove the jumper from the HD's and just run the on their own chain

IDE 3 = HD 'Master' No Jumper
IDE 4 = HD 'Master' No Jumper

Then it boots a hell of alot faster. Don't ask me why it does that.

My IDE 1 & 2 have CDROM's on them, I keep everything on it's own Chain because I read somewhere that putting my Kenwood 62x TrueX cdrom on a secondary chain will run only as fast as the primary chain, excluding HD's but I don't want to put a CDrom after or before a hard drive for burning purposes, ths motherboard solves all my problems.

[bigpoppasmooth]

I've got three HD's though and it'd the second, (first on IDE 4), that randomly appears/disappears after long periods of the system being turned off.
Drive 1 on IDE 3, the jumper setting for master is also the setting for single. This drive is alone on IDE 3 because it's my only ATA100 drive the other 2 are ATA66...also, my CD drives run at DMA 3 and PIO respectively. They are on IDE 1 as master and slave. These settings have also been changed to a number of settings to no avail.

[bigpoppasmooth]

I've got three HD's though and it'd the second, (first on IDE 4), that randomly appears/disappears after long periods of the system being turned off.
Drive 1 on IDE 3, the jumper setting for master is also the setting for single. This drive is alone on IDE 3 because it's my only ATA100 drive the other 2 are ATA66...also, my CD drives run at DMA 3 and PIO respectively. They are on IDE 1 as master and slave. These settings have also been changed to a number of settings to no avail.

[chapsieml]

I've had some simular problems with hard drives and controlers. Found that two different drives,may not work together at rated speeds , or may not work at all. Also found that ide 1 must be used with the boot drive as master , or cable select. Also recommend that you install hard drives on primary controler and other drives-CDROM etc. on seconday drive. You must use the 80 pin ide cable for ata 66/100.You must plug your cable and hard drives in proper order; cables and sockets are color coded. I'm researching Soyo SY-K7VTA-pro, looks good.

[chapsieml]

You must use ATA-100 (IDE) cables with 40 pins and 80 conductors- each conductor has a grounding wire next to it to keep down noise. Jumper all your IDE drives to cable select. The Blue cable connector goes to motherboard, or IDE number 1 plug on the motherboard; the Gray connector goes to the slave IDE Drive; the Black connector goes to the IDE primary (normal "C") boot drive. On IDE controler mother board plug number two put your hard drive number (3) on the gray cable connector and put your CDROM on the Black, or master IDE drive connector. 80 conductor cables must be used for ATA 66/100 drives to work properly.

[cin587]

Ok I'm butting in a little late, but you might wanna take a gander at what has happened to me so far with this setup:
KT7a RAID mobo
700 Mhz Duron
160 MB SDRAM PC100
Powergene Geforce2 MX 32MB tv/out

So far my system has killed 5 harddrives. I've figured that it was my drive controllers or a power prob, but it wasn't that. We finally got on our last nerve and I sent away for an RMA #. I'm not dealing with this **** anymore I'm just getting a new mobo and power supply and hoping to whoever's out there that it doesn't kill the 60GXP IBM 60 GIG that I'm about to purchase. If it does in fact kill my drive I'm going with another board.

[juniorp94]

Try disabeling raid in your cmos and hook all your drives to the ide controllers that are not hooked to the highpoint ontroller. I think that might solve your problem.
Hope it helps, Junior

[elroy]

Back in the winter I read an article on an Australian hardware site [can't remember the name] that painted Abit boards as total pieces of ****. The author was a tech and said their company quit carrying Abit's due to the high defect rate, poor return policy, etc. I bought an Epox 8KTA3 after reading the article, it is great! If you get a good Abit you can't beat it but there are lots of not so good ones out there.