Selfbuild help required

divil_a_bitdivil_a_bit
edited June 2008 in Hardware
I've posted this on a different forum but I didn't get many replies and I've run out of ideas myself. Here's a description of the problem and what I've done so far to try and identify a solution. Here's my spec:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/shoplist.aspx?mode=receive&si=583997&su=32C590FF-3136-4089-AA5B-383DC5EA7BD1

I managed to successfully build my first PC (HTPC) and install Vista on it with no problems. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be.

I had it running perfectly for one day when the trouble started. For some reason, the DVD drive and Hard disk have become unreliable! Both are connected via SATA. At boot up, sometimes the BIOS recognises the DVD drive and Hard disk, other times it doesn't. Also, when it does recognise them, it might fail to read them properly.

Here are the steps I have taken so far to try figure out what's the underlying problem.
  1. Windows Vista install DVD in the DVD drive and boot. "Fails to load BOOTMGR". I gave up on Windows it gives me zero visibility into what was causing the problem.
  2. Knoppix (live Linux CD) in the DVD drive with and without hard disk connected. Each boot is different in this scenario - sometime it fails to verify the kernel because of CRC errors, other times it manages to load the kernel but fails further along the boot process ... kernel panics, etc ... (different each time I boot!).
  3. Got an IDE hard drive from another computer with XP and Ubuntu on it (dual lboot) and stuck it in with no other drive connected. I tried to boot Ubuntu in debug mode so I could see the kernel message to the screen. Again, it wasn't the same each time I booted. Sometimes it go further that others but at no time did it boot successfully.
  4. I've checked the BIOS settings and all is fine.
  5. The BIOS loads and sometimes it recognises the SATA DVD/Hard drives, other times it doesn't, sometimes it only recognises 1 of them. If I have the IDE hard drive in there, it always recognises it.
  6. One thing I should mention, is that when the SATA drive with Vista on it is connected and when the BIOS recognises the hard drive it will attempt to boot Vista ... but it gets stuck on the green timer box forever or complains that a file on the disk is corrupt.
    Also, when I put the Knoppix CD in I have much more visibility so I can actually see what's happening during a linux boot. The Knoppix Linux boot sometimes fails to unzip the kernel with CRC errors. Sometimes it gets past that but failed loading some other module. It never makes it as far as login.
    Ubuntu on the IDE drive is similar.
  7. I took the SATA hard drive from self build PC and put it into my Dell - worked no problem.
  8. I took the SATA DVD drive from self build PC and put it into my Dell - worked no problem.
  9. Took 1GB RAM out of my Dell and put it into the self build and sill the exact same problems as described earlier (took the A-DATA RAM out of the selfbuild). The BIOS even printed a message saying it had recognised new RAM.
  10. I managed to do one other thing last night and that was a memtest from the Knoppix live CD and it passed.

Has anybody seen anything like this before? Any ideas where I can look next?

Thanks!

Comments

  • adarryladarryl No Man Stands So Tall As When He Stoops To Help a Child. Icrontian
    edited June 2008
    Okay, I'll throw in on this one though these are just long shot ideas, but WTH. First, you did install the motherboard chipset drivers esp those related to the SATA controller, right? If yes, did you install the most current version from Gigabyte's website? Next, have you been to Western Digital's support page to see if they list a motherboard chipset issue and fix relative to that chipset and their SATA 3.0 HD's? I remember there was a WD SATA 3.0 issue with certain VIA chipset motherboards and the fix was to place a jumper on pins 2,5 or something like that. Don't try that but do check with WD support in case there is a known issue between their SATA 3.0 drives and the AMD 780G/ATI SB600 chipset. GL!

    P.S. Have you checked on possible BIOS updates that might address the issue?
  • divil_a_bitdivil_a_bit
    edited June 2008
    adarryl wrote:
    Okay, I'll throw in on this one though these are just long shot ideas, but WTH. First, you did install the motherboard chipset drivers esp those related to the SATA controller, right? If yes, did you install the most current version from Gigabyte's website? Next, have you been to Western Digital's support page to see if they list a motherboard chipset issue and fix relative to that chipset and their SATA 3.0 HD's? I remember there was a WD SATA 3.0 issue with certain VIA chipset motherboards and the fix was to place a jumper on pins 2,5 or something like that. Don't try that but do check with WD support in case there is a known issue between their SATA 3.0 drives and the AMD 780G/ATI SB600 chipset. GL!

    P.S. Have you checked on possible BIOS updates that might address the issue?
    Thanks for the input. Just last night after a lot of time wasted I got to the bottom of the problem. After trying everything I could think of I ordered a replacement motherboard (exact same model) and it worked! No issues with it - everything works fine.
Sign In or Register to comment.