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From: Matthew on 8 Jul 2010 07:55

"Paul" <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote in message
news:i131l4$e8k$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
> Pen wrote:
>> On 7/7/2010 4:44 PM, Matthew wrote:
>>> "ToolPackinMama" <philnblanc(a)comcast.net> wrote in message
>>> news:i12nn6$h10$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
>>>> On 7/7/2010 4:02 PM, Matthew wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Is it possible that initializing RAID or possibly this Intel drive
>>>>> management software is effecting performance of my drives? I'm
>>>>> assuming that
>>>>> the initial start up hang at "detecting AHCI" is also somehow related
>>>>> to the
>>>>> RAID configuration, but I see no option for disabling AHCI in the bios
>>>>> (if
>>>>> that's even possible). Or could there be something else I am missing?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Have you tried booting with BIOS setup defaults?
>>> well... what would that do if I've installed Win7 with RAID? Or will it
>>> matter since I'm not running RAID at the moment? That is pretty much the
>>> only change I made in the BIOS.
>> Turning on the RAID turns on the AHCI which is required by
>> SATA drives. All the rest of your problems scream Memory
>> troubles with the system swapping out to the hard drive.
>>
>
> In addition, Matthew might try another SATA cable, as if the
> SATA cable was bad, and causing a lot of CRC errors, that
> might result in the drive being accessed over and over
> again. Perhaps the Southbridge SATA interface is in a
> reset loop, trying over and over again to establish
> communications ?
>
> The hard drive manufacturers sometimes have downloadable
> diagnostics, and it would be interesting to see whether
> the diagnostic can make sense of it or not. The Western Digital
> product page for each drive, should point to the diagnostic
> to use. For example, I can see "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic" here.
>
> http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=606&lang=en
>
> A memory test, should always be done on a new system, before
> trusting it to do anything properly. Scroll half way down the
> page here, for some downloads. Some Linux LiveCDs, include
> a boot command prompt option, of doing memtest as well. So
> it's even being distributed on some Linux CDs.
>
> http://www.memtest.org
>
> LGA1366 systems sometimes have problems with socket contact
> to the processor. It can affect how many sticks of RAM are
> detected (some people "find a channel missing"). Check the
> BIOS to see if all the memory is indicated as being present.
> The memory must be detected, before a memtest program can
> test it.
>
> Paul


It's odd that you mention memory because originally I had two kits of
Kingston Triple channel (2GBx3) PC3-10600 (MB approved) memory. The BIOS
would detect all 6 sticks but only report 8GB available memory, so I tried
each 2GBx3 kit individually and one kit showed up in the BIOS as 3
sticks/6GB available and the other one showed up as 3 sticks/2GM available
so I RMA'd it back to the store. I assumed that since the BIOS detected 3
sticks at 6GB that this memory was good to go, but I'll test it out tonight
with memtest. The odd thing is that I pulled this memory strait from MSI's
list of compatible memory for my board.


From: Paul on 8 Jul 2010 13:26
Matthew wrote:
> "Paul" <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote in message
> news:i131l4$e8k$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
>> Pen wrote:
>>> On 7/7/2010 4:44 PM, Matthew wrote:
>>>> "ToolPackinMama" <philnblanc(a)comcast.net> wrote in message
>>>> news:i12nn6$h10$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
>>>>> On 7/7/2010 4:02 PM, Matthew wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Is it possible that initializing RAID or possibly this Intel drive
>>>>>> management software is effecting performance of my drives? I'm
>>>>>> assuming that
>>>>>> the initial start up hang at "detecting AHCI" is also somehow related
>>>>>> to the
>>>>>> RAID configuration, but I see no option for disabling AHCI in the bios
>>>>>> (if
>>>>>> that's even possible). Or could there be something else I am missing?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> Have you tried booting with BIOS setup defaults?
>>>> well... what would that do if I've installed Win7 with RAID? Or will it
>>>> matter since I'm not running RAID at the moment? That is pretty much the
>>>> only change I made in the BIOS.
>>> Turning on the RAID turns on the AHCI which is required by
>>> SATA drives. All the rest of your problems scream Memory
>>> troubles with the system swapping out to the hard drive.
>>>
>> In addition, Matthew might try another SATA cable, as if the
>> SATA cable was bad, and causing a lot of CRC errors, that
>> might result in the drive being accessed over and over
>> again. Perhaps the Southbridge SATA interface is in a
>> reset loop, trying over and over again to establish
>> communications ?
>>
>> The hard drive manufacturers sometimes have downloadable
>> diagnostics, and it would be interesting to see whether
>> the diagnostic can make sense of it or not. The Western Digital
>> product page for each drive, should point to the diagnostic
>> to use. For example, I can see "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic" here.
>>
>> http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=606&lang=en
>>
>> A memory test, should always be done on a new system, before
>> trusting it to do anything properly. Scroll half way down the
>> page here, for some downloads. Some Linux LiveCDs, include
>> a boot command prompt option, of doing memtest as well. So
>> it's even being distributed on some Linux CDs.
>>
>> http://www.memtest.org
>>
>> LGA1366 systems sometimes have problems with socket contact
>> to the processor. It can affect how many sticks of RAM are
>> detected (some people "find a channel missing"). Check the
>> BIOS to see if all the memory is indicated as being present.
>> The memory must be detected, before a memtest program can
>> test it.
>>
>> Paul
>
>
> It's odd that you mention memory because originally I had two kits of
> Kingston Triple channel (2GBx3) PC3-10600 (MB approved) memory. The BIOS
> would detect all 6 sticks but only report 8GB available memory, so I tried
> each 2GBx3 kit individually and one kit showed up in the BIOS as 3
> sticks/6GB available and the other one showed up as 3 sticks/2GM available
> so I RMA'd it back to the store. I assumed that since the BIOS detected 3
> sticks at 6GB that this memory was good to go, but I'll test it out tonight
> with memtest. The odd thing is that I pulled this memory strait from MSI's
> list of compatible memory for my board.
>
>

As long as all your memory is being detected, there I wouldn't worry
about it. If you still had six sticks, you could experiment with
reseating the processor, to see if all of it would show up in the BIOS.
That is, on the theory, that some contacts on the LGA1366 aren't making
connections. The memory terminates on the processor, so either
the DIMM slot could be bad, or the processor contacts could be
open circuit. (Processors are thoroughly tested, so I wouldn't
suspect a bad processor, at least initially. A contact problem is
more likely.)

You could also take a single stick of RAM, and test it in each DIMM slot,
and see if the problem is only with certain slots.

Foxconn had issues with LGA1156 sockets. I don't know who is making
sockets for LGA1366, and I haven't seen any public discussions of
LGA1366 issues, like there was for LGA1156.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2859

Paul
From: Matthew on 9 Jul 2010 08:29

"Paul" <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote in message
news:i151oq$97d$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
> Matthew wrote:
>> "Paul" <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote in message
>> news:i131l4$e8k$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
>>> Pen wrote:
>>>> On 7/7/2010 4:44 PM, Matthew wrote:
>>>>> "ToolPackinMama" <philnblanc(a)comcast.net> wrote in message
>>>>> news:i12nn6$h10$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
>>>>>> On 7/7/2010 4:02 PM, Matthew wrote:
>>
>>
>
> As long as all your memory is being detected, there I wouldn't worry
> about it. If you still had six sticks, you could experiment with
> reseating the processor, to see if all of it would show up in the BIOS.
> That is, on the theory, that some contacts on the LGA1366 aren't making
> connections. The memory terminates on the processor, so either
> the DIMM slot could be bad, or the processor contacts could be
> open circuit. (Processors are thoroughly tested, so I wouldn't
> suspect a bad processor, at least initially. A contact problem is
> more likely.)
>
> You could also take a single stick of RAM, and test it in each DIMM slot,
> and see if the problem is only with certain slots.
>
> Foxconn had issues with LGA1156 sockets. I don't know who is making
> sockets for LGA1366, and I haven't seen any public discussions of
> LGA1366 issues, like there was for LGA1156.
>
> http://www.anandtech.com/show/2859
>
> Paul


Well... if anyone cares... with RAID on USB harddrives and thumbdrives
basically do not work, turn RAID off and everything works just fine, turn it
back on again and nothing but problems... guess that means no RAID for this
system.


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