Asus A8V Deluxe SATA problem

[Der SchattenJager]

I just put together a system with an Asus A8V, and after installing Win XP Pro, I'm getting a random error during bootup.

These are the specs on my system:

A8V Deluxe
Athlon 64 3500+
2x512 Corsair XMS
GeForce 6800GT
1x74GB WD Raptor (SATA)
1x300GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 (SATA)
SB Audigy 2 ZS Plat. Pro

The way I have my drives configured is the 74GB Raptor is on the VIA SATA1 controller and the 300GB Maxtor is on the SATA2 controller.

When I installed Windows, I used the VIA 3.10E driver disk (F6 and all that), and everything worked fine. I formatted the Raptor, installed Windows, and everything worked fine (I didn't and still haven't formatted the Maxtor, so it's not being shown by the OS at the moment...I'll set up that drive once I figure out this problem).

The next day, I started up the system, and got this error:

VIA VT8237 SATA RAID BIOS setting util. V2.01

Scan Devices, please wait...
HardWare Initiate Failed, please check device!!!

It asked me to press a key to continue <g>, but I hit reset instead, and it loaded into Windows just fine.

Since then, It's been giving me that error about 1/4 of the time.

Does anyone know what is causing this? Is it a bad copy of the VIA RAID driver? Is it the way I set up the drives? Is there something wrong with the motherboard/BIOS?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[potroast]

that error comes up before windows begins to load, so it is defnitely NOT a driver issue.

Check your cables and make sure they're all snug and seated properly... SATA connectors are notoriously weak.

I would run seagate diagnostics on the drive (even tho it's a WD, the seatools works) then see what comes up... If you have a drive laying around, I'd try it with a new drive to eliminate that as the culprit.

If that doesn't fix it or find a problem, then I would swap your mobo out.

 

[Der SchattenJager]

I think I may have narrowed it down to a couple sources.

Having read on other boards that some people were having problems with Maxtor drives in their K8V (which I would assume is a similar enough board to the A8V) I decided to try something. Basically, they would get the same message as I do, but they ended up swapping out their Maxtor with a Hitachi and haven't gotten the error since.

So I decided to try it, and I disconnected the Maxtor, and out of the 10-15 times I shut down and started up, I did not get the error once.

I went a step further by swapping out the SATA cable with another, and reconnected the Maxtor. It started up the first time no problem. So I shut down, and powered it up again and there it was. The error message was back.

I'm not 100% certain, as it may just be a fluke that it hadn't happened those 10 or so times when the Maxtor was disconnected, so I'll let it ride for a few days (I don't need the 300GB drive for a while anyway), and if nothing continues to happen, I'll RMA my Maxtor and get something else.

In the mean time, can anyone think of something else I could try?

 

[jpinard]

Memory timings. A lot of peple have had trouble with the Corsair.

But an old thing (which may not be relevant with the 1007 BIOS), is to set your TRCD manuall to 4 even if that setting will work with 3. There's a super long thread at amdmb.com which talks about this, but it's been a long time. I just updated my BIOS, so I have to re-figure out my memory timings. My system is A LOT slower with the memory stuff all on auto.

Oh one other thing... try a different slot for your sound card. I have my plain Audigy 2 in PCI slot 3.

Do you have Rome Total War by any chance? If you do, when you have the EAX 3 enabled, do you get any popping noises when your zoomed right in close to your army (at ground level)? I'm thinking I may need to upgrade from my Audigy 2 to the Audigy 2 ZS...