Gah, my Maingear Prelude from 2007 seems done :( What to do.

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...maybe SATA hub to me.
I tell you, I had an EVGA Classified that ran perfectly for 2 years andd then one day.......it started throwing errors all over the place. It wouldn't report memory correctly and the thing would just blue screen for no reason.

I took each component out and tested them in a different X58 board and they were all fine.

So sure a board can belly up at any time. I'm not convinced it's your board though.....but I don't think we got the whole story....so.....:eek: good luck with your problem.

I think you may possibly be on to something there... I think the SATA hub was the problem with my 680i. It would definitely be worth looking into, but how could you rule it out?:confused:
 
I think you may possibly be on to something there... I think the SATA hub was the problem with my 680i. It would definitely be worth looking into, but how could you rule it out?:confused:

I guess if the board had two controllers (hubs) you could perhaps disable one in the BIOS and run everything through the other one and wait and see???

That is a little out of my knowlege base.

But i don't think the guy ever said what board he's using.:D
 
Yeah. OP, do you have access to the original build specs?
 
didnt need to get new SATA cables and it's working fine (as is the other one).

Memory was scanned and tested and it was fine (plus the errors at the end of windows installation were too consistent and matching of the respective drives). Motherboard could be the issue, but then the problem shouldnt have been fixeable this way without the motherboard being replaced.

How do you know the problem is fixed for sure and won't return? Different drives with different firmware do not prove anything on their own.
 
I don't care what you say about your HDD "being OK because they are used now for storage".

The HDD you used for your OS is bad.
1) poor loading
2)making noise
3)failing to load windows to it's full extent
4) substitute HDD works fine.

Buy a new drive for crying outload, format it, load in windows.

I had the identical problem with my son's computer about 6 months ago.
The drive was shot. It was three years old. had a 5 year guarantee.
It happens.

RMA to Western Digital, new Caviar Black and has been fully functional since.

Unlikely given that he had two hard drives that both had issues with the machine. Multiple drive failures can occur, but in such cases I'm more concerned about the root problem. The root cause of such problems is rarely the drives themselves. Memory and motherboard are far more likely candidates for replacement than the drives are here.

Oh man, you just gave me flashbacks.... I had a 680i board in my current PC originally, and it causes me nothing but problems. It didn't play nice with SATA and I had blue screens galore. After I got my ASUS, thing improved 100%.

Spincut, I am hopeful you can find a solution to your problem. I suggest you continue troubleshooting - what the hell, it wouldn't hurt at this point...

Did you get an ASUS 680i SLI board or an ASUS P35 / X38 (or newer) motherboard? The ASUS non-reference 680i SLI design was superior to the NVIDIA design, but still shitty.

You don't care? Clearly though you havent been paying close attention. You're trying to tell me that BOTH my hard drives, both new and old are developing the same type of unique failure errors because they are both faulty in the same way? The poor loading is what started all this, but it went away, especially in safe mode. The noise is normal operation. If it was just one hard drive I may have chalked it up to hd failure (even though it was night and day operation between normal and safe mode).

However, I used a very new and perfectly functioning hard drive as a back up and it gave the same error when I tried to load windows on it. It's currently running back up again like before and is working perfectly fine, much like it did for the first several months I have had it so far. When I have the time (and I can get another SATA cable and fit it in) I may even put in the older one that may have started all this mess, and see if that works fine too as a storage drive (since it was scanned completely and had no errors).



I have an Asus now though....and this thing has worked fine for 4 years, so I dunno. Nothing major changed or happened, I don't know once something is set and working that 4 years later it suddenly wouldn't like the same stuff.

Compatibility issues do not happen like that. I also do not believe the drive is the culprit.

Just because the HDD can store data fine, why would all of them not function as the main OS drive?
When called repetitively they won't work? right?

Sounds like a HDD, driver or maybe SATA hub to me.

I tell you, I had an EVGA Classified that ran perfectly for 2 years andd then one day.......it started throwing errors all over the place. It wouldn't report memory correctly and the thing would just blue screen for no reason.

I took each component out and tested them in a different X58 board and they were all fine.

So sure a board can belly up at any time. I'm not convinced it's your board though.....but I don't think we got the whole story....so.....:eek: good luck with your problem.

There is no "SATA hub" unless you are referring to the ports themselves. SATA is point to point. The problem may reside in the SATA controller itself which is most likely integrated into the chipset's south bridge in the OP's case. Again this would be a motherboard thing, and if it's working now, it may be due to differences in the older drive's firmware which is helping compensate for or at least masking the problem. If this is really the problem it will return in time.

Yeah there really seems like there should be more to this. Hopefully we can get more info and get this fixed. :)

Also, MainGear has +1 respect in my book.

Agreed on both counts.

I think you may possibly be on to something there... I think the SATA hub was the problem with my 680i. It would definitely be worth looking into, but how could you rule it out?:confused:

No, the chipset south bridge was the problem on your 680i SLI board and it was a common problem due to poor QC of the semi-conductors themselves and even worse votlage regulation / management on the motherboard. The BIOS was also an atrocity which didn't help.
 
There is no "SATA hub" unless you are referring to the ports themselves. SATA is point to point. The problem may reside in the SATA controller itself which is most likely integrated into the chipset's south bridge in the OP's case. Again this would be a motherboard thing, and if it's working now, it may be due to differences in the older drive's firmware which is helping compensate for or at least masking the problem. If this is really the problem it will return in time.

My use of terminology aside, you agree that there is a controller on the MB? yes? ( and yes, I was referring to the onboard SATA controller, where-ever it resides.)

and if the controller is FUBAR'd, it will lead to drive corruption or malfunction? no?

While it would be difficult to blame 2 HDDs, I am still curious as to why the final improvement was changing HDDs if there wasn't a problem there as well.

and yes.....overall the 680i MBs were not so good. I had an evga go south on me and an ASUS as well just flat out die after 18 months......
 
My use of terminology aside, you agree that there is a controller on the MB? yes? ( and yes, I was referring to the onboard SATA controller, where-ever it resides.)

and if the controller is FUBAR'd, it will lead to drive corruption or malfunction? no?

While it would be difficult to blame 2 HDDs, I am still curious as to why the final improvement was changing HDDs if there wasn't a problem there as well.

and yes.....overall the 680i MBs were not so good. I had an evga go south on me and an ASUS as well just flat out die after 18 months......

Again, the third drive is a different brand with different electronics and different firmware is it not? All problems with computer hardware aren't as simple as saying "it works or it doesn't." They aren't all so black or white. There are some grey areas and not all hardware is created equal. The problem might be masked by the alternative firmware / drive electronics. Some firmware is going to be more forgiving about some issues than others. If you've got a south bridge / SATA controller going south on you, the problem will return. I do not know how much clearer I can make it.
 
Again, the third drive is a different brand with different electronics and different firmware is it not? All problems with computer hardware aren't as simple as saying "it works or it doesn't." They aren't all so black or white. There are some grey areas and not all hardware is created equal. The problem might be masked by the alternative firmware / drive electronics. Some firmware is going to be more forgiving about some issues than others. If you've got a south bridge / SATA controller going south on you, the problem will return. I do not know how much clearer I can make it.

Crystal, drill sargent, crystal.:p
 
I agree with Dan, it's most likely memory or motherboard. It sounds like you don't want to swap out the motherboard, which is undertstandable, but that may be what has gone bad. I too think it's likely the problem may return.
 
Did you get an ASUS 680i SLI board or an ASUS P35 / X38 (or newer) motherboard? The ASUS non-reference 680i SLI design was superior to the NVIDIA design, but still shitty.

It was the EVGA nForce 680i SLI 775 A1.

I bought my PC from AVA Direct and they said they had many problems with those boards.


No, the chipset south bridge was the problem on your 680i SLI board and it was a common problem due to poor QC of the semi-conductors themselves and even worse votlage regulation / management on the motherboard. The BIOS was also an atrocity which didn't help.

Well, I didn't know the details until know... I really thought it had to do with the SATA controller(s). At any rate, it sucked. Thanks for the info!
 
It was the EVGA nForce 680i SLI 775 A1.

I bought my PC from AVA Direct and they said they had many problems with those boards.




Well, I didn't know the details until know... I really thought it had to do with the SATA controller(s). At any rate, it sucked. Thanks for the info!

The SATA controller is in the south bridge. A lot of things about those boards sucked. :mad:
 
Again, the third drive is a different brand with different electronics and different firmware is it not? All problems with computer hardware aren't as simple as saying "it works or it doesn't." They aren't all so black or white. There are some grey areas and not all hardware is created equal. The problem might be masked by the alternative firmware / drive electronics. Some firmware is going to be more forgiving about some issues than others. If you've got a south bridge / SATA controller going south on you, the problem will return. I do not know how much clearer I can make it.

I'm pretty sure this hits the nail on the head with his problem. Although I understand that slapping a new drive in there that *works* doesn't fix the root problem, it does allow him to keep the machine in operation. The alternative of replacing the motherboard isn't cost effective (time & money) in his situation.
 
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I'm pretty sure this hits the nail on the head with his problem. Although I understand that slapping a new drive in there that *works* doesn't fix the root problem, it does allow him to keep the machine in operation. The alternative of replacing the motherboard isn't cost effective (time & money) in his situation.

Yeah if it's working for him then great. No need to spend anymore money on a new machine before he planned to if he can ride this one's issues out a while longer.
 
Yeah well it does work just fine now, and the other hard drives work fine too....I still dont personally feel that if it's something like a motherboard on the fritz that the issue would have wrote itself that easily (especially with all the explanations given for the OS install issue....like one so called "expert" who "had seen this before" and "knew what he was talking about" claimed that it could very well be the video card overheating, for some reason...even with no artifacting), but part of the complexity of this issue is something that happened (or didn't happen) negates another possibility. What is or was actually wrong with it may never truly come to light. But if it doesnt say, break again, within, I don't know, the next month or two, I would say everything somehow turned out fine, as much as I dont like this older 80GB (which is even older than my 250GB original drive) being my OS drive, I suppose it can last until the next geforce, the intel 2011 pin sockets come, and perhaps even a fully running and stable Windows 8 (these are all the things I was hoping to wait for before I got a new computer).

Mind you, it's not just Maingear that was the reason my machine lasted me as long as it has, I paid very close attention to the hardware out and coming out, and wanted to buy at a time where hardware was pretty solid and pretty stable, making it a long time before anything got outmoded, and I must say, that Geforce 8800GTX specifically has gone a long way performance wise (probably didn't hurt that I also went for a smaller 20" monitor at the time, making the inherent resolution smaller and thusly taxing the system less too).
 
I'm glad you got it working for the time being, hopefully the problem doesn't re-occur. As much as you don't want us to help you troubleshoot the issue, you need to remember that most of us here are here to troubleshoot. Like many of the other folks on here, I enjoy troubleshoot and or trying to fix a box that is down. While I hate having constant issues I would rather be fiddling with something than everything working fine all the time. I find myself tearing down my rig from time to time to just dust it out and re-wire it. We don't ask to help simply because we want to you to be back up and running, we ask for our own joy.

I would agree on the SATA hub causing the issues though, my friends 680i board took a dumb about a year ago that was the Asus 680i reference edition. The SATA controller is what caused it to stop reading hard drives.
 
Whatever happened with this Spin? Did you talk to the Maingear CEO? If not why not?
Did you end up purchasing?
 
I say buy a dell and get the best buy warrenty cause no company is going to make you happy.
 
Well, glad to see your problem has stabalized.

Did you ever speak with maingear again? I'm interested to hear what they had to say.

Hopefully you can limp along until the first of the year when the S2011, etc comes out.:D
 
i had this exact problem on my LGA 1366 build. One day i had really slow OS load times on my raptor, then it led to missing kernel messages and BSODs. I tried reinstalling windows, it would take forever, and sometimes error out, or it would finish but the slow loading wouldn't go away and the same symptoms would show even after trying on different HDs. Tried swapping SATA cables, different SATA ports.

After a week of troubleshooting, it pretty much boiled down to the SATA controller on the mobo, so i RMAed the board and everyone was groovy after that.
 
After a week of troubleshooting, it pretty much boiled down to the SATA controller on the mobo, so i RMAed the board and everyone was groovy after that.

Yes, my thought is the SATA controller on the motherboard.

Maybe a different SATA port? Could be the new drive is working better on a different port?

I had a box doing this exact same thing also - my Dad had my old 1.1ghz Athlon Thunderbird build - I eventually told him it wasn't worth troubleshooting farther...I tried another HDD and same results - so I was pretty sure the controller on the motherboard was shot.

I'd bet onboard SATA controller also, if the cables and ports have been swapped around to eliminate those possibilities.
 
Your complaining about a 4 year old computer. Finally something is wrong with your PC, you have called tech support first off if you did not care about your 4 year old computer you would not have gone through the rants that you have done. You have the CEO of a company making a exception to you, you have countless members on this board who are more qualified then any other tech site to fix your PC with just a few simple questions answered. Do us all a favor stop your complaining, stop your excuses.
 
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lol, that's a little bit harsh. but yeah, if the CEO was willing to speak to me directly, i would talk to him for sure. IT's likely he would hook me up for some good endorsement among the community.
 
yeah khanzye...you're dumping on a dude to stop complaining when his last post was more than a month ago?

I am a bit disappointed WE never got any closure on this from the op.

I have to applaud Maingear for stepping up and offering to help the guy out.
 
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