Data lifeguard Diagnostics

[snark]

I have a AMD 64+ duo, M2n32-SLI delux, western digital 3200aaks hard drive. I tweaked the Bios as detailed in the mysuperpc instructions as best as I could. Here is the one difference: I have set the first boot to the cd drive. I don't have a floppy. I have a Sony dvd/cd drive, I downloaded the Data Lifeguard Diagnostics cd dos version and tried to start up the computer with that cd. On start up I get: disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter. If I press enter I get the same message.

Disks I have available:
1. the mother board cd
2. the sony software cd
3. the video card cd
4. Data lifeguard diagnostics cd dos
5. data lifeguard tools 11.2 for dos cd

the mother board disk gets me the furthest with a dos prompt, but I wouldn't know what to enter.

I appreciate any advice.

[The Wise Monkey]

You are getting that message because you have not installed the OS - do this first. :)

[snark]

how did I miss that in the instructions? I didn't. How could that be left out? I assumed it would be later on.

[The Wise Monkey]

Hmm, it has been a while since I read Rob's instructions...

Actually, having re-read the instructions, it does say to boot from the Diagnostics disk first.

Is this the software you downloaded?
http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=15&swid=30

[snark]

Yes, That is the one I downloaded. I began to think I installed the dvd drive improperly but I gandered at Robs new instructions and other than removing the paper at the master connector and the motherboard connector I did everything the same. I worry can I push too hard on those connectors? They feel snug but might they not be plugged in all the way? Then again they must be as the drive is recognized in the cmos setup utility. I am going to go through the set up utility again to see if I missed anything. Any more suggestions? Should I try the os? (xp home edition)

Kindest regards,
Mark

[snark]

Looking at the sony DVD RW DRU-840A in the Primary IDE Master sub menu. the Values are:

Capacity: 0 MB
Cylinder: 0
Head: 0
Sector: 0
Transfer Mode UDMA4

Are these right? I thought that there would be a number for Head at least.
also the Current DRAM Timing for Rob is 800MHz-5-5-5-18-2T while mine is 667Mhz -5-5-5-14-2T
Is that important?

Here is my system:
Case: Antec Sonata III w/500-watts
PSU: came with case, earthwatts model: ea-500
Motherboard:Asus M2N32 – sli deluxe wireless
CPU: amd athlon 64 x2 6400+ am2
RAM: 4GB (2 GB *2) DDR2 PC2-5300
Graphics card: eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3
Sound card: none
Hard Drive(s): WD caviar se16 320 GB 7200rpm Sata 300MB/s
Optical Drive(s): Sony DRU840A Dual Formal Double Layer DVD RW/CDRW
Monitor: aquos 42” tv (eventually) right now it is a View Sonic color LCD 12”
Speakers:none
Operating System: windows xp home edition (not installed yet)


Mark

[snark]

I figured that Rob was working on a computer that already had xp on it so I loaded xp and that went fine. Then I started loading the drivers. Motherboard drivers went fine. DVD driver went fine. NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS didn't go fine. I got this message:

The software you are installing for this hardware:
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS

Has not passed windows logo testing to verify its compatibility with windows XP

Continuing your installation of this software may impair or destabilize the correct operation of your system either immediately or in the future. Microsoft strongly recommends that you stop this installation now and contact the hardware vendor for software that has passed Windows Logo Testing.

I stopped, I called, I left a message.

Do I need to download some xp updates? before I can do this?

thanks in advance.
Mark

[RickyTick]

Go here for the latest driver for your video card.
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Here's some help on installing video card drivers.
http://evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=175074&mpage=1&key=&#175074

[The Wise Monkey]

You shouldn't worry about the driver warning - the drivers that are shipped with video cards are never the latest version, and as such have often not passed WHQL testing, hence the message. You should download the latest drivers from nVidia's website.

As for the data diagnostics, it doesn't really make much difference if you use them or not. Rob takes the view that it is better to be safe than sorry, which is definitely the best policy if you are building your first computer. :)

[Rob]

I'm not sure how far along - what step - you're at with assembly, but it looks like you're using the same components as me in my updated instructions. See if they help. Check your BIOS settings (again, I'm not sure what step you're at, but in any event it would be a good check and we're using the same motherboard).

http://www.mysuperpc.com/build_your_own_computer/pc_parts_list.shtml

[zburns]

Snark. This is my third effort to post a reply to your thread regards Data Lifeguard Test. My system is identical except I have a floppy drive, using Vista Ultimate but not loaded yet, Ram PC2-8500, 4GB.

I have also experienced a related or similar problem. I am submitted this reply as is right now. If it transmits, I will edit it and finish it up. The gist of what I will say is to check under the Advanced Menu, IDE Function Setup, OnChip IDE Channel0 must be set to Enable for your DVD drive to be recognized. Rob's book says to Disable it; I did this and did not go back and look at the Main Menu; had I done so, the Sony Drive DVD would no longer be recognized with OnChip in the Disable Mode. zburns

I am having significant problems transmitting my replies; I will be brief. I have a POST under the General Section, Send a message to ROB; please read it as it will at least show the BIOS path from the Main Menu page to the OnChip sub menu item under IDE Function Set up, under Onboard Device Config, under Advanced.

Once again, OnChip must be Enabled, probably also IDE DMA and IDE Prefetch. Read carefully: when you Disable OnChip, you automatically Disable IDE DMA and IDE Prefetch. When you change OnChip back to Enable, IDE DMA and IDE Prefetch do not automatically change back, you must manually RE Enable each of them.

On Data Lifeguard, your part # is WD 3200AAKS; choose Second Generation Device on their menu. I used Floppy for this and everything worked fine; full test took about 3 hours. zburns

[snark]

SO.

I did load the drivers from the cd. It that point I hadn't hooked up the internet yet so didn't feel like burning up another cd when I had their driver already in hand. Everything worked out fine.

I eventually did get online and downloaded some virus protection, spyware protection and firefox.

With what little I have done I am very happy and stoked you all were there to help me. With out you all I wouldn't have even thought of doing this. Thank you especially Rob.

Now some questions:
1. I already installed the os so should I go back and do the read only diagnosticcs on my hard drive?

2. I plugged in the hd audio connector from the front pannel. I changed the bios to suit this. Does this mean I have to have special speakers to get sound out of the front pannel?

3. Who appreciates you guys more than me? Eh?.

4.I have decided to go RAID 0 and then eventually buy an external hard drive to back up to.
4a. I have one hard drive (320Gb) installed right now. Do I handle the new hard drive through windows or go to the BIOS settings and handle it through there.
4b. Is RAID 0 more unstable than having just one hard drive? How sketch is it? I owned 3 computers in my life and never had any problems with my hard drives. Am I being naive? A friend is urging me to set up my other hard drive as an external back up. Suggestions/Comments?

5. DVI (computer) to HDMI (aquos tv) any issues?

Thanks again.
Mark

[snark]

the front pannel has a SATA wire coming from it. What can/should I do with this?

Mark

[shyster]

1. I would definately go back and run the hard drive diagnostics. That is what I did for my computer after I got the OS running. They have a version you can run from your OS instead of having to run it from a boot disk via dos.

I personally have owned about five computers, and until now they were all store bought or handed down from someone. However one time I decided to upgrade my computers hard drive, because I found it lacking in space. It happened to be a western digital and it broke quite severely, lost all my data and caused the computer to crash for the time it was still installed in it.

This was years ago and I have had WD's since then that have not had any problems, but one bad drive is enough to cause you quite a headache. I currently am using a WD.

2. What do you mean no sound out the back? You are only using left-right speakers correct? Usually speakers have two prongs that you plug into the computer, the left and the right. Have you tried switching the two location wise to see if that fixes it? I know I have in the past put them in the wrong location and while I still got sound it was super low and was backwards.

By the way since when do speakers need to be messed around with via the software side? All the speakers I have ever used have just been plug and play, no software setup or loading required.

3. Asus is bad. Other than that apparently this motherboard has bios issues, I was just reading the newegg reviews and some people have said they had to mess with the bios settings. It seems unlikely that you would need to do anything to get sound working, but if you have loaded the motherboard drivers in and still no sound it is possible the onboard sound is broken. Of course that is the most unlikely and extreme, it probably has something to do with your cables.

4a. No idea have not set up a raid system.
4b. Yes it is less stable, obviously the more parts you add to anything the greater the chance that one will break. In a raid 0 setup, which is the parallel and not mirror version I believe, you have two drives acting as a single one. The benefit of this is that the drives have a better read and write speed because data is written to and taken from both simultaneously rather than one drive doing all the work. The downside of this is that the data is split, which means if one drive happens to die, all of your data is gone. If a human is cut in half vertically both halves die right, we do not just replicate ourselves, the same is true of parallel raid systems.

5. I do not even know what you just said, what is HDMI? Got a link for it or at least an explaination of it?

What do you mean there is a SATA wire coming from it? Coming from where? Do you mean the case or the motherboard? Either way why would they have a SATA cable coming out of them?

[zburns]

I just tried to send a reply and it disappeared; do not know why. At any rate, the front of the Sonata III has an eSata port, the rear panel has one. The cable you refef to is from the front panel port; the cable connector is identical to the red Sata cable connectors that came with the mobo.

This means to me that the front panel port and cable is intended to be an extension of one of the 6 Sata connectors on the lower right of the mobo.

Look at page 1-3 in the mobo manual, top para. Last line for pages that show the mobo eSata ports or connectors.

I am not using Raid right now so I cannot speak to that. If you are in the US Asus Support has a new number 812-282-2787; I found them very useful. The Asus book is good to a point, but not nearly as detailed as is Rob's book on the mobos he used for the book. zburns