Computer that doesn't want to boot right - please help!

I have just put the "Gaming Rig" in my signature together, but have since disconnected all the "unneccessary" components so get to the source of this, but the windows installation seemed to be going fine, it got through the bit where it counts down the time, from in the 30s on .... but then it restarted, with about 15mins to go and got locked into a restart cycle where it will bring up the safe mode selection, and whatever you choose it fails and restarts again.

The one thing I was wondering about is that I am using an X2, on a board without the bios updated, would this stop it working right? Of course I was planning on updating it, but I hoped I could do it from within Windows rather than dos.

If it helps, the Windows installation was onto an Nvidia RAID0 between the 2 WD Raptors.

Please help me!!!

ShMeE

UPDATE:

Bios updated to newest version for this motherboard - Asus A8N-SLi Deluxe, 1013, and it still does exactly the same thing :( :(

Anything will be appreciated!

ShMeE

endless reboot, eh. sounds like a hardware problem. test your memory with memtest86 first, and if that doesn't show faulty mem it's time to start RMAing parts. i'd suggest you start with the mobo.

Have you checked the SATA cables? A cracked or damaged SATA cable would cause an error pretty similar to this. You can download Western Digital's Data Lifeguard diagnostics tools to make sure your drives are sound from here to a DOS disk which may help narrow your search.

Hope that helps!

Are you pressing F6 during installation in order to install mobo raid drivers? Put the drivers onto a floppy (get latest ones) press F6 when it says something about installing third party drivers and follow instructions. Sorry if you know this already but lots of people miss it. Good luck.

Ok, I firstly tried the WD Data Lifeguard which reported two happy drives - so that doesn't seem to be the problem.

To iranu, it got beyond this in the installation, as in found the RAID that I had created and installed to it, I think the next step in the installation was where it first loads up with the Windows logo and asks lots of questions. But obviously didn't get this far.

Getting Memtest86 to run was seeming to be quite a challenge, but now that it is it looks like it's gonna take a very long time? Is that normal?

I really hope I will not have to RMA anything, I suspect something I did during set-up, but am going to get another windows disc to see if there is a problem with the installation or something.

Thank you everybody for the pointers so far, please keep trying!

ShMeE

Ok, 1 pass of memtest86 v3.2 done and 0 errors :(

Gonna try reinstall a different version of Windows (SP1 not SP2) see what happens.

ShMeE

Ok new problem!

When trying to install this version of windows, while still on the blue screen background, it has the yellow bar percentage thing, and after 100% has the red 15sec countdown to restart, it gets to the end and jams or you press enter to start the restart earlier and it jams :( WHY OH WHY!!!

ShMeE

UPDATE 1: Disconnected 1 Raptor, and disabled NVRAID, Windows install now is getting further, will be another 30 mins before I know whether the problem was my RAID configuration or something similar though.

UPDATE 2: Installed and in Windows off a single Raptor, so clearly a RAID problem, anybody got any ideas about what I may have done wrong? I am going to go through trial and error with the settings.

are you installing the drivers when you're prompted to press f6? see iranu's post. just because WD's util sees two happy drives doesn't mean windows will without the correct drivers.

Yes that is what I have been doing, and Windows installation has seen it as one happy RAID. It found the 140GB partition I had created.

However, I have just had one thought which is that my motherboard has both NVidia RAID and Silicon RAID, I have been using the Nvidia one and am now going to go for it on Silicon instead and hopefully will get further!

Thanks for posting,

ShMeE

One thing to watch there is the silicon image controllers on most boards are unlocked, so you might loose data if your overclocked.

Slightly OT, but how is that dinovo keyboard? Have you used it much yet? I considered getting one,b ut the laptop nature of the keys put me off. Kind of glad cos i want the G15 now.

You've worried me with that loosing data thing, I wasn't planning on keeping "My Documents" on the RAID raptors, but did plan on a smallish overclock on it. Nothing significant but at least something. Should I still be worried?

When buying a keyboard, I wanted the slimmest laptop style I could find because I prefer it. It is very stylish as you know and has lasted well and I would generally thoroughly recommend it. I think they have released a new one as well since and that should be the same but even better! If you have the money to spend on it, I definitely think it's worth getting.

ShMeE

The good news from my point of view:

IT WORKS!!!!!!

So I wonder why the NVidia RAID wouldn't work, any ideas? Could that be a problem with the plugs on my mobo?

ShMeE

the nvidia controller is probably faulty...

If you run raid 0 then you should ALWAYS backup and or put essential data on a seperate partition/drive.

I use the silicon raid on a7nx8 asus mobo and it's fine and I'm overclocked. Touch wood.

Please your drives are so far ok, I have all of my documents and important stuff synced between my computer so there's always 3 copies of everything :)

ShMeE