Computer woe

[jmc41]

Hoping for some suggestions as computer seems busted. Spent a large chunk of timr attemping to install Win7 on raid1 using legacy nforce 4 sata drivers as it doesn't appear to support natively. Eventually after many problems with it not finding the drives, or crashing half way through install, or losing boot ability after the 2nd reformat I gave up and again disabled Raid and installed it to one disk to use windows mirroring until I can be bothered to try yet again.

Anyways, windows decided to download a whole load of stuff this AM and then install it all on shutdown, by the time this was done I was running late so booted up to setup the mirror as it'll take all day but on boot up it failed to configure the setup and reverted. Couldn't find the dynamic disk mirroring stuff so turned it off - except the only option was to install all the updates yet again. Couldn't wait and hate leaving it doing something like that so powered off figuring worst case I'd get a borked install and have to go againan given it's failed to setup updates hours after a fresh install not such a bad plan.

Anyways, computer now won't boot, I can't do anythinhg. I get the first screen detecting drives (dvd and two sata ones) but it never progresses so I can't even floppy or CD boot. Hitting del for nios and esc to the boot menu does nothing. Only ctrl-alt-del works. Hard power off is instant too no 5 second hold down required.
No beeps either so not a clue what's up :-(

Anyone? Help!

[Zirax]

The James effect strikes again. Just be glad there weren't flames :p

First thing to try is unplug the thing and reset the cmos. This will be a jumper which is next to the battery. Set this to "clear" for 10secs and then put it back how it was. DO NOT turn on the machine with the jumper set on clear as this will FUBAR the mobo.

[jmc41]

Yeah, this time!

So I've been unplugging bits and bobs for a while. Managed to completely kill it by leaving just one stick of ram in a place it didn't like it being alone. Anyway got that sorted and it's now booted up okay with the secondary HD unplugged (I plug it back in and get same issue) and everything else unplugged other than a gfx card, single slot ram, keyboard and mouse.

Still worth hunting for this cmos thing?

[Zirax]

hmmm, sounds like the hdd has died then :( Another thing to check is trying a different hdd cable. Otherwise put it in an external caddy and then pull as much stuff as you can off.

[jmc41]

It was only for a mirror'ed RAID, so no data loss issues it's all on the other drive and on a external. Will swap the cables and see if I get anything.

[Zirax]

Yeah I have found that hdds die wayyy too often now :( Just had another drive go at the weekend

[jmc41]

Right o, looks like that. If I put the good cable into the secondary drive it won't get past that screen, back in the other drive, pretty much everything reconnected and boots up okay.

Wonder if this is why I've had so many problems getting the RAID to work; and good HD suggestions? Always been a Maxtor fan but was recommended to try Samsung which these are, found out too late they're not recommended for RAID.

Looks like scan do 500gb sammies for £39 ea, can only find one maxtor which is a 250gb clearance so guessing they've fully gone now. SSD might give me realiability but a tad pricely and this ancient beast probably can't support them anyway.

[Zirax]

SSD is overkill and too expensive really. I'm actually a convert to WD drives from Maxtor. Had very few fail of those. All down to each person though, I imagine others have had loads of WD fail :D

Gone are the days of the hdds lasting for years. Got loads of older drives still going strong.

[jmc41]

What model died at the weekend? :)

Looks like there are some pretty reasonable WDs out there for sub £40 prices. Would you recommend getting another 320 and raiding it with the existing one or getting two new ones. Mixed reviews some people say get raid1 drives from seperate batches others say get the serials as close as possible.

Guess I'll get the screwdrivers to ensure full data destruction at the weekend. Clear out revealed some old stuff that was a bit dubious (like a booking screenshot with my card number!)

[Zirax]

Good question, I haven't actually checked yet. It died and I left it to tackle another day.

I would just get another 320 and raid that. Raid 1 isn't there for all out performance. If you keep replacing in pairs it will cost a fortune!

[Mark]

RAID1 from different batches reduces the risk of a 'bad batch' failing both drives (I've got four Seagate drives from the same batch and all four have problems).

RAID1 from similar batches reduces the risk of incompatibility between the two drives.

Take your pick. :)

PS - As Daz would say, RAID* is an availability solution, not a backup solution. It's certainly better than nothing and protects against some types of failure (and has saved me more than once due to single drive failures), but if you delete a file, it's gone. Bye.

*RAID0 doesn't count. In fact, RAID0 isn't really RAID at all.

[jmc41]

Okay Mark cheers. I know it's not a complete backup solution having had a PSU almost knock out a load before (now have two externals and most unsorted/not elsewhere available photos on work computer) but as you say is better than nothing.

I'll have to see how another drive likes the remaining one at the weekend

[jmc41]

Okay finally got a (so far) stable windows 7 install on a RAID after great fun last night fitting the new HD - had to partially remove mobo to get the change over made, and getting the various raid options right on the 3rd attempt.

New one is a WD, only 8mb cache and looks like the Sammies were 16mb but I'll settle for a reasonable stable system this time!