k7s5a pro hard drive query

Hello all,

i have had one of these boards for about 8 months and not really come
accross any problems - until now

I recently purchased a Western Digital 80Gb drive with udma 100 and 8Mb
cache.

I was wanting to use this as a master and then slave in my old smasung 40Gb
drive, which is also udma 100 but only a 2Mb cache.

The problem is that i cannot get these two drives to work together. yet
seperatley they seem to be fine.

If i put them both in my system all appears fine and then the whole thing
locks up, this can be anything from 5minutes to hours later. Sometimes the
lock up is accompanied by a blue screen and an error report but not always.
Then the only way to restart the pc is after a reset of the bios. I have
tried several bioses.

I have noticed also that my 80Gb drive is detected ok in my bios (latest
honeyx bios) however the parameters that are detected ie the number of
cylinders etc does not match what the Western Digital specs are for the
drive, it does seem to run fine though.

Any advice / help is really appreciated on this one.


Rob

"Rob Latus" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hello all,
>
> i have had one of these boards for about 8 months and not really come
> accross any problems - until now
>
> I recently purchased a Western Digital 80Gb drive with udma 100 and 8Mb
> cache.
>
> I was wanting to use this as a master and then slave in my old smasung
40Gb
> drive, which is also udma 100 but only a 2Mb cache.
>
> The problem is that i cannot get these two drives to work together. yet
> seperatley they seem to be fine.
>
> If i put them both in my system all appears fine and then the whole thing
> locks up, this can be anything from 5minutes to hours later. Sometimes the
> lock up is accompanied by a blue screen and an error report but not
always.
> Then the only way to restart the pc is after a reset of the bios. I have
> tried several bioses.
>
> I have noticed also that my 80Gb drive is detected ok in my bios (latest
> honeyx bios) however the parameters that are detected ie the number of
> cylinders etc does not match what the Western Digital specs are for the
> drive, it does seem to run fine though.
>
> Any advice / help is really appreciated on this one.
>
Put your drives on the same IDE channel. Usually putting the WD jumper on CS
(cable select) works best and I'd do the same with your Samsung (you may
have to try different settings or using no jumper(s) at all.

Commonly WD drives have a detection problem and when nf2 boards came out the
fix was to cut the first two wires in your IDE cable. Just an example of how
WD drives can be different or difficult.

It's common with K7S5A to not get the cyclinders, etc. correct. It may also
detect the drive as UDMA 5 on the first POST screen then report PIO Mode 4
on the next screen. It's disturbing but doesn't seem to affect the drive
operation any.

If you're using a minimal or generic power supply, adding a new drive may be
pulling it over the edge. This board is very demanding when it comes to how
it wants it's power supplied. 300W PSUs aren't usually good enough.

That was one of my first suspicions so i got a q-tec 550w psu and it has
made no difference.

The rest of the system is

Xp200 + not overclocked at all
Crucial 512mb ddr pc 2100
Panasonic DVD Ram
Phillips CD RW
GeForce 3 Ti 250 video card
Fire wire card
Wireless lan card
Broadband Modem
Floppy drive

Just trying the hdd's on seperate ide channels with each one having either
the dvd or the cd as a slave but won't this slow my drives and system down
this way? it seems a lot slower booting.


"Smoker" <> wrote in message
news:RAzPb.3020$...
>
> "Rob Latus" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> > Hello all,
> >
> > i have had one of these boards for about 8 months and not really come
> > accross any problems - until now
> >
> > I recently purchased a Western Digital 80Gb drive with udma 100 and 8Mb
> > cache.
> >
> > I was wanting to use this as a master and then slave in my old smasung
> 40Gb
> > drive, which is also udma 100 but only a 2Mb cache.
> >
> > The problem is that i cannot get these two drives to work together. yet
> > seperatley they seem to be fine.
> >
> > If i put them both in my system all appears fine and then the whole
thing
> > locks up, this can be anything from 5minutes to hours later. Sometimes
the
> > lock up is accompanied by a blue screen and an error report but not
> always.
> > Then the only way to restart the pc is after a reset of the bios. I have
> > tried several bioses.
> >
> > I have noticed also that my 80Gb drive is detected ok in my bios (latest
> > honeyx bios) however the parameters that are detected ie the number of
> > cylinders etc does not match what the Western Digital specs are for the
> > drive, it does seem to run fine though.
> >
> > Any advice / help is really appreciated on this one.
> >
> Put your drives on the same IDE channel. Usually putting the WD jumper on
CS
> (cable select) works best and I'd do the same with your Samsung (you may
> have to try different settings or using no jumper(s) at all.
>
> Commonly WD drives have a detection problem and when nf2 boards came out
the
> fix was to cut the first two wires in your IDE cable. Just an example of
how
> WD drives can be different or difficult.
>
> It's common with K7S5A to not get the cyclinders, etc. correct. It may
also
> detect the drive as UDMA 5 on the first POST screen then report PIO Mode 4
> on the next screen. It's disturbing but doesn't seem to affect the drive
> operation any.
>
> If you're using a minimal or generic power supply, adding a new drive may
be
> pulling it over the edge. This board is very demanding when it comes to
how
> it wants it's power supplied. 300W PSUs aren't usually good enough.
>
>

i have tried the drives as masters with a cd or dvd off each as a slave and
still the same problem.

maybe i should buy a new motherboard but i will be dissapointed if that is
the case.


"Rob Latus" <> wrote in message
news:...
> That was one of my first suspicions so i got a q-tec 550w psu and it has
> made no difference.
>
> The rest of the system is
>
> Xp200 + not overclocked at all
> Crucial 512mb ddr pc 2100
> Panasonic DVD Ram
> Phillips CD RW
> GeForce 3 Ti 250 video card
> Fire wire card
> Wireless lan card
> Broadband Modem
> Floppy drive
>
> Just trying the hdd's on seperate ide channels with each one having either
> the dvd or the cd as a slave but won't this slow my drives and system down
> this way? it seems a lot slower booting.
>
>
> "Smoker" <> wrote in message
> news:RAzPb.3020$...
> >
> > "Rob Latus" <> wrote in message
> > news:...
> > > Hello all,
> > >
> > > i have had one of these boards for about 8 months and not really come
> > > accross any problems - until now
> > >
> > > I recently purchased a Western Digital 80Gb drive with udma 100 and
8Mb
> > > cache.
> > >
> > > I was wanting to use this as a master and then slave in my old smasung
> > 40Gb
> > > drive, which is also udma 100 but only a 2Mb cache.
> > >
> > > The problem is that i cannot get these two drives to work together.
yet
> > > seperatley they seem to be fine.
> > >
> > > If i put them both in my system all appears fine and then the whole
> thing
> > > locks up, this can be anything from 5minutes to hours later. Sometimes
> the
> > > lock up is accompanied by a blue screen and an error report but not
> > always.
> > > Then the only way to restart the pc is after a reset of the bios. I
have
> > > tried several bioses.
> > >
> > > I have noticed also that my 80Gb drive is detected ok in my bios
(latest
> > > honeyx bios) however the parameters that are detected ie the number of
> > > cylinders etc does not match what the Western Digital specs are for
the
> > > drive, it does seem to run fine though.
> > >
> > > Any advice / help is really appreciated on this one.
> > >
> > Put your drives on the same IDE channel. Usually putting the WD jumper
on
> CS
> > (cable select) works best and I'd do the same with your Samsung (you may
> > have to try different settings or using no jumper(s) at all.
> >
> > Commonly WD drives have a detection problem and when nf2 boards came out
> the
> > fix was to cut the first two wires in your IDE cable. Just an example of
> how
> > WD drives can be different or difficult.
> >
> > It's common with K7S5A to not get the cyclinders, etc. correct. It may
> also
> > detect the drive as UDMA 5 on the first POST screen then report PIO Mode
4
> > on the next screen. It's disturbing but doesn't seem to affect the drive
> > operation any.
> >
> > If you're using a minimal or generic power supply, adding a new drive
may
> be
> > pulling it over the edge. This board is very demanding when it comes to
> how
> > it wants it's power supplied. 300W PSUs aren't usually good enough.
> >
> >
>
>

You DID remember to jumper the drives before you installed them, didn't you?

And they're all 80 wire cables, no?

Cable Select...fuggetaboutit, it's caused me more problems than a manual
config...go in the BIOS and set all the drives by hand, no auto config.
The less stuff the machine's gotta look for, the better.

AND, I've had HD problems that I've fixed by NOT daisy chaining HD's power
supply cables...each one gets its own.

When all else fails,

http://pub140.ezboard.com/bk7s5amotherboardforum



Ski
"The only way to find out how far is too far...
is to go there"
(remove spleen to e-mail)

I am certain i have set the jumpers correctly. Not really tried the cable
select yet.

I have changed the settings in the bios from auto to user for the hard
drives.

Not tried the power cable tip yet. may try that tomorrow.

I am fast running out of ideas and i think a new motherboard may be the only
way to go.


"Ski" <> wrote in message
news:...
> You DID remember to jumper the drives before you installed them, didn't
you?
>
> And they're all 80 wire cables, no?
>
> Cable Select...fuggetaboutit, it's caused me more problems than a manual
> config...go in the BIOS and set all the drives by hand, no auto config.
> The less stuff the machine's gotta look for, the better.
>
> AND, I've had HD problems that I've fixed by NOT daisy chaining HD's power
> supply cables...each one gets its own.
>
> When all else fails,
>
> http://pub140.ezboard.com/bk7s5amotherboardforum
>
>
>
> Ski
> "The only way to find out how far is too far...
> is to go there"
> (remove spleen to e-mail)

>Not tried the power cable tip yet. may try that tomorrow.
>
>I am fast running out of ideas and i think a new motherboard may be the only
>way to go.

http://pub140.ezboard.com/bk7s5amotherboardforum

Go there and ask BEFORE you shell out for a new mobo...if these folks can't
come up with an answer...buy a MSI board, I only use Elite when the customers
are too cheap for the GOOD STUFF, and have old pc133 RAM they want me to
use...LOL!

AND, there's THREE ways to jumper that WD800JB...NO jumpers, which works on
mine as a master w/ slave, and the MASTER W/ SLAVE setting, which appears on
the drive label...and CS.

Remember, with CS, ALL your drives will (probably) have to be jumpered CS.
Ski
"The only way to find out how far is too far...
is to go there"
(remove spleen to e-mail)

I posted the same sort of detection problem a few weeks ago. I'll give you
a $50 solution: buy another motherboard.

I tried 2 sets of cables. Different IDE channels. All jumper settings.
k7s5a would not recognize my 40GB drive. Spend the money and save the
frustration.

So fun


"Rob Latus" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hello all,
>
> i have had one of these boards for about 8 months and not really come
> accross any problems - until now
>
> I recently purchased a Western Digital 80Gb drive with udma 100 and 8Mb
> cache.
>
> I was wanting to use this as a master and then slave in my old smasung
40Gb
> drive, which is also udma 100 but only a 2Mb cache.
>
> The problem is that i cannot get these two drives to work together. yet
> seperatley they seem to be fine.
>
> If i put them both in my system all appears fine and then the whole thing
> locks up, this can be anything from 5minutes to hours later. Sometimes the
> lock up is accompanied by a blue screen and an error report but not
always.
> Then the only way to restart the pc is after a reset of the bios. I have
> tried several bioses.
>
> I have noticed also that my 80Gb drive is detected ok in my bios (latest
> honeyx bios) however the parameters that are detected ie the number of
> cylinders etc does not match what the Western Digital specs are for the
> drive, it does seem to run fine though.
>
> Any advice / help is really appreciated on this one.
>
>
> Rob
>
>
>
>