Topic: Mobile rack problems.....

[Javora]

Yeah, ok.

This is what I would do at this point.  Disconnect all the hard drives and the mobile rack connected to the system except for the drive containing Windows.  Make sure the Windows drive is not connected to the mobile rack but connected to the primary/master IDE channel and set the hard drive as master drive.  Also make sure that the CD/DVD drive is connected to the Secondary/Master IDE channel.  Reformat the Windows drive and reinstall windows.  When you reformat the drive do a full (zero out all bits) format, and not just reformat the headers.  Again make sure that the drive that will contain Windows is the only hard drive connected to the system while you are installing windows.  Once Windows is reinstalled (along with any needed drivers) then and only then reconnect the mobile rack to the system with one of the data drives and see if there are any instability or crashes.  If there is no instability or crashes then connect the Windows drive to the mobile rack and see if there are any instability or crashes.

At this point I can't rule out a corrupt Windows install.  Since Bios is labeling the drives correctly and in the correct order when it boots, I don't believe that it is a motherboard issue.  That leaves the the mobile rack and Windows.  Since the mobile rack works with older drives, that leaves me with Windows as the primary suspect.  So by following the instructions in the above paragraph should rule out any outside influences that could corrupt a Windows install.  Once Windows is reinstalled and you start moving around the drives we should get a clear picture of what is causing the system to hang, if it hangs at all.

If I may suggest, when people post questions about computer issues, try to stay away from long lengthly posts.  People I know that offer on line help tend to skip over stuff if the post tends to drift off topic and get to long.  That is how people skip important information that is stuck in the middle of a long drawn out post somewhere.  What I do if I have a question is keep the questions and information as short and to the point as possible and list my full system components at the bottom of the first post so people trying to help me out can look to it as a reference.

[Centurus]

Everything you suggested doing I did long time ago.  The old hard drives had fresh Windows installs.  I formatted them both in the mobile racks and outside, and they booted without problems in and out of the mobile racks.  The 160 gig drives and 250 gig drive I tried formatting in the mobile racks, but Windows setup crashed, so I formatted them when they were connected directly to the IDE cable, and they worked, but if I put them in the mobile rack, they just wouldn't work for some reason.  BIOS identified them and picked them up, but Windows wouldn't boot.  Plugged directly to the IDE cable, they booted with no errors.  In the past, I could format the drive in the mobile rack, and never had a problem, but that was in my old machine.

As I said, before and yet again, my hard drives and CD/DVD rom drives are always on different IDE channels, and my hard drives are always set to master, since I never have more than one drive in there at a time, unless I'm moving large chunks of information back and forth.  I did forget to mention that my DVD drive is set to master on the second IDE channel.  Always has been.

I can rule out a bad Windows install because I attempted various installs and formats several times, and I believe I mentioned that before.  Problem persists.  13 and 80 gig drives work in the mobile racks, and I can reformat them to death while in the mobile racks, but I can't do it with any of my 160 gig hard drives or my brand new 250 gig hard drive.  The larger drives will only format and boot properly when connected directly to the IDE cable, and there is only one connected at any given time.

I would rather post lengthy posts because that way no one is asking me a question to which I have already provided the answer.  Saves time and effort, or at least it's supposed to.  Depends if people actually take the time to read the posts. 

Not to sound disrespectful, but since I wasn't really getting anywhere with this thread, although some people did try to help, and I am thankful, I decided to take the machine in to get checked out from top to bottom.  I gave them a complete list of all the symptoms and also a list of what I tried to do.  Chances are they're not gonna pay attention anyway.  I didn't know what else to do, aside from dishing out a few hundred bucks for new parts and essentially build another system all over again from scratch, but I don't know if that would do any good, and I don't have the resources to figure out what's going on.

I have a feeling it's the motherboard, but at this point, I don't know if I'm right or wrong.  I do know that my hard drives are working fine, mobile racks are working fine, power supply is working fine, memory is working fine.  Aside from that, I don't really know anymore.

They said it would take about a week to inspect it.  I have a feeling I'm gonna end up having to get another motherboard all over again. 

[Nemesis]

Best of luck and don't forget to let us know the resolution.  Knowing might help someone else solve a problem.

[Centurus]

Best of luck and don't forget to let us know the resolution.  Knowing might help someone else solve a problem.

Absolutely.  The mobo manufacturer said that it could either be an incompatibility issue with either the mobile rack brand or the chipset technology.  If that's the case, there's a possible chance that I'm never gonna be able to use mobile racks again, if it turns out to be the chipset, and if I end up trying several different brands with the same results. 

Needless to say, I've got a lot of hand work ahead of me. 

[Centurus]

Thought I'd give an update to this topic, just in case someone down the line runs into something similar.

The store I took my computer to for diagnosis really screwed up.  They never bothered to read the problem description.  They thought the problem was the hard drive and diagnosed the hard drive, then said that Windows needed to be reinstalled.  Talk about a load of bull.

When I pointed out exactly what I had written down, and got extremely pissed that it took 16 days for all this to be finished, they refunded me my money and gave me my computer back.

I found another brand of mobile rack, and figuring that I had already gotten my money back, I could try just one more avenue of thought.

It worked.  From what I can gather, the older brand of mobile rack probably couldn't handle the data transmission from larger capacity drives on the newest systems.  This new mobile rack is running solid now for 3 hours and so far so good.  No lag, no crashes, no pauses, nothing.

The new mobile rack brand is Kingwin.  But, I'm not completely out of the woods yet.  Gotta call Microsoft and explain to them that I built a new machine for myself, using all my old hard drives and most of the hardware from my last machine in this new beast, and ask them to let me activate Windows.  Knowing them, they'll tell me to purchase either a new copy or a license key from them.

But anyway, as for the mobile rack front, the battle is won, and I am victorious!!!!

Now, could someone help me rebuild my shoulder?  I really screwed it up lifting this monster of a case all over the place.

[Nemesis]

Glad to see you have a solution.  Unfortunate that it involves replacing the removable bays.

Now, could someone help me rebuild my shoulder?  I really screwed it up lifting this monster of a case all over the place.

Thats wetware and not covered by this forum.