new mobo setup, CUSL2-C, drive probs

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Installed new CUSL2-C. Seagate 30gb 7200 ata66 drive as master on primary ide controller, and Plextor 8/4/32 cdrw as master on secondary controller(this handles all cdrom chores). P III 800 eb, 256 133 ram.,

The manual says that if your harddrive has been installed on a previous system, you may need to reformat. I set the bios hardrive settings to 'user defign' and manually entered the cylinder, heads, and sectors. Using the "windows 98se boot disk", I ran fdisk and deleted both partitions, then created one new partition. I tried to run format but couldn't get it to work. I've never done any of this before so I'm not sure I used the correct syntax. I tried to install windows anyway and it said it couldn't recognize the drive or something. I then set the bios hardrive recognition to Auto and tried to install windows again. This time it asked me to reformat the drive, which I did. Windows seemed to istall ok, but under device manager, my harddrive is just "generic ide disk type 47" whereas it used to identify the brand and model number.

I want to start with a completely fresh hardrive and be certain that the bios and O/S are optimally setup and recognizing it. I've found some sources of info on the web but they always omit something I need. For instance, "at the dos prompt, run format..." Well I finally figured out how to get a dos prompt, but not how to run format. I know how to get to fdisk's menu but not exactly what to do when I'm there.

I have a second drive for recording, Maxtor 40 gb 7200 ata100, but I'm not istalling it until I iron out the basics. How will I prepare it? The same way? How should I hook it up- master on secondary channel, and move cdrw to slave on primary?

Also, shouldn't there be a DMA check box for my plextor cdrw in device maneger? I'm pretty sure there was one on my previous setup on my ABIT BE6-II.
 
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ap said:
Installed new CUSL2-C. Seagate 30gb 7200 ata66 drive as master on primary ide controller, and Plextor 8/4/32 cdrw as master on secondary controller(this handles all cdrom chores). P III 800 eb, 256 133 ram.,

The manual says that if your harddrive has been installed on a previous system, you may need to reformat. I set the bios hardrive settings to 'user defign' and manually entered the cylinder, heads, and sectors. Using the "windows 98se boot disk", I ran fdisk and deleted both partitions, then created one new partition. I tried to run format but couldn't get it to work. I've never done any of this before so I'm not sure I used the correct syntax. I tried to install windows anyway and it said it couldn't recognize the drive or something. I then set the bios hardrive recognition to Auto and tried to install windows again. This time it asked me to reformat the drive, which I did. Windows seemed to istall ok, but under device manager, my harddrive is just "generic ide disk type 47" whereas it used to identify the brand and model number.

I want to start with a completely fresh hardrive and be certain that the bios and O/S are optimally setup and recognizing it. I've found some sources of info on the web but they always omit something I need. For instance, "at the dos prompt, run format..." Well I finally figured out how to get a dos prompt, but not how to run format. I know how to get to fdisk's menu but not exactly what to do when I'm there.

I have a second drive for recording, Maxtor 40 gb 7200 ata100, but I'm not istalling it until I iron out the basics. How will I prepare it? The same way? How should I hook it up- master on secondary channel, and move cdrw to slave on primary?

Also, shouldn't there be a DMA check box for my plextor cdrw in device maneger? I'm pretty sure there was one on my previous setup on my ABIT BE6-II.
Click to expand...


Ok, you have a windows startup disk. Make sure you have the following files on it:

format.com
fdisk.exe

Set the drive's to AUTO in BIOS.

Reboot with the floppy

If you haven't fdisked do so.

Partition it however you like, it sounds like you know how to run this program. Make sure you reboot before running format.

Reboot with the floppy

From the a: prompt type 'format c: /s' (no quotes)

Install your CD-ROM drivers, or go into BIOS and select the first boot device as 'atapi CD-ROM' or however it describes it. disable 2nd and 3rd boot devices to be sure it boots from your CD-ROM.

You have to have your windows 98 CD in the CD drive so it can boot.

Install Windows etc etc. (you will eventually need to go back into BIOS and set the boot drives back up accordingly)

You need to install the ata66/100 drivers for the built in controller on the motherboard. These can be found on the CD-ROM that came with the motherboard. After doing this, your drive will be identified and ATA should be running accordingly.

As for your second hard drive, yes on the secondary master sounds good. I can't remember the layout of that board but you want it to be on an ATA 66/100 controller as well and to be safe I'd leave it on it's own ribbon. Keep your CD's on their own ribbon as well. Again, to prepare the drive, run fdisk, change drives (so you don't fdisk your c: drive) and follow the steps.

Reboot to windows and format from their if you like.

Or boot to windows, go to start>run> type in 'command' To get you do a DOS prompt

Type format d: /z:64

The z:64 will give you larger clusters which can be advantageous for large transfer i.e. wav files.


I have an article I put together for using a dual boot setup. Some of the info in this applies, you may even consider setting up dual boot since your starting from scratch.

www.sigmacomputers.on.ca/dualboot.html
 
Ok, this is starting to drive me crazy. I'm no computer expert so I'm pretty patient and don't expect things to go perfectly. But, I'm fairly tech savvy and can usually figure these things out.

I can't get this thing to run stable at all. Last night I thought I had it licked then first thing this morning same prob. Sometimes it seems like it's going to work and then when I try to restart, after loading new drivers etc.,., the fans come on, the hdd spins, the speaker does NOT beep but makes some kind of click sound(or something does), but the monitor does not come on. I'll CTRL+ALT+DEL several times, put in a start up disk, push the reset button, anything short of a hammer, but nothing works with consistency but I can always get it to boot eventually after a seemingly random # of tries(maybe 4-8 tries on average). I thought this was being caused by my using the old previously formatted harddrive, but I've fdisked and reformatted successfully thanks to Emeric's tips.

I got a brand new video card-ATI Radeon VE dual monitor but I'm only using one monitor right now. When I plugged it in the first time, same problem. I rebooted a couple of times and finally the monitor comes on.

I can get it to boot sometimes but not all the time and it seems to be random. Last night I actually got it to run at 1024X768, 90 hz, and 32 bit color, and restarted several times just to be sure, I thought I had it and then this morning it wouldn't boot again, I had to start in safe mode and go back to the lowest monitor settings just to get it to do anything.

I finally figured out that I had overlooked loading the chipset drivers that came on the cdrom with the board. I loaded all those, restarted successfully a couple times, just enough to get excited, and then to really push the limits of PC stability, I took a chance and actually 'shut down'! Then it would'nt reboot. Same problem still. I checked the Asus, Intel, and ATI sites and found little help but did find that failures on reboot seem to be fairly common and the usual recommendation is loading the chipset drivers- which I've done. The intel site actually says to load 'em again. I did. No help.

Any ideas?
 
Got to hate these types of problems...

Well, ATI puts me on guard a bit. What is the setting in BIOS as far as AGP 4X or 2X or Auto?

Try setting it to 2X, or if it's 2X, try setting it to 4X

I've also run into that 'chirping' thing instead of beeping before - never came to any conclusion as to what causes it, but it should not happen very often or at all.

I would pull all unneccary cards if you haven't already and work 'barebones' until you narrow the problem down. I.E. Just video and memory, processor. Leave all your drives unplugged as well, it should at least turn on consistently.

Check through your BIOS settings. A lot of junk in 'Power Management' that can control all sorts of wild things like booting up with the space bar, resuming last power state etc etc.

Maybe try loading 'fail safe' defaults and see if you can narrow it down to one (or more) settings in particuliar.

An example - I was building a system not long ago, I think it was an ABIT KX7 or KT7 or something like that. If you disabled 'virus protection' in the BIOS it would not find the hard drives, and of course, not boot. It should boot of course, but it turned out to be a bug in the BIOS. Turn 'virus protection' on and the machine booted no probs.

You will narrow it down eventually - frustrating as it is. If you have another video card you can try instead of the ATI, do it.

- So, check AGP 2X, 4X settings
- Test as 'barebones' as possible.
- Review your BIOS settings, and maybe try 'failsafe'
- Try another video card.
- Make sure all cards are seated well.
- If you have more than one memory module, take one out and alternate.

Good luck.
 
Thanks.

I have yet too put anything unnecessary in except the modem and that was just to get on the web to see if I could find anything.

I've already experimented with a few different BIOS settings with no luck.
- I know the AGP is set at 4x and I haven't changed that yet.
- I've tried several power savings modes. Currently set completely off.

Sometimes it does give one healthy sounding beep but no screen.

I have only one 256mg 133 sdram stick-don't know what brand but bought it at a place that knows what they're doing and I said don't give me any generic stuff.

I'll try a few more bios settings and if that doesn't work then I might try resoldering the chips around various places on the motherboard.
 
ap said:

I'll try a few more bios settings and if that doesn't work then I might try resoldering the chips around various places on the motherboard.
Click to expand...

heheh.....

Good luck!

No really. If the other suggestions don't work, you have tried other memory, double checked all connections, card seating etc - do try changing to 2X for AGP, it's poorly implemented still.

I'd say you probably have a funky motherboard. i.e. replace it.

I was working on a machine today that would power up, but no video. After swapping several components - taking the processor out, putting it another machine, memory, power supply etc. In otherwords, swapping suspected bad components with known good ones... turned out the motherboard was dead.

It really is the #1 cause of seemingly elusive problems. 2nd being defective memory in my experiences. Real hair lose formula, for sure.



<edited for confusing grammar>
 
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Now that you did all that

It sounds like your heatsink is not seated properly, your processor is getting to hot, and the system is crashing, sometimes not making it through the boot process.

carefully reseat your heatsink, you may have to take it off and put it back on. make sure it's strait, making the best contact with the processor. I say do this carefully because processors can crack.

TX
 
Interesting, Torpid-x. I was kinda wary when I installed the heat-sink. I didn't reapply any compound. This was the first time the heatsink had been installed since the initial installation on my previous board. I tried to line up the impression in the compound with the chip, I was wondering if I needed to apply more compound. Maybe there's not complete contact of chip surface with the sink due to splotchy compound spread?

could it heat up that quickly? it's only a couple of seconds from hitting the button to the time the monitor is supposed to come on. And once I have it up, I've been on several hours now with no problems, it 's ok. It's only during startup or restarting that I have problems.
 
oh yeah!

booting up instantly heats it to it's max, if you installed Asus Probe, see what the temp is at, it should boot at around 45-50o Celsius, and drop down to 25, if you HSF is not strait it will start at around 80-90o and take a lot longer to go down

TX
 
Success! Hurray! More questions...DOH!

I got a new card- I/O Magic w/ NVIDIA GeForce2MX chips- 69.95 after rebates from Comp USA. Major progress as soon as I plugged it in, but still far from working. It no longer had any trouble getting through POST or even loading Windows on either restart or starting after shut-down(before, it would never show anything even during POST). But when I tried to restart after loading the card's drivers, it at least gave me a screen through POST everytime, but would blank out just before the Windows password screen. I was happy just to get this far.

Trouble-free restarts allowed me to experiment more and I reformatted the harddrive, reinstalled windows, the 815 chipset drivers, the ATA 100 controller drivers, and finally the video card drivers then WHAM- same problem. I tried a bunch of BIOS settings one at a time, all with no success. Finally, started in safe mode to make some Windows changes, but instead of uninstalling the video card drivers, which seemed logical considering the fact that it was at least getting through Windows before loading 'em, I backed the acceleration all the way down. It reloaded fine! I increased the color from 16 colors to 16 bit(the most it allowed me) and the resolution from the lowest possible to 1024X768, restarted and it still worked! I increased the acceleration one notch at a time and it went all the way and now I've got 32 bit color, 1024X768 at 85hz. Don't understand it, but I'm happy.



Now, back to some normal problems. I still don't have DMA check boxes for my hard disk or cdrom. It's not that they're greyed out, they're not there at all. The software for the controllers is loaded and the brands and models are identified but no dma check boxes. Could it be a specific dma mode setting in the BIOS? I think they're at mode 4 now. If I remember correctly, they can't be changed unless I change the disc parameters from 'auto' to 'user define.'

Emeric, I Know you've said this:

"If it's got a built in or add on ATA66/100 controller and you properely installed the drivers for it than you won't have a DMA box. You should also see another device category in device manager, scsi controllers or mass storage devices. The drive will also be named under disk drives, i.e. Quantum AS or Maxtor whatever, instead of Generic Disk Type 80.",

but what about the cdrom? and I don't have any "another device category in device manager, scsi controllers or mass storage devices". I remember it as scsi controller on the ABIT BE6II but do you know specifically what it is for CUSL2-C?
 
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assuming the cusl2-c came with the same software as the regular version, you should have a driver called Intel ATA Manager, if you installed it, its drivers took over the normal windows settings, the dma box should be missing. In your start menu, under intel, there is an icon called companion, open that and you'll see all the information for all you drives. if you didn't install it, you should.

There are also updates for many of the drivers and bios updates at www.cusl2.com , I am using bios ver 1.03, I read that there were several problems with the original bios. esp. reported by gamers using high end video cards. you can also browse around www.asus.com to find updates.

if your going to change the bios there is a program called asus update with the included software that does the job automatically.

a warning from intel when updating bios, is to set the initial video device to pci in bios first, then change it back after updating.

good luck
TX
 
cusl2 .com seems to be down, all this talking about updates made me want to check again, it's been a month or 2 since I've updated.
 
I've been to the site and the latest(I think only) BIOS download for the CUSL2-C is already on my board. I think it's 1.006.

Thanks for the 'Companion' tip. It says 'Current transfer mode: UDMA 4' for my harddisk, which is right, right? ; but for my cdrom it says 'UDMA support: no support' and 'current transfer mode: DMA MW-2'. Now I'm almost positive I had DMA checked on my ABIT board and my Plextor 8432cdrw manual says it's dma capable (but doesn't specifically say 'U'dma).
 
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I don't know if your CDRW has UDMA support or not, but mine is running in the same mode as yours, it's a Creative Labs 8-4-24, it says the same thing, no support under UDMA, current transfer mode, DMA MW- 2, it seems to be running properly. I think you would have to have DMA checked to run DMA MW anyway, not sure though.

TX
 
-Just edited post while you were typing-

The main reason I'm concerned is that I've read not to put a cdrom on a bus mastering channel unless it's UDMA capable. Since I've only got 2 IDE controllers this would force making my recording HDD slave on channel one and it seems the ideal would be to put the cdrom as slave on 1 and recording hdd as master on 2.
 
I don't know how to help you out, the best I can do is type out my configuation....


1- Primary Master - UDMA 66 hard drive
2- Primary Slave - Atapi UDMA 33 CDROM
3- Secondary Master - UDMA 100 hard drive
4- Secondary Slave - CDRW previous post.

Everything is running smoothly in that configuration, I trust the Intel driver, I think it takes care of everthing. I don't think it cares how your drves are setup as long as C: is your primary master. My Processor will run out of power long before secondary hard drive, it hardly gets touched.

TX
 
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