Can't boot up Windows XP Pro. SP2 with ASUS K8V SE Deluxe's enabled onboard Promise Controller

[ANTant]

Hello. I am having a problem with an ASUS K8V SE Deluxe (revision 2; BIOS
dated 6/17/2005; cannot figure out where the BIOS version is) with its
enabled onboard Promise Controller in CMOS. It will detect my third Seagate
120 GB HDD just fine, but Windows XP Pro. SP2 (all updates) would not boot
up. I would see a black screen for about a minute or two. Then, see the
text graph loader for a couple seconds and the Windows XP splash screen
with its animating blue loader (like Cylon's red, Knight Rider's red,
Star Trek ships' monitor bottom light thing).

I can boot up Windows XP if I disable this controller. Without it, I just
don't have my third HDD available.

Here's my detailed system configuration: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2GHz
512KB Socket 754 CPU (using a Thermaltake A1838 (Silent Boost K8),
ATX Full Tower Case (from 1998), ASUS K8V SE Deluxe (VIA K8T800
Socket 754 ATX; VIA VT8237 South Bridge; revision 2; onboard sound
disabled; onboard NIC not used/connected (using 3COM NIC for
network), 500 watts Seasonic S12 PSU, 2 GB of RAM total (2 512 MBs
of PC3200 Kingston RAM (CAS 3) + 1 GB (PC3200; CL3)), XFX NVIDIA
GeForce 6800 (128 MB; AGP), Broadband Technologies Air2PC-ATSC-PCI
HDTV card (r0.2; DVB), Asus TV Tuner Card880 NTSC (cx23880),
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS, Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1612 16X/48X
ATAPI/IDE drive, Plextor PX-W1210 PlexWriter (12/10/32A; IDE),
Quantum Fireball Plus LM 15 GB 7200 RPM EIDE HDD, IBM Deskstar 60GXP
40 GB ATA/100 Hard Drive (7200 RPM; IC35L040AVER07-0), Seagate
Barracuda 7200.7 Plus ST3120026A 120 GB (8 MB cache; 7200 RPM) HDD,
an external Seagate 250 GB HDD (7200 RPM) in a Kingwin HDD Enclosure
via USB (connected when needed), 3Com Fast EtherLink XL 10/100 Mb TX
Ethernet NIC (3C905 B-TX), 3.5" TEAC disk drive, Windows XP
Professional SP2 (all updates), two 80 mm case fans, a 3 fan HDD
Peeze cooler, Microsoft Sidewinder Joystick (USB), Hewlett Packard
Photosmart 8450 printer (USB), external USR 33600 Sportster Faxmodem
(Model: 0413; Product Code: 000839-03; used when needed), Hawking
Technology's Hi-Gain USB Wireless-G Adapter (Model: HWU54D; original
version; used when needed), and Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400 (4.1
setup). Using DirectX v9.0c.

Not overclocked and are connected to a 8-ports Netgear DS108 Hub
10/100 base for LAN and Netgear RT311 Router connected to a Terayon
TJ715x cable modem for Adelphia's High Speed Internet). Also, a
Linksys Instant Wireless Network Access Point (802.11b; 2.4 Ghz;
11Mbs; v2.6; WAP11) for wireless.

Thank you in advance.
--
"None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." --Ben Franklin
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[Zeneca]

Can you compare the real features of you current PSU with the real needs
calculated on the following page:
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supply_Calculator.php?cmd=AMD

I've the feeling you're a bit short.

 

[ANTant]

Isn't the Seasonic 500 watts PSU enough? Calculation is under 360 watts. You
can try it below with my specifications.

Can you compare the real features of you current PSU with the real needs
calculated on the following page:
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supply_Calculator.php?cmd=AMD

I've the feeling you're a bit short.

--
"None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." --Ben Franklin
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[ANTant]

OK, I just got XP to boot up with the third HDD back for the second time in
two days so far. The last one took me about an hour to finally get it boot
up correctly. Weird. I wonder if the pattern is:

1. Boot up computer after a long day of downtime (almost 12 hours -- I turn
off my computer when I go out for a long time like work).
2. XP doesn't boot up.
3. Reboot and go back to CMOS.
4. Disable Onboard Promise Controller and enable Marvell onboard network (I
use my reliable 3COM NIC).
5. Save and boot to Windows like normal.
6. Shutdown Windows and computer normally.
7. Wait like 10 seconds. Did not turn off the PSU like first time.
8. Boot the computer back up and enter CMOS.
9. Re-enable the Onboard Promise Controller, save, and reboot.
10. XP should boot up.

I don't have this problem if I reboot a lot. It seems to happen after a long
downtime. I don't know how long the downtime has to be to reproduce this.
Definitely almost 12 hours so far.

I will try again later today since I need to head to work soon. Any
suggestions will be welcomed to try when I get home and when the problem
comes back.

Someone suggested a bad cable. What do you think? A possibility? It is hard
to reproduce this quickly.

Hello. I am having a problem with an ASUS K8V SE Deluxe (revision 2; BIOS
dated 6/17/2005; cannot figure out where the BIOS version is) with its
enabled onboard Promise Controller in CMOS. It will detect my third Seagate
120 GB HDD just fine, but Windows XP Pro. SP2 (all updates) would not boot
up. I would see a black screen for about a minute or two. Then, see the
text graph loader for a couple seconds and the Windows XP splash screen
with its animating blue loader (like Cylon's red, Knight Rider's red,
Star Trek ships' monitor bottom light thing).

I can boot up Windows XP if I disable this controller. Without it, I just
don't have my third HDD available.

Here's my detailed system configuration: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2GHz
512KB Socket 754 CPU (using a Thermaltake A1838 (Silent Boost K8),
ATX Full Tower Case (from 1998), ASUS K8V SE Deluxe (VIA K8T800
Socket 754 ATX; VIA VT8237 South Bridge; revision 2; onboard sound
disabled; onboard NIC not used/connected (using 3COM NIC for
network), 500 watts Seasonic S12 PSU, 2 GB of RAM total (2 512 MBs
of PC3200 Kingston RAM (CAS 3) + 1 GB (PC3200; CL3)), XFX NVIDIA
GeForce 6800 (128 MB; AGP), Broadband Technologies Air2PC-ATSC-PCI
HDTV card (r0.2; DVB), Asus TV Tuner Card880 NTSC (cx23880),
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS, Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1612 16X/48X
ATAPI/IDE drive, Plextor PX-W1210 PlexWriter (12/10/32A; IDE),
Quantum Fireball Plus LM 15 GB 7200 RPM EIDE HDD, IBM Deskstar 60GXP
40 GB ATA/100 Hard Drive (7200 RPM; IC35L040AVER07-0), Seagate
Barracuda 7200.7 Plus ST3120026A 120 GB (8 MB cache; 7200 RPM) HDD,
an external Seagate 250 GB HDD (7200 RPM) in a Kingwin HDD Enclosure
via USB (connected when needed), 3Com Fast EtherLink XL 10/100 Mb TX
Ethernet NIC (3C905 B-TX), 3.5" TEAC disk drive, Windows XP
Professional SP2 (all updates), two 80 mm case fans, a 3 fan HDD
Peeze cooler, Microsoft Sidewinder Joystick (USB), Hewlett Packard
Photosmart 8450 printer (USB), external USR 33600 Sportster Faxmodem
(Model: 0413; Product Code: 000839-03; used when needed), Hawking
Technology's Hi-Gain USB Wireless-G Adapter (Model: HWU54D; original
version; used when needed), and Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400 (4.1
setup). Using DirectX v9.0c.

Not overclocked and are connected to a 8-ports Netgear DS108 Hub
10/100 base for LAN and Netgear RT311 Router connected to a Terayon
TJ715x cable modem for Adelphia's High Speed Internet). Also, a
Linksys Instant Wireless Network Access Point (802.11b; 2.4 Ghz;
11Mbs; v2.6; WAP11) for wireless.

Thank you in advance.

--
"None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." --Ben Franklin
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[ANTant]

After almost 12 hours of downtime today, XP actually booted up fine until I
felt pauses on and off in Windows. Even mouse cursor paused. I pinged my
XP machine from a Linux box, and the pings either came back very late or
timed out (packet loss). I checked XP's Event Logs viewer and saw this under
System tab:

16 UlSata errors within 7 minutes and 17 seconds. Example:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: UlSata
Event Category: None
Event ID: 9
Date: 12/21/2005
Time: 8:42:24 PM
User: N/A
Computer: FooBar
Description:
The device, \Device\Scsi\UlSata1, did not respond within the timeout period.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 0f 00 10 00 01 00 66 00 ......f.
0008: 00 00 00 00 09 00 04 c0 .......?
0010: 01 01 00 50 00 00 00 00 ...P....
0018: 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 ........
0030: 00 00 00 00 07 00 00 00 ........


Any ideas?

OK, I just got XP to boot up with the third HDD back for the second time in
two days so far. The last one took me about an hour to finally get it boot
up correctly. Weird. I wonder if the pattern is:

1. Boot up computer after a long day of downtime (almost 12 hours -- I turn
off my computer when I go out for a long time like work).
2. XP doesn't boot up.
3. Reboot and go back to CMOS.
4. Disable Onboard Promise Controller and enable Marvell onboard network (I
use my reliable 3COM NIC).
5. Save and boot to Windows like normal.
6. Shutdown Windows and computer normally.
7. Wait like 10 seconds. Did not turn off the PSU like first time.
8. Boot the computer back up and enter CMOS.
9. Re-enable the Onboard Promise Controller, save, and reboot.
10. XP should boot up.

I don't have this problem if I reboot a lot. It seems to happen after a long
downtime. I don't know how long the downtime has to be to reproduce this.
Definitely almost 12 hours so far.

I will try again later today since I need to head to work soon. Any
suggestions will be welcomed to try when I get home and when the problem
comes back.

Someone suggested a bad cable. What do you think? A possibility? It is hard
to reproduce this quickly.

--
"None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." --Ben Franklin
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links (AQFL): http://aqfl.net
\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[Zeneca]

You have a lot of devices connected to a power supply that might be weak in
some of the rails.
Try to disconnect as much as possible unnecesary devices and boot.
If it boots safely several times you'll probably need another more powerful
PS.