First Windows Install on New Build - A Blue Day

[TNTTNT]

Hi,

I thought I had over come issues in my build. I just loaded vista home premium 64bit cd to Windows install. It got near the end and blue screened, and said something about IRQ conflict, before restarting.

I am a bit worried because I never had windows problems at this early a stage, even wth Window98!

I have both hard drives on Gsata, and intend to use Raid1. These have been selected in Bios. I have selected Raid controller for the Intel controlled Sata ports in the Bios also.

My set up is in my signature. Should I be worried, and is this usual?

 

[J-Man]

irql not less or equal?

 

[TNTTNT]

I a fairly sure that's what it said. The message didn't last long before restarting.

Is this significant?

 

[newtekie1]

Common problem with Vista x64 and 4GB of RAM. Take out a stick of RAM, install Vista and all it's updates and drivers, then put the stick back in.

 

[TNTTNT]

Gosh, I have Vista 32bit on another laptop. I can't help think it is the rerun of windows 98, when I used to have to do 4 to 6 reinstalls per year.

Thanks for the tip. You don't think it might be hardware related, other than the memory? I am not doing anything too unorthodox, other than running RAID1 from the Gigabyte Controller, instead of Intel's.

I am running SATA drives in AHCI, as well.

 

[angelkiller]

Don't the drives have to be in RAID mode...?

And I'd feel 10x more comfortable with a Raid array on an Intel controller versus some 3rd party chip. Your board has a ICH10R, why not use it?

 

[TNTTNT]

I thought that using the 3rd party chip would be better as the 4 GSata ports only seem available to 4 hard drives if they are linked in array in pairs. I thought I could do the following: -

[GSATA 0 - RAID 1 with Vista
[GSATA 1 - RAID 1 with Vista
[GSATA 2 - Free
[GSATA 3 - sata port top of case


[SATA 0 - Free
[SATA 1 - Free
[SATA 2 - Back Panel Sata Port
[SATA 3 - Back Panel Sata Port
[SATA 4 - DVD ROM
[SATA 5 - DVD ROM

I am very very close to formatting both current drives and moving to Intel SATA RAID as kindly suggested. I think I can use the GSATA ports for drives, but I think they have to be arrayed for both to show up in windows, and hence I would have to install 2 identical ones.

Can you use GSATA for 2 independant drives, and any ideas?

 

[newtekie1]

Yes, you can use the GSATA ports for independant drives. But why not put everything on the Intel controller? Use the GSATA ports for the external connectors.

And honestly, I would do any type of RAID using any onboard controller anyway.

 

[angelkiller]

The way I understand it is this. The Intel ICH10R (the southbridge) provides 6 Sata ports with Raid 0, 1 and 5 capabilities. The GSata chip, aka a JMicron JMB322, adds 4 additional Sata ports with raid 0 and 1 cabilities.

I think the GSata chip is nothing more than a Sata controller, so drives on it don't nesseraily need to be in Raid. Personally, I'd put the Raid 1 array, the DVD-ROMs, the top eSata port, and 1 back panel sata port all on the ICH10R. I wouldn't use the GSata chip at all and I'd only be losing 1 back panel sata port. (one is already there anyways) But if you want to, you can plug the remaining back panel sata port into the GSata chip.

Put simply, I would avoid the GSata chip unless you really need to use it. Even then, I wouldn't put anything important on it. I shun the GSata chip because first, I've had a bad experience with a JMicron chip before and second, either way, I'd be more comfortable using Intel's drivers & utilities than JMicron's.

 

[Beertintedgoggles]

If it was your hard drive config. it wouldn't have even started to load for you... listen to them when they are asking about your memory. IRQ not less or equal is a memory error the vast majority of the time. Tracking down anything else at the moment (if it was me at least) would be a waste of time.

 

[TNTTNT]

Thank you all for your advice that memory is the usual suspect. I will keep a keen eye on the DDR sticks if things get worse.

I totally agree on the Intel Raid preference. I just tried to remove vista from GSATA raid 1, so I could move to Intel RAID Sata Ports. I succeeded, but it was a very nasty fiddly procedure. I don't want to do that again soon. JMicron isn't for me. As soon as I got Intel RAID going, it was a smooth process.

I am not so sure that the GSATA ports can be used as 4 independent ones. I put 2 DVD Roms on GSATA 0 and 1, and only one showed up in BIOS. I did the same with hard drives and only 1 showed up. It was only when I went into GSATA RAID config menu that I could see both hard drives in that Bios option.

Do both DVD ROMs need to show up in Standard Bios menu to be useable in Vista?

 

[angelkiller]

If bios doesn't see them, I seriously doubt Vista will see them. Have you deleated your old Raid setup in the GSata bios?

 

[J-Man]

Common problem with Vista x64 and 4GB of RAM. Take out a stick of RAM, install Vista and all it's updates and drivers, then put the stick back in.

I think he has to manually install the update to enable 2GB RAM or more. I had to manually install then put the last 2GB stick in.

 

[TNTTNT]

Have you deleated your old Raid setup in the GSata bios?

The GSATA ports weren't visible even before I set any RAID up. It was like it out of the box. If you plug two devices in one pair of GSATA, then only one is visible.

I have a very strong suspicion that these ports need to be set up as RAID1, RAID0 or normal in GSATA BIOS option. Even then the second drive isn't visible in the standard BIOS or Itegrated Peripherals BIOS menus.

When you load vista and use the Gigabyte Smart backup program the second drive is visible to Vista. I think the 4 ports are only 4 is you attach hard drives (As opposed to DVD ROMs)and use the smart backup utility in Vista/XP.

This sort of utility is useful if you want to add secondary drives as you get more SATA ports. The downside is that you have to add in pairs, and I bet they have to be matched.

I am suprised how little info there is on these GSATA ports. Even Gigabyte Tech support didn't know much about them when I rang.

 

[newtekie1]

I've never used your motherboard, so I can't say for sure how it works. But usually, it works one of two ways. Either:

A.) The extra SATA controller has its own BIOS. So it controls the drives, and only reports one to the motherboard's BIOS. You can usually select which one when you enter the secondary SATA controller's BIOS/Setup screen, it usually allows you to select the boot device on the controller, and this is the device that is reported to the motherboard's BIOS. This is how most dedicated RAID/SATA controller work also.

B.) The extra SATA controller is controlled directly by the motherboard's BIOS, and appears in the main BIOS screen as normal.

Option A is far more common, from my experience. So, if you have both DVD drives connected to the GSATA controller/s then only one will be bootable and show up in the main BIOS screen, but both will show up and be functional in Vista.

I think he has to manually install the update to enable 2GB RAM or more. I had to manually install then put the last 2GB stick in.

The update was integrated into SP1, so all you should have to do is install SP1. Pre-SP1, you had to manually install the update. If you install SP1, then try to manually install the update, it should complain and tell you that you have already install the update.

 

[TNTTNT]

Thanks very much. Your name tag states New, but you certainly have an old wise head on your shoulders.

What you say make perfect sense, and may explain why I could see one GSATA drive in main Bios, but two in Vista Raid Array.

I am going to go an put my DVD Roms into a pair of GSATA ports, and see if both are picked up in Vista. I'll drop a note to confirm.

 

[TNTTNT]

Newtekie1 is spot on. With Gigabyte's GSATA ports, they only report one of the devices in each pair of Sata sockets. When in the operating system, both devices are visible and usable. I tried using two DVD roms, and this was the case.

I wish Gigabyte stated this in the manual for their Bios. When you are doing a new build and are not aware of this, it is worrying not to see your drives in the Bios. Newtekie knew what Gigabyte's own support couldn't tell me.

Thanks to all concerned. I might drop a note listing the issues I have found in this build, and if it helps a new builder in the future, then my debt to these forums has been partly repaid.

 

[newtekie1]

Glad I could help.