System Instability

[SpoofyChop]

Well, I think I've got my system to a stable state although I can't say that I'm happy with my findings.

After removing the SBLive AND disconnecting my RAID mirror array I can finally play MTW (I've got AC97 onboard sound) and do things like run the CPU Stability Test for more than 5 minutes without getting an IRQL or other STOP error.

So here's my question: Why is my system so unstable?!

Is it possible that I have:

1) A motherboard problem stemming from the frying it received at the hands of the Cable Modem of Evil (tm)?

2) A power problem that causes system instability that I have elminated by disconnecting two drives and a sound card but that reasserts itself when I reconnect the two RAIDed drives?

3) I've simply got two unrelated problems: a crappy SBLive driver that causes errors and a crappy Promise Fasttrak Lite driver that causes errors.


I don't know why, but #3 just seems wildly improbable to me...it seems like there must be some other underlying cause of these issues.

Any thoughts? I'm still tearing my (very sparse) hair out here!

[Machfive]

System specs on ALL components would really be helpful. Makes and models especially.

[Brandon Clements]

Let me get this straight: you've removed the Live and the RAID array at the same time? Not one or the other before checking stability?

[SpoofyChop]

Let me get this straight: you've removed the Live and the RAID array at the same time? Not one or the other before checking stability?

Yeah yeah, I obviously know that this is a bad idea, but I did it anyway.

This is the reasoning:

I was getting these reboot errors BEFORE I installed the RAID system two weeks ago, so I figured it couldn't JUST be the RAID. Probably.

Anyway, here are my specs:

Athlon XP 2200+ on an ECS K7VTA3 3.0b
Antec 400W (don't remember the model)
2x 256MB PC2100 DDR (tested extensively with Memtest86 3.0)
System drive WD Caviar 30GB
RAID 2x WD Caviar 40GB (currently disconnected)
eVGA geForce 4 Ti 4200 128MB
Belkin USB 2.0 PCI card (DeathModem made my onboard USB unreliable)
LinkSys 100TX Ethernet card (DeathModem burned out my onboard Ethernet)
SBLive XGamer 5.1 (currently removed)

Incidentally, I reconnected the RAID again last night and got stability problems within 10 minutes of running stability test. Removed the RAID again and was able to run the test for 2 hours with no trouble.

[Timemaster Tim]

I don't know why, but #3 just seems wildly improbable to me...it seems like there must be some other underlying cause of these issues.


I don't know why you feel #3 is so wildly improbable. Not as bad as your experience, but I had an SBLive in a system that would lock up randomly. I finally fixed it by swapping in an old Turtle Beach card.

[SpoofyChop]

I have no trouble believing that the SBLive would cause lockups.

What I'm having trouble believing is that it just so happens that within weeks of each other I have a new STOP error caused by the SBLive AND a RAID driver STOP error. It seems too coincidental. I'm wondering if what I'm seeing is more like a "last straw" sort of phenomenon.

Perhaps previously the SBLive was just barely stable, but now that I've fried my motherboard in two different ways, the SBLive went over the edge into instability and the RAID suffers from the same problem.

Or is it possible that my Power Supply has degraded somehow and I'm getting power problems?

The RAID is a new thing so I don't know if it would have worked 4 months ago, but the SBLive worked fine for like 8 months in this system.

In a nutshell, I find it too coincidental that several devices all start causing the same stability problems within a months time.

[ElRavager]

I remember a couple of years ago when the kt266a boards were coming out, there were all kinds of problems with bsod instabilities. Did you try installing all those VIA fixes and updates? (I think they were called VIA all-in-one or something). It was all voodoo stuff, but I finally got mine to run stable, and is currently running as my server machine. You can find those files on at http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2, might help.

[SpoofyChop]

I couldn't get to that site, but I did install the most recent version of the bios that ECS put out. And if I remember correctly there were VIA fixes of some kind in those drivers...maybe?

Anyway, I'm sort of at a loss at the moment. I'm probably going to give up on the RAID and just throw one of the drives back in as a slave. If that works, I suppose I'll just live without RAID. Maybe I'll throw the other drive into a USB enclosure and use it as a backup.

[Nathan Phoenix]

After removing the SBLive AND disconnecting my RAID mirror array I can finally play MTW

Wow, no matter what system I try to play it on, I have never been able to get MTW to run! Consider yourself lucky that you didn't buy a non-functional game while out of town from a chain that isn't in your home state.

[ElRavager]

oops try just www.viaarena.com and go to Drivers... There's a link at the top for 'VIA Hyperion 4in1 drivers', that's the ticket.. If nothing else, they have forums there for VIA stuff, which may provide an answer..

[SpoofyChop]

Thanks for the heads up...I'm almost positive that I don't have very recent VIA drivers.

[Ergo]

That site should also have a couple of fixes for those using an SBLive card.

[Brandon Clements]

I remember one of the fixes for a SB Live was to put the card in the 3rd PCI slot so as to get a specific IRQ or not to interfere with an IRQ. Troubleshooting these things is like installing a modem under NT 4.0: a big pain in the ass that you hope someone else has to deal with.

Here (http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=3&faq=16&Search=Live) is the SB Live FAQ on ViaArena. Don't know how much help that will be, but it can't hurt to try. [/u]