Help needed with newbuild.. Please!

TheSwede

TheSwede

TheSwede

Soldato
Joined
27 May 2007
Posts
3,341
Location
Front of the monitor
Ok, here goes..

I got everything for my newbuild today...

Mobo: Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R
CPU: E6750
GPU: 8600GTS
PSU: Corsair 520W
RAM: 2GB OCZ PC2-6400C4
HDD: Hitachi 160GB x 2 + WD 500GB AAKS x 2
Write: Samsung SH-182MRSMN 18x18 Lightscribe ReWriter
Case: Silverstone TJ-09

and have been assembling it all for the last couple of hours.. doing it slowly to make sure its all right.. then as I am connecting the front USB and Audio connections I notice that one cable I don't have room for.. :confused:

The confusing cable is marked 1394, with 7 smaller cables marked as follows [color of the cable]..

Shield [Black]
TPB - [Red]
TPB + [Green]
TPA - [Orange]
TPA + [Blue]
VP [White]
VG [Black]

I looked on the Mobo but can't see anywhere this cable is suppose to be connected to, and the only reference to 1394 is that not to connect it to the USB ports..

Could someone please tell me if I need that cable or not? Would like to know before I try and start it all up so that it will work.. hopefully! :eek:

I thank you all in advance for your help! :)

Cheers
Tom
 
*Quickly jumps over to check the specs..*

Nope, no Firewire! Thanks for the speedy replay, the shadow! :) Tucking away the cable and will do one last check before powering it all up!

Cheers
Tom
 
Thanks, could need some good luck about now! ;)

Realized that with my new GPU I can not use my old LCD monitor, Acer 19'' normal screen [VGA conection].. so I was going to swap with my new monitor, Samsung225BW, but for some reason my Acer monitor will not display.. just getting a message "No picture" and then it powers down to stand by.. :confused:

I would prefer to be able to use the Acer one on my old PC so that I don't have to swap the lead between the 2 PC's if I have some problems with the installation.. will I have to uninstall the Samsung drivers and Magic-Tune and everything to make the Acer work again?!? Was hoping it would just be a matter of plug and play but it don't seem to be that..

Any and all suggestions welcome! :o

Cheers
Tom
 
Dooh! :o Problem solved.. all I needed to do was restart the PC and my old monitor is working again.. feeling rather stupid right about now! :rolleyes:

Sorry for the double post!

Cheers
Tom
 
Slightly confused here now.. Been reading through the mobo appendix in regards to setting up raid and there seems to be 2 different ways..

SATA RAID/AHCI Mode <-- Using any of the 6 yellow SATA ports
Onboard SATA/IDE Device <-- Using the 2 purple SATA ports, also called GSATA

This is my first time using SATA HDD so I am rather confused.. I can see that I can use them in non-RAID configuration, i.e. IDE which I presume it will work as normal.. but will I be able to have 2 HDD's in a RAID1 array and the rest of my HDD's in IDE [just for normal storage]?

For example if I would use the "Onboard SATA/IDE Device", will the two in the purple ports be RAID and HDD's I add to the yellow ports will be IDE, or will they not work since they are different colors?!?

Appreciate any help in this matter, since I am a bit eager to get the new PC up and running! :cool:

Cheers
Tom
 
I think you may be confusing yourself.

The 3 new hard drives you purchased I take it are Sata?

Are you using any old drives from your previous build also?
 
Thanks for your replay, Wiggins! I got 4 new HDD's, all SATA.. if you referring to the IDE mention thats what it says in the manual.. and I presumed that if you don't want a RAID array then thats what you would go for.. since its says if you don't want to go RAID set it to IDE or AHCI depending on your needs..

2 of my HDD's are 160GB and I would, if possible, like to have them in a RAID1 array.. the other 2 is on 500GB each and I just want them for storage, but not in a RAID array.. is that possible and if so, how would I go about it?!?

Cheers
Tom
 
multiple controllers

The yellow ports are all on the southbridge controller, and the purple ones are on a different dedicated controller.

Use the purple ones for performance, yellow ones for anything else.

What OS are you installing?

If XP, it's needs the RAID drivers on a floppy disk (yes floppy!) during the XP install. Do you have any experience with RAID prior to this install ?
 
ih8modem said:
*snip*
Do you have any experience with RAID prior to this install ?
Click to expand...
Nope, none what so ever! :eek: But I have been picking some things up here on the forums and I did include a floppy drive in my purchases.. so I do have one and got some old floppy disk which I can reformat and use..

I am using XP, and by your replay I presume I would use the purple for the RAID1 array and the yellow ports for normal STAT storage? [so to speak]

Cheers
Tom
 
RAID

Ok, first thing to do is plug the two drives you are going to RAID onto the two purple controllers.

Now start the machine, and wait for the RAID controller BIOS message - it is after the main POST normally, and requires a different activation key-sequence (CTRL-A or something).

Once in there, it will list the physical hardware, and you get to select how you want to RAID the two drives. All this is in the manual normally too.

For now I would leave the other two drives unplugged, and get the OS installed first. Once XP is installed, you can plug the other two in and configure them through the drive management interface.

When you boot from XP, you will eventually get a message asking you to press F6 to install any extra controllers. You will need to use your other pc to create a floppy disk with the RAID controller's drivers on it, and then insert the disk into a: at this point. XP will then read the drivers, install them and soon you should get the partition screen, where it should list in the appropriate size for the RAID array.

It's pretty easy, but I had a fair time of it when I did it, as I did not have a FDD available.
 
Thanks ih8modem!! I will be giving that a try and if it don't work I will be coming back for some more advice! :)

Cheers
Tom
 
ih8modem said:
*snip*

For now I would leave the other two drives unplugged, and get the OS installed first. Once XP is installed, you can plug the other two in and configure them through the drive management interface.
Click to expand...
Sorry, me again! :o Installed XP and just now added my other 2 500GB HDD's, but when looking in "My Computer" they don't show.. so I went in to "Computer Managment" --> "Disk Managment" and they do show there.. as "Not Initialized" [Unallocated], which is fair enough.. but it is only showing as 1 HDD, 465.76 GB, but in the "Device Manager" it shows that it find 2 500GB HDD's..

So my question is, will my 2 HDD automaticlly be mirrored since I choosed that for my installation of my OS and programs?!? [Which is on 2 160GB HDD's]

I hope I am making some sort of sense and that someone will be able to help me out here.. would be really appreciated! :D

Cheers
Tom

Edit: Sorted, I dissconnected one and then started again.. can see them now.. sorry for taking your time! :o
 
Last edited:
TheSwede said:
Sorry, me again! :o Installed XP and just now added my other 2 500GB HDD's, but when looking in "My Computer" they don't show.. so I went in to "Computer Managment" --> "Disk Managment" and they do show there.. as "Not Initialized" [Unallocated], which is fair enough.. but it is only showing as 1 HDD, 465.76 GB, but in the "Device Manager" it shows that it find 2 500GB HDD's..

So my question is, will my 2 HDD automaticlly be mirrored since I choosed that for my installation of my OS and programs?!? [Which is on 2 160GB HDD's]

I hope I am making some sort of sense and that someone will be able to help me out here.. would be really appreciated! :D

Cheers
Tom

Edit: Sorted, I dissconnected one and then started again.. can see them now.. sorry for taking your time! :o
Click to expand...

So you are only seeing 1 of the 2 500GB now? If your RAID is set up correctly, your 2 x 160GB should only appear in the OS as a single 160GB drive, with the hardware controller doing the mirroring transparently.

The 2 x 500GB though should show as 2 x 500GB HDD, like drive D and Drive E.
 
ih8modem said:
So you are only seeing 1 of the 2 500GB now? If your RAID is set up correctly, your 2 x 160GB should only appear in the OS as a single 160GB drive, with the hardware controller doing the mirroring transparently.

The 2 x 500GB though should show as 2 x 500GB HDD, like drive D and Drive E.
Click to expand...
Yes, I can see them fine now.. not sure what happened with me only being able to see only one of them at first.. in any case its all sorted now.. just partioned them up a bit to make it a bit easier to keep clean..

Thank you for all your help, been very much appreciated! :D

Cheers
Tom
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom