KT133 / KT133a chipset bug causes crashes !!!

[cisco]

I see, well has anyone posted with the same hard drive setup (66 & 100) copying Ok?

 

[AtaStrumf]

I can just confirm that there are real issues with different speed HDDs. I have managed to completely ruin my WIN98 on ATA33 disk after i tried copying a small directory (cca 100MB) from my IBM Deskstar 75GXP 45GB ATA 100(master) to my old maxtor 6.4GB ATA 33(slave) on the same IDE. During the copying everything locked up so i had to reset the computer and after i tried to start up WIN98 from Maxtor, scandisk just wouldn't run out of files to fix. And if i exit Scandisk i would get an illegal operation from the Windows Explorer and everything would shut down. I had to format the disk and lost everything on it. I was very upset, i can tell you! So maybe you just wonna get 2 ATA 100 disks and forget about this whole thing. It just aint worth it.

 

[CraigBee]

My hard drives are both masters on the motherboard controller (non-raid). I tried replacing the cables on both with standard 40-pin to force UDMA 33, and still had the same problem. I'll try it all again next weekend and see if I can do any better. Reading all the posts, there seems to be a mix of success and failure on these boards.

Craig

 

[G3DN]

I'm glad I'm not the only one having this problem...this is driving me nuts! I have two Epox 8kt3's and I'm having major problems with my IDE devices. I have the non-raid one...I have a Seagate 20GB ATA 66 drive as master on IDE1 and a IBM 45GB ATA 100 as the slave on IDE1...I then have a Toshiba 16x DVD-ROM as the master on IDE2, and a Plextor 32/10/12 as the slave. When I copy files to my D drive my computer either locks up, or gives me a failed to write to drive D message. Whenever I install a CD-ROM on my system using my Toshiba it always locks up...never in the same spot...it sometimes locks up when installing with the Plextor. I thought at first I might have a bad cable, so I changed them all out with brand new cables. That's didn't work...so I popped in the other EPox 8kt3 I have which was still unopened...same problem...I even put a 12x Toshiba in there...same problem...I then put a brand new IBM 45GB drive in there...same problem. All these drives worked and still work great when there in my Abit SE6 P3 700 system. I tried two brand new T-bird's in the system...a 1.2GHz and a 900MHz...I also tried didn't DIMM's..corsair and Micron PC133. I also tried taking off the heatsink of the mobo chipset and I put some artic silver thermal compund on it...I've tried all kind's of different bios settings...I've tried all 3 bios updates, and the 3 newest VIA 4-1 drivers. This situation just sucks! I also have a Abit KT7a-Raid on the way...I guess if I use that motherboard, and put my two IBM 45GB drives on the raid, and then put each DVD/CD-RW as masters on IDE1 and the other on IDE2, that may solve my crashing problems. I sure hope someone fixes this problem soon...I was hoping this was just a problem with Epox boards, but it looks like it's effecting a lot of different KT133a boards.

 

[PieDerro]

Just a question to all those that reported the instability problems...

Do you have RAM sticks in more than 1 slot?

 

[G3DN]

I have 3 128MB dimms in 3 out of the 4 slots. I also just tried PCI Latency Timer to 64 and that didn't work...all it did is crash not as fast while installing something. Actually this last time, it not only crashed, but reset my computer!

 

[PieDerro]

G3DN, try using only one stick, and moving it around to different memory banks. The memory instability may be part of the problem.

 

[ErikaeanLogic]

G3Dn: Are your DIMM's single- or double-sided? I read that DIMM slots 3 and 4 are for single-sided DIMM sticks only. Just a shot in the dark!

cisco: I think you're onto something here with the ATA-speed compatability! I re-read the posts of people who are having this issue, both here and at Deja-com, and it seems that everyone who is having this problem is running an ATA/66 and an ATA/100 drive in their rig; not only that, but I can also infer(at least from these posts) that since the problem clears up when you lower the UDMA setting to ATA/66, that the problem could be produced by running ATA/66 drives at an ATA/100 setting. What do you guys think?

 

[Usul]

Is anybody running a Promise RAID controller ?

 

[CraigBee]

I am running a Promise Ultra100 (non-raid) IDE card. I hook my CD-ROM and CD-RW to it. I also use 3 DIMMs, all single sided.

Craig

 

[Usul]

CraigBee: The Promise RAID is proved to have a timing issue with the chipset, try to remove it.

 

[KasperPedersen]

A quickie as I see I'm referenced in the first post.

2 days ago I had someone else (I was sitting behind him eating chips) perform the Promise-test on a KT7-Raid board, the board I originally ran the test on (where I had no problems with a 10-minute run).

After 15 minutes at full go (two FC/b's running between 4 drives) we got the first error.
Changing Promise controllers changed the frequency of the problem.
So it seems that Promise U66 / U100 doesn't work well with KT133.

Just thought you should know.

I'll try the test again later with another controller (HotRod on A7V).

/Kasper

 

[dakotus]

Well it look as if I have had this problem. I have 2 IBM 75GXP 30 GB drives, Visiontek GeForce2 GTS 32MB, samsung 256 pc133, 300Watt in-win case, floppy, sony cd-rom, nec zip 100,and running a thunderbird 1ghz not overclocked. I dont know what the problem is. I tried this three different cases, different AGP cards. Maybe I forgot to mention that I had the KT7-RAID running on my system before then I decided to upgrade to the KT7A-RAID. So I am still using the hard drives with the KT7-RAID data on them, does this make any sense? The only thing that worked is when I tried a PCI VGA card, it booted up to my WIN ME, then it found all the "new" hardware (north bridge, etc) again. I went back to the dealer and he said it was the power supply, so he gave me this case and a new motherboard. The board works fine (as far as I know) with the PCI VGA card, just with the GeForce, it doesnt display anything, everything powers up but no display. I tested the GeForce card on another computer, and it works, any suggestions would be appreciated.