Originally posted by: koitsu
Something for other DS3 owners:
Can some (all?) of you check your Windows Event Log (Administrative Tools -> Event Log), under System events, and see if you've received any Error conditions during heavy interrupt usage (i.e. heavy audio + video (gaming), heavy disk I/O, etc.)?
The reason I ask:
I've been playing a couple different 3D games tonight, and every so often, I've heard what sounds like a "click" coming from the inside of my system, then a brief system stall (1 second tops), then the system would resume operation.
Now, the first thing I'd assume is that it's a hard disk problem. I checked SMART statistics on the drive itself using smartctl under Cygwin, and found the drive to be in tip-top shape. (The drive is a SATA drive). I also use a SATA DVD drive (Plextor).
I'm well aware of one condition that can cause exactly what I'm seeing: when a bus is held in a suspended state too long (that is, interrupts are disabled on that particular IRQ for a long period of time), drivers in the OS can attempt to force a reset of that bus via the IRQ. This takes awhile to happen, and during that time, the entire system is basically in a degraded or broken state as the OS tries to work around whatever is going on with interrupts. Sometimes this works, other times it doesn't. Under perfect operation (no drive issues, properly implemented interrupt handler, working BIOS, etc.), this should never happen.
I checked the Event Viewer to see if there was anything suspicious. Lo and behold:
The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort1, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
This is the port associated with my SATA DVD drive. All of these devices have worked fantastic on my previous system (AMD X2 + nForce 4 Ultra-based), but it's important to remember that the SATA bus in general is probably being held/suspended while the OS tries to reset what it refers to as "IdePort1".
An improper APIC setup in the BIOS, or other IRQ/interrupt problems (such as too many devices sharing one IRQ -- e.g. video + sound + ATA all on the same IRQ) can induce this exact problem.
I think you're on to something here. My specs :
2 x 250GB WD 2500KS SATA2 16Mb cache (hooked on ORANGE Intel SATA 0 & 1 connectors)
E6600
965P-S3 (not DS3)
F5 BIOS (was on F6 but flashed back to F5 after it first showed up)
PROBLEM :
I've got an S3 (not DS3) board which exhibited these same errors under Windows Event Log, and when it fails .... it fails spectacularly.
I lose my SATA HDD and BIOS screws it up with rubbish char and XP boots after 10-15 mins to cut the story short.
"An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk1\D during a paging operaton."
"The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\D."
"The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort2, did not respond within the timeout period."
The first time it happened was when I was multitasking while the DVDROM was installing a big game. The second time it happened was when I was reloading savegames repeatedly from Medieval II (a few minutes before, I was browsing its DVD in the DVDROM).
When it first happened, I had to re-install XP from scratch i.e delete all partitions, re-create and format. Any attempt to format without deleting the old partition would inexplicably fail. The second time it happened, it took out the 2nd HDD and I got it back after a few reboots and messing around with the BIOS HDD autodetect.
The HDDs are fine, I'm thinking the S3/DS3 board may have some issues with the JMicron controller ATAPI or possibly a problem specific to WD 2500KS drives. Googling turns up a few bits and pieces but nothing concrete. This insiduous problem may be overlooked by most.
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Update 11/30/06 :
**caution - only for those with non-RAID enabled systems**
Fyi, did a little more intensive digging ... root cause is most likely the JMicron drivers.
My version was 1.14 and "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller"
WAS MISSING in my Device Manager. I was wondering where the DVD-RW DMA settings were when it didn't show up. Now it shows up as UDMA 2.
This link really helped. Check the JMicron instructions.
http://www.thepatri0t.net/2006/10/14/asus-p5b-deluxe-problems-solution/
My final list for "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" :
-Intel(R) ICH8 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller - 2825
-Intel(R) ICH8 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller - 2820
- Primary IDE Channel
- Primary IDE Channel
- Primary IDE Channel
-Secondary IDE Channel
-Secondary IDE Channel
-Secondary IDE Channel
-Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller