Faulty Installation DVD?
Faulty Installation DVD?
After exhausting this avenue of research, we suspected that the root of the problem might have been caused early on, in the installation process. To test this hypothesis, we installed the OS from several different sources, including the original DVD, an MSDN Download and even an Action-Pack Business Edition. But yet again, our problem persisted. Different versions of the chipset and graphics drivers did nothing to improve the situation either.
Perplexed, we proceeded to conduct a fresh installation of our version of Vista on a colleague's computer. And lo and behold - our pesky little problem had suddenly vanished! We were at a complete loss for an explanation.
One of our test systems in the THG Lab
No Support from Microsoft
We obtain our Windows Vista licenses through a Microsoft MSDN account. Thus, we receive all of our versions of Windows by mail on a disc or download them directly Microsoft. In either case, we get our product keys from the MSDN website. Microsoft also offers a support chat on this site, and our first thought was to ask for help there. Sadly, all we got in the form of a reply was an error message from the chat system.
Faulty WD1500 Found
After mulling this over for a day, we realized that the hard drive was the only component we hadn't swapped out. Indeed, our colleague's test system used a conventional 7,200-rpm Hitachi drive.
Our Raptor drives were manufactured on 6 March 2006.
The Culprit is Found: WD's Raptor 1500ADFD
Does the drive's controller have a compatibility problem with Vista?
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Hi Bert
I really appreciate the trouble you went to over this problem.
I have 4 x Raptor 150GB and 2 x EVGA 8800GTS working fine under XP. But under Vista 32 I get the sysmptoms you describe. I wondered if you discovered any of the following
1. Is the problem only when Vista is installed on a Raptor 150GB drive, or will it occur when any Raptor 150GB drive is present in the system even if only used for data storage?
2. Does the problem still occur with NCQ disabled?
3. Does the problem still occur on Vista 64 bit?
4. Does the fix work in all cases? It doesn't seem to install on my system. I get no response message after I type the command to start the service.
Thanks, Mike
Hi Bert
I believe I have the debug system service installed, but it won't start automatically or manually.
When I try to start THGDEBEGSVC it get the error message "Unable to start - access denied"
Any idea how I can get round this?
Thanks,
Mike
We encountered the problem on both the ATI and the AMD platforms.
Don't you mean Intel and AMD platforms?
I have 3 Raptor 150's in my Rig with the nVidia 680i M/B, 2 8800 Ultra's, Vista 64bit and it's been interesting to say the least.
After exaustive troubleshooting and Headaches I found 2 issues to be the culprit and niether have to do with bad hardware nor issues with Vista.
The first has to do with BIOS settings. In nVidia's BIOS there's a selection under H/D's called memory Blocking. It's supposed to help up transfer rates but really causes problems with the Raptor H/D's.
I had to disable this feture to get the Raptors to work at all.
The second was so simple it was my last effort before RMA and it worked.
The SATA Cables that come with the M/B don't support the faster Data transfer rates and cause a Bottleneck within the Cable itself.
Replacing the Cable with the one that came with the Raptor solved the issues completely.
I know it sounds odd but after doing this my system has run flawlessly for the last 3 Months.
P.S. I noticed in your article Pics you're using the stock Cables as well. I know it sounds stupid but try swapping them out for higher quality Cables or the ugly Blue ones that come with the Raptor H/D's.
Like I said before it was the last thing I did before RMA and I've been through all the stuff you did as well as a few more tricks I tried and nothing would work.
I even did the SATA Plug swap and as you stated, it works for a little while but then the problem comes back within a few Days to Weeks.
It's not the manufacturers fault, they supply SATA Cables that if used with a regular 7200rpm H/D work great. The problem is that the Raptor H/D's run data rates way faster and the Cables that come with M/B's can't handle it.
P.P.S. The only reason I can think this would make a diference would be a phenomenon called cross talk.
Hi. Kentuckyranger i got XFX nforce 680iSLI XFX geforce8800 512mb , 15gb raptor X ,western digital 500gb harddisks and windows vista 64bit. andi got some problems here, when i play or whatever my computer freezes and a purple screens get up and i have too restart with the power button i really need help! plz answer me or anyone else that see this post.
Best Regards Eirik.