Conclusion: No More WD Raptor at Tom's
Until now, we had quite a number of WD1500s in use in our Lab. However, the recurrence of the problems detailed above and its comparatively low capacity of only 150GB - which is hardly state of the art - force us to part ways with this model. Tom's Hardware will no longer the WD1500 for testing from our Munich labs.
Additionally, we suggest users looking for to build an error-free system look for a different hard drive.
We found it very disappointing that Nvidia's driver can receive a WHQL-certification, which is tantamount to Microsoft's seal of approval, and still cause such fatal problems. Of course it is still possible that the problem lies with Windows Vista. However, since we were unable to replicate this issue with any other combination of hardware, we are inclined to let Microsoft, its programmers and its developers off the hook.
We were unable to determine whether Nvidia or Western Digital, or more precisely their specific products, are to blame for this situation. Regardless, it is obvious that these two components don't get along well and effectively make Windows Vista unusable. We are hoping this situation can be resolved quickly, easily and painlessly through a newer firmware revision in the case of Western Digital or a new driver from Nvidia. For now, normal work on an affected system is all but impossible.
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.