Why you really need to do this all the time to get good..

[Santilli]

Ahhh, computers. I'm sitting here, trying to install an ide harddrive on an old P3 450, with a bx chipset.

For the life of me, I can't get a drive to be noticed by windows 2000. I've tried it on a Promise 133TX2, two drives, they work with maxtor programs. The first is a DiamondMax 9, 160 gig, figured that was too big for the old bios.

Went to a Quantum LM I had laying around, no joy.

Next is connect to the motherboard, and hope that works.

On the other side, I'm trying to use a UL3d ATTO raid card to create a raid array. One has to remember it can't see NTFS disks, so you have to start by formatting. Appears I found the disk that went bad in my array, a ST318451LW. Keeps coming back unknown, with disk type, after formatting. Trying one more time, and we'll see if it becomes usable.

It's all the stuff you guys remember, that I forget, from not doing it all the time, that gets me in trouble.

Hats off to all. A very intresting profession.

s

 

[Santilli]

For example, getting the array setup, and bootable, then forgetting to connect the floppy power cable.

How about remembering which of the three keyboards I'm supposed to be typing on? Or which mouse does what?

I've suspected the zero drive in the array, from the first format, and boot. It formatted unknown the first time, and only the second was it a disk.

Currently, i'm getting a weird message caused by the machine trying to boot of the lan, and almost missed hitting F6, when, by accident, I hit boot from Harddrive, when I've been waiting for boot from cd rom.

Now that I did load the driver, you have to remember to load two drivers for the ATTO UL3d dual channel raid card, or, it won't work.

I'm still waiting for the 450 P3 TO FORMAT.

Well, disaster is me. I'm into setup, and the maxium partition size is only one drive, so, perhaps, I do have a dead drive. Of course, I might have just failed in the scsi bios to make both channels bootable.

Back we go...

s
PS
Perhaps I should have named this my weekend computer blog?

 

[Santilli]

Pulled what I think is the bad drive, checked connections, and checked the fans. Drivers are both hot. Before I pulled the drives, I disbanded the array. Now I'm reformatting the new drive, since I can't raid an ntfs disk on the hardware controller, and I wait. Checked the fan on the drives, and it's working fine. Easy to forget to connect it in the maddness.

We'll see. I doubt it's the cables, or the terminators, but I could be wrong.

Meanwhile the other machine has finally formatted, and it's time to go through the fun of installing Windows 2000...

Just set the date to Sunday :roll:

Well, set the network settings and the install appears to be going pretty well for the 450 P3.

Kids might be mad, but I don't feel real good about having a 36 gig X15.3
connected to an atto Raid card, in a computer they are playing on.

Damage factor is too high. Besides, I like the 36 gig SCA's at home now.

Still waiting for the 0 2 drive to format. Taking a long time...

s

 

[Santilli]

Well, it looks like it's either a bad cable or terminator, which I really doubt, or, the card is fried.

Doesn't seem to want to work formatting, on channel two.

Went back to the 29160N using the cable from channel two, and everything is working fine. Have to live with a 15.2 as a boot drive, but, the problem is really that it's only 18 gigs. I like 36 for most of the stuff I do.

Anyway, everything is up and running and ready to go back to school.

I really like these keyboards. The scissors feel really good, and I like the back lighting, since most of the time the keyboard is hard to see, in an under the desk setup, and I like to watch movies while I'm working.

http://www.btc.com.tw/english/2-7-25keyboard.htm

http://www.btc.com.tw/english/2-7-25keyboard.htm

 

[blakerwry]

The feel on those keyboards is just never right for me, I need something with more movement and positive action. I hate laptop keyboards for this reason.

Oh well, sounds like a fun project. I had to troubleshoot a dead Dell dimension today. Looks like either the PSU or the motherboard died. Have to figure out the best option for getting that resolved on Monday.

 

[Santilli]

Just seems like every other keyboard is a noisy, 4 dollar keyboard, marketed up because it says Microsoft on it.

We'll see how well these last. They are a bit quieter then the MSFT stuff.

Frankly, I've been through a couple really big shops, and these are the only ones I've found I like. That may change, but I like the solid feel, or I should say more solid then anything else I've tried.

Greg