Really Need HELP! (In middle of build!)

[Abstract Hero]

Ok you do realize RAID means your combining your disk drives into one right? You didn't want RAID on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

Do you have an instant messenger like aim so I can walk you through these final problems quicker?

 

[zandre88]

Well I just downloaded AIM. I use to have it but it was ages ago but went ahead and made a username real fast. I just logged in and you can IM me at crusader88807.

Thanks for the help.

 

[memory]

About the HDD not showing up in Windows, does it show up under disk management as unallocated? If so, you just need to format it.

 

[patonb]

^My thought too.

Sooooooooooo glad things got sorted.... See Reading Rambo does helps.

 

[redfish]

First off, I'm terribly sorry that I missed all of this. I've been busy the past few days, and the weather was threatening with power outages so I turned off and unplugged my PC.

Just a few things to say. I believe that you have an ASUS motherboard, and the guide should have explained what the red DRAM_LED means (I know that this is a little late, but you should look at it anyways because it has some interesting applications).
About the PhysX card. I'm sorry if this doesn't work out- I don't have much personal experience with that, but I was essentially repeating information that I had found elsewhere. I can tell you that it would be ridiculous to return a HD 5870 to get a GTS 450 to work as a PhysX card.
And yes, TURN OFF THE RAID SETUP. You might have to re-install the OS but you do NOT want to have your RevoDrive in RAID with the storage HDD. Wipe the disks, turn off RAID, and re-install. I'm not certain as to how you do this but follow the mobo manual. Just make sure that you do this. And I don't think you can just format the RAID setup w/ HDD and SSD.
Again, I'm terribly sorry about my absence and whatever misinformation I may have given you about GPU configurations. I hope that this all turns out well for you and that most (or all) of the anxiety is past.

 

[zandre88]

Well everyone I got it to work. It took a lot of trial and error and a ton of work but I got it to work. The problem was with how I actually installed Windows 7 to my SSD. Their is a dedicated installation procedure you must follow to get it to work as in IDE. It was a bit of a pain and took me till the third time to get it right essentially but I did finally get it to work. I even am now running in AHCI instead of IDE without having to do a registry hack like they said I would have to do if I wanted to run it that way. I was just able to simply change it in my BIOS settings. As far as if I would suggest a OCZ RevoDrive SSD to anyone yes and no. I don't think it is a good idea for brand new computer builders like myself. It was such a major pain to get it right that it drove me nuts and had me extremely frustrated. However for those with more experience and what not it is an extremely fast SSD and they will only get faster.

Redfish as far as my video card goes I am definitely keeping the HD5870 over the GTS 450. I don't know if I am going to even be able to return the GTS 450 to newegg or not. I will have to check that but I think I can basically only exchange it for another of the same thing. I don't think I can return it just because I can't use it. I guess I could always drop it into another computer if I ever decide to build another. I think what I'll do is just save up to drop another HD5870 into my computer and Crossfire those. I think that'll be pretty sick. Quick question about that. Would my 650w PSU be okay to power two HD5870's? I hope so that would suck to have to buy another PSU before I could do a crossfire.

Right now I am just in the process of getting a bunch of things I normally have installed on computers installed as well as the CD/DVD's that came with my Mobo, Video Card, etc. As well as getting my games and other programs installed that I like to use such as Firefox and Microsoft Office.

It was a crazy and long couple of days but I got through it and got this baby up and running. I am posting the reply from my new computer.

I want to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone that helped me get this thing finally going and working properly. Everyone kept me level headed when I wanted to just give up and punch a wall out. Hopefully I will be able to help others out there once I have a little more experience under my belt.

 

[redfish]

Personally, I am a little curious about the RevoDrive and the benefit it has over SATAII and III models. I would like to see a side-by-side windoze load time comparison. I will keep this difficulty in mind next time I go around suggesting rigs to people. Judging by your difficulties, I agree that it would take a very experienced and/or inhumanly patient builder to make them reasonable.

I am so glad that things worked out for you alright. Hopefully the performance of the new rig will help offset regret about the initial difficulties. It is rare for a build to be such a nightmare, and I'm terribly sorry at how much of a pain it was.

About the graphics cards. I'm still pretty sure that there's a way to run them together using the GTS as a PhysX card. However, the question is whether or not you would see a difference in performance, as noted before. If you really want to keep that card and make it work, there are some hacks out there to get the drivers to cooperate, but it might be another painful experience (although probably not nearly as much as the RevoDrive problem). If you bought from NewEgg, you can return for whatever reason you'd like. Newegg is famous for its service and RMA's.

A 650W PSU should work for crossfire. I'm not entirely certain with the HD 5870, as it may have higher power requirements, but I think 600W is the minimum for a crossfire system. The question in my book is whether you have enough PCI-E connectors.

If you downloaded the newest drivers for the HD 5870 from AMD's website (It should be v10.11, I think) then don't download the drivers on the supplied CD. The exception would be if the CD has some special software not available from the AMD site. Here's a link to the software suite: ATI Radeon
The HydraVision and AVIVO packages are in the optional downloads if you want them.

My suggestion for browser is Google Chrome. Not to start an argument here, but in my experience it's the cleanest, has the least bloatware, is the most convenient, and has the largest viewing panel w/o any toolbars.

Go here for the latest BIOS updates and other free software provided by ASUS: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
they have some nifty stuff there
-Just a heads-up, I wouldn't update the BIOS unless you really want/need to. If you don't care, don't do it, 'cause it's a risky procedure. Any interruption or random data corruption could cause some serious errors.

I'm terribly sorry about the difficulties that I may have inadvertently caused, and for any walls that may be damaged as a result of your resulting frustration. I hope that the help I provided was not totally outweighed by the issues.

And congrats that it's (almost) over! If you have any other issues later on, feel free to ask for help. My first build went spectacularly, but my issues were mostly after I had it up and running. They were all relatively minor, but they seemed intimidating at the time.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Personally, I am a little curious about the RevoDrive and the benefit it has over SATAII and III models. I would like to see a side-by-side windoze load time comparison. I will keep this difficulty in mind next time I go around suggesting rigs to people. Judging by your difficulties, I agree that it would take a very experienced and/or inhumanly patient builder to make them reasonable.

A Quick Look at OCZ's RevoDrive x2: IBIS Performance without HSDL - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Originally posted by Anand

The reality for OCZ however is there's no performance benefit to purchasing a RevoDrive x2 over four Vertex 2s and creating your own RAID array. We're talking about a simple RAID-0 here, something any performance mainstream motherboard supports right out of the box. To make for an even tougher sell, the RevoDrive x2 will likely cost more than four Vertex 2s. The original Revo was supposed to be slightly more affordable than an array of Vertex 2s, but a quick look at Newegg shows us that you pay a $40 premium for the Revo.

Given the difficulty zandre88 has had getting his Revodrive working and the non existent benefits over Vertex 2 drives in RAID I think the latter option should be our standard recommendation.

 

[zandre88]

Well I spoke to soon I believe. I just posted this on my thread in Troubleshooting Hardware. I am extremely discouraged now. I just can't take more with this build to be honest. I am just about to give-up but I know I can't. However I basically think I've bricked my HDD....

Well again I have bad news. I am so freaking discouraged. This build has just become an absolute nightmare. I never thought I could possibly get this upset over a computer but I can't help it.

So I finally THOUGHT I got it to work. I was able to install Windows on the SSD with it in IDE. That was a big-step. Then I thought I was having problems getting it to recognize my HDD but really it was the whole time and just had to format it in Disk Management. I did that and it was recognized. I named the drive F: and I figured all was well. Anyways I took my USB Flash Drive and copied some TV shows onto it to transfer to my HDD on my new computer. So I went to do so and every time it would say that the path no longer exists and it would then disappear. So one time I was getting annoyed with it and in the middle of Windows Explorer freezing up (it was basically about to tell me that my the path didn't exist) I shut down the computer. It was sitting in "Shutting Down..." screen and it sat and sat and sat. So finally I just hit the reset button. Now ever since I keep getting the message "Hard Disk Error" on my BIOS splash screen.

I don't know if I basically bricked the HDD when I hit the reset button and it was in the middle of shutting down/not responding. Before after trying to transfer the file it would tell me no such path existed but I would restart the computer and the drive would be there. It is only since I hit the reset button when it was stuck on the "Shutting Down.." screen.

So the only assumption I can make is the HDD is now bricked or something. Does anyone have any suggestions? I just can't take many more set-backs...

This just sucks. And yes Puddle Jumper now after this I would not suggest the RevoDrive to anyone. It has caused me nothing but problems and basically is a $400 waste of my money that I don't think I'll even be able to return. I guess you live and you learn though. The SSD itself is fine but now my HDD is done. I guess I can just return it and get a new one but regardless if it wasn't for the problems with the SSD I don't think I'd have any of these problems.

Basically DON'T get a RevoDrive. Seriously it is not worth these headaches.

Anyways if anyone has any ideas for me to help with the HDD and it having an error/not being detected in BIOS please let me know. Like I said I just think the **** thing got bricked.

 

[redfish]

Uh... If you take out the HDD, the SSD works fine? Do you have another desktop for individual component testing? Try the HDD in it if you do. You can try to format the disk and see if it helps. Did you just install anything that might have screwed it up? This sounds kinda bizarre to me for the HDD to just stop working right after it was put into a new PC.