Any Motherboards with two UDMA 133 or SATA slots

Ok, so I have decided I NEED to get a new PC. My Promise controller is
not compatible with my ECS PVM4MM2 V5.0 MB (if someone knows a card that
is, that would be good).

I am leaning toward an Intel Based chipset either Asus, Abit or ? with
several PCI slots. Right now, I am looking for a MB that will
accomodate my current two hard drives which are 250 and 200 GB UDMA 133
hard drives plus an additional hard drive, perhaps an SATA plus DVD
writer. This is the main focus. I don't want an intergrated graphics
motherboard, I will likely use my exisiting basic GEFORCE 256 MB card.

I have really lost touch with the processors out there. I come from the
old generation where the faster GHZ,the better. Dunno anything about
these dual core 2.33 + GHZ but I am looking for a PC with a CPU that is
best value for the buck and that's in the middle point between the
newest and most expensive and least expensive. Will want to do some
video editing/rendering and probably want Vivv and of course, Vista
capable (dunno if I should wait and upgrade later or bite the bullet)?

Sam wrote:

Ok, so I have decided I NEED to get a new PC. My Promise
controller is not compatible with my ECS PVM4MM2 V5.0 MB

Thats unlikely.

(if someone knows a card that is, that would be good).

I am leaning toward an Intel Based chipset either Asus, Abit or ?
with several PCI slots. Right now, I am looking for a MB that will
accomodate my current two hard drives which are 250 and 200
GB UDMA 133 hard drives plus an additional hard drive, perhaps
an SATA plus DVD writer. This is the main focus.

I don't want an intergrated graphics motherboard, I will
likely use my exisiting basic GEFORCE 256 MB card.

That would limit your choices dramatically, there arent that
many current motherboards that support AGP cards anymore.

I have really lost touch with the processors out there. I come from
the old generation where the faster GHZ,the better. Dunno anything
about these dual core 2.33 + GHZ but I am looking for a PC with
a CPU that is best value for the buck and that's in the middle point
between the newest and most expensive and least expensive.

The Core 2 Duo is that right now.

Will want to do some video editing/rendering and probably
want Vivv and of course, Vista capable (dunno if I should
wait and upgrade later or bite the bullet)?

"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...
: Sam wrote:
:
: Ok, so I have decided I NEED to get a new PC. My Promise
: controller is not compatible with my ECS PVM4MM2 V5.0 MB

: Thats unlikely.

Why do you think the card is not working? I tried a different PCI slot,
the same result. Even with my old BX board (where the PCI controller
came from) I am pretty sure that I didnt havent to load or install
using F6.

: I don't want an intergrated graphics motherboard, I will
: likely use my exisiting basic GEFORCE 256 MB card.

Oh...wow. Ok then, no intergrated graphics that use shared memory. Do
they have such a thing in a PC board?

: That would limit your choices dramatically, there arent that
: many current motherboards that support AGP cards anymore.
:
: I have really lost touch with the processors out there. I come from
: the old generation where the faster GHZ,the better. Dunno anything
: about these dual core 2.33 + GHZ but I am looking for a PC with
: a CPU that is best value for the buck and that's in the middle point
: between the newest and most expensive and least expensive.
:
: The Core 2 Duo is that right now.

What's the medium point, speed wise for the Core 2 Duo.
:
: Will want to do some video editing/rendering and probably
: want Vivv and of course, Vista capable (dunno if I should
: wait and upgrade later or bite the bullet)?
:
:

Sam wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Sam wrote

Ok, so I have decided I NEED to get a new PC. My Promise
controller is not compatible with my ECS PVM4MM2 V5.0 MB

Thats unlikely.

Why do you think the card is not working?

Dunno yet, you havent tried the obvious test, a completely
clean install of XP onto the drive on that card.

I tried a different PCI slot, the same result. Even with my
old BX board (where the PCI controller came from) I am
pretty sure that I didnt havent to load or install using F6.

You'd soon find out with a completely clean install of XP,
with just that drive on the Promise card. If you dont need
to use F6 the drive would be visible to do the install on,
tho if the install glitches, I'd certainly try the F6 install.

I don't want an intergrated graphics motherboard, I will
likely use my exisiting basic GEFORCE 256 MB card.

That would limit your choices dramatically, there arent that
many current motherboards that support AGP cards anymore.

Oh...wow. Ok then, no intergrated graphics that use
shared memory. Do they have such a thing in a PC board?

Havent noticed any that dont. Why do you care about that ?

I have really lost touch with the processors out there. I come from
the old generation where the faster GHZ,the better. Dunno anything
about these dual core 2.33 + GHZ but I am looking for a PC with
a CPU that is best value for the buck and that's in the middle point
between the newest and most expensive and least expensive.

The Core 2 Duo is that right now.

What's the medium point, speed wise for the Core 2 Duo.

Dunno, check that out on newegg or froogle.

Will want to do some video editing/rendering and probably
want Vivv and of course, Vista capable (dunno if I should
wait and upgrade later or bite the bullet)?

Rod Speed wrote:
Sam wrote:

Ok, so I have decided I NEED to get a new PC. My Promise
controller is not compatible with my ECS PVM4MM2 V5.0 MB

Thats unlikely.


Rod, there is more detail on his problem, in his other thread.

http://groups.google.ca/group/micros...ebcfbf24bf5cd1

Paul

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Sam wrote:
Ok, so I have decided I NEED to get a new PC. My Promise controller is
not compatible with my ECS PVM4MM2 V5.0 MB (if someone knows a card that
is, that would be good).

Have you tried to upgrade the BIOS of the Promise card?

Arno

"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...

:: Ok, so I have decided I NEED to get a new PC. My Promise
: controller is not compatible with my ECS PVM4MM2 V5.0 MB
:
: Thats unlikely.
:
: Why do you think the card is not working?
:
: Dunno yet, you havent tried the obvious test, a completely
: clean install of XP onto the drive on that card.

Oh yes, yes I did many many times over the last 36 hours. XP died in the
early stages immediately at the first reboot. All the installs were
clean installs. I sacrificed my Chinese XP. I kept on changing my
option to boot from CD to Hard drive, and everything in between.

After several failed tries during a clean install and then whenever the
subsequent install failed, trying different combinations to see if it
would boot from the card. Every install including clean installs of
XP Home Chinese and XP home Pro English yielded the same result:
Failure. I did a quick and regular format just in case to remove all
traces of the old OS that failed. However, when doing a clean install
from IDE2 everything ran smoothly.

Somewhere in between all the failed attempts, many (but not all) of my
files on the drive got corrupted big time on one of the four partitions.

In addition, XP cant see my original Windows XP that I want to use and
that has all my data as being "repairable", therefore; it won't give me
the option to boot from that partition at start-up. Also, one of my
previously good and valid partitions is now listed as "unpartitioned"
according to Windows Disk Management and Partition Magic. I can make it
a "logical" drive, if I choose but I know damn sure it's got data on it.
On Track Recovery doesn't even see the partition.

: I tried a different PCI slot, the same result. Even with my
: old BX board (where the PCI controller came from) I am
: pretty sure that I didnt havent to load or install using F6.
:
: You'd soon find out with a completely clean install of XP,
: with just that drive on the Promise card. If you dont need
: to use F6 the drive would be visible to do the install on,
: tho if the install glitches, I'd certainly try the F6 install.

XP would not recognize the controller. It did however, say when I
selected F6 and inserted the floppy with the Promise Drivers that the
drivers on the floppy are newer and which do I want to use. Everytime I
said mine, then tried XP's. It said "none".

Here is another interesting factoid. I am using the Promise's card to
power my CD Rom.

Writing this, I am wondering....the only other thing I can think except
a bad card is that I may have selected the wrong driver but there are
only three possible drivers with the same name but there is no way of
knowing for sure. I selected the second one as my chip is PDC20267.
But, my card is an old one so it's not like the TX2.

WinXP Promise Ultra100 TX2 (tm) IDE Controller"
WinXP Promise Ultra100 (tm) IDE Controller"
WinXP Promise Ultra100 (tm) IDE Controller (PDC20265)"

Or...I did have to buy a new power supply. Maybe my PCI card requires
a -5V setup which my PSU doesnt have.


: I don't want an intergrated graphics motherboard, I will
: likely use my exisiting basic GEFORCE 256 MB card.
:
: That would limit your choices dramatically, there arent that
: many current motherboards that support AGP cards anymore.
:
: Oh...wow. Ok then, no intergrated graphics that use
: shared memory. Do they have such a thing in a PC board?
:
: Havent noticed any that dont. Why do you care about that ?

It's using my ram so it's taking away by ram from me. I would prefer to
have a video chip with ram built in.

: What's the medium point, speed wise for the Core 2 Duo.

: Dunno, check that out on newegg or froogle.

Will do.

"Arno Wagner" wrote in message
...
: In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Sam wrote:
: Ok, so I have decided I NEED to get a new PC. My Promise controller
is
: not compatible with my ECS PVM4MM2 V5.0 MB (if someone knows a card
that
: is, that would be good).
:
: Have you tried to upgrade the BIOS of the Promise card?

yup, did that a long time ago while it was in my Abit board. no new bios
update since then. The card is from 2000 but works well in my BH6;
however, lately it was showing or booting to PIO4 which I wasnt able to
reset to UDMA 5. I didnt try to repair the installation via XP since the
last time I did that a few days ago, I got into real trouble. I did try
to reload the drivers from within XP and also uninstalled the driver and
card from Device Manager.

Oh, think so rod? We all hang on your every word, you so smart . . .

-g

Sam wrote
Rod Speed wrote

Ok, so I have decided I NEED to get a new PC. My Promise
controller is not compatible with my ECS PVM4MM2 V5.0 MB

Thats unlikely.

Why do you think the card is not working?

Dunno yet, you havent tried the obvious test, a completely
clean install of XP onto the drive on that card.

Oh yes, yes I did many many times over the last 36 hours.

You should have said that.

XP died in the early stages immediately at the first reboot.

Exactly what happened ?

All the installs were clean installs. I sacrificed my Chinese XP.
I kept on changing my option to boot from CD to Hard drive,
and everything in between.

After several failed tries during a clean install and then whenever the
subsequent install failed, trying different combinations to see if it would
boot from the card. Every install including clean installs of XP Home
Chinese and XP home Pro English yielded the same result: Failure.

Exactly what happened ?

I did a quick and regular format just in case to remove
all traces of the old OS that failed. However, when
doing a clean install from IDE2 everything ran smoothly.

Somewhere in between all the failed attempts,
many (but not all) of my files on the drive got
corrupted big time on one of the four partitions.

That sounds rather like you dont actually have 48 bit LBA
support for the Promise, the correct version of the bios on that card.

In addition, XP cant see my original Windows XP that I want to use
and that has all my data as being "repairable", therefore; it won't
give me the option to boot from that partition at start-up.

That may be the result of the corruption of the data on the drive.

Also, one of my previously good and valid partitions is now listed as
"unpartitioned" according to Windows Disk Management and Partition Magic.

Thats just another effect of the corruption of the drive contents.

I can make it a "logical" drive, if I choose but I know damn sure it's
got data on it. On Track Recovery doesn't even see the partition.

I tried a different PCI slot, the same result. Even with my
old BX board (where the PCI controller came from) I am
pretty sure that I didnt havent to load or install using F6.

You'd soon find out with a completely clean install of XP,
with just that drive on the Promise card. If you dont need
to use F6 the drive would be visible to do the install on,
tho if the install glitches, I'd certainly try the F6 install.

XP would not recognize the controller. It did however, say when
I selected F6 and inserted the floppy with the Promise Drivers
that the drivers on the floppy are newer and which do I want
to use. Everytime I said mine, then tried XP's. It said "none".

Cant understand that last bit, if it always said no
drives, how could you actually do a clean install ?

Here is another interesting factoid. I am
using the Promise's card to power my CD Rom.

That isnt a good idea, they have known problems with optical drives.

Writing this, I am wondering....the only other thing I can think
except a bad card is that I may have selected the wrong driver but
there are only three possible drivers with the same name but there is
no way of knowing for sure. I selected the second one as my chip is
PDC20267. But, my card is an old one so it's not like the TX2.

WinXP Promise Ultra100 TX2 (tm) IDE Controller"
WinXP Promise Ultra100 (tm) IDE Controller"
WinXP Promise Ultra100 (tm) IDE Controller (PDC20265)"

Or...I did have to buy a new power supply. Maybe my PCI
card requires a -5V setup which my PSU doesnt have.

Nope, nothing has used that in a very long time now.

I don't want an intergrated graphics motherboard, I will
likely use my exisiting basic GEFORCE 256 MB card.

That would limit your choices dramatically, there arent that
many current motherboards that support AGP cards anymore.

Oh...wow. Ok then, no intergrated graphics that use
shared memory. Do they have such a thing in a PC board?

Havent noticed any that dont. Why do you care about that ?

It's using my ram so it's taking away by ram from me.
I would prefer to have a video chip with ram built in.

You're losing a trivial amount of ram if you have plenty of physical ram.

What's the medium point, speed wise for the Core 2 Duo.

Dunno, check that out on newegg or froogle.

Will do.