Abit KD7-RAID and Highpoint problems

OK, I have an Abit KD7-RAID with the latest BIOS from ABIT including the
Highpoint 2.34 BIOS and 2.34 drivers for XP also have version 5.1.2535.0 of
the HPT37x RAID 0 Array SCSI Device Driver. I have 2 x 200GB disks (Western
Digital WD2000JB). I have connected them on to a single ribbon to IDE3 and
set them up as a single stripped disk.



My problem is that when I perform heavy disk activity I get the following
error message (after the system grinds to a very slow pace)



The device, \Device\Scsi\hpt3xx1, did not respond within the timeout period.



I have looked on the web and the news groups and it appears many others have
had similar problems and it all points to the BIOS, but I can't seem to find
anyway where I can get an older BIOS and drivers that would resolve the
problem.



So here's my question(s)



Anyone have any idea what I can try to resolve this issue ?



If I bought the Highpoint Rocket card and used that instead would it help
(albeit it is using the same 371 chip).



Should I use a different RAID board e.g. Adaptec or something like that. The
problem is that I'll loose a lot of my data as I am unable to back it up due
to this problem !



Thanks in advance.

From my experience the HPT 2.34 bios and drivers are problem free, even
in dos mode very quick, the problems where slow in dos mode for the versions
2.30 / 2.31 /2.32 /2.33 also poor in win-xp, the 1203 I like the best.

As for your problem, normally you connect 1 drive to each channel for raid 0
I think you better use IDE 3 and 4 with separate cables to the WD's
Also the stripe size in combination with cluster size is important for
performance.
I had the best performance with stripe 16 and cluster 16, but that will
depend on
what you planned to do, if you work with photo or video than you better
choose
stripe 32 or 64 with same cluster size.
If you have one drive of 400mb in one partition formatted with FAT32 than
for sure
you have a large cluster size.

How do you make backup, and to which drive, and which program do you use?

So I don't think the problem is the bios and drivers, it is more the
selection you have
made with connecting the WD's and selecting the right stripe and cluster
size.

Regards,

Huib.



"Terry" wrote in message
...
OK, I have an Abit KD7-RAID with the latest BIOS from ABIT including the
Highpoint 2.34 BIOS and 2.34 drivers for XP also have version 5.1.2535.0
of
the HPT37x RAID 0 Array SCSI Device Driver. I have 2 x 200GB disks
(Western
Digital WD2000JB). I have connected them on to a single ribbon to IDE3 and
set them up as a single stripped disk.



My problem is that when I perform heavy disk activity I get the following
error message (after the system grinds to a very slow pace)



The device, \Device\Scsi\hpt3xx1, did not respond within the timeout
period.



I have looked on the web and the news groups and it appears many others
have
had similar problems and it all points to the BIOS, but I can't seem to
find
anyway where I can get an older BIOS and drivers that would resolve the
problem.



So here's my question(s)



Anyone have any idea what I can try to resolve this issue ?



If I bought the Highpoint Rocket card and used that instead would it help
(albeit it is using the same 371 chip).



Should I use a different RAID board e.g. Adaptec or something like that.
The
problem is that I'll loose a lot of my data as I am unable to back it up
due
to this problem !



Thanks in advance.

I tried using seperate cables onto IDE 3 and 4 but that was worst. I then
changed to single cable and tried defining one as Master/Slave and then the
other way round. Supprisingly this made a difference to one seems to lockup
more where the other just errors and allows you to retry.

As for the stripe, I have mine at 64K for fast large file perfomance. I also
use NTFS not FATxx. I use Tapeware for backup onto a seperate SCSI card and
I have also tried just copying files onto another disk (SCSI), therefore
getting the data off is a major problem.

I first noticed problems when I ried to decompress large files, onto the
same drive, that's when I started to dig around on the web and found lots of
other people having simular problems but didn't get any working answers
(that I'm aware of).

I know that it's not a problem with the disks as they are fairly new and
that I had no problems when they were on IDE 1 and 2 as ordinary IDE disks,
it's only since I have made them RAIDed which everything has started to go
'pear shaped'.


Thanks

"Yuma" forget wrote in message
news:1068149841.195562@cache2...
From my experience the HPT 2.34 bios and drivers are problem free, even
in dos mode very quick, the problems where slow in dos mode for the
versions
2.30 / 2.31 /2.32 /2.33 also poor in win-xp, the 1203 I like the best.

As for your problem, normally you connect 1 drive to each channel for raid
0
I think you better use IDE 3 and 4 with separate cables to the WD's
Also the stripe size in combination with cluster size is important for
performance.
I had the best performance with stripe 16 and cluster 16, but that will
depend on
what you planned to do, if you work with photo or video than you better
choose
stripe 32 or 64 with same cluster size.
If you have one drive of 400mb in one partition formatted with FAT32 than
for sure
you have a large cluster size.

How do you make backup, and to which drive, and which program do you use?

So I don't think the problem is the bios and drivers, it is more the
selection you have
made with connecting the WD's and selecting the right stripe and cluster
size.

Regards,

Huib.



"Terry" wrote in message
...
OK, I have an Abit KD7-RAID with the latest BIOS from ABIT including the
Highpoint 2.34 BIOS and 2.34 drivers for XP also have version 5.1.2535.0
of
the HPT37x RAID 0 Array SCSI Device Driver. I have 2 x 200GB disks
(Western
Digital WD2000JB). I have connected them on to a single ribbon to IDE3
and
set them up as a single stripped disk.



My problem is that when I perform heavy disk activity I get the
following
error message (after the system grinds to a very slow pace)



The device, \Device\Scsi\hpt3xx1, did not respond within the timeout
period.



I have looked on the web and the news groups and it appears many others
have
had similar problems and it all points to the BIOS, but I can't seem to
find
anyway where I can get an older BIOS and drivers that would resolve the
problem.



So here's my question(s)



Anyone have any idea what I can try to resolve this issue ?



If I bought the Highpoint Rocket card and used that instead would it
help
(albeit it is using the same 371 chip).



Should I use a different RAID board e.g. Adaptec or something like that.
The
problem is that I'll loose a lot of my data as I am unable to back it up
due
to this problem !



Thanks in advance.

Terry, your size stripe is ok, but I see now you are using a SCSI card as
well,
have you tried with out the SCSI card, if that helps than you can try
the SCSI card in an other PCI slot, check your manual which PCI slot share
with the HPT controller.
The HPT controller don't like to share the IRQ.
I had in the past an ad on HPT card in a PCI slot which shared with the on
board
LAN, which gave me problems with the HPT controller and some times with the
LAN
All problems ware gone when HPT card in other PCI slot.
So maybe you can try the same with the SCSI card.
You had no problems on IDE 1 or 2 because they have dedicated IRQ's 13 and
14
For backup maybe you can try using Norton Ghost 2003 from floppy in dos mode
and put the image on the non raid disk, I can send you a copy if you like.

Regards,

Huib.


"Terry" wrote in message
...
I tried using seperate cables onto IDE 3 and 4 but that was worst. I then
changed to single cable and tried defining one as Master/Slave and then
the
other way round. Supprisingly this made a difference to one seems to
lockup
more where the other just errors and allows you to retry.

As for the stripe, I have mine at 64K for fast large file perfomance. I
also
use NTFS not FATxx. I use Tapeware for backup onto a seperate SCSI card
and
I have also tried just copying files onto another disk (SCSI), therefore
getting the data off is a major problem.

I first noticed problems when I ried to decompress large files, onto the
same drive, that's when I started to dig around on the web and found lots
of
other people having simular problems but didn't get any working answers
(that I'm aware of).

I know that it's not a problem with the disks as they are fairly new and
that I had no problems when they were on IDE 1 and 2 as ordinary IDE
disks,
it's only since I have made them RAIDed which everything has started to go
'pear shaped'.


Thanks

"Yuma" forget wrote in message
news:1068149841.195562@cache2...
From my experience the HPT 2.34 bios and drivers are problem free, even
in dos mode very quick, the problems where slow in dos mode for the
versions
2.30 / 2.31 /2.32 /2.33 also poor in win-xp, the 1203 I like the best.

As for your problem, normally you connect 1 drive to each channel for
raid
0
I think you better use IDE 3 and 4 with separate cables to the WD's
Also the stripe size in combination with cluster size is important for
performance.
I had the best performance with stripe 16 and cluster 16, but that will
depend on
what you planned to do, if you work with photo or video than you better
choose
stripe 32 or 64 with same cluster size.
If you have one drive of 400mb in one partition formatted with FAT32
than
for sure
you have a large cluster size.

How do you make backup, and to which drive, and which program do you
use?

So I don't think the problem is the bios and drivers, it is more the
selection you have
made with connecting the WD's and selecting the right stripe and cluster
size.

Regards,

Huib.



"Terry" wrote in message
...
OK, I have an Abit KD7-RAID with the latest BIOS from ABIT including
the
Highpoint 2.34 BIOS and 2.34 drivers for XP also have version
5.1.2535.0
of
the HPT37x RAID 0 Array SCSI Device Driver. I have 2 x 200GB disks
(Western
Digital WD2000JB). I have connected them on to a single ribbon to IDE3
and
set them up as a single stripped disk.



My problem is that when I perform heavy disk activity I get the
following
error message (after the system grinds to a very slow pace)



The device, \Device\Scsi\hpt3xx1, did not respond within the timeout
period.



I have looked on the web and the news groups and it appears many
others
have
had similar problems and it all points to the BIOS, but I can't seem
to
find
anyway where I can get an older BIOS and drivers that would resolve
the
problem.



So here's my question(s)



Anyone have any idea what I can try to resolve this issue ?



If I bought the Highpoint Rocket card and used that instead would it
help
(albeit it is using the same 371 chip).



Should I use a different RAID board e.g. Adaptec or something like
that.
The
problem is that I'll loose a lot of my data as I am unable to back it
up
due
to this problem !



Thanks in advance.