at this point I'm kinda done, like I said way back when, I don't want you guys to go through work adding things to the pack for a motherboard that was obsolete a couple of years ago.. that just seems counterproductive to me.. I do appreciate all the ideas you threw at me, but really I don't think I'm gonna be doing anything with it until I upgrade either the MB/CPU or the OS, and since the computer still does what I need it to do (surf the web and watch AVI's) then buying new hardware is kinda low on my priority list.. I'm just doing "manual" RAID right now (copy files to two different drives).. : shrug :

I'm there now.  I haven't refurbed this system for over a year; Maintenance overdue.  Same with my refurbed P/S; it could use some upgrades internally.

2 P/S', now 3 in a row; ordinarily wouldn't one say that if the floppies work on other systems that it would have to be one of Mobo, P/S, or cable, possibly damage on or to the mainboard.  Video seemed too far upstream. If supported, one could use a 8M (or is it less?)  PCI Video card for testing puposes (decade+ old-school).  That BIOS battery has the most favorable risk/reward ratio (reset load Optimized BIOS defaults imm. after).

hooking up an external drive wont do anything to his TV it will either work or it won't...

you do have another option... use partition magic to create a fat32 partition... you can easily create 128 gig partitions. You can actually make them even larger but for reasons i don't wish to include in the scope of this discussion i would not recommend it.

If I was really feeling adventurous.. I'd grab my original xbox from the garage (DVD drive burned out on it), bring it inside and swap the dvd drive from my other original xbox, load up everything I need to turn it into a networked media center, then swap the drives back so I can play games still.. But I've been saying I would do that for about 4 years now..

Also been saying my VW would be back on the road for about 3 years (did a full engine rebuild, just need to chase out some electrical gremlins and sync the carbs), got a motorcycle I bought last year that needs some more tweaking (had to rebuild it's engine too..), and I'm sure I've started at least 2 or 3 other projects..

you do have another option... use partition magic to create a fat32 partition... you can easily create 128 gig partitions. You can actually make them even larger but for reasons i don't wish to include in the scope of this discussion i would not recommend it.

the actual limit of fat32 partitions is much larger than windows will allow you to create. (in theory its 2 TB)
third party applications will create them and windows will use them without complaint, you can even run chkdsk on them.

it's prolly Linux based... try formatting a drive with a Linux distro and see how you fair that way .

might be, but he's borrowing it from a business partner, knowing my luck, I'd brick it and I've got enough money issues without having to replace someone's tv.. I doubt he'd want my 25 year old 32" tube as a replacement...

because we like to banter while we wait for you to come back

lol, fair enough

on a completely unrelated note but something that might make you scratch your head like I did...

My roommate has one of those Sony Google TV's... I saw USB ports and went, "Awesome! I have almost 2tb's worth of my DVD collection ripped into AVI's (Seriously, I filled an external so when I deploy I don't have to lug around 300 DVDs, I just bring my drive..)!"

Well, come to find out that with all their tech-know-how, neither company decided that allowing the tv to read NTFS was a good idea.. So I took my 2tb external, and soon discovered Windows will only let me make 4 partitions.  Four 32gb partitions and 1.7tb of unallocated space, if we want to use my external with the tv anyway... Really guys? awesome job doing your R&D... :facepalm:

and techdud was not entirely wrong, it is often an overlooked problem.

I could have made the same argument for video cards... if a video card has an issue it can make anything happen, including cause your floppy to fail. A bad video card can make it "anything can happen day". I have fixed some VERY obscure issues by swapping out the video card... believe it or don't.

I think what we all agree on at this point is you do have a Hardware problem, the only mystery is which component...

PS no you did not have 3 bad floppy drives... odds of that happening are pretty slim

I really appreciate all the help everyone gave, but at this point I just gave up. Until I either upgrade my OS or my motherboard, I'm going to stick with non-raid.

I'm still completely confused about allt he talk regarding power supplies, power was never an issue (it was a bad FDD), I've never had any power issues whatsoever. So why we are getting into all the tech specs regarding power supplies I have no idea..

but that's a moot point, I'm up and running in a non-raid XP Pro install again. I still have my old one on a 500gb drive, and now I've got 8tb of space..

i like the antec true power units for that reason. many power supplies have a duty rating of 80% some as low as 60%

what this means is a 1000 watt power supply with a 60% duty rating can only put out 1000 watts for a second or even a fraction of a second. it is only capable of supplying continuous power of 60% of 1000 watts continuously or 600 watts

so many decent 1000 watt power supplies are really only 600 to 800 watts.

UNLESS you get a unit with a 100% duty cycle rating (Like an Antec True Power). These are usually a lot more $$$.

In conclusion a 600 watt PS with a 100% Duty cycle is a better power supply than a 1000 watt unit with a 60% Duty cycle .
It is also truth in advertising... implies a reputable manufacturer.

Sadly, i have been remiss in my duties, though.  An updated link was posted for the "nV test pack".

Beware, there are 18 of them.  Start with #13 & #14.  Those do contain your RAID's HWid's, unlike the others.

Please reply with your machine's preference.  That might end up in the main pack.

However; the motherboard could be the "weak link", as warranty is limited to 3 years.  Probably easiest to check the mobo for any sign of leaking or bulged capacitors.

I calculate from your listed power-on usage, a total "ballpark" figure of 23400 hours.
Assuming that the capacitors were originally meant for 2000 hours @ 105°C, this would work out to approximately 32000 hours @ 65°C.  If the power fluctuates in the building it is in, that figure would be reduced.

I would guess that you could have a year of usage left in it, yet i am uncertain.  I lack much information specific to your computer's issues.  The brand and series of capacitor will effect those calculations also.  Bear in mind that electrolytic capacitors can fail without any outward sign, although nowhere nearly as common.  Damaged components usually are found nearest the most significant thermal-zones.  A non-contact infrared thermometer has been a guide to me for finding how bad a thermal zone can get.  I do this during a "memtest" to evaluate a "close-to" worst-case scenario.

Back to BIOS; if the system exhibits "instabilities" or "failure", that is not a good circumstance to update the BIOS.  Call it a "last-resort", perhaps, on a setup with a minimum of components?

  Using SLI?  If so, use a low-powered card of the same chipmaker (optional) for testing.

PS:  Looking at the comments on newegg concerning that BFG (defunct?) P/S, of those whom have experienced failure, a large percentage have experienced catastrophic failure, at least according to their claims.

PPS:  That "claim" of 1000 Watts could be another example of corporate "free-speech".  Think of how HDD/SDD/etc. manufacturers henke with their math in defining a "Gigabyte", or a "Terabyte".   1000 Watts may have been a theoretical maximum, not a real-world maximum.

This does seem like an extreme opinion ordinarily disregarded.  It would be interesting to see some high-res pictures of the internals on that puppy to confirm or deny.

Don't go opening it if you are not familliar with the risks and how to alleviate those risks.

To me, "modular" can equal "voltage drop".  Avoid use of these connectors if the ends become discolored.

I assume that both connector-ends are indeed polarized.  That is to say, they only fit on one way, with pin1 matching the marked end.

tattooed_pariah wrote:

"All the pins are straight, this ribbon cable only has two connectors, one on either end. If I boot off the Support CD it will format a floppy for the F6 RAID drivers."

  That seems to imply that the floppy is at least powered; so much for me thinking that one end may be backwards.  One thing about those cables;  there are a few lines that are reversed close to one end.  That is the end that should go to the floppy drive.  What does ScanDisk make of the finished disk?  Does it find bad sectors?  Can you update it with files from D\M\N5?

  You said that you have the latest BIOS update installed, if i remember correctly.
Beware as improperly applied BIOS updates can "brick" your board!
It could be that the drivers on the SupportCD are not compatible with the latest MediaShield RAID BIOS (should be included in the Motherboard's BIOS).

"I'd like to think it's good"

  If the power supply has more than 2000 total hours on it shine a flashlight in to the case of the P/S to see if you can see any capacitors bulged on the top, especially closest to the mobo cables.  The mobo though, if older than the P/S, would be more likely to have these.

  For examples of what you are looking for, see:  http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=5
  I'm not saying that this is your issue, i only mention it as a possibility.  If you had an audio amplifier with a malfunctioning power supply, you wouldn't expect it to sound well.  Likewise, a computer powersupply can cause instabilities that can be difficult to predict.

It is all a process of elimination, including Sherlock Holmes' "deductive reasoning".
That is, using known good hardware to diagnose &/or debug unknown hardware.
Get that "Moriarty" Focker!  You are a Pariah here, only in name.

well slap me for another bit of non-clarity...

The cable is notched, so yes, it only goes in one way.

there is a twist on one end, and while I did in fact have it on the end that plugged into the drive and not the motherboard, the idea that which end it goes on makes a difference makes no sense to me whatsoever.. but I've been known be be wrong about many things before..

What I meant by the support cd creating a floppy disk is now that it has done so in the past, but that it is designed with a Nero boot function that will prompt you for what drivers you want to install, and if you have a working floppy drive, it will format a disk for you. So far I have yet to have a working floppy drive..

The last time I updated the BIOS on the board was probably sometime in early 2009, if it was even that recent.. the worry of bricking the board is exactly why I never bothered to try and update them further, I figured, it works fine now, I don't want to break it..

I don't see any physical signs of damage in the PSU, but I can say relatively confidently that it ran 24/7 from November 2008 - May 2009, and then again from January 2010 - March 2010, then again from December 2010 - present.. When I am home I leave my system running at all times. so maybe that's an issue, but like I said, I've never had any indication of power problems at all in that entire time. No magic smoke has escaped, there is no physical damage, and nothing has ever given an indicator that it isn't getting enough power..

The only hardware that I've never used before are these FDD's.. I haven't used one of them in at least 5 years and I threw away all of my known good ones at least 4 years ago.. I did pick up a new cable from work today, but it's been a long couple of days so maybe i'll take a look and try it tomorrow night.

As I re-read this, some of it seems kinda snarky, and I'm not trying to sound like an ass, just tired and got a good buzz going

I'm really thinking that my best bet will be to save up a hundred bucks, and hit pricewatch for a copy of 7 Ultimate, which as far as I understand, should be able to recognize RAID from the get go without a floppy..

I'm not even going to consider Vista, and I don't like what I'm hearing about 8, so for me 7 is a logical step from the stability I've come to know and love of XP Pro...