fasttrack controller

[netnamakan]

My friend just bought a new system, custom built and it has run fine for the last few days, but this morning it just started saying on boot up " no drives attached to fastrack controller" it is exactly like this post, and browsing the internet I found that several people had the same problem and all it took was to disable the fasttrack controller in the bios. so I tried that and it does not give the fastrack message, but goes to the how would you like to start windows screen, eg safe mode, etc, then when I hit run windows normally it just restarts any idea? he's got a p4 3.0g s478 and a asus p4p800 e deluxe mobo.

thanks all,

namakan

[GaryRouth]

Generally, that message means just what it says. Some mainboards are nice enough to include an item to disable the controller, others (especially if the controller is an optional SATA controller) don't. If you disabled the controller in the bios, and there truly are no drives attached to it, then that issue is not the problem anymore.

Now you need to find out what is causing the restarts. A helpful start might be to enter Safe Mode and disable the "restart on system error" setting --> Go to the System applet in Control Panel, select the Advanced tab, and click the Settings button under the Startup and Recovery heading. Under System failure, un-check Automatically restart.

Depending on how the system has been stressed, it's possible that a build weakness has surfaced, or (rather unluckily) a failure has prematurely occured, or a startup item is corrupted or misconfigured.

You could
1) check the Bios settings one more time, just to make sure nothing else was changed by accident while you were making the fast track controller change.
2) in Safe Mode, run a complete system "thorough" antispyware/antivirus check
3) in Safe Mode, run msconfig and see try disabling any items in the Startup section that aren't necessary
4) if the system boots OK with only critical items in the startup group, re-enable the others one by one until you find the culprit causing errors.
5) if the system still generates an error with non-critical items removed from the startup group, try boot menu item for a step-by-step startup (where you are queried for each step whether to load it or not). This may help identify the step causing the fault.
6) if a consistent pattern can't be found, try testing the memory (http://www.memtest.org), the hard drive (the manufacturer's diagnostics), and the power supply voltage levels and system temperatures (you can see a readout of voltage levels and temperatures in a menu in your computer's bios).

I wouldn't be tremendously surprised if it's just RAM acting up and corrupting files.
. . . Gary

[P.S. ... since this is a recent, custom build - the builder should certainly be in full support of the warranty & might repair this at absolutely no cost. Just for curiousity, too - what brand/wattage power supply is supporting that P4?]

[netnamakan]

Thank you very much gary, the thing was it would go to the screen about how would you like to boot (what would this be called anyway?) and no matter what option was chosen it would reboot. I checked all the connections, they were all good, and the power supply is a 420w thermaltake, which should be good.

I didnt have much time at my buds place, so I told him just to take it in to where he bought it (its a small local shop) so he did yesterday. they said they didnt have any idea either, so they just reformated and re-installed xp for him, seems to be good now, but time will tell.

thank you very much for the help gary

namakan

[GaryRouth]

Glad to hear they took good care of their customer.

That Thermaltake 420 got some nice reviews - it's supposed to be fairly quiet for such a powerful supply, too.
. . . Gary