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Poorly PC [solved -- unreliable motherboard]
marko:
a quick update, just in case anyone was wondering....
8 days uptime and a clean system log....
--- Quote -----------[ UpTime ]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current Session:
Last Shutdown Time 10/12/2008 07:13:36
Last Boot Time 10/12/2008 07:14:48
Current Time 18/12/2008 07:34:07
UpTime 692388 sec (8 days, 0 hours, 19 min, 48 sec)
UpTime Statistics:
First Boot Time 10/12/2008 07:14:48
First Shutdown Time 10/12/2008 07:13:36
Total UpTime 692388 sec (8 days, 0 hours, 19 min, 48 sec)
Total DownTime 72 sec (0 days, 0 hours, 1 min, 12 sec)
Longest UpTime 692388 sec (8 days, 0 hours, 19 min, 48 sec)
Longest DownTime 72 sec (0 days, 0 hours, 1 min, 12 sec)
Total Reboots 1
System Availability 99.99%
--- End quote ---
I'll live with that. Hopefully, the failed SATA port is an isolated affair, if the rest start to fall over, I'll have to look for new motherboard, and I really don't want to be doing that!
-marko.
JimH:
Well, I lost the money, but I'm glad you found the problem. Bad SATA port.
Bob at JRiver is one of the best problem solvers I've ever known. His approach to problems like this is just what you've done -- start swapping stuff and see what happens. It's amazing that something as smart as a computer can be so dumb sometimes.
glynor:
Hmmm... That probably doesn't bode well for the board. Do you know if the SATA port in question was in a different "block" on the board (physically) from the one that worked?
The SATA interfaces should be hung off of the chipset (southbridge probably, but it depends on the specific chipset you have), unless you have an additional auxiliary SATA chip on the board. Some (many more "high-end" boards) include the 4-6 SATA ports from the chipset, and then throw in a couple of extras supported by an additional chip on board. If only that aux chip went bad, then you could be okay. However, if your chipset is going, then you could start seeing other I/O issues as well (USB would be something in particular to watch).
Could also be the traces to that particular port, I suppose (or the actual port connector itself), but this seems a LOT less likely. Did this SATA port seem to "go" bad, or was it probably always bad and it just took a long while to figure it out?
If the board happens to be still under warranty, I'd really try to send it back. If not, I'd seriously consider swapping it out. It could be a forbear of further issues down the road a bit...
marko:
Hi glynor,
My board's an eVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1
At 18 months old, it's an absolute pensioner in motherboard years!!
It has 6 SATA ports.
4 of them (3 - 6) are grouped near the center of the board, and the other two (1 - 2) are hanging off the side opposite the backplate.
It's ports one and two that appear to have gone bad. I'm not really sure if they run off their own chip or not. The manual is here.
-marko.
glynor:
They do not. All 6 of your SATA ports are hung off of the 680i SLI MCP (the Southbridge, which is identical to the one on Nvidia's older 590i chipset).
There are well known problems with the SATA support on the 680i chipset (one of the reasons I've avoided Nvidia chipsets for Intel with the current generation). Nvidia has released a number of hotfixes. Here is the latest info from Nvidia on these issues: http://www.nvidia.com/object/680i_hotfix.html
--- Quote ---This update is related to SATA disk drives and system instability. System instability is observed in the following ways (not a complete list):
* Random application shutdown
* Corrupted boot drive
* "Blue screen of death"
* Corrupt data
This update will improve system stability and prevent future stability issues related to SATA disk drives on those systems requiring this hotfix.
--- End quote ---
Here is a post from Nvidia about the issue on their own user forums: http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=23254
Here's more info on the problem from HardOCP: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI0NCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
I did see on the EVGA Forums that there is an even newer BIOS release for that board that includes as one of it's major highlights:
--- Quote ---Fixed SATA / MAC / USB compatibility issues
--- End quote ---
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=546893
So if you aren't running the latest BIOS, it is certainly worth updating. This vP33 BIOS appears to be from September 2008. However, I do see that there is a HUGE number of other problem reports on the EVGA forum and the PCPers forums regarding that board (and Nvidia 680i boards in general) for a wide variety of issues. It appears that current BIOS upgrades aren't always guaranteed to fix the issues, and that many people have had to RMA boards. Good news is that both Nvidia and EVGA are well aware of the issues, and they appear to have been fixed with current revisions of the boards.
Even though your Warranty has been expired, it might be worth contacting EVGA support. They are known for having good support. I'd just explain that you've been experiencing issues for a long time but that it took months to track the problem down to the SATA on the board, which is why you waited until after the warranty period. I'd say you stand a fair chance of getting a new one if you act soon (you're only 6 months past the warranty date right now). EVGA is well known for being pretty reasonable when it comes to customer service.
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