Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server - Page 116

Gotcha... so do the PM aware cards know that there are multiple drives on the other side, or do they see it as one bi drive?

Thanks Ren!

renethx,

First of all, thanks for putting up the recommended list. I pretty much followed what you have to build a WHS and so far so good...sort of.

Everything was put together with no issues. I've gone and made a bootable USB Flash Drive to install via USB. Well, I can't boot off of it. I've gone into the settings, followed the guides on how to do it (including the USB setup) and the Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H simply WILL NOT boot from the USB stick. It won't even show up in the BIOS to select it as a hard disk bootable priority. The screwed up thing of it all is that if I go into the QBIOS, I can see the USB stick as a floppy disk. I've even been able to update the BIOS to the latest of the USB memory stick to see if that works. The BIOS updated succesfully, but still won't let me boot off the USB. I did change "first/second/thrid" boot device to have USB-HDD as the lead. Even tried Floppy as QBIOS showed it like that. Any suggestions?

This is what I did to set up the stick in Vista...

diskpart
list disk
select disk 2
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=fat32
assign
exit

I then copied all of the WHS DVD info to it.

When I boot the system up, it says "Remove disks or any other media. Press any key to restart." I have nothing else installed. No DVD/CD ROM drive. Only the HDD and the Corsair Flash Drive. I can even see it in post, however, trying to change priorities in the BIOS, it doesn't show up. If I take the stick out, it then will get past that message, but then stop and say that the hard drive (unformatted) isn't a system drive.

I even have Onchip USB Controller, USB EHCI Controller and Legacy USB storage detect all on.

Any ideas?

I need some storage advice. In my media server I had a slew of HDDs that fed media to the rest of the PC's on the network. However, yesterday all the media on one of the drives quit playing. I went to the PC they were stored on and tried opening files directly from the HDD. I got "I/O Errors". I reset the computer which froze after POST (where it recognizes all the SATA HDDs) but would boot up from a complete poweroff.

I reset the BIOS to optimized defaults and when I reset the computer again the S.M.A.R.T. on the bad HDD reported "HARD DRIVE FAILURE IMMANENT BACKUP ALL DATA IMMEDIATELY" So luckily I had free space to copy all the data from the bad HDD to another one. Once copied (which copied at full speed) all of my files open and play correctly from the new HDD. So I went to explore this hard drive problem some more and tried using window's built in error checking program which just wouldn't run for that particular hard drive. I also tried reformatting, but after 24 hours it has only gotten to 2%

Anyone got any advice for me? Is the HDD shot? Or was it just a simple error that can be fixed with a reformat? I'm assuming there is no physical damage to the drive since I was able to copy all the data on it to a new source.

Hard drive is shot. Suggest Windows Home Server or RAID for fault-tolerant storage of your media.

Hard drives will all eventually fail.

I would agree that HD is "most likely" on it's last legs. The OS has a number of spare sectors it can transfer data to when it discovers a problem. If the problem area is small enough, it can copy all the details but even those sectors will probably start experiencing an error. If you ever get to the point in a recovery where you can get most (but not all) the bad data and/or can't get ANYTHING off a failed HD, you can put that failing HD in a freezer overnight. Pop it in the system (quickly) and run it for about 5 minutes before it will fail again (which hopefully gives you enough time to get in and get the data before the head start bouncing off the platter again).

AbMag - I am sorry but I don't understand your reply. What are you referring to when you say "You don't see "IT"? In the reference post, the "IT" was the "studder/judder" that I did not see in my system (but you had seen it in yours). I DO see the correct 24p settings in PowerDVD and my original question was "Is there a 3rd-party application capable of VERIFYING that 24p is being delivered to the screen" as my system is VERY basic (single-core AMD and 3650).

Others on this forum have now directed me to a 3rd-party application that provides the verification I was seeking so I am good now...
http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm

ndabunka

I can say the freezer method has worked for me once or twice, but not always. You do need to be sure to use a good freezer bag that does not let any moisture in. Get all of the air you can out of the bag before putting it in there.

Well, I give up. I've tried every single combo I can think of to try and boot off the USB Flash Drive and nothing. I even went out and bought another new, different brand, USB Flash drive and no dice. Keep getting the same media message BS as I outlined above. You can see the "floppy" as it says in the QFlash, and can flash from it, but you can't boot from it.

renethx, I would recommend taking the Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H off the server list as it will not boot from USB flash drive and is a big deal killer for those wanting a headless unit without having to have a DVD drive.

Unless you have some other suggestions? I'll have to make up some excuse for Newegg to take it back without me taking the hit on the restock fee.

renethx,
Have you seen this card? It is a passive 4850.
Think it will fit in an Antec 2480?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125237

I'm considering Gigabyte's 780g/790gx motherboard selection. Is there a reason why the Gigabyte didn't include DTS Connect or Dolby Home Theater support in the GA-MA78G-S3H ?

Perhaps in my first post, I did not impress upon the fact that I need help.

My HVR-2250 is in my GA-MA78GPM-DS2H running Vista Ultimate 32 bit version. Last night I was able to record a TV show in HD, I watched it this morning, but I have been unable to watch live TV without my computer restarting. Help, I need somebody, help, not just anybody, help, you know I need someone, help.

I am looking at Page 85
20TB (21 HDD) System

The second system is a 21 HDD system in a server chassis.

System
Case: NORCO PRC-4020 4U Rackmount Chassis (20 x 3.25″ hot-swappable bay and 1 x 3.5″ internal bay), $290.
PSU: Antec Quattro 850 TPQ-850 850W, $140.
CPU: Athlon 64 X2 5000+ ADO5000DOBOX 2.6GHz Socket AM2, $60.
CPU Cooler: Stock Cooler, $0.
Memory: A-DATA ADQVE1A16K DDR2-800 2 x 1GB Kit, $44.
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA78G-DS3H AMD 780G chipset ATX (6 SATA), $86 (this mb has a boot problem from a USB flash drive). An alternative is BIOSTAR TA790GX A2+, $100. Another alternative is Foxconn A7DA-S, $125 (supports IEEE 1394).
Graphics: Radeon HD 3200 (integrated in the motherboard chipset), $0.
HBA I: Supermicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 8-port SATA Controller PCI-X Card, $95.
HBA II: Supermicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 8-port SATA Controller PCI-X Card, $95.
HDD: Western Digital WD800JD 80GB SATA, $30.
Total Cost: $850 (storage drives are not included)




I am trying to replace some off existing parts from my HTPC and use it for this WHS Server, that is the reason i was looking for Intel Platform. I have Asus P5E-VM HDMI MB, wanna replace with G45 or P45. Also the processor. Rest stays same in the HTPC and will buy new items for Server.

Please suggest all the required components once again for WHS platform with Intel. I am going to use WHS RAID, and no hardware RAID for this server.

Appreciated

I'm waiting for the Nvidia MCP7A (Geforce 9300/9400) based motherboards for Intel which sound like they will have all the features of the G45, and a faster IGP. Also hoping it will solve the issues with G45 and there will be cheaper boards and more options.

From the articles I've read the chipset is supposed to come out any day now, if anyone has any information please do post here. Thanks!

Would it be possible to add to the first post (Sound Card Section) whether the recommended sound cards have bit perfect output or not? Also, is there a way to check if an existing sound card has bit perfect output?

I am trying to purchase a DAC for my 2 channel setup to work with foobar2000. If I cannot get a sound card that has bit perfect output (in order to make full use of a toslink optical/spdif DAC), I will need to get a good USB Dac instead.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi renethx,

I've been battling with a couple of HTPC options. Either a system using a (soon to be available) E6400 or should I go the 780G/AMD route?
The system will ONLY be used for media playback (no gaming, transcoding etc) using Vista MCE, powerdvd 8 and other possible players such as MPC HC, and KMPlayer.
To me the video playback quality would be most important with audio 2nd most.
If I use a 780G based system (where I intend to employ a discrete graphics card, say HD 4550), should I also then use a Phenom X3/X4, or just stick to a higher clocked X2 to help with non-dGPU accelerated files.
If I try to employ the E6400, what would be a good system to use this with (also using a discrete graphics card)?

Thanks.

What i have P5E-V HDMI, full ATX MB. Sorry for the typo. Let me know if this works.

This pre-built Gateway looks like it's a pretty good starting point for an HTPC http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=209337553
I'd like to add a recommended video card, BD reader/writer and another tuner and use it as an OTA HD PVR, from which I can record to BD or hard drive.
Is this pre-built likely to meet my expectations with the add-ons?

Thank for any advice,

HTCoveter

Does anyone here know if the Asus P5B-Plus mobo has any SATA ports that support PMs (port multipliers)?