----- Original Message -----
> Hello again folks. Christmas was nice and I got my new computer running
> - I am writing this using the new machine. Now there is a new problem to
> be solved. The computer often starts up with chkdsk on bootup. Once it
> even required an OS reinstall because it kept giving me a blue screen. I
> think I solved the blue screen problem by installing new drivers.
>
>
>
> Here is my setup:
>
> Intel D845PEBT2 motherboard with P4 2.4GB and 512MB PC2700 RAM
>
> Dual Western Digital D800 80G drives with 8MB cache
>
> Drives connected as RAID 1 to Silicon Image controller on motherboard
> using Iwill I2S IDE to SATA adaptors
>
> O/S is Windows XP with SP1 installed
>
>
>
> I am suspecting that the 8MB cache on the drives is contributing to the
> problem. That is, not all writes are done during shutdown before the
> computer is turned off. I use the shutdown of XP and it turns off the
> motherboard power.

the cache is not the problem, I'm pretty sure about it.  something else goes
wrong, and you have to find it before more damages are done.  The only catch
you should disable without a UPS is the "write cache" under device manager->
disk drives.  What it does, is that win2k/xp can use a small amount of RAM
to cache HDD write operation, to speed up system performance, under UPS
protection, this is a good idea.  However, without UPS, sudden lose of power
may result data lost or file corruption.  The cache is enabled by default,
and MS recommend to turn it off if you don't have UPS.

>
> Here are a couple of questions:
> 1.      How can I ensure that XP is not using delay writes? I remember
> it was a big issue with Win98.

See my above answer.

> 2.      How can the motherboard (or XP) be set so that power is not
> turned off when XP shuts down?

You can install XP in standard mode (not ACPI), but you need to reinstall XP
and ready to take the result (no more power saving), and possible hassle to
set things up.

>
> Any other ideas to check out would be welcome. So far, I have not had
> any fatal problems, but when disk errors get reported after a shutdown,
> I worry

From what you've said, I guess there is something seriously goes wrong. and
I think it is the RAM (I've seen some DDR333 RAMs won't run at 333 on
certain mobo).  but be sure you have installed all the latest drivers before
test things.

My way to test RAM:

1) run some DOS based program like Simmtester or GoldMemory
2) if the RAM passed in few loops, then run Prime95 under windows, for at
least 24 Hours, 48 hours is better, 'cos I've seen RAM problem been picked
up at 30+ hours of Prime95.
3) if Prime95 shows nothing wrong, run 3Dmark 2001 SE (apply the patch),
loop it, and let it go for another say at least 12 hours, 24 hours is
recommended.

The whole processing seems overkill but from my experience, some RAM
problems are hard to pick up.  step 1 is to ensure basic function under
simple environment, step 2 is for easy to pick problems under working
condition, but memory timing problems may not show up under Prime95, so
that's where step 3 kicks in.

Jun Qian

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