Windows Freezes During File Copying!

[lungoes]

Hi hope someone can help. plz. Pulling my hair out here.

Running Windows XP Pro Service Pack 1 on Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro 2, AMD Athlon 2400, 1Gb Ram PC400, 4x Harddisks 2x Optical Drives (DVD-R and CD-RW)

Two HDD's Attached (Master/Slave) via on board IDE controller 1.

Both Optical Drives Attached (Master/Slave) via on board IDE controller 2, These seem to work fine when only these 4 devices are attached.

My problem is this......

I have an additional two IDE Hard Drives which I have connected via the on-board IDE/RAID controller 3/4. These two drives mount correctly on start-up displaying correctly in the GigaRaid extended bios too. BUT!!!!!!!

When you copy largish files or volumes of data from a device (either Optical or HDD) to a HDD connected to IDE 3/4, The transfer starts normally but after approx a minute, Windows freezes totally!!! mouse too, returning very briefly before freezing again and so on, until you are able to click cancel in the copy progress bar.?????????
During this Windows freeze 'Windows Task Manager' shows 100% processor usage. only returning to a modest value after being able to cancel the copy/transfer.

Things I have tried?

Testing both HDD's that are attached to this IDE 3/4 (both Maxtor 120gb) on independant machine - seem fine,

Tried both on same chain or as independant IDE Masters - No change.

Different IDE cables - No change.

Checked and double checked masters/slaves.

GigaRaid IDE/RAID controller Is set to IDE3/4 and not RAID!!!

HELP PLEASE. THANKS IN ADVANCE.....

 

[rclarke250]

What size power supply do you have? That many hdd's you might have to go to 450-500 watts and a good power supply like tru-power. whats the temp. inside the case? and have you tried an update to the bios or a newer driver for the gigaraid? someplace to start.

 

[micker377]

WHERE is the Raid channel set for IDE? If only on the mobo, do you also have to set it in it's own bios setup? (seen during boot-up)

 

[lungoes]

Thanks rclarke for reply

My Power Supply is a 520w, and my inside case temp is approx 40-45 deg C.

I have tried removing various drives to lower power consumption no change. Oh.

Not tried updating bios or new drivers as yet as this mobo is only 2 weeks old. lol

Seems strange as it old causes problem when access these dives attached to this extra IDE channel. If I don't access these via "my compuer" or don't have these windows open the machine is rock solid stable.
And it only occurs on largish files (300mb upwards) something that takes more several mins to copy. mmmm strange.

Any more ideas would me much much appriciated. Thanks In advance again. lol

 

[lungoes]

Thanks micker377 for reply.

The Raid/IDE controller is set in bios as you said. yes the IDE controller is built into mobo.

I have set this option as IDE rather than RAID in bios, Not many more options other than ENABLE or UNENABLE, RAID or IDE.
All seems ok. Detects drives ok.

Mmmmmmm still puzzled

Any more idea's. Gonna try updating drivers first (If there is any new ones) as suggested by rclarke above.

Other than that the only other thing I have not tested in another comp is the processor? likley?

Thanks In Advance....... mmmm puzzling....

 

[dementg]

I had a problem with lock-ups during large file transfers over a network, and it turned out to be an IRQ conflict (involving the NIC of course). It didn't lock-up unless the transfers were large. I also had other odd freeze up problems like that in both Win2k and XP and they turned out to be caused by a resource conflict involving a sound card.