Weird problem with Gigabyte Mobo, need some help!!

[shalldoom]

Ok so i made this build 2 month ago: Phenom II 940 BE
GA-MA790GP-UD4H (Gigabyte)
2x 1G 1066 Kingstone Hyper X
XFX Geforce 8800 GT 512
320GB caviar WD HD
my old PSU 300W
3Daurora case
my old 19 Viewsonic lcd

The problem: Went yesterday and bought a new 500W OCZ Stealth stream PSU and a 640 GB Caviar Blue HD, after installing the new PSU and HD, every time i try to copy any thing the pc hangs and i have to reboot. The strange thing is that i can access any thing on the 320GB HD with out a problem ex: watching a movie , playing a game, listening to music ect. but, if i try to access anything on the 640 GB drive its extremely slow....whats even more strange is that when i swap the new PSU with the old one, the thing works just fine again.

Failed Attempts to fix:
1- Bought 2 new PSU's 450w and a 600w, both can't copy without hanging.
2- Changed the sata cords and changed positions on the Board
3- Disabled/Enabled cool & quite, fail-safe, optimized defaults in bios
4- Bought a 2000W Voltage Stabilizer.
5-Bought a new 500GB Caviar black HD, same thing slow and hangs when i try to copy.
6- Changed RAM positions.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[patio]

Put the OS HDD on SATA1 connector...

Put the 2nd HDD on SATA3 or higher...

Turn off Windows indexing service on both drives...

Then check in Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager and make sure niether drive has dropped back into PIO mode...

I doubt it's a PSU issue since you've tried 3.

[shalldoom]

Put the OS HDD on SATA1 connector...

Put the 2nd HDD on SATA3 or higher...

Turn off Windows indexing service on both drives...

Then check in Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager and make sure niether drive has dropped back into PIO mode...

I doubt it's a PSU issue since you've tried 3.

  ill give it a try, thank you.

[patio]

Good Luck.

[shalldoom]

I disabled the indexing but, the problem is still there 

[Computer_Commando]

Did you maybe forget to connect the P4 power connector?

If no, then:
What's the +12V output (Amps), according to the label on the three supplies?
Measure the +12V output on each of the supplies when they are installed and running.

[shalldoom]

Nope the P4 connector is connected.

Not sure about the labels don't really understand much about PSU's but the 500W OCZ PSU label says

DC output: +3.3v  +5v  +12v1  +12v2  -12v  +5Vsb
Max output   30A   30A   18A       18A     0.5A     2.5A


As for the crappy 300W PSU (the one that works fine) the label says

DC output: +3.3v   +5v   +12v   -12v     -5v      +5Vsb
Max output   28A    40A     20A    0.8A     0.5A      2.0A


hope this is the right info...


so i took the  case along with the new PSU's to the store and the guy plugged the case to his LCD and the case worked fine without any problems.....he even swapped all 3 PSU's and the PC worked fine without a single problem....... got back home and plugged the case and the problem is still there.....

[patio]

Then check in Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager and make sure niether drive has dropped back into PIO mode...

Did you check this ? ?
I'd also move it to another outlet if possible and/or replace the surge protector...

[Computer_Commando]

...hope this is the right info...

I looked up some info on the OCZ supplies.  They have all kinds of protection circuits and a wide input voltage range.  It's possible that these circuits are being "fooled" by the Voltage Stabilizer.  Try plugging it directly into the wall receptacle with no surge suppressor.
If that's not it, then I'm thinking there could be something wrong with your house power, i.e. Neutral and Hot reversed on the receptacle you are using.  This could cause a problem with the "fancy" PSU's where the old one would never care.

Receptacle testers are available at all home centers.

[shalldoom]

Did you check this ? ?
I'd also move it to another outlet if possible and/or replace the surge protector...

I have noticed that every couple of restarts one of the HD's changes mode from Ultra DMA to IPO mode....thus becoming really slow... the only way for me to fix this is to change the SATA cable to a different port. Is that normal?

I also tried it on another outlet and replaced the surge protector, still same problem.

[shalldoom]

I looked up some info on the OCZ supplies.  They have all kinds of protection circuits and a wide input voltage range.  It's possible that these circuits are being "fooled" by the Voltage Stabilizer.  Try plugging it directly into the wall receptacle with no surge suppressor.
If that's not it, then I'm thinking there could be something wrong with your house power, i.e. Neutral and Hot reversed on the receptacle you are using.  This could cause a problem with the "fancy" PSU's where the old one would never care.

Receptacle testers are available at all home centers.

yea i tried plugging it directly into the wall, still same result. Ill try the Receptacle tester.


Thanks guys for all your help really appreciate it.

[Computer_Commando]

yea i tried plugging it directly into the wall, still same result. Ill try the Receptacle tester.
Thanks guys for all your help really appreciate it.

Your problem is certainly unique.  I have never, ever run across anything like it!

However, I have seen other power problems that cause very strange things to happen with computers, even blowing out ethernet ports.

What else can it be but the power in your home?  It works in the shop but not in your house.  Take it to your neighbor's house and see if the problem persists.  This won't rule it out, a bad pole transformer can mess things up, too.

If you get a tester with the push button on top, it will also test all the GFCI protected outlets.  You will eventually test every receptacle in the house.  I'm betting, at least one is bad, even if not the one you are using is okay.

If all okay, then we move to Grouinding.  Are you on broadband cable or DSL?

[patio]

If you have a drive dropping into PIO Mode it is normally caused by repeated disk read/write errors...
I'd run chkdsk /r on that HDD immediately...heck i'd run it on both of them.
Since they are both good size drives you may want to do it at bedtime as it will take awhile.

[Computer_Commando]

If you have a drive dropping into PIO Mode it is normally caused by repeated disk read/write errors...

...which can be caused by power dropping below required minimums.

[patio]

Correct...Nice Catch CC !