System Idle Process bad behaviour!

[Comdot]

Well I've fixed it. I tried other memory and that had no effect so I decided to pull my SATA drives, which were set up in RAID 0. Now I get this (read on):



Very nice. The trouble now is I can't use my RAID setup. I have them controlled by my NVidia chipset. There never used to be any problem running them. Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be (wrong bus speeds?)?
thanks
-com

[Comdot]

*bump*

Does anybody have an idea how to fix this? My RAID drives slowing my system down horribly.

If I don't get any responses I might take this to the hardware section (though strictly speaking I think the problem lies in software).

[Mak213]

This is RAID. This is what it does. People say its faster when it isnt. You are workign 2 drives or more for the cost of 1 drive. How is it faster?

You will have to find a update to teh NForce drivers.

[Comdot]

no, you've completely jumped in and not read anything i've been saying.
*it worked fine before*
*i never said anything about read speeds*

edit: oh it's you! i didn't realise cos you changed your avatar. anyway, think you've missed my point somewhat.

[Mak213]

So what is the issue now? It worked before but doesn't now? Why? What did you do to stop it from working? RAID just doesn't stop on it own.

If you have the RAID controlled by the nVidia Chipset have you checked for updated chipset drivers at all? I thought this was solved cause it got rid of the original issue of System Idle working when you didn't want it to.

[Comdot]

There are two issues here.

1) If I plug my two RAID drives in, the CPU usage goes through the roof, no idea why. If I unplug them, the system is fine again. It used to work fine.

2) A few months ago, the RAID setup wouldn't operate at all. This was due I understand to a new chipset heatsink and fan not cooling the chipset enough. I went back to using my old chipset cooler after realising the new one was hardly sticking down. Now, with my old cooler back it turns out there is a CPU load issue. There never was before.

So now I either have the CPU load issue, or no RAID.


===

I just don't understand. Can't see software having anything to do with it, nothing has changed there since it first worked and no viri.

I actually haven't even tuned my system since I originally set the RAID up. I'm lost. Could be corrupt software, so that might do something. Can't see why it would be corrupted though.

[Mak213]

Well it sounds as if the first issue comes down to a corrupted drive or RAID controller.

The 2nd issue i am trying to grasp. Are you replacing the heat sinks and fans? It could be that with all the replacing that they were not placed on exactly flat on even to create this issue?? Maybe? that would be for the hardware guys not really my area.

It really wouldn't be software. But drivers can get corrupted with all the stuff that has been done. While the system was looking for RAID that wasnt there, then it was. Stuff like that can adversely affect the system cause it sets itself for a reboot how it is currently setup. So by not having RAID on the system thinks that when it reboot there will be no RAID. Saves that config. Only to find out that there is RAID and the drivers get corrupt along with a system file sometimes.

So it could be that while testing this stuff you inadvertently corrupted yoru system. Not saying that is the case. But could be. Have you tried a system restore at all?

[Comdot]

Interesting thoughts. I never thought of the problem being due to poorly written software, the gist I get from what you say. It could be though. I suppose my first bet would be to reinstall my BIOS, or if it's possible any RAID software. I'll do that and see what happens. The info on how to do this, and maintain my array, isn't clear, hence I've been trying to avoid it.
Also would hate to reinstall the system just for this problem, I'd have too much data to back up.

Thanks.