I decided to do the “raid Limousine” in Treignac this year, 4 days of biking in Coreze with about 215km 5000m dénivilé, having never done anything like this before I decided to do it as it sounded fun with over 180 riders

With Tony, Nicolas and Laurence we arrived Wednesday night ready for Thursday morning

Thursday : 62km with 1591m positive and 1568 negative this was nice and hard, especially the last 10km, nice easy (hic) route, load of single track, some mud as it had rained the week before and loads of ups and down, but nothing really to difficult or to technique , including the lunch break it took all in all 6h 45mins, My GPS trace  http://www.mediafire.com/?zjmycgoz4my or http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=394241

Friday : this for me was the best of the 4 rides, 50km starting from the lake in Chateauneuf la forêt, the first 15km was fairly tough but the last 15km was mostly downhill with dry ground, just flew down it, all in all 50km with 1305 positive and 1284 negative, and at the end as it was a lovely sunny day took a dip in the lake, great, when I got back to Treignac as I was feeling just fine I went out and found a geocache ‘Pierre de Druides’  adding another 10km to the day, My GPS trace http://www.mediafire.com/?uc0rzny3jgi or http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=394246

Saturday : another 60km 1516 positive and 1506 negative but boy some really steep un-ride-able hills and loads of mud in one area and having to cross a river up to the thighs as well, including lunch this took about 6h 20mins, My GPS trace http://www.mediafire.com/?quztmzq0tin or http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=394248

Sunday: only 33km and quite a lot on small back roads giving the legs time to recuperate, only 800 positive and 787 negative, My GPS trace http://www.mediafire.com/?mwdkgqdnrzn or http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=394249

All in all a very good 4 days, the riders was all nice and friendly (special hello to Vince, Ed and Eric with whom I rode with for a while)  a very good atmosphere , well organised and fun, will add some photos as soon as possible

I found this link from the Frappadingues site with some photos http://pics.frappadingues.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=RL2009

Finely a very special thank you to the organisers of this raid, it was well organised, everything was just perfect , see you next year

J’ai mis tous ces circuits sur le site http://www.utagawavtt.com/,   I have put all these circuits on the French site http://www.utagawavtt.com/

This year the training is going quite well, so I decided to buy a hard tail to play with, hoping that at the same time it would be more fun or rather different than my Rocky while just biking to work, which is half road half of road or small no real need full suspension rides.

So I went out and bought this 

http://www.lapierre-bikes.co.uk/lapierre/x-country-mountain-bike/2009/PRO-RACE-300-1

I have already changed some of the components, adding a Race Face Deus stem, Race Face Next 630mm XC carbon handlebars, added Time Atac carbon pedals, front tire  and back tyres are now  Hutchinson Pythons as it dry weather here. I have changed the brakes and shifters to Shimano Dual Control XT

First ride this morning, same route as usual to work, wow does this bike fly, 9 mins less than my usual time … need to see if its just me with a new bike or what … the bike seems more “nippier”, the XT 2009 dual controls are really nice, but not as good or as smooth as the XTR version, but are still far better than the standard push pull shifters, also what I notice is that it pulls away quicker than when I’m riding the Rocky, this is a great bike, different from the full sus Rocky, it handles just nice

I had to change the seat stem as the original one is only 350mm long and kept slipping down the frame even when  bolted tight, went to a 400mm long and the problem went away

Sensations are different than the Rocky Element, when I hit a hole with this one I feel it (hope that my back holds out …), its seems more agile and of course it’s lighter, 11.3 kilos with pedals, size 46cm (18 inches), I am 5.8 metres tall and the size 46 is exactly the same size as my Rocky 18″ the geometry of both bikes is almost exactly the same

I love it, it’s fast and fun, it’s different to the Rocky Mountain, well under half the price, for the big outings I prefer the Rocky because the suspension helps, but sometime I now debate which bike to take out ……..

Frame : Alloy 7005 SL formed flex design
Forks : Fox 32 FRL 100mm
Front Derailleur : Shimano SLX, Rear : Shimano XT inversé
Bottom Bracket & Chainset : Shimano XT
Headset : Ahead set 1.1 / 8 semi-integrated cartridge
Stem : Race Face Deus 100mm XC, Handlebars : Race Face Next 630mm XC carbon
Seatpost : Woodman 400mm long, broken changed to a Raceface Deus XC 400mm
Front & Back Brake + shifters  : Dual control XT
Wheels : Shimano XT Wheelset 2009
Tyres front & back : Hutchinson Python 2.0 Tubeless
Saddle : Italia SLR
Pedals : Time Atac carbon
Weight : 11.3 Kilos,

I’ve not really tried to get it lighter, preferring quality components over weight, but I might see what I can change (again) in the coming months

Fitted with XT wheels and Race Face stem and handle bars,, XT dual control shifter/brakes and XT inversé derailleur

Update July 2009

1000 kms later (2500 kmson both bikes since January 2009)

The Lapierre is good, fast, nippy, handles really well, I do like it, I am quicker on the Rocky in downhill,and on technical uphills, the suspension helps, or is it in my head, this is good bike I thoroughly recommend it

Have just ordered some Maxxis Crossmark 26×2.10 Tubless for the front  and Maxxis Larsen TT 26×2.10 tubeless for the rear, the Larsen I like and have it already on my Rocky and the Crossmark seems rather good so I’ll give it a try and again if I like it will also go on the Rocky

Some don’t like the blue colour as it rather flashy but I do, this weekend a friend tried it out as he was moaning about his Zesty being not really what he needs for where we live, he was so pleased with it that two days later went out and bought one

Just changed the seat post as the Woodman’s stared to fall apart on me, have added my favourite seat post of all time, a  Raceface Deus XC

At last after weeks of waiting all the pieces have been received and added

This is for me at least the best bike around, I have built it up from scratch putting about the best parts available on it, it rides like a dream, XC is just great , it handles really well, even downhill is just great.

Frame : Rocky Mountain Element 70 version ‘Tribal’ 18″
Forks : Fox 32 RLC 100mm
Front Derailleur : Shimano XTR, Rear Derailleur : Shimano XTR
Shifters & Levers : Shimano XTR Dual control
Bottom Bracket & Chainset : Shimano XTR
Headset : Chris King
Stem : Race Face Deus 90mm XC, Handlebars : Race Face Next 630mm XC carbon
Seatpost : Race Face Next SL XC carbon
Front Brake : Shimano XTR 180mm Disc, Rear Brake : Shimano XTR 160mm Disc
Wheels : Shimano XTR Wheelset 2008
Saddle : Fizik Gobi, Pedals : Time Atac carbon
Weight : 12 Kilos

Update 2009, nothing changed as this is really the “bee’s knees”, it’s a brilliant ride, perfect for XC riding which I prefer, everything is just right with the bike

I have tried many other bikes, none handle and feel like this one

For the moment I’m running Maxxis Ignitor USB 2.10  for the front tyre and Maxxis Larsen TT USB  2.10 at the back, am testing the Maxxis Crosmark on the Lapierre as the front tyre and will see which I shall use this summer season

Update, after 18 months riding I decided to change the bearings on the pivots, there are 6 bearings to be changed, I basically did this for fun but realised that it had  to be done as one was dead and others were damaged, note that I never use a power washer to wash the bike just a garden hose.

2 *  Rockey’s reference 6901RS

4 * Rocky’s reference 6001LB

I ordered the replacements from http://www.bocabearings.com

buying

http://www.bocabearings.com/main1.aspx?p=product&id=14127&n=#BRK-078C-YS/C3

and

http://www.bocabearings.com/main1.aspx?p=product&id=10426&n=#BRK-021C-YS/C3

To change the bearings its quite easy but you need the tools to take of the pedal set to get to the bottom bearings

To take out the bearings you need to dismantle all of the back section so that you can lay flat the pieces (very important, other wise bye bye frame ….), firstly to ‘wallop” out the old bearings and secondly to place the new ones, I used a flat piece of iron with a heavy rubber mallet to get them in, attention they must be laying flat again (very important, other wise bye bye frame ….), and finally to sink the in I used a socket set that was that same diameter as the bearings so that I didn’t damage them, you most not hit the rubber part

At the back of the frame where the carbon bars join the bottom bars are IGUS bushings these I have not replaced but I cleaned them up, do not oil/ grease them

When you take the bolts out to dismantle the bike be careful that you don’t lose the conical washers and be careful when you put them back later that they go back on the right way (smaller side to the bearing)

All in all this was not to difficult, it took me a afternoon, about 4 of the bearings out of 6 were used with one completely dead, so it had to be done, the bearings cost me about 100 dollars so not to expensive, and while I had the pedal set of I changed it for a new one as it was becoming worn and of course changed the chain, cassette, dérailleur and all cables as well

January 2009

I lashed out and bought a Garmin 705,

I had been thinking about about buying a GPS for a while now, my choices were between the edge 705 and the Colorado 400, although the Colorado has a bigger screen I decided that it was more for those who hike and not bike (that rhymes)

So I bought the Edge, smaller screen, but heart monitor included and also it’s cheaper than the Colorado

I bought it thru amazon UK although I am living in France and as its half the French price

I have  the Isle de France Topo map  as the map that is included with the unit is a waste of time and I will only be using the 705 for off road biking so I need all the paths / tracks details to be shown, the complete DVD containing all of France is not available yet, though should be end of march 2009 (edit Mai and still not available)  this will be cheaper and apparently they are adding some colour, so that the maps will look like ordinance survey maps which will be nice as for the moment the Topo maps are basically just two colours

Comparison Topo  & IGN map (same spot on map)

The unit is small and fits real nice on the bike stem which is a 80 cm on my bike, it can be fitted to the handle bars as well, but on the stem it’s protected in a crash as nothing is overlapping anywhere

The 705 is not to complicated at first glance and I got it setup and running fairly quickly, though the Garmin handbook is rather basic, many things are not explained so I spent some time on the forums or just playing around with it, for instance I couldn’t get my heart beat to show up on the screen, until I found that in the data fields / bike computer 1 or 2, not only can you choose how many inserts/panes  can be seen in the window but also you can choose and change the data that is shown in each insert / pane, this is not really or rather not clearly explained in the handbook which is a shame as its really great, 1 to 8 inserts/panes in the same window, pretty neat

Its to soon to say if I have will use the work outs or the training but I shall try, being that this year I should get more biking in and it would be useful to get my training up another notch

Certain things are no good though, the alarms when for running under or over set heart rates are to quiet, and I can barely hear them in my sitting room so on the bike outside just forget it, I am 51 and going deaf with age, What about a headphone socket Garmin ???? or a blue tooth option.

Edit March 2009

The Garmin software  seems to work just fine and on Vista 64 (though it’s not 64 native) so that’s a nice surprise but not a Linux which is shame.

There are two main sites that will be of use with the Edge

http://connect.garmin.com and https://my.garmin.com/mygarmin/customers/myGarminHome.faces

Software : mapsource, map install and training center

“mapsource” is a program so that you can see the trails that you have ridden but it’s really useful for creating  rides, this can use the Topo maps so that you can see all the finest of details and it can transfer the Topo map to the 705, strange thing as there is also a program “map install” to install even easier the maps to your Garmin, why the map install is not included in the mapsource I don’t know

Training center is garmin’s ‘agenda’ so that you can see all your rides, (use SportTracks as it’s far better)

A little confusing, why two sites and two programs rather than one of each with access to both I don’t really know

Forums or sites

So far I have found a couple of sites giving useful information

http://www.motionbased.com/update : Now closed, replaced by https://forums.garmin.com/index.php

http://www.utagawavtt.com/ this is in French but has loads of tracks than can be downloaded for free, and for me living in France it’s just fine

Update the above site has become impossible to upoad for me and they dont bother answering e mails so I’m now testing and using http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=394087

http://www.gpsies.com/convert.do you will need this to make track that can be navigated

http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/ with a month or so of using the 705 this is by by far the best site and the best program that exists, I have started using the program which is free of charge (you can donate to them), it replaces Garmin Connect and  MotionBased the latter programs are online site, Sportracks is on your PC, so much faster but you wont be able to access it from anothe PC. It’s really good I am amazed that it can do so much and that it’s free, the only week part is that the Topo maps can’t be ’seen’ in it as they can only be read by Garmin software

Some things that might be of help to new users :

1, You have to set the ‘Position Format’ in the ‘unit settings’, this is not explained in the hand book, and there are many choices, after googling around I found that ‘Position Format’ meant GPS datum and unless I am wrong the only settings in the list for France is the UTM UPS setting ( the default after a hard reset is hddd°mm.mmm)

2, For the time zone the setting for France are ‘Central Europe’

New things tested :

Courses and virtual partner : This I like, after saving a History to a Course you can then re do the trail/course  and have the virtual program tell you if you are riding lower or faster than the last time

Routing

Now that I have this sussed it’s quite good, you MUST turn of the lock on road option and the re calculate option, this will then allow you to follow even the smallest of trails, also turn of the Auto Zoom off , this is annoying as at every junction the scale settings jumped  back to about 200/300 meters where I use the 20/50 meters settings

Annoying things are : the messages ‘turn left on unpaved road’ who cares if its a unpaved road when doing of road riding, ‘turn left’ would do just nicely and it would be easier and quicker to read, or that it takes up another ‘pane’ on the screen rather than just over writing the pane that is already there for a couple of seconds (I use 2 small panes on at the top to show speed and heart rating)

Courses

I then transferred the same map to a ‘course’, this is not bad as well you get then pink trace to follow same as the routing except you don’t get the “turn” messages” , I had to juggle a little with the scale settings and sometimes I found that the screen didn’t draw fast enough and I over shot the turning, meaning that I was stopping and going back a meter or so to get back on the track, but not bad and I am sure that this takes a little getting used to, but I don’t think that it can be used for fast riding on a unknown path, I need to test this option more

Things that I don’t like

My main grumble is the glass screen on the 705, this is very reflective and in sunlight I see myself rather the map it’s like a mirror, don’t Garmin test their own products, In the photo you can my gloves and the back of my telephone taking the photo

The handbook is crap, many things are not explained luckily the  https://forums.garmin.com/index.php or http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/Forums/ both are very good, and I found out most things from these forums

The sound or rather the volume : Ok I’m a little on the deaf side as I’ve turned 51, but the beeps I just cannot hear them and its a real shame as sometimes you need to watch where you are going and not the screen so the beeps to warn you that there will be a turn coming up are useful, but other seem to think that they are to loud, so just a volume control would maybe sort out the problem

Creating a track that can be navigated : this in itself is easy using  the mapsource program and save it as a GPX file, but you then need a another program or rather a website that modifies it http://www.gpsies.com/convert.do so that it will be work as a track that can be “navigated” , this is just plain silly. For info you upload the saved “GPX” file and transfer it to a “GPX Track” file and then save it to your 705, why the mapsource program can’t do it all I don’t know

Update May 2009

Firmware update to 2.70, all seemed to go went well untill the first ride and the Edge just ‘locked up’ after 30 mins of riding, so I had to do a hard reset by pressing  start + mode buttons to get it to reboot, and to top it all the ride was not recorded, but reading the forums it seems that a lot of people have had to do a hard reset after updating, since then all is well though

I have done my first search for a Geocache, downloaded a cache from http://www.geocaching.com/ and even managed to find it, so do some more as it’s different and you get the impression that your looking for treasure

Update June 2009

At last the IGN France Topo 25:000 V2 is available, I bought the “all France version” a DVD with also a SD card (that cannot be used with the edge 705 as it’s a 4gb card)

Tha maps are a little easier to use as that have more colours BUT the contours lines are almost exactly the same colour as the track line and can make reading difficult, also there is no explication for the colours so reading it means that you are not  sure if its a small road or a paved track for instance, there is a bug in the 705 software that sometimes makes the contours lines as thick as the track  and then you need to reboot or stop the saves rides as the screen becomes unreadable, big very thick purple lines all over the place, also I noticed that the map is missing certain smallish paths that are indicated on the IGN paper version (bit of a rip of) as its meant to be the same , I find as I was away on a biking weekend and according the Garmin there was no paths where we were and yet we were on them and the paper IGN showed them

It’s better than the V1 CD Rom version, but ……

Update June 18th

Firmware update available, version 2.8, just seems to correct some smallish bugs, but does a hardware reset so note your setting before doing it

Update Have had one lock-up and one re boot while riding which I have never had before, have re installed the 2.8 but deleted all files before including profile files, maps, saved rides etc as many are still there after an update,this meant That I re installed everything and re configured everything  will see how this goes over the next couple of weeks

Changing map colours

One of the many things that bug me with the 705 maps are the colours, many being the same ish colours and difficult to read quickly especially if you are like me and need glasses for reading but not for riding …

So I have be playing with http://ati.land.cz/gps/typedit/editor.cgi to see if I could make things easier

I have changed the colours of, trails and paths from the grey colour to red

At the same time the land contours I have made them thinner and dotted and black (this seems to have cleared up the THICK contour bug that many are having)

You can download the file that I have modified from the below link and you replace the I0000186.TYP file in your Garmin file with mine renaming Red trails I0000186.TYP to just just I0000186.TYP

PLEASE make a backup of the old file (just rename it “originalI0000186.TYP” or something similar
In XP you will find this file in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\GARMIN\Maps\TOPO France v2.gmap
In Vista you will find it in C:\ProgramData\GARMIN\Maps\TOPO France v2.gmap

Download my file from http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?twm3yqjknon

Once the file has been replaced start Mapsource and re download your map to the Garmin

The images show both trails and contour lines

Please note that I have done this for fun and to see if I can make my map better, please feel free to test the file and get back to me but please note that I cannot be held responsible if it doesn’t work or if your 705 melts or blows up ……

Sorry about the photo quality, it was taken with my mobile, the shadows on the screen are from my window blinds …..

I have rode with the new map, track are easier to see and the contour lines are less obtrusive

Playing with gpx and tcx files

I uploaded a route that I made using Mapsource to http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com

Interesting thing is when I ‘look’  at the route on their site its not quite right, the trace is all straight lines and it doesn’t  quite follow the roads or paths as it should, so I uploaded the file to http://www.gpsies.com/convert.do and convert it to a gpx track, now this should be the same (gpx file to gpx file) BUT when ‘looking’ at the now converted file in Biketoaster it’s perfect, the trace follows perfectly the paths and roads, why I don’t know, but it seems that all routes made with mapsource are better if converted with GPSies.com

Also I have found an oldish program (2006 nothing since) called Gpx2Crs, quite clever,  this adds turn points on a course file giving small arrows on the turning but no pop up directions, clever thing is you upload the program and just tell it to add these points onto a xx degree turning, 60 degrees by default, the only bug that I have seen is that it doesn’t rename the  file correctly, but that easy to correct with Foxe (this might be due to me using Vista 64)

Bike toaster is meant to be able to do this but they have to be added by hand and one by one and it is not very clear on how to do it, the instructions are as clear as mud

2009

This year I took a week’s holiday and so spent more time down south, I managed to get in 5 days of biking, doing twice the full circuit of 55km and twice 35km plus some more biking in between

300km in all with over 5600m of dénivelé, not to bad

Like last year the weather was super, even managed to get some swimming in the sea

This year we were seven in total, all good friends and all wearing  my company’s biking gear

I’ve put this ride on EveryTrail which cab be download onto a GPS unit :

Roc d’Azur_2009 at EveryTrail

2008

Here we go again, 55 km about 2400m dénivelé (now what is that in English ??)

This year more training time and a new bike meant that this was better than last year

Brilliant sunshine, overs 16 ooo bikers, what more could a MTBist ask for

3 of my best mates and myself managed to get 3 great biking days in, no accidents, everything went well

Photos :

Bloody long hill, phew

all finished and time for a rest

Ok so I am continuing with Linux on my MSI Wind

I un- installed Ubuntu 8.4 as one of the updates screwed up the Wifi and as I’m only playing with this machine I installed the latest version of mandrake 2009,

The wifi straight out of the box but after a couple of days, I got rid of it as I just don’t like it, I also tried Suse 11, but the live CD doesn’t know how to cope with a 10″ screen and the install gave me an error message, so dustbin for Suse

So I installed the beta of Intripid Ibix 8.10

I have to admit installing this version is even easier than the others, with live CD its just so easy including the partition of the HD, (this is the most dangerous part, when installing Linux), the number of people in forums and on IRC concerning “I’ve lost my Window partition” is quite disconcerting and when losing the Windows partition I can understand when people never touch Linux again, I have been there and done that but I don’t give up easily;

So install finished, it took about 10 / 20 mins and then there were loads of updates, normal its still in the beta stage

these updates are as easy as Windows, just click on the update icon and it does it all automatically

Wifi still wasn’t working but found a link on a forum that worked first time and was fairly easy, http://julienpecqueur.com/tutoriaux/install_driverwifi.html still needed to use terminal, I don’t mind using terminal but to be honest if Linux wants windows users to come over to Linux this has to stop, as most people don’t use the terminal in Windows, Linux needs to be GUi 100% as in Windows, note the wifi problem is specific to the MSi Wind most machines will work out of the box

So after a couple of days so far so good, a couple of programs have crashed, but again in a beta software this is normal and what I like about Linux is even if the program crashes all still works just fine, in windows I would have been obliged to re boot

So so far so good, I will never be able to transfer my main machines to Linux as at work I run, Delphi, Borland and windows SQL at work and at home my machine is just for games, (though more and more games seem to be running on Linux)

Linux seem to be getting as good (or probably better) and nearly as easy as Windows and that is really nice, just installing or updating programs that are not in Synaptics is a real pain and will stop people

Recent things that are better, sharing a folder so that other can read and right to it, before was a pain now just click and confirm

For the person who wants to run Internet, e mail and ‘normal’ programs Linux is the way to go, its faster, cleaner, better and almost as easy and if all normal operations could be run by GUI interface then it would be the perfect OS

Update may 2009

just installed Ubuntu 9.04 on the Msi Wind, everything went just fine and for once even the WiFi is working, I had tried Mint Version RC 7 but the WiFi wasn’t recognised and even tried the latest version of Debian 5, but it kept giving me errors so I binned it.

Don’t use Linux mmuch as the Wind is only used when I’m in a train or away and the programs that I use most still don’t have Linux versions, shame …

So I’m now playing with Linux

I have over the last couple of years tried Linux, mandrake, suse, ubuntu but always got stuck by its lack of user friendly and lack of hardware support (I tend to change my computer equipment very often and always for that latest piece of hardware) and so Linux was always just that little bit late

So anyway september I saw and bought the latest MSI WIND netbook, though it comes in either a linux or Xp setup I bought the XP setup as I sometimes need XP for certain programs that can’t be run on linux

The netbook is just great except the battery life, 90 mins max is a little short but other than that its perfect

Then I tried to install Linux Mint as I had read some great articles on it but sadly was unable to install the version “Mint 5 Elyssa” because of CD Rom problems, shame, with a name like that it’s perfect for me and their IRC channel is very helpful, they  are also  a friendly lot

I then tried Ubuntu, This version has a huge forum and IRC following, I had tried the version 6,06 but as stated previously was unimpressed, This time I installed Hardy 8,04, The install went well, 20 minutes or so later all was finished with half the HD in XP and the rest in Linux

Even in 2008 and version 8,04 certain things are still not perfect, the wifi wouldn’t work nor the web cam, but there is a forum MSI WIND and with a linux section and so managed to get both working but to honest this is not for a every day person as you need to use terminal and strange things like sudo, its quite complcated

I love Linux as it can be configured to look and feel just how you like, unlike vista and X and although I am not anti bill gates a change would be nice from windows

But if you want to play with Linux you need to learn how to CD, CP, MV and strange things like that in terminal which can be fun but again not for the average computer person, Vista has one up on Linux as it say you should do it but if you wish you can just click on yes, so much easier where as in Linux it has to be in terminal using root commands,

And still certain things are to complicated, using synaptic for installing programs is easy but downloading a Linux program or update from a web site and installing it is daunting, I recently downloaded a update to ‘TomBoy notes’ but am unable to install it, this is still as complicated as years ago, why there can’t be an install button, I do not know, having to CD or MV  and or CHMOD is over the top and for most just plain impossible, even to this day I am unable to run the update and as its still not on synaptics ……

Still so far am still using the Linux version on this netbook, am awaiting the next version of Ubuntu that will be out end of October as it sounds like it will be even better but I still believe that for the majority of users it will still be to complicated

Ok so the raid card 5405  has been bought but sadly no cable was supplied with it and of course the cable is quite hard to get hold of ….

One week later cable obtained SAS to 4 Sata, (SAS*4 – 4SATA)

If I have the courage this will be done this weekend as it means re installing Vista as you cannot transfer raid motherboard set-ups to raid cards, they are not the same system

I am going to cheat though will set-up the raid 1 or 0 not sure which one yet on two raptors that I have, that way keeping my old set-up for a while just in case

Friday evening and  the install has started,

After installing it in the PC I booted into Ctrl+A ( to get into the raid set-up) straight away problems started as nothing happened, and it took me quite a while to suss out that I had to do Ctrl+Q which was read as Ctrl+A as I am running a French keyboard, 2008 and still certain companies don’t take into account foreign keyboards

The quick install book is far from clear but managed to get my two HDs initialised and bootable and have started the Vista 64 install

Again problems as you need to install the raid drivers and again Adaptec makes life difficult as when you download the driver le Vista driver is in the amd64 folder and unless you point Vista to that folder its incapable of finding it. for info the driver is the Adaptec RAID Driver v5.2.0.15728 for Windows, Microsoft certified

For info its the latest driver online dated 6 April 2008

So anyway … started the install, Vista rebooted the PC in mid process but I think it was due to my 4gigs of memory installed so I took out 2 gigs and started again

Got further this time but Vista blocked five mins later in the config, reboot again ….

Still getting nowhere, Vista just blocks before set-up is finished, have un installed the sata CD Rom drive, re initialised the HDs and am starting all over again

Ok seem to be getting somewhere I swapped the PCI express slot and used the second – middle slot and was able to finish the setup (thanks to http://www.evga.com/forums/printable.asp?m=331877 ) for info my MB is a Evga 780i, bios version 06

No go with the updates still get black screen and white cross/cursor  as in the link above, I can only get into Vista in safe mode, not in normal mode

Have updated the raid Bios of the card to the latest version and still the same problems, this IS due to Vista and the driver as it works perfectly in XP

Have now updated the Bios on the Evga 780i MB to the latest version 07, was even able to get the raid card running in the bottom slot which before was unable to but Vista still freezes

Have now installed XP32 on this card and have dumped Vista for the moment, first impression are whow … really much faster, for info the card is installed in the bottom slot, the second slot is just under the video card and I’m a little worried about it getting hot

No news from the Adaptec support concerning this problem, edit 5 days later still no response from them, edit 6 months later and never got a reply from them, its the last time I’ll buy their  products, I hate company that can’t be bothered with their clients, their are other companies around that have a better customer service these should be used first

UPDATE :

Still no news from Adaptec by e mail BUT there are new drivers and bios on their web site dated August 1rst http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/downloads/ms/ms_win_vista_x64?productId=SAS-5405&dn=Adaptec+RAID+5405

Although in the release notes they don’t even bother saying anything about Vista these now work just fine, I was able to clean install vista 64 in raid 0 without any problems – at last

Such a shame that their customer service is such crap

Edit may 2009

I  have just updated the bios on the card, http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/speed/raid/asr/fw_bios/5405_fw_b16501_exe.htm

Edit June 2009

I  have just updated the bios on the card http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/speed/raid/asr/fw_bios/5405_fw_b17380_exe.htm

and the drivers http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/speed/raid/aac/windows/aacraid_xp_x64_ws08-ws03-Vista_x64_x86_b17380_exe.htm

Update October 2009

latest bios update http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/speed/raid/asr/fw_bios/5405_fw_b17517_exe.htm

Latest driver update http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/speed/raid/aac/windows/aacraid_xp_x64_ws08-ws03-Vista-w7_x64_x86_b17517_cert_exe.htm

From this file you can unzip the 7  files needed and the afu.exe file

To do this you need 8 floppy disks , the first floppy contains DOS, the 7 other files contains the bios files called xxxx1.ufi to xxx7.ufi (xxxx being the file number in this case it was AS540501.ufi), on the second floppy you must install the afu.exe file and the xxxw1.ufi file, the others just contain the xxxx2.ufi,xxxx3.ufi and so on, 1 file per disk

Boot from the DOS floppy, at the dos prompt change to the second disk , type in afu.exe you will get a coloured screen, choose ‘update flash’ as the option and hit Ok, just follow instructions changing the floppy when required, it’s easy

You can also do this from a USB key. To format the USB stick and make it e bootable you will need the HP USB disk storage format tool http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/34/images/SP27213.exe and the following files from http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/34/images/USBImage.zip just run the HP tool and format the key and making it a DOS startup disk then unzip the  USB image and copy it on to the key, add all the 7 floppy files including AFU.exe and boot the PC from the USB and run afu.exe , its fairly easy and far quicker

More info on creating a USB boot key can be found here http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=585785&mpage=1&key=&#585785

To update the driver for the raid card, do this from ‘my computer’ and update the driver like you would any other driver

(note : Vista didn’t want to update  le older drivers, saying that they were indentique to the latest ones which was untrue, the solution in that case is delete the drivers, reboot, Vista will then install very old ones and you can then update correctly the driver to the latest version)

These latest drivers should run fine in Windows 7

After checking my computer using Vista checking tools I founds that I was getting errors with “Avg Disk Queue Lengh”,

after spending quite a lot of time using google and checking the HD , defragging etc etc I found or suspected that it was due to the raid 5 setup,

As raid 5 is rather complicated for a MB set-up and it was having a  hard time running it, so I switched back to a raid 0 setup This i was able to do using the software included by Nvidia except that it is now a 3 HD raid 0 as it’s unable to otherwise

The problem has not only gone away but I can even see a speed difference in the normal computer running, things are far faster

Next step is to install a raid card rahter than the MB doing the job, next post ……

So I have taken the dive and am going to watercool my computer  :

Here is the list of what I have just ordered. I ordered these goods from

http://www.watercooling.fr

This a French site and their forum was very helpful and quick to respond, am now awaiting delivery

Also I made a mistake with my order and instead of just delivering what I had ordered, they contacted me to inform me and modify my order, Thats what you call service, Bravo

As soon I receive this i shall start on the job, first thing is to see if I can fit the RAD in the case at the top as this would be nice, photos will follow

Before watercooling

Air cooling

And now watercooling ::

The goodies : Waterblock-Enzotech SCW 1 (replaced by Swiftech Apogee GT as the enzo leaked after 2 days)  : Pump-Laing DDC+1 and Plexy top : Reservoir-Swiftech MCRES micro : Liquid Feser one, , Metal barbs 10mm : Tygon tubing

So first things first, The Coolmaster 1000 case need to be modified to accept the radiator’s 3*120 as there are only 2 fans originaly fitted in the case

So I emptied everything out of the case and got the Dremel out of the cupboard and started cutting away

mpty case except for the fans, only the back fan will be kept

Third fan placement drawn out and ready to be cut, didn’t really mesure anything just sketched and cut …..

So now the space has been cut away so that the third fan can blow air freely, Notice that the 3 fans are not quite the same spacing as the original ones, they are on top of the radiator in a pull position

Reservoir and pump fitted, only needed to drill 2 small holes for the pump and fitted rubber washers between the back of the  pump / reservoir and the case wall

Fitting the waterlock was really easy except that it was delivered with 1/2 barbs (12.7mm) and the rest of my set-up are 3/8 (10mm) so I had to to use the 2 plastic barbs (yuk) that were delivered with the reservoir so that I had enough, I changed the Enzo after 2 days as it sprung a leak )

Now I am ready to start the plumbing

Tubes in placed but clips not yet fixed, note the 2 horrible plastic barbs with the reservoir, no kinks just nice round curves. The water direction is reservoir, pump, waterblock, radiator, reservoir

The tricky bit first I shorted the power supply as indicated in the link below so that I could fill up the reservoir without powering up the MB,

I added in the fill hole a bit of left over tube plus a funnel and sort of squirted liquid into the reservoir as it got low and I switched on and of the power so that as soon as the pump got to low I filled it more, tricky but can be done,

http://www.overclock.net/faqs/96712-how-jump-start-power-supply-psu.html

Above is the link that explains how to short the power supply making things a little easier and safer

I adding a side fan as the raid card gets to hot, it’s an Antec 220mm, just cut a hole and added some mesh between the fan and the side panel, this fans pulls fresh air into the case

Plastic top cover back on, all is hidden away as before

here you can see how most of the wires can be hidden away nicely round the back

It’s finished

original 10mm tubes

Notice new video card 280gtx and 1000w PSU from Corsair

Just addede a side panel with glass panel added