Gigabyte EP35-DS3 raid problems?

Two months ago I purchased a brand new computer and since then it hasn't worked without fault since day one. I start up I often (not always) suffer a BSOD message about a SECURITY file missing, not being able to written to etc. It has been in and out of the computer shop for weeks on end and each time they are unable to ever got a blue screen when starting it up.

Currently it is in at the shop and they are saying there is a problem with the raid and that files are not identical across the raid. There are two segate 500GB SATA2 HDD's connect in raid 1 via the GSATA port (this motherboard does not have an Intel raid chip on it but instead uses a third party chip to supply raid via GSATA).

The full specs are
2 seaget 500GB 32MB cache SATA2 drive in raid 1
Gigabyte EP35-DS3
Liteon SATA DVD
MSI 8800GT 512OC
Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit
Coolmater Real Power 550W Extreme
2 2GB PC2-6400 800Mhz OCZ ram
Intel E8200

So far all the computer shop has been willing to say is that it is likely the raid array causing the problems (or windows vista) but these comments have not been backed up by any argument what so ever (other then raid inst fully reliable which I find very hard to believe as the whole point of raid is to provide more reliability) and that I should lose the raid and go normal set up.

That is all fine and good but when I ordered the PC from them I explicitly specified that it MUST have an intel CPU, must be windows vista 64, the hdd must be seagate and be in a raid 1 array and finally it must have an nvidia gfx card (my reasons my be illogical, stupid etc but regardless that is what I ordered and payed for).

Does anyone have the slightest idea what the hell might be going on? So far it seems that they have sold me an incompatible system and haven’t ballsed up to say that to me. I am very very close to walking in there and demanding a complete and utter refund and ordering the components and assembling it myself.

This is the error message I receive
Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\SECURITY
or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent, or not writable.

The computer is currently at the shop and it seem I may have made a deal with the devil.

They are sending down the exact same motherboard model to the local shop which they will then keep for 3days for testing. I will then get it back. This is the email I received from the head store manager after I started to kick up a fuss because they system they had supplied me didn't meet my requirements not that I had changed my mind about the system.

"Further to our phone, we appreciated your understanding and the following works will be carried out by our Technician due to "Blue-Screen" problem:

We will isolate and resolve this issue by end of next week and hand the PC over to you. As explained and agreed with you, during the first 14-days in use, we will be guaranteed that this particular issue is resolved under the condition that only Microsoft Program(s) will only be installed and void any other downloads/upgrade during this time, as we wish to isolate any possible software related problem."

More or less they told me I couldn't use the internet or use the computer to do anything other than run MS Word (I managed to get them to say ALL MS software so I can still do something on it other than have an expensive paper weight).

After the first two weeks I don't really know what happens if I then install something and it goes back to blue screening (I suspect they will say that is not our problem these are the term you agreed to but I will be kicking up more of a fuss and will bring the Australian Fair Trading Commission into it if they don't fix the problem).

I have posted my problem on the MS Vista 64bit computing forum and nothing has really come from it except one person has suggested that the error has been caused due to incorrect (or lower then needed by the system) ram voltage and to increase the voltage to 1.9 volts (http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.mspx?pg=2&p=1&tid=47e2336b-f378-41cc-b642-078b67d2592d&dg=microsoft.public.windows.64bit.general&cat=&lang=&cr=&sloc=en-us), second last post.

As for the raid drivers the shop has told me there have been no new driver updates since Dec 2007 (looking at the link you gave me (http://www.giga-byte.com/Support/Motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ProductID=2741) I can see some newer raid drivers from the 30/5/2008 for vista 64 so I really don't know what they are on about. I will ask them if they have updated the BIOS when I go to pick it up (I don't want to try and update the BIOS myself encase something goes wrong because the warranty does cover a bad bios update).

I never installed the raid array in the first place as I left that up to the shop as I had know idea about how to install a raid array and I wanted to avoid any potential problems that I might have like the one I currently have so I got them to install and set up everything for peace of mind (hasn't worked that way at all).

Thanks anyway

Did you ever get to the bottom of this?
I've just bought this board and intend to set up RAID1 and RAID5 arrays on it. This machine is for my wife, and she will hurt me if I lose any of our photos or home videos!

I get an occasional peciliarity when my 'bored' is cold, too - it's currently (for a few days yet, anyway...) in a basement that's pretty cold, as we've already had more than 40 inches of 'global warming' dumped on us. V64 is pretty fussy, too - I recently had a string of failures that looked like a RAM freeze - but when I booted any other OS, it was fine: looked in my install log (I recommend everyone keep a log, so you can go back and identify the start of problems) and found I had both loaded a utility program to try to change my 'cookies' location to one that's shared already between V32, Xp32, & Xp64 - AND, made a registry change for the same purpose when it failed to have a facility for that.... Fortunately, I had backed up the registry before hacking, AND set a restore point before installation, so I 'backed up one' change, and VOILA - all working fine again...

GB GA-X48-DS5 w/f8a BIOS - Q9550 stepE0 @ 3.825Ghz:
Arctic Cooling Freezer7Pro w/92mm PWM 'daisy-chained' to CoolIt Systems RamFan w/EverFlow F126025BU 60mm PWM;
Sunon KDE1204PFV2 40mm/NorthBridge; EverCool EC3010M12CA 30mm/SouthBridge;
8Gb (4x2) 1066 G.Skill F2-8500CL5D @ 1080 (DDR2-8640) 5-5-5-15 on 2.4(6:5)mult/1333strap...
CoolerMaster Cosmos 1000 w/Silverstone SST-CMD01 ESA 5ch fan controller/4ch temp sensor:
3 Arctic AC12L exhaust (top x 2 + rear); 2 Scythe SF12D (HDD cage top + rear); Scythe SF12E bottom intake...
Koutech IO-FPM220 3.5" Floppy & Card Reader; 2 IDE DVD's;
4 150Gb WD Velociraptors in two RAID0 pair-OSs & swaps; 2 1Tb WD RE3s in RAID1-data; 1 Sg 1.5Tb backups...
Multiboot via BootIt NextGeneration:
VistaUltimateX86/VistaUltimateX64/XpProX86/XpProX64(courtesy of TechNet)
SBD!