Raid configuration windows problem

[tarpoon75]

I took my hard drives out of my computer a while back to blow out dust with some canned air and when I went to fire it back up it wouldn't boot off of the raid. When it goes into the bios it will recognize both 80 gig drives but refuses to boot off of them. I've tried booting of windows but it will only recognize one of the drive. I really would like to be able to save it without having to wipe it clean and start over.

Any suggestions???

[koldchillah]

What OS? How did you have the RAID configured? Was it from a hardware RAID controller or software (Windows) RAID?

[tarpoon75]

What OS? How did you have the RAID configured? Was it from a hardware RAID controller or software (Windows) RAID?


It striped 0 raid, I believe it's been 2 years since I did it...
Here is my setup:
Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard with raid controller hardware
Athlon 2600
512 DDR Ram
2 Maxtor 80gig drives


I realized with the 0 Raid I trade speed for reliablilty but it was fairly stable.....before in crashed I was having trouble with Battlefield Vietnam it would lock up my computer and restart....

[The Dude]

Do you think you might have mixed the drives up and swapped them when you put theme back in?

[tarpoon75]

Do you think you might have mixed the drives up and swapped them when you put theme back in?


Maybe but, I switched them back and forth with no luck.....would it make a difference after I had switched them back?

[koldchillah]

Maybe but, I switched them back and forth with no luck.....would it make a difference after I had switched them back?

That depends on whether or not either of the disks have been overwritten yet. Have you gone into the RAID controller's config utility and checked the status of the array?

[tarpoon75]

That depends on whether or not either of the disks have been overwritten yet. Have you gone into the RAID controller's config utility and checked the status of the array?


Yes it sees both HDs and has no conflicts

[koldchillah]

Yes it sees both HDs and has no conflicts

Yes, but does it see them as an RAID 0 array or just independent disks? There's a big difference.

[tarpoon75]

Yes, but does it see them as an RAID 0 array or just independent disks? There's a big difference.


Sorry it shows the drives as:

Set0 Sil Striped Set <PM> 152688MB

So yes it shows it as a RAID O

However, in the BIOS it doesn't detect my HDs

[koldchillah]

Sorry it shows the drives as:

Set0 Sil Striped Set <PM> 152688MB

So yes it shows it as a RAID O

OK, so according to your RAID controller, everything is peachy?

So when you try to boot, what exactly happens? Black screen w/ blinking cursor? Blue Screen error? Computer restarts or just freezes? Invalid system disk?

[koldchillah]

However, in the BIOS it doesn't detect my HDs

but the RAID controller utility sees them fine? :confused: Are these drives SATA or IDE?

DOH! nevermind. scratch that. The BIOS might not see the disks because they are connected to the controller and you will always enter BIOS before the RAID card initializes..

[tarpoon75]

OK, so according to your RAID controller, everything is peachy?

So when you try to boot, what exactly happens? Black screen w/ blinking cursor? Blue Screen error? Computer restarts or just freezes? Invalid system disk?

The Bios runs, shows HDs in their raid config.......Stalls with "Verifying DMI Pool Data"

Then gives Boot from CD

and I get disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter

[koldchillah]

The Bios runs, shows HDs in their raid config.......Stalls with "Verifying DMI Pool Data"

Then gives Boot from CD

and I get disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter

It sounds like the master boot record got corrupted or something..

First, just to make sure its not a BIOS setting, restore default settings.

Then boot from the windows CD (make sure you press F6 to load your RAID driver from floppy or else it will not be able to see your array) and once you are in setup go to repair and choose the recovery console. Then you can use the recovery console to run the fixmbr & fixboot commands..

[tarpoon75]

It sounds like the master boot record got corrupted or something..

First, just to make sure its not a BIOS setting, restore default settings.

Then boot from the windows CD (make sure you press F6 to load your RAID driver from floppy or else it will not be able to see your array) and once you are in setup go to repair and choose the recovery console. Then you can use the recovery console to run the fixmbr & fixboot commands..


Great I just couldn't remember what the fixmbr command was

[tarpoon75]

I tried the fixboot, and fixmbr with no avail. It does not show the primary HD channel. So am I stuck to with deleting the array and starting fresh?

[koldchillah]

I tried the fixboot, and fixmbr with no avail. It does not show the primary HD channel. So am I stuck to with deleting the array and starting fresh?

So you booted into setup, it showed windows installed on drive C: and you entered the command console and the commands didn't work?

The reason I ask is because if Windows Setup did not detect the array or any drives, then you would not have been able to continue with windows setup to even try to repair anything.

[tarpoon75]

So you booted into setup, it showed windows installed on drive C: and you entered the command console and the commands didn't work?

The reason I ask is because if Windows Setup did not detect the array or any drives, then you would not have been able to continue with windows setup to even try to repair anything.

It detected windows, and I typed in the commands, after executing the commands I go a C prompt, except for the fixboot command it said it counld find the boot drive. I rebooted and tried it again with the same outcome.

What now?

[koldchillah]

It detected windows, and I typed in the commands, after executing the commands I go a C prompt, except for the fixboot command it said it counld find the boot drive. I rebooted and tried it again with the same outcome.

What now?

Make sure in the system BIOS that the boot order has the Raid controller listed so you can be sure it's trying to boot off the array rather than an IDE drive that doesn't exist. If its still having trouble finding the Master Boot Record, you may have a bad array or worse, bad disk..

Perhaps someone else here who has that same board could give you a few more suggestions to try before starting from scratch..

[tarpoon75]

Make sure in the system BIOS that the boot order has the Raid controller listed so you can be sure it's trying to boot off the array rather than an IDE drive that doesn't exist. If its still having trouble finding the Master Boot Record, you may have a bad array or worse, bad disk..

Perhaps someone else here who has that same board could give you a few more suggestions to try before starting from scratch..


I jut checked it in the bios but it doesn't have any RAID config in it. I've checked the array manager and it sees both drives with no conflicts I'm going to try fixboot and fixbmr again.....I'm running out of things to try

It realy sucks because I just got a INVIDA G-Force 6800 GT video card with a DLP projector on the way and would love to be able to use them all together.

[koldchillah]

I jut checked it in the bios but it doesn't have any RAID config in it. I've checked the array manager and it sees both drives with no conflicts I'm going to try fixboot and fixbmr again.....I'm running out of things to try

It realy sucks because I just got a INVIDA G-Force 6800 GT video card with a DLP projector on the way and would love to be able to use them all together.

Check your motherboard manual (you can download it from asus if you lost it) and see what if it mentions anything about the available boot devices.. It doesn't make sense that you can get windows to see the array in setup, but it can't boot from it after repairing the MBR.. Maybe the BIOS has an "other boot device" option or something?

Did you reset the BIOS to default settings? THEN set the boot order.

Otherwise, it sounds more and more like the array is either hosed or a disk is bad/going bad. If the array is just whacked out you should be able to rebuild it and reinstall windows without replacing a disk.

Good luck with it. :thumb:

[tarpoon75]

Check your motherboard manual (you can download it from asus if you lost it) and see what if it mentions anything about the available boot devices.. It doesn't make sense that you can get windows to see the array in setup, but it can't boot from it after repairing the MBR.. Maybe the BIOS has an "other boot device" option or something?

Did you reset the BIOS to default settings? THEN set the boot order.

Otherwise, it sounds more and more like the array is either hosed or a disk is bad/going bad. If the array is just whacked out you should be able to rebuild it and reinstall windows without replacing a disk.

Good luck with it. :thumb:

I checked the manual yesterday with no luck, I'm going to reset the bios today. If that doesn't work then I'm just going to bit the bullet and delete and add a new array......thanks for the help

[tarpoon75]

Finally figured out the problem.....one of my hard drvies failed..........most dissapointed :irate:

[koldchillah]

Finally figured out the problem.....one of my hard drvies failed..........most dissapointed :irate:

Bummer.. :( Unfortunately though, I was afraid that might be the case, especially once you said you couldn't repair the MBR, but hey, at least you tried all your options before declaring it a dead disk..

[tarpoon75]

Bummer.. :( Unfortunately though, I was afraid that might be the case, especially once you said you couldn't repair the MBR, but hey, at least you tried all your options before declaring it a dead disk..


Koldchillah and everyone thanks for the help, much appreciated