RAID0 wierd problem

[SaFrOuT]

Hi all

 

I am facing a very wierd problem with my RAID0 that was working perfectly for the last 4 months

 

i will do my best to give every little detail since i can't figure out what is the cause of the problem

 

i am suing to WD1600JS ( WD 160GB with SATA2 ) in RAID0 using the first and second sata ports on the ultra-D

 

everything was working perfectly , i installed WinXP using the latest RAID driver from dfi.com.tw and used F6 and the computer was perfect

 

till i bought myself an opty 165 3 weeks ago , i installed it and prefered to do a fresh WinXP install, since then my raid is acting weird

 

the problem appears when the xp installation reboot the first time after copying the files and loading the raid drivers from the floppy, the booting screen of XP appears but the blue bar keep going on without any hdd activity or anything till i get the blue BSOD screen and it reboots, then it start the installation normally and it ends without any problem, then when it reboot to enter the finished WinXP the system reboot before entering windows, i tried safe mode and everything and the same

 

i tried installing XP atleast 3 times daily for the last week, sometime it can boot into windows but the system hang ( not reboot or BSOD ) just hang after using windows for few mintues and when i push teh reset button the xp won't log in anymore

 

so i installed XP on my spare 80gb IDE hdd, after installing i installed the nvidia raid drivers to be able to see my raid setup, when i try to install any game or even copy files from or to the raid the system hangs in few minutes

 

which i think means that the problem is with the mobo

 

all of my system comp are stable and i am runnig it @ stock just to be sure

 

using chipset driver 6.70 from nvidia, nvidia raid bios version 4.84 , was using bios 704-2Bta and changed to 623-1

 

i tried the raid drivers from dfi.com.tw and i tried the files from the legacy folder and the sataraid folder in the nvidia 6.7 driver and all gave me the same results

 

is the sata on my mobo dying or what ?

 

sorry for the long thread but i am sure i need to tell everything so u can help me figure out what si the cause of the problem

 

Sorry for bothering and thanks in advance

 

 

EDIT:

a friend told me that it may be a master boot record problem on one of the sata drives, can it be ?? and how to check the health of the mbr of every drive ?

[Fernando]

Questions:

1. Have you set your Raid array as the first bootable hdd within BIOS?

2. Is your Raid "healthy" (second boot screen)?

Advices:

1. You should unplug your IDE hdd during the XP install onto your Raid0 array.

2. If you want to install Windows XP onto an nForce Raid system by F6/floppy, you should not take the newest nForce Sataraid drivers. Download the nForce chipset driver package v. 6.53 and copy the content of the IDEWinXP subfolder (without the raidtool folder) onto a floppy disk.

3. If you want to integrate the newest nForce Sataraid drivers for your board (off the 6.70 package), you should create a bootable CD with integrated drivers by using a tool like nLite or CD Creator.

 

CU

Fernando

[SaFrOuT]

Answers

1. yes as i said ti was working perfectly before changing to dual core

2. yes, although sometimes after a BSOD it appears as not healthy but a quick reset will fix it

 

Advices

1. did that everytime

2. this is the most interesting part indeed , why should i do that and not use the 6.7 or 6.66 ?

 

3. did that and it didn't work

[Fernando]

Advices

2. this is the most interesting part indeed , why should i do that and not use the 6.7 or 6.66 ?

Even the newest nForce SataRaid drivers are not correctly digitally signed by Microsoft. Although the Raid array is correctly detected during the first (=TEXTMODE) part of the installation, the installation often fails at the end, if you use the new drivers (off a package v. 6.66 or higher) via F6.

Reason: NVIDIA has changed the content of the INF files with the consequence, that the MS setup routine prefers to install the (wrong) MS IDE drivers instead of the correct nForce4 Serial ATA Controller driver (NVATABUS.SYS).

3. did that and it didn't work

Then you did not follow exactly my guide.

 

CU

Fernando

[SaFrOuT]

i used the 6.53 files and now i am posting this thread from WinXP installed on my lovely RAID0

 

i am really gratefull for ur help

 

Thank you very much

[Fernando]

i used the 6.53 files and now i am posting this thread from WinXP installed on my lovely RAID0

i am really gratefull for ur help

Thank you very much

You are welcome.

If you want, you can update your nForce SataRaid drivers now. The problems I described above occur only during the installation of WinXP.

 

Good luck!

Fernando

[SaFrOuT]

i installed forceware 6.7 but i didn't installed the nvdia storage driver

 

do u think i should do ? and how can i update the raid driver in windows

[Fernando]

i installed forceware 6.7 but i didn't installed the nvdia storage driver

do u think i should do ? and how can i update the raid driver in windows

When I have done it, I did the whole chipset driver setup (by executing the setup.exe of the chipset driver package 6.70) and it worked.

But it is a little bit dangerous with the Raid drivers. So if you are anxious, let the nForce storage drivers as they are.

[SaFrOuT]

so i should install the storage drivers from the 6.70 forceware and nothing else

[Fernando]

so i should install the storage drivers from the 6.70 forceware and nothing else

Yes, run the setup of the 6.70 chipset driver package and choose just the storage drivers, if you want, inclusive the nForce P-ATA driver (=IDE s/w).

Remark: All these drivers are NVIDIA nForce drivers, forceware are the NVIDIA display drivers.

[SaFrOuT]

ok thanks

 

and sorry for the naming mistake, i knew that but i am soooo happy now to remember anything except that i won't loose more than 250GB of important files cause U helped me fixing my RAID0

[SaFrOuT]

after spending 2 days on my compter with no problems the same thing happened last night again

 

i think it is something wrong with the hdd now or the mobo

 

tom i am getting a 200gb from a friend to backup all of my data to test both of them alone

 

so all i need to know is what programs can i use o check the hdd's health, like mbr, bad sectors and smart results ???

 

please poste any prg u know since i prefer to use more than one program to do so