Problems with my RAID array

techguy

Hi,

First off some background to my setup. I have recently installed two 1TB drives on my Intel ICH9R controller chip. I had built an array through the BIOS/DOS (??) manager, i.e. not windows. Intel Matrix Manager told me this was successful.

Problem:
Since I setup the array the matrix manager has said that the array is in a "degraded" state. This means one of the 2 drives has failed. But I don't think it ever worked, heres why. When I boot my computer a list of connected drives is displayed. Sometimes all is good, then other times one of my new 1tb drives doesn't sho up at all.. Then other times the name of the same drive comes up as lots of weird characters. and the drive size is 1008 GB when the other identical drive is always 1000 GB.

I am beginning to think that there is a fault with the drive now. How can I determine this for sure?

Does anybody have experience with this type of issue and Komplett ?

Any advice would be great..this RAID disaster is really irritating me now and costing me a lot of precious time.

Thanks.

P.S. Has anybody ever had similar issues/headache while setting up RAID in a pc. Would people reccommend leaving RAID to NAS type boxes or dedicated RAID cards? I'd love to hear from ye..thanks..!

C.D.

I presume you are using RAID 1. If you are using RAID 0 and one has failed you won't get past POST as it won't find an OS after that.

Test both drives by removing one to see if you can boot. Find the one (or both) that boots, backup up your data and find a HDD testing tool. Think Seagate do a good free one or find a copy of Hiren's boot CD.

techguy

C.D. wrote: »

I presume you are using RAID 1. If you are using RAID 0 and one has failed you won't get past POST as it won't find an OS after that.

Test both drives by removing one to see if you can boot. Find the one (or both) that boots, backup up your data and find a HDD testing tool. Think Seagate do a good free one or find a copy of Hiren's boot CD.

LOL, I didn't include any of the required info..

I have my OS installed on a seperate 500GB hard drive.

I ave 2 more 1 TB drives setup in RAID 1.

techguy

Ok,

I have done some troubleshooting.
I have come to realise that one of the 1TB drives registers in the BIOS (Intel Matrix Manager) only sometimes when the other drive always appears. It will always appear in windows regardless of whether it showed in BIOS Raid Manager..

When It does appear I go and create a new RAID array.. When I do this the drive disappears then the array says degraded..

If I then restart the Intel Matrix Manager (BIOS) tells me that an array is degraded and there is a drive ready to rebuild. I then select the drive...pause...then it just prompts me the same message as before, "select disk to rebuild array"..this keeps on looping!!

I initially thought the suspect drive was faulty.. but now I am thinking it may be the intel matrix manager ROM or even worse, the chip!!

What do you guys think? How can I run some more concrete tests on each device? and is it possible to upgrade the intel matrix storage manager rom?

Also, would it make a difference if I installed the matrix manager software on windows? I don't really think it would..

I have no experience with this kind of thing and I don't have anybody that I can ask in person..

FruitLover

techguy wrote: »

now I am thinking it may be the intel matrix manager ROM or even worse, the chip!!

This is what it sounds like to me. I'd recommend checking whether there's a firmware update for this controller.

techguy

FruitLover wrote: »

This is what it sounds like to me. I'd recommend checking whether there's a firmware update for this controller.

I had a quick check but I think I have the latest version..

I'll have a look again though!

techguy

FruitLover wrote: »

This is what it sounds like to me. I'd recommend checking whether there's a firmware update for this controller.

Guys, I've just gotten around to installing the replacement HD sent to me from komplett...

Unfortunately, I'm having the exact same problem as before.. with the repalcement drive :throws self out window:

To recap:

On Bootup I press CTRL + I to go to Intel Matrix Storage Manager..

Create RAID 1 Array.
Straight after creating the array I get an error saying that the new drive has failed and that I must select a new drive to rebuild the array.

The only drive in the option list is the one that has supposedly failed. If I select that then I just get the same popup again.

It's beginnning to look like its the intel ROM or even the chip!! What does one do Here?? Thanks..

Khannie

Did you find out if you have the latest firmware?

techguy

Khannie wrote: »

Did you find out if you have the latest firmware?

Yes, I'm pretty sure I did the last time but I just tried on the Intel page again and had no luck finding the ICH9R page..

How should I check??

Could it just be a coincidence that 2 drives in a row happened to be faulty??