hd dropping out in RAID array

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I have two RAID 1 arrays, and the hard drives randomly drop out. It happens to both arrays, and there seems to be no noticeable cause. I'm not sure, but I think it could either be the controller, the power supply (not enough power for the computer??), or the hard drives themselves. I have a 460w power supply for the system, and I'm not sure it is enough anymore. Also, I've tried using the WD fireware update for the drives, which should fix the problem, but I can't update the 200GB hd's, as DOS doesn't recognize the RAID arrays. Maybe if I could get a hold of a ISO of a boot disk that recognizes RAID arrays and NTFS. Anyway, let me know if you have any ideas. System specs to follow. Thank you...
--IC2 (SW) Sander.

SuperMicro X5DAE mobo
dual Xeon 2.66GHz procs w/ HT
1GB PC2100 DDR
PNY Quadro 4 900XGL
(2) Western Digital 200GB hd (RAID 1)
(2) Western Digital 120GB hd (RAID 1)
Western Digital 200GB hd
Enermax 460w 24-pin power supply
Promise SX6000 RAID controller w/ 128MB RAM

 

[OLtimrNewbie]

I know this doesn't help much; but I have a similar problem. I use a Silicon Image Sil680 PCI Raid card; with 2 Maxtor 80Gb's. About every 3 or 4 days one drive will fail, then go through the auto rebuild; then the next time it's the other drive that fails and goes through the auto rebuild. Driving me nuts !! Takes a couple of hours to rebuild the drive. I'm using an AMD XP2400+ on a MSI KM2M Combo L motherbd. If we don't see any fixes on this forum; I may just go to a different m/b with the Raid controller onboard. I have another PC with an ASUS a7n8x dx that is working just great from the start up. It has the SATA Raid controller onboard; running 2 Seagate 80Gb in Raid 1. Never a hiccup; so far !

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Out of curiosity, do you have S.M.A.R.T. enabled on the array that is giving you problems???
--Tas.

 

[Cheetah8799]

460W should be more than enough, even with your 5 hard drives. You could check the mfgr specs to see how many watts each draws, I'm betting it's rather low compared to what your cpus will eat up. If you have a spare psu you could give it a shot. Or maybe borrow one from a friend, if possible.

Are your ide cables crimped at all? If you frequently mess with them, or routed them funny, they could cause problems.

OltimrNewbie, I've been told that the Silicon Image controllers aren't very good quality. Promise and HighPoint are considered the best. I'm no raid expert though, just passing along info I've been told.

 

[boomerang]

I have this going on also in RAID 1.

Close inspection revealed a bulging capacitor. Got that taken care of and the situation was not corrected.

I replaced both ribbon cables and no fix.

Both drives pass manufacturers diagnostics. Both are older 15GB WD's.

I'm using a Promise FastTrak100 TX2 with BIOS and drivers current and at same level.

I'm replacing this computer with a new one using a 3ware card, so I'm not going to expend any more energy on diagnosis.

Just wanted to jump in to report similar circumstances.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Well, I've found out what the problem was. It was my power supply... My Enermax 460w 24pin power supply died after less than a year. Could have been from a large load, or the voltage spikes we get here sometimes. Thank you all for the input you gave....
IC2 (SW) Sander (Tas)