New hard drive causing system not to boot

[KrakHT]

I'm running nvidia raid 1 (mirror). I have two SATA 300gb drives, Windows XP.

I just got my hands on a SATA 160gb drive, second hand so I am sure it has stuff on it (data is not needed).

Raid disk 1 is in SATA port 1
Raid disk 2 is in SATA port 2
160gb disk is in SATA port 3

Boot priority (from bios) is SCSI first then the 160gb drive. Windows loads to the loading screen flashes a bsod real quick then reboots (too fast I cant read it). If I change the priority in bios to 160gb first then SCSI I get a invalid system disk error message.

I figure it has something to do with MBRs and what not but I don't know how to fix it. Any ideas?

 

[mechBgon]

Welcome to the Forums What brand and model of motherboard is that?

 

[KrakHT]

ASUS M2N-E

 

[mechBgon]

Ok cool. Try this: when the motherboard's POST screen shows up, begin tapping the F8 key until it says "LOADING BOOT MENU" across the bottom of the screen. Wait while it detects stuff, and then you should see a blue menu where you can specifically pick your boot device.

If you pick your RAID array, does it boot successfully now, or just do what it did before?

 

[KrakHT]

Did it, picking the array results in a bsod. I disabled the reboot on error so I can see the message: STOP 0x0000007B, which I guess is an Inaccessible Boot Device msg, obvious lol.

If I unplug the 3rd hdd (the 160gb) the system loads fine as it did before.

 

[KrakHT]

I guess I could just do a low level format on the 160gb drive? Would that solve everything?

 

[mechBgon]

Ok. I can't get Asus's support site at the moment to get a copy of the manual, but I think you might not be able to have it both ways with your SATA controller. If it's in RAID mode, it can run your array. If it's set to non-RAID mode, it can run single drives.

But maybe I'm wrong Have you looked in the RAID BIOS (F10 key at POST) to see what it thinks the 160GB drive is? Maybe you can define it as something.

Also, if you'd like to blank the 160GB drive, you can zero it out with DBAN or with the HDD manufacturer's diagnostic utilities (scroll to bottom of this page for links). Before doing that, I would note which of my RAID drives plugs into which cable, then unplug their cables at the drive end (not the motherboard end) so they can't get wiped accidentally.

 

[KrakHT]

I think I might try to just wipe it with WD's tools, its a WD1600SD.

My raid shows up normally, and healthy, and the board sees the 160gb as just that a SATA 160gb drive, non raid. I got the drive from a friend out of their old computer. So I know there is data of some sort on it. Perhaps Linux or Mac OS, causing the boot issues. I'll wipe it clean and post back. Thanks for the help.

 

[mechBgon]

Good luck, hope it works out

 

[KrakHT]

I did a quick format and nothing changed. Before I was gonna take the time to do a low level format I decided to try something. I grabbed one of my SuperGrub discs and did the "uninstall grub" and "fix windows boot functions". Worked! Not exactly sure which one (or both) did the trick but after that and a reboot, windows loaded just fine and I can now see the drive.

Thanks for the help though.