Unable To Boot After Enabling Onboard nVidia Raid

[daddio1949]

Hi,

I would appreciate your assistance here as I am at a lost on how to get my desktop system working.

Currently, my system does not go below the detecting raid array screen (Raid Bios), which is immediately after the initial bios screen showing drive information. This problem was caused when I attempted to RAID two 500GB SATA drives in mirror mode. Clearly I failed at this task. The system had been running fine for over six months.

My computer has the following components:
motherboard - MSI K8N Neo4-F (nVidia nForce4 Chipset)
cpu AMD 64-bit AMD X2 (Socket 939)
4GB ddr memory
ATI video card
hard drive Boot WD160
hard drive Seagate 200
2 optical drives
pci card adding extra ide channels
floppy drive.

Here is what I did that now prevents the computer from booting. I purchased two 500 GB SATA drives, Seagate & Hitachi; the drives have not been partitioned and formated. These drives were to form a non-bootable RAID Array. Following the direction from MSI manual to enable RAID, I entered the Raid BIOS setup, defined a new non-booting array with the 2 drives to mirror each other.

I rebooted the system but the system halted at the Raid BIOS setup screen. I re-entered the Raid Bios setup, but the array showed the array to be a boot array. I re-did the setup and defined the array as non-booting. After booting again, the system halts at the Raid Bios, and the array is listed as booting. After several more tries, I just could not boot beyond this screen. The array is always listed as booting.

At this point I did not have working system because I could not even enter into the system bios to disable the nVidia RAID. When I hit the delete key at the boot screen, the system proceeded to the Raid Bios setup prompt. I guessing the Raid bios setup precedes the system bios.

So, I cleared the bios using the clean CMOS button. This apparently did little good because I am still unable to enter the system bios.

I would appreciate your insight here as I am at lost.

 

[robisbell]

you have to have 2 identical size, make and model of drives, that's the 1st problem.
2nd you have to initialize the array.

I assume you're using this as a file server.

 

[daddio1949]

Yes I was planning to use them as a file server. The 2 drives are identical in size but from different manufactures, Seagate & Hitachi.

I believe I did initialize the array as I followed the instructions in the manual. The only thing left was to install the windows drivers.

Question is how to recover from this. Even when I disconnect the drives, I am still unable to boot. The computer hangs at the raid bios setup screen.

 

[robisbell]

you have to shut off the raid, set your sata to normal instead of raid.

 

[daddio1949]

I know that I have to shut off the raid, but I am at lost of how to do it. I am unable to enter the system bios to shut down the raid because the raid bios screen appears before the system bios. The system hangs at the raid bios screen.

 

[robisbell]

that's not right, the raid should not be before the bios posts, if it is then the something is seriously screwed up with the motherboard.
it should be BIOS POST - Raid

you could try clearing the bios and see if it'll reset to defaults, if it still does the raid 1st then the BIOS is shot.
if the boards under warranty send it in, if not, you could try replacing the bios chip, or replace the board.

 

[daddio1949]

I had already reset the cmos bios.

I figured out the problem. I removed the pci ide card, and the computer finally booted. So, the computer system is working now.

I have a question. You earlier claimed that to raid two drives, the two drives have to be identical. Not just the same size, but identical in all respects: manufacturer, model, and size. Are you sure about this?

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: daddio1949
I have a question. You earlier claimed that to raid two drives, the two drives have to be identical. Not just the same size, but identical in all respects: manufacturer, model, and size. Are you sure about this?

Some believe this may be 'optimal', but it isn't necessary.

 

[robisbell]

I've had not problems when the drives were: the same size, the same make, and same model. I've seen issues where the drive may be of similar size, but different make.

 

[Cutthroat]

I used to have a 250GB drive and a 300GB drive in RAID 0, showed up as 500GB, but it worked fine, they didn't have to be the same size.

 

[daddio1949]

The two drives I planning to mirror (RAID 1) are identical in size, but different manufactures, Hitachi and Seagate. I'll see what happens today.

Thanks for the assistance.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: daddio1949
The two drives I planning to mirror (RAID 1) are identical in size, but different manufactures, Hitachi and Seagate. I'll see what happens today.

Thanks for the assistance.

It will work fine.

Some people believe it's an issue - there's that .01% performance difference - but it will work fine.

 

[daddio1949]

I have installed the Raid array, and everything appears to be working alright. But you never know what may happen.

 

[robisbell]

okay, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[SunSamurai]

Originally posted by: robisbell
you have to have 2 identical size, make and model of drives, that's the 1st problem.
2nd you have to initialize the array.

I assume you're using this as a file server.

no you dont. thats ridiculous.

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: robisbell
okay, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

It's RAID 1. You only need to cross half as many.