GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

[ehsan]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

...
I have managed to repair numerous arrays by doing the following:
...

your tutorial saved my arse mate
I'm on P35-DS3R

[spec]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

Hey just letting you know that I have had similar problems with my RAID arrays on my P35-DS3P. I dont know what causes it but a couple of times I had my drive status change to "offline member" and a couple of times it said the array was "failed". I think its caused by the array metadata at the start of the drive becoming corrupted or something.

I have managed to repair numerous arrays by doing the following:
1. Reset the disks to non-RAID in the RAID BIOS
2. Recreate the arrays with the exact same parameters as they had to start off with
3. Boot from a Windows PE x86 CD (can be made using the Vista AIK)
4. Run Active@ Partition Recovery from a network share or from a USB drive etc - http://www.partition-recovery.com/ (need windows version)
5. Do a Tools...Fix MBR (then no)
6. Run a super-scan or whatever its called, not the quick scan
7. Choose to scan the first 100000 or so sectors of your RAID volume
8. It should find the partition with the correct size and show you you're files
9. Right click the discovered partition and choose restore, tick the bootable checkbox if it is your boot drive
10. Partitions should be readable now but Windows Vista comes up with an error upon booting from the recovered RAID volume, boot from your Vista DVD and choose "Repair Install" and then the OS is bootable again

Sounds like a lot of work ! anyway, I wasn't interested in recovery of data.
I knew the risks of using RAID 0, so stored only system data and apps on this drive, all my backup is on other media. I was only surprised by how the RAID failed just by udpating some BIOS params...
I've rebuilt the system now, no RAID, can't afford to waste time on useless RAID. Perhaps some day later, when the BIOS is stable enuf or when I get a proper RAID controller

[Rewl]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

hehe good job, sounds like the result of a lot of experimenting

[infirmus]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

Hey just letting you know that I have had similar problems with my RAID arrays on my P35-DS3P. I dont know what causes it but a couple of times I had my drive status change to "offline member" and a couple of times it said the array was "failed". I think its caused by the array metadata at the start of the drive becoming corrupted or something.

I have managed to repair numerous arrays by doing the following:
1. Reset the disks to non-RAID in the RAID BIOS
2. Recreate the arrays with the exact same parameters as they had to start off with
3. Boot from a Windows PE x86 CD (can be made using the Vista AIK)
4. Run Active@ Partition Recovery from a network share or from a USB drive etc - http://www.partition-recovery.com/ (need windows version)
5. Do a Tools...Fix MBR (then no)
6. Run a super-scan or whatever its called, not the quick scan
7. Choose to scan the first 100000 or so sectors of your RAID volume
8. It should find the partition with the correct size and show you you're files
9. Right click the discovered partition and choose restore, tick the bootable checkbox if it is your boot drive
10. Partitions should be readable now but Windows Vista comes up with an error upon booting from the recovered RAID volume, boot from your Vista DVD and choose "Repair Install" and then the OS is bootable again

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

What I do to avoid confusion when removing this on my motherboard (I know this may not help you now though) is I put a post-it note on each disk stating where it goes in my disk drive rack IE>>>> Top-Bottom-Middle, and then also write on the note which plugs Exactly it is plugged into.

Please note when I said it must be the exact plugs, I mean the same exact disk must be plugged into the same exact plug on the board. Meaning you cannot just be sure the disks are plugged into the same set of ports, they must be the EXACT same port for each disk.

This is all just a heads up to keep your future problems with RAID to a minimum, I am sure by now you have messed it up so far either way that you must do a reinstall anyway.

And yes, as Rewl Said software raid is not the best, and is your only option on a motherboard with on-board raid. It is not fully "Software" raid, but is not at all hardware raid. Hardware Raid is made possible, and made the best by purchasing a $150-$250 Raid PCI card. And no those ones under $100 are generally not hardware raid either, they do not have their own processing chips and therefore are software raid as well. They just offer a easier solution to make more disk available to the system.

The Gigabyte and Intel Raid on Gigabyte board is software raid, but a little faster then software raid on a board with no raid array chips.

And also RAID 0 is ALWAYS the easiest to make corrupt and loose, with either type of raid, but it is also the fastest of the arrays which is why most people use it.

[spec]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

That's the problem, no one really knows what's going on in those kinda raid-bioses;

Seriously, do yourself a favour and ditch the raid 0, rather buy one of those 250-320 Gig/platter hard drives for ~60 Euros - those are very fast..and run them single in AHCI + native mode.
Especially as system drive you're asking for trouble, let alone imaging / recovering, plus let alone the higher failure risk..

Well I could do that, I still have 2 almost new 250GB SATAII Drives. But I thought I'll build a fast system using RAID 0 and since I wasn't planning to store any backup data on the RAID, just system and apps I wouldn't have to worry much about sudden loss...
I never anticipated that the RAID would just go off like this...
I think I'll have to rebuild anyway, i tried several settings, but it still doesn't recognise the disks as RAID members, now both are showing as Non member disks.
The only other thing I might try is to connect the drives to the Gigabyte SATA controller and see if it recognises them.
If that doesn't work, format, individually and do a surface test...
May upgrade the BIOS while I'm at it anyway... know what's the best/stable version of the BIOS ? is f7 stable now ?

[Rewl]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

That's the problem, no one really knows what's going on in those kinda raid-bioses;

Seriously, do yourself a favour and ditch the raid 0, rather buy one of those 250-320 Gig/platter hard drives for ~60 Euros - those are very fast..and run them single in AHCI + native mode.
Especially as system drive you're asking for trouble, let alone imaging / recovering, plus let alone the higher failure risk..

[spec]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

They MUST be plugged into the same ports, in the same disk order that they originally were for the RAID to be valid

hmm, we'll they're plugged into the same ports are were to begin with, so I think somehow the RAID got corrupted.
I still can't believe the BIOS could have disturbed the RAID.
Maybe I'll run a surface scan to check the disks...

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

They MUST be plugged into the same ports, in the same disk order that they originally were for the RAID to be valid

[spec]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

well, I tried that, my disks were connected to port 2 & 4 eariler.
I then tried to connect to 5&6, it did recognise the RAID, but only displayed 1 as member disk, and the other was still Non-RAID Disk, with the RAID status being displayed as Failed!

I also d/l the demo version of RAID Recovery, changed the BIOS settings to non-RAID and ran the s/w, it was easily able to determine the RAID type, orientation, etc etc... When I did analyse, it was able to detect the files, however, it will not allow me to save, since it's a demo.
Anyway, I'm not very interested in recovery, this RAID setup was purely for System, so only application install.
If the s/w is able to determine the disk setup, why is the on-board card failing ? I just want to avoid having to format and do an install all over again...

[Rewl]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

Hehe no kidding, i didn't do anything at all - just connect. Think i had to swap the ports once..afterwards it instantly recognized the old config/data.

You call anything software raid which isn't working fully off a hardware controller-chip..the standard raid from on-board controllers and inexpensive sata cards is only emulating raid. The "raid-chip" is more or less only routing the tasks.
True raid (hardware) you usually find in a server or on more expensive controllers (200€ +) - you'll recognize them by a larger controller-chip, sometimes even with a small heatsink attached - here the chip does all the work/config independently.
(sorry about the limited detail, you can read it up in broader detail on wikipedia and the likes)

[Mr.Tweak]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

RAID 0, ofcourse :)

Gosh, for some reason I didn't see the "0" at all.

[spec]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

What RAID level were you using?

RAID 0, ofcourse :)

[spec]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

sry about the ultra-smart reply, but that's a prime example why you shouldn't use software-raid at all...it's pure gunk;
experienced the same problem on a friends machine: raid gone after bios-update;
i was able to 'fix' it by connecting it to another brand board with the same southbridge;

software RAID ?? I was using RAID from the Motherboard, I guess that should be Hardware RAID provided by the Southbridge on the board.

can you describe how you were able to setup the same RAID in a different board ? I might try the same steps on my board, as I doubt my disks have gone this soon...

[Mr.Tweak]

Re: GA-X38-DQ6 - RAID 0 Status Failed on BIOS Change

What RAID level were you using?