Need help w/ my SATA RAID0!!

[parkster89]

hello,
i am done w/ trying to figure this out. i have an asus p5nd2 motherboard w/ PD 830 processor. other components include: xfx geforce 7800 GTX video card, 2 g OCZ RAM, 2x 100gig Maxtor SATA drives, and the other general hardware components.

my problem is this. my mobo has the nvidia raid controller built in, and i have installed the two hard drives on SATA 1 & SATA 2. i went through the steps to setup the hardware raid through bios, did the drivers thing, and installed windows w/o any problems. upon bootup the raid array is noted as being healthy, but on the reboot, my system hangs at the black windows xp splash screen. however, it will start up in safemode, safemode w/ networking, but not last know good config.

i have tried: 1) not to install any drivers, most notably my video card driver...same problem. 2) switched SATA ports for my HDs....same problem. 3) used recovery console to run chkdsk /r command....found errors and fixed them....still same problem.

so finally, out of pure frustration, i installed my OS in the traditional single disk set. It runs like a champ. i even installed the OS on the other HD to see if maybe i have a HD problem...no problem.

i'm not sure what to do now. any suggestions? thanks.

 

[rvnguy]

Couple of rhings:

There are settings in the system BIOS to enable both the SATA drives and also the RAID Function.

Upon POST there is a msg screen to enter the NVidia controller BIOS(this is separate from the sys BIOS). An "F" key .

This is where you should set up the Array before OS loading.

Once the OS is loaded (don't forget the "F6" prompt for drivers), there is a NVidia snapin to view & manage drives & arrays on the NVidia controller. This must be installed to be accessed and is more complete than win disk mgt.

There is a fairly complete Nvidia manual available at

NVIDIA MediaShield™ Storage

http://www.nvidia.com/object/feature_raid.html

Note. These items, drives & RAID are not fully plug & play in XP. Much like SCSI, and need to be set outside of win at the controller level.

Hope this helps

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[parkster89]

hey rvnguy....
i appreciate the response. i'm a little confused. there is a prompt to press f10 to enter nvraid configuration during POST, but not anything referencing "F." the nvraid configuration is where i delete, clear, and/or set my array. is that what you're talking about? or is there a whole set of menu options that i'm not aware of.

btw...i am establishing my array prior to installing winxp, and it is showing healthy during POST. i have also set it to be the boot partition, as well. of course, after all this...i am still having the same problem.

keep in touch...thanks.

 

[JimInKS]

I had the same problem recently on an ASUS K8N-E board.

I found that if I waited around a minute it would eventually boot up. Have you tried that?

I corrected the problem by going to NVIDIA's web site and getting the very latest drivers for my chipset.

 

[rvnguy]

F" referred to a function key and you know it was 'f10'.

Again bot being P&P and not having precise install steps makes this more difficult.

Suggest you peruse the ASUS docs & compare with NVidia docs. The answer is there somwhere between them.



rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[parkster89]

sorry about that. i should have included the steps.
1) installed one sata hd to sata1 port on mobo. installed another sata hd to sata2 port on mobo.
2) went into bios and enabled RAID on sata ports 1 & 2. also changed boot sequence to boot from cd rom. saved & reboot.
3) during post, pressed f10 to enter the nvraid configuration to create the raid array using both hds. cleared the disks, and set it as boot. saved & reboot.
4) put in windows xp cd, and booted up the system. during POST, it indicates that the RAID config is "HEALTHY." Then pressed f6 to add nvraid sata drivers. there were two required drivers, and installed them both by pressing "S" when prompted.
5) installed windows xp w/o any problems. windows loads for the first time after install. during this time i usually install all the necessary drivers (video, sound, mobo components, etc..). i have also tried not installing drivers, too, and just rebooted after the install. same problem.
6) reboot my system....and it hangs on the black windows xp splash screen.

the hd indicator light will stay on, and then after a few seconds seems to make a little buzzing noise, and hangs on that splash screen.

 

[JimInKS]

You might also try googling "nvidia sata raid".

There seems to be many people with similar problems and a plethora of potential solutions.

 

[rvnguy]

It appears from your description that you have done everything correctly but no joy.

Did you check the versions of drivers you are using vs those at ASUS & NVidia? just a thought as you seem to be attentive to this.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[parkster89]

thanks, all. i appreciate your responses and input. i will go home tonite, and give it another go. i have been using the drivers from the CD that came w/ the mobo. maybe that's what the problem is. i'll try the new drivers on the asus site. thanks, again.

 

[jurgen36]

Your no 3. Once you created the Raid array you have to format it with the raid utility. Once that is done it should work ok, maybe you did format but you did not say so.
Regards

Jurgen