Sil3114 RAID 10 (0+1) Incomplete RAID Set Errors

[peterlargen]

This is cross-posted from the Abit Forum to see if I can get any other suggestions here...

I am receiving "Incomplete RAID Set" errors upon boot running in RAID 0+1 (10 to Silicon Image) with the following configuration:

Abit IC7-MAX3 Bios 13 set to default
Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz with retail Intel cooler
2 x 512Mb (1gb) Kingston KVR5400X64C3AK2/1G PC3200 CL3 in DIMM slots 1 and 3
4 x 250Gb Maxtor 7Y250M0 7200RPM 9ms 8Mb cache on Silicon Image SATA 3,4,5 and 6
LITE ON 48x24x48x16 CD/DVD
PNY GeForce3 Ti200 64Mb Video
Antec PP352X 350W Power Supply
Windows XP Pro SP1

I dropped the new motherboard, CPU, memory and drives in an existing case this weekend. The installation process was as follows:

1. Clear CMOS
2. Press f4, create 10 raid set on all four drives
3. Install Windows XP SP1 with f6/s to load 3114 drivers from supplied diskette
4. Install Intel chipset driver, audio driver, lan driver from supplied CD
5. Install latest Nvidia driver
6. Install all windows updates

System was running flawlessly. Began copy of 120 GB volume on network to RAID array. About 100 Mb in, system hung.

Rebooted. Received "Incomplete Raid Set" error.

Deleted raid set. Repeated installation process. Same exact error in same exact place.

Read all posts I could find. Ran MEMTEST86+ V1.0. No errors. Boosted DDR voltage to 2.8. Set DRAM Ratio to 5:4. Repeated installation process. Same error. Did not try adjusting delay IDE.

New tactic needed!

1. Set bios to failsafe. Do not adjust DDR voltage or memory from defaults.
2. Do not create new raid set.
3. Install Windows XP SP1 with f6/s to load 3114 drivers from supplied diskette
4. Install Intel chipset driver, audio driver, lan driver from supplied CD
5. Do not install Nvidia driver
6. Do not install any windows updates

Copied 120GB volume to single drive. No errors. Rebooted.

Created RAID 0 set with remaining 3 drives. Initialized and partitioned with Windows Management Console. Copied 120GB volume to raid 0 array. No errors. Rebooted. No errors.

Abit EQ reported DDRVc of 2.59, 3.3v as 3.28.

Time to try another reload...

I set the BIOS to optimized defaults, boosted DDR voltage to 2.8, and set it in Turbo mode (just for fun). Then I rebuilt the set as RAID 10, loaded windows but no windows updates or NVidia drivers.

Copied 100Gb from the network with no errors. Multiple reboots, no errors. AbitEQ shows stable voltages and low temps everywhere.

I'm going to add the Windows updates, give it a workout. If that's running fine, I'll add the NVidia drivers. I've had a lot of problems with stability and Nvidia drivers in the past. If I recreate the error after loading the latest Nvidia drivers, I'll restart the test and load a known stable version.

In summary, I believe I have proven that the system runs fine in some configurations other than RAID 10. I have a few more combinations to try to see if I can cause failure.

I haven't learned anything new or changed anything to make RAID 10 stable the next time around. I'm tired of loading Windows.

My goal was 500Gb of redundant storage. RAID 5 SCSI was so expensive and had so much overhead, that I thought SATA RAID 0+1 would work for a much lower price. Right now, I can't trust any data to this array.

Anyone had similar problems? If not, can anyone suggest some steps to take for diagnostic purposes?

Thanks!

 

[b1dupree]

Peter,
Just wondering if you have a solution to the "Incomplete RAID SET" error on the IC7-MAX3 board. I have the same problem on the same board and the only way I've been able to get rid of the error is to reformat and rebuild the RAID set. Not something I like doing very often.
Thanks,
Bruce

 

[peterlargen]

No, I found no solution. I put in a 480w power supply in case it was power issues, but that didn't help. I gave up on 0+1, made two raid 0 sets, one on the Intel controller and one on the Sil controller, and mirror them manually. I got tired of rebuilding the array.

 

[jurgen36]

Try checking the 4 pin power connectors. Had similar trouble in my raid 0+1 system. Worked fine and than came up with incomplete raid error. Finally found out the the extended cables for my ten drives had a very large voltage drop to the last few drives. Cleaned the connectors and squeezed the plugs together to make better contact. No more problems. Possible you have the same issue. If you use the Y extenders to supply the power this is probably your problem. Regards

Jurgen

 

[b1dupree]

Thanks. I will try that. I think that that is a brilliant discovery.