Boot problems with RAID

[sh2811]

Hi.
I have 2 drives in mirror configuration, RAID 1, that I have just installed
XP Pro SP2 on. All was running OK. I don't think it is relevant but they are
SATA (1s), connected to the Master 1 and Master 2 SATA connectors. I have
just upgraded from a single 320GB SATA to these 750GB drives and did a
reinstall rather than a clone as my system was overdue a clean install.
As I said, the system was booting fine to the 750s and I had the old 320GB
connected to the Slave 1 port. The original XP installation is left on the
320 as I am in the process of copying across what I need to the 750s (and
also so I could reboot to the old setup if I ran into problems... which I now
have). The 'new' XP system boots with the 750s as drive C, DVD drives in D &
E, the old 320GB as F and then 4 card reader drives after that.

So.... and here's where I went wrong I think. I rebooted and changed the
BIOS to boot from the old 320 first as I wanted to export my old Outlook
Express settings etc, and left the 2 750s cnonected. The system booted to the
old drive OK and now the RAID 'drive' is shown as 2 separate drives (F & G),
i.e. not the single mirror drive as the old XP system has no RAID software
installed on it. I had no intention of copying any files directly to either
of the 2 RAIDs as I didn't want to make any changes to them whilst running
the old install. I was being lazy and maybe should have physically
disconnected them to avoid any possibility of corrupting the new install.
I exported the O.E. data to a folder on the old drive so that I would then
be able to copy it after I had rebooted back to the new install.
When I went to boot back to the new system I altered the BIOS boot order
back to the RAID 750s but now the system just reboots in a continuous loop.
It gets past the BIOS boot to where it should start the windows load and
flashes a VERY quick message that I can't pause in time to read properly. I
think it is mentioning the BOOT.INI but in what context I am not sure.
I have booted to the XP setup disc and into the recovery console to try a
FIXMBR, that did nothing (bad idea anyway?). I also tried the BOOTCFG command
but it tells me it can't find any boot files.
The Intel RAID BIOS boot page (after the main BIOS boot page) shows both 750
drives and indicates all is well. Booting to the old 320GB install allows me
to browse the 750s and again all looks OK. The boot.ini files on the 750s are
the same as on the old 320.

Sorry if this is rambly, it's the early hours of the morning! I expect this
is an easy one but need someone to point out the obvious to me please!
Was I wrong to think I could reboot with all drives connected BUT back to
the old 320 system and not affect the new setup? Schoolboy error?

Thanks for any pointers.

 

[Andy]

Hi.
I have 2 drives in mirror configuration, RAID 1, that I have just installed
XP Pro SP2 on. All was running OK. I don't think it is relevant but they are
SATA (1s), connected to the Master 1 and Master 2 SATA connectors. I have
just upgraded from a single 320GB SATA to these 750GB drives and did a
reinstall rather than a clone as my system was overdue a clean install.
As I said, the system was booting fine to the 750s and I had the old 320GB
connected to the Slave 1 port. The original XP installation is left on the
320 as I am in the process of copying across what I need to the 750s (and
also so I could reboot to the old setup if I ran into problems... which I now
have). The 'new' XP system boots with the 750s as drive C, DVD drives in D &
E, the old 320GB as F and then 4 card reader drives after that.

So.... and here's where I went wrong I think. I rebooted and changed the
BIOS to boot from the old 320 first as I wanted to export my old Outlook
Express settings etc, and left the 2 750s cnonected. The system booted to the
old drive OK and now the RAID 'drive' is shown as 2 separate drives (F & G),
i.e. not the single mirror drive as the old XP system has no RAID software
installed on it. I had no intention of copying any files directly to either
of the 2 RAIDs as I didn't want to make any changes to them whilst running
the old install. I was being lazy and maybe should have physically
disconnected them to avoid any possibility of corrupting the new install.
I exported the O.E. data to a folder on the old drive so that I would then
be able to copy it after I had rebooted back to the new install.
When I went to boot back to the new system I altered the BIOS boot order
back to the RAID 750s but now the system just reboots in a continuous loop.
It gets past the BIOS boot to where it should start the windows load and
flashes a VERY quick message that I can't pause in time to read properly. I
think it is mentioning the BOOT.INI but in what context I am not sure.
I have booted to the XP setup disc and into the recovery console to try a
FIXMBR, that did nothing (bad idea anyway?). I also tried the BOOTCFG command
but it tells me it can't find any boot files.
The Intel RAID BIOS boot page (after the main BIOS boot page) shows both 750
drives and indicates all is well. Booting to the old 320GB install allows me
to browse the 750s and again all looks OK. The boot.ini files on the 750s are
the same as on the old 320.

Are you browsing the drives as a single raid drive, or as two
individual drives?
I have no idea whether the disk signatures of the two drives are
identical in a raid 1 setup, but I do know that when Windows sees them
individually, the disk signatures will be made different if they are
identical.
I'm just speculating, but a mismatch of the disk signature in the MBR
and the registry can cause problems.

 

[sh2811]

Hi Andy. When I boot to the old installation the 2 RAID drives show up as 2
physical drives in windows explorer. This did surprise me at first as the
raid controller's BIOS recognises the drives as one drive when the pc boots
up so why doesn't the old xp installation see them as just one drive? I
guessed that must be because I haven't installed the Intel RAID software on
the old installation BUT.... maybe what you have said about the registry
might be right?
However.... what would have caused the registry of the old install to have
that problem when this was the first time I booted it with the 2 RAIDed
drives connected? Something must have written to the disks when I booted to
the old install but it wasn't me! I can see what you say about the signatures
being changed if the old install saw them as having the same signatures
(though I have no idea if you are right).
Thing is... how do I get the system to boot back to the new setup? When I
tried booting with the XP setup CD and running the recovery console to repair
the install I ran the FIXMBR command but am now wondering if I did it
correctly. I simply typed FIXMBR and nothing else and was greeted with just
an empty command line on pressing enter, i.e. no diagnostic info. Should I
have used any extensions to the FIXMBR, i.e. "FIXMBR c:\" or some such
command?
I'm still confused as to why this has actually happened!
Thanks again.

 

[John John (MVP)]

[snip]

When I went to boot back to the new system I altered the BIOS boot order
back to the RAID 750s but now the system just reboots in a continuous loop.
It gets past the BIOS boot to where it should start the windows load and
flashes a VERY quick message that I can't pause in time to read properly.

Press the F8 key when the computer boots and change the option to have
the computer restart on system failure and see if you can obtain
information from the stop error message.

John

 

[sh2811]

Ok... developments. FIXMBR didn't do anything because I of course needed to
press F6 during the WinXP setup CD boot to install the correct RAID driver.
Once installed I could then see the windows installation on the new 750 raid
drives. (I had also disconnected the old 320GB XP installation drive by now).
I ran FIXMBR (rightly or wrongly again) and rebooted to the 750 raid. I was
then told that "<windowsroot>\system32\hal.dll" file is corrupt or missing.
My suspicion at this point was not that the file was missing or corrupt but
rather that the boot process couldn't find it as maybe it didn't know where
the <windowsroot> folder is. Rebooting to the recovery console to check, I
could see the hal.dll folder in the correct folder.
Running "bootcfg /scan" found the c:\windows folder ok.
Running "bootcfg /add", which in hindsight I shouldn't have done really as
the scan option showed all looked well, allowed me to add a new boot option
for the c:\windows install.
A fresh boot and selecting this new boot option tells me that windows could
not start because the "system32\drivers\pci.sys" file is missing or corrupt..
The curious thing here, and this might be a red herring, is that it says just
"system32" and not c:\windows\system32 or windowsroot\system32 etc.... maybe
that's normal though?
Of course the pci.sys file is there OK and I have no reason to suspect it is
corrupt.
At this point I think I tried the bootcfg /rebuild option. When I boot now I
am told that "windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot
path and disk hardware...". This further makes me think that the boot process
doesn't know where the install folder is even thought bootcfg /scan shows it
correctly.

The contents of my boot.ini file now contain a few installs!!:
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP PRO bootcfg
rebuild"
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Win XP Pro on C
Drive" /SOS
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

I'm not sure why the first 2 xp installs have the signature field whereas
the original 750 raid boot option "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" use the
normal "multi(0)..." option. Is this because the system needs the intel raid
driver for bootup and the first two boot options are actually correct?

Help!?!?
Thanks.

[snip]

When I went to boot back to the new system I altered the BIOS boot order
back to the RAID 750s but now the system just reboots in a continuous loop.
It gets past the BIOS boot to where it should start the windows load and
flashes a VERY quick message that I can't pause in time to read properly.

Press the F8 key when the computer boots and change the option to have
the computer restart on system failure and see if you can obtain
information from the stop error message.

John

 

[John John (MVP)]

The signature syntax in the boot.ini file is not unusual:

Windows May Use Signature() Syntax in the Boot.ini File
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/227704

Your mirror may have been broken. See if you can boot the installation
with a boot floppy.

John

Ok... developments. FIXMBR didn't do anything because I of course needed to
press F6 during the WinXP setup CD boot to install the correct RAID driver.
Once installed I could then see the windows installation on the new 750 raid
drives. (I had also disconnected the old 320GB XP installation drive by now).
I ran FIXMBR (rightly or wrongly again) and rebooted to the 750 raid. I was
then told that "<windowsroot>\system32\hal.dll" file is corrupt or missing.
My suspicion at this point was not that the file was missing or corrupt but
rather that the boot process couldn't find it as maybe it didn't know where
the <windowsroot> folder is. Rebooting to the recovery console to check, I
could see the hal.dll folder in the correct folder.
Running "bootcfg /scan" found the c:\windows folder ok.
Running "bootcfg /add", which in hindsight I shouldn't have done really as
the scan option showed all looked well, allowed me to add a new boot option
for the c:\windows install.
A fresh boot and selecting this new boot option tells me that windows could
not start because the "system32\drivers\pci.sys" file is missing or corrupt..
The curious thing here, and this might be a red herring, is that it says just
"system32" and not c:\windows\system32 or windowsroot\system32 etc.... maybe
that's normal though?
Of course the pci.sys file is there OK and I have no reason to suspect it is
corrupt.
At this point I think I tried the bootcfg /rebuild option. When I boot now I
am told that "windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot
path and disk hardware...". This further makes me think that the boot process
doesn't know where the install folder is even thought bootcfg /scan shows it
correctly.

The contents of my boot.ini file now contain a few installs!!:
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP PRO bootcfg
rebuild"
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Win XP Pro on C
Drive" /SOS
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

I'm not sure why the first 2 xp installs have the signature field whereas
the original 750 raid boot option "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" use the
normal "multi(0)..." option. Is this because the system needs the intel raid
driver for bootup and the first two boot options are actually correct?

Help!?!?
Thanks.

:

sh2811 wrote:

[snip]

When I went to boot back to the new system I altered the BIOS boot order
back to the RAID 750s but now the system just reboots in a continuous loop.
It gets past the BIOS boot to where it should start the windows load and
flashes a VERY quick message that I can't pause in time to read properly.

Press the F8 key when the computer boots and change the option to have
the computer restart on system failure and see if you can obtain
information from the stop error message.

John

 

[sh2811]

John, sorry to be an idiot but with what sort of boot floppy? The intel raid
rom bios boot page, that starts after the main system rom boot page,
indicates that the mirror is ok. Also when i'm in recovery mode and do a
"map" there is only one 750gb drive listed which indicates to me that all is
'well' else it would list 2 750s wouldn't it?
Thanks.

The signature syntax in the boot.ini file is not unusual:

Windows May Use Signature() Syntax in the Boot.ini File
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/227704

Your mirror may have been broken. See if you can boot the installation
with a boot floppy.

John

Ok... developments. FIXMBR didn't do anything because I of course needed to
press F6 during the WinXP setup CD boot to install the correct RAID driver.
Once installed I could then see the windows installation on the new 750 raid
drives. (I had also disconnected the old 320GB XP installation drive by now).
I ran FIXMBR (rightly or wrongly again) and rebooted to the 750 raid. I was
then told that "<windowsroot>\system32\hal.dll" file is corrupt or missing.
My suspicion at this point was not that the file was missing or corrupt but
rather that the boot process couldn't find it as maybe it didn't know where
the <windowsroot> folder is. Rebooting to the recovery console to check, I
could see the hal.dll folder in the correct folder.
Running "bootcfg /scan" found the c:\windows folder ok.
Running "bootcfg /add", which in hindsight I shouldn't have done really as
the scan option showed all looked well, allowed me to add a new boot option
for the c:\windows install.
A fresh boot and selecting this new boot option tells me that windows could
not start because the "system32\drivers\pci.sys" file is missing or corrupt..
The curious thing here, and this might be a red herring, is that it says just
"system32" and not c:\windows\system32 or windowsroot\system32 etc.... maybe
that's normal though?
Of course the pci.sys file is there OK and I have no reason to suspect it is
corrupt.
At this point I think I tried the bootcfg /rebuild option. When I boot now I
am told that "windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot
path and disk hardware...". This further makes me think that the boot process
doesn't know where the install folder is even thought bootcfg /scan shows it
correctly.

The contents of my boot.ini file now contain a few installs!!:
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP PRO bootcfg
rebuild"
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Win XP Pro on C
Drive" /SOS
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

I'm not sure why the first 2 xp installs have the signature field whereas
the original 750 raid boot option "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" use the
normal "multi(0)..." option. Is this because the system needs the intel raid
driver for bootup and the first two boot options are actually correct?

Help!?!?
Thanks.

:

sh2811 wrote:


[snip]

When I went to boot back to the new system I altered the BIOS boot order
back to the RAID 750s but now the system just reboots in a continuous loop.
It gets past the BIOS boot to where it should start the windows load and
flashes a VERY quick message that I can't pause in time to read properly.

Press the F8 key when the computer boots and change the option to have
the computer restart on system failure and see if you can obtain
information from the stop error message.

John

 

[John John (MVP)]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/119467/EN-US/

I don't know what to make of the fact that the array looks ok from the
system ROM or that the Recovery Console's map command appears to see it
correctly, but the error message about disk hardware configuration
problems tells us its trying to boot from the wrong disk or from a disk
that is not on the system, the boot.ini file points to an invalid location.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ntdebugging/archive/2007/06/28/how-windows-starts-up-part-the-second.aspx

John

John, sorry to be an idiot but with what sort of boot floppy? The intel raid
rom bios boot page, that starts after the main system rom boot page,
indicates that the mirror is ok. Also when i'm in recovery mode and do a
"map" there is only one 750gb drive listed which indicates to me that all is
'well' else it would list 2 750s wouldn't it?
Thanks.

:

The signature syntax in the boot.ini file is not unusual:

Windows May Use Signature() Syntax in the Boot.ini File
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/227704

Your mirror may have been broken. See if you can boot the installation
with a boot floppy.

John

sh2811 wrote:

Ok... developments. FIXMBR didn't do anything because I of course needed to
press F6 during the WinXP setup CD boot to install the correct RAID driver.
Once installed I could then see the windows installation on the new 750 raid
drives. (I had also disconnected the old 320GB XP installation drive by now).
I ran FIXMBR (rightly or wrongly again) and rebooted to the 750 raid. I was
then told that "<windowsroot>\system32\hal.dll" file is corrupt or missing.
My suspicion at this point was not that the file was missing or corrupt but
rather that the boot process couldn't find it as maybe it didn't know where
the <windowsroot> folder is. Rebooting to the recovery console to check, I
could see the hal.dll folder in the correct folder.
Running "bootcfg /scan" found the c:\windows folder ok.
Running "bootcfg /add", which in hindsight I shouldn't have done really as
the scan option showed all looked well, allowed me to add a new boot option
for the c:\windows install.
A fresh boot and selecting this new boot option tells me that windows could
not start because the "system32\drivers\pci.sys" file is missing or corrupt..
The curious thing here, and this might be a red herring, is that it says just
"system32" and not c:\windows\system32 or windowsroot\system32 etc.... maybe
that's normal though?
Of course the pci.sys file is there OK and I have no reason to suspect it is
corrupt.
At this point I think I tried the bootcfg /rebuild option. When I boot now I
am told that "windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot
path and disk hardware...". This further makes me think that the boot process
doesn't know where the install folder is even thought bootcfg /scan shows it
correctly.

The contents of my boot.ini file now contain a few installs!!:
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP PRO bootcfg
rebuild"
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Win XP Pro on C
Drive" /SOS
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

I'm not sure why the first 2 xp installs have the signature field whereas
the original 750 raid boot option "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" use the
normal "multi(0)..." option. Is this because the system needs the intel raid
driver for bootup and the first two boot options are actually correct?

Help!?!?
Thanks.

:



sh2811 wrote:



[snip]

When I went to boot back to the new system I altered the BIOS boot order
back to the RAID 750s but now the system just reboots in a continuous loop.
It gets past the BIOS boot to where it should start the windows load and
flashes a VERY quick message that I can't pause in time to read properly.

Press the F8 key when the computer boots and change the option to have
the computer restart on system failure and see if you can obtain
information from the stop error message.

John

 

[sh2811]

Hi John. This may be premature but maybe things are OK again. I have now
rebooted with just one of the, now un-mirrored, 750s connected and the system
did boot up OK. CHKDSK kicked in and found a couple of issues (did I see
tracking log or tracking index? wasn't paying enough attention and of course
it doesn't wait at the end of the test to allow you to actually read what it
says!). I have yet to reconnect the other 750GB and rebuild the mirror but
I'm assuming all will be well (hope I'm not tempting fate!).
I wanted to avoid having to un-RAID the drives as the rebuild takes an age
but it seems to be the solution.
So thank you VERY much for your time and patience. I am still a bit baffled
as to why it happened in the first place. Maybe I was daft to leave the
drives hooked up and reboot to the old XP install but what would have
happened to cause my problem? I would like to know the answer to that to
satisfy my curiosity. I was wary of leaving the drives connected but thought
that as long as I didn't write to them I wouldn't risk damaging the mirror
and having to rebuild it. I certainly didn't think it would cause these
problems. I guess something wrote to them behind my back!?!
By the way.... I think I'm right in thinking that anyone can give out advice
on here but you have MVP in your user name. Is that a Microsoft..... V
something Professional? Do you actually work for MS or is that an MS
qualification?
Thanks again.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/119467/EN-US/

I don't know what to make of the fact that the array looks ok from the
system ROM or that the Recovery Console's map command appears to see it
correctly, but the error message about disk hardware configuration
problems tells us its trying to boot from the wrong disk or from a disk
that is not on the system, the boot.ini file points to an invalid location.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ntdebugging/archive/2007/06/28/how-windows-starts-up-part-the-second.aspx

John

John, sorry to be an idiot but with what sort of boot floppy? The intel raid
rom bios boot page, that starts after the main system rom boot page,
indicates that the mirror is ok. Also when i'm in recovery mode and do a
"map" there is only one 750gb drive listed which indicates to me that all is
'well' else it would list 2 750s wouldn't it?
Thanks.

:

The signature syntax in the boot.ini file is not unusual:

Windows May Use Signature() Syntax in the Boot.ini File
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/227704

Your mirror may have been broken. See if you can boot the installation
with a boot floppy.

John

sh2811 wrote:


Ok... developments. FIXMBR didn't do anything because I of course needed to
press F6 during the WinXP setup CD boot to install the correct RAID driver.
Once installed I could then see the windows installation on the new 750 raid
drives. (I had also disconnected the old 320GB XP installation drive by now).
I ran FIXMBR (rightly or wrongly again) and rebooted to the 750 raid. I was
then told that "<windowsroot>\system32\hal.dll" file is corrupt or missing.
My suspicion at this point was not that the file was missing or corrupt but
rather that the boot process couldn't find it as maybe it didn't know where
the <windowsroot> folder is. Rebooting to the recovery console to check, I
could see the hal.dll folder in the correct folder.
Running "bootcfg /scan" found the c:\windows folder ok.
Running "bootcfg /add", which in hindsight I shouldn't have done really as
the scan option showed all looked well, allowed me to add a new boot option
for the c:\windows install.
A fresh boot and selecting this new boot option tells me that windows could
not start because the "system32\drivers\pci.sys" file is missing or corrupt..
The curious thing here, and this might be a red herring, is that it says just
"system32" and not c:\windows\system32 or windowsroot\system32 etc.... maybe
that's normal though?
Of course the pci.sys file is there OK and I have no reason to suspect it is
corrupt.
At this point I think I tried the bootcfg /rebuild option. When I boot now I
am told that "windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot
path and disk hardware...". This further makes me think that the boot process
doesn't know where the install folder is even thought bootcfg /scan shows it
correctly.

The contents of my boot.ini file now contain a few installs!!:
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP PRO bootcfg
rebuild"
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Win XP Pro on C
Drive" /SOS
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

I'm not sure why the first 2 xp installs have the signature field whereas
the original 750 raid boot option "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" use the
normal "multi(0)..." option. Is this because the system needs the intel raid
driver for bootup and the first two boot options are actually correct?

Help!?!?
Thanks.

:



sh2811 wrote:



[snip]

When I went to boot back to the new system I altered the BIOS boot order
back to the RAID 750s but now the system just reboots in a continuous loop.
It gets past the BIOS boot to where it should start the windows load and
flashes a VERY quick message that I can't pause in time to read properly.

Press the F8 key when the computer boots and change the option to have
the computer restart on system failure and see if you can obtain
information from the stop error message.

John

 

[sh2811]

P.S. Reconnected everything as it was before, i.e. both 750s mirrored and the
old 320GB drive, and rebooted to the new installation on the now broken
mirror. The Intel matrix storage console just happily kicks off in XP and
starts rebuilding the RAID volume. The drives would definitely have been
different now as I had booted to, and performed some actions on, just one of
the 750s. Still leaves the question why it happened in the first place.
Thanks again.

Hi John. This may be premature but maybe things are OK again. I have now
rebooted with just one of the, now un-mirrored, 750s connected and the system
did boot up OK. CHKDSK kicked in and found a couple of issues (did I see
tracking log or tracking index? wasn't paying enough attention and of course
it doesn't wait at the end of the test to allow you to actually read what it
says!). I have yet to reconnect the other 750GB and rebuild the mirror but
I'm assuming all will be well (hope I'm not tempting fate!).
I wanted to avoid having to un-RAID the drives as the rebuild takes an age
but it seems to be the solution.
So thank you VERY much for your time and patience. I am still a bit baffled
as to why it happened in the first place. Maybe I was daft to leave the
drives hooked up and reboot to the old XP install but what would have
happened to cause my problem? I would like to know the answer to that to
satisfy my curiosity. I was wary of leaving the drives connected but thought
that as long as I didn't write to them I wouldn't risk damaging the mirror
and having to rebuild it. I certainly didn't think it would cause these
problems. I guess something wrote to them behind my back!?!
By the way.... I think I'm right in thinking that anyone can give out advice
on here but you have MVP in your user name. Is that a Microsoft..... V
something Professional? Do you actually work for MS or is that an MS
qualification?
Thanks again.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/119467/EN-US/

I don't know what to make of the fact that the array looks ok from the
system ROM or that the Recovery Console's map command appears to see it
correctly, but the error message about disk hardware configuration
problems tells us its trying to boot from the wrong disk or from a disk
that is not on the system, the boot.ini file points to an invalid location.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ntdebugging/archive/2007/06/28/how-windows-starts-up-part-the-second.aspx

John

John, sorry to be an idiot but with what sort of boot floppy? The intel raid
rom bios boot page, that starts after the main system rom boot page,
indicates that the mirror is ok. Also when i'm in recovery mode and do a
"map" there is only one 750gb drive listed which indicates to me that all is
'well' else it would list 2 750s wouldn't it?
Thanks.

:


The signature syntax in the boot.ini file is not unusual:

Windows May Use Signature() Syntax in the Boot.ini File
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/227704

Your mirror may have been broken. See if you can boot the installation
with a boot floppy.

John

sh2811 wrote:


Ok... developments. FIXMBR didn't do anything because I of course needed to
press F6 during the WinXP setup CD boot to install the correct RAID driver.
Once installed I could then see the windows installation on the new 750 raid
drives. (I had also disconnected the old 320GB XP installation drive by now).
I ran FIXMBR (rightly or wrongly again) and rebooted to the 750 raid. I was
then told that "<windowsroot>\system32\hal.dll" file is corrupt or missing.
My suspicion at this point was not that the file was missing or corrupt but
rather that the boot process couldn't find it as maybe it didn't know where
the <windowsroot> folder is. Rebooting to the recovery console to check, I
could see the hal.dll folder in the correct folder.
Running "bootcfg /scan" found the c:\windows folder ok.
Running "bootcfg /add", which in hindsight I shouldn't have done really as
the scan option showed all looked well, allowed me to add a new boot option
for the c:\windows install.
A fresh boot and selecting this new boot option tells me that windows could
not start because the "system32\drivers\pci.sys" file is missing or corrupt..
The curious thing here, and this might be a red herring, is that it says just
"system32" and not c:\windows\system32 or windowsroot\system32 etc.... maybe
that's normal though?
Of course the pci.sys file is there OK and I have no reason to suspect it is
corrupt.
At this point I think I tried the bootcfg /rebuild option. When I boot now I
am told that "windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot
path and disk hardware...". This further makes me think that the boot process
doesn't know where the install folder is even thought bootcfg /scan shows it
correctly.

The contents of my boot.ini file now contain a few installs!!:
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP PRO bootcfg
rebuild"
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Win XP Pro on C
Drive" /SOS
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

I'm not sure why the first 2 xp installs have the signature field whereas
the original 750 raid boot option "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" use the
normal "multi(0)..." option. Is this because the system needs the intel raid
driver for bootup and the first two boot options are actually correct?

Help!?!?
Thanks.

:



sh2811 wrote:



[snip]

When I went to boot back to the new system I altered the BIOS boot order
back to the RAID 750s but now the system just reboots in a continuous loop.
It gets past the BIOS boot to where it should start the windows load and
flashes a VERY quick message that I can't pause in time to read properly.

Press the F8 key when the computer boots and change the option to have
the computer restart on system failure and see if you can obtain
information from the stop error message.

John

 

[John John (MVP)]

You're welcome. MVPs are not Microsoft employees, see here for more
information: http://www.mvps.org/about/

John

Hi John. This may be premature but maybe things are OK again. I have now
rebooted with just one of the, now un-mirrored, 750s connected and the system
did boot up OK. CHKDSK kicked in and found a couple of issues (did I see
tracking log or tracking index? wasn't paying enough attention and of course
it doesn't wait at the end of the test to allow you to actually read what it
says!). I have yet to reconnect the other 750GB and rebuild the mirror but
I'm assuming all will be well (hope I'm not tempting fate!).
I wanted to avoid having to un-RAID the drives as the rebuild takes an age
but it seems to be the solution.
So thank you VERY much for your time and patience. I am still a bit baffled
as to why it happened in the first place. Maybe I was daft to leave the
drives hooked up and reboot to the old XP install but what would have
happened to cause my problem? I would like to know the answer to that to
satisfy my curiosity. I was wary of leaving the drives connected but thought
that as long as I didn't write to them I wouldn't risk damaging the mirror
and having to rebuild it. I certainly didn't think it would cause these
problems. I guess something wrote to them behind my back!?!
By the way.... I think I'm right in thinking that anyone can give out advice
on here but you have MVP in your user name. Is that a Microsoft..... V
something Professional? Do you actually work for MS or is that an MS
qualification?
Thanks again.

:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/119467/EN-US/

I don't know what to make of the fact that the array looks ok from the
system ROM or that the Recovery Console's map command appears to see it
correctly, but the error message about disk hardware configuration
problems tells us its trying to boot from the wrong disk or from a disk
that is not on the system, the boot.ini file points to an invalid location.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ntdebugging/archive/2007/06/28/how-windows-starts-up-part-the-second.aspx

John


sh2811 wrote:

John, sorry to be an idiot but with what sort of boot floppy? The intel raid
rom bios boot page, that starts after the main system rom boot page,
indicates that the mirror is ok. Also when i'm in recovery mode and do a
"map" there is only one 750gb drive listed which indicates to me that all is
'well' else it would list 2 750s wouldn't it?
Thanks.

:



The signature syntax in the boot.ini file is not unusual:

Windows May Use Signature() Syntax in the Boot.ini File
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/227704

Your mirror may have been broken. See if you can boot the installation
with a boot floppy.

John

sh2811 wrote:



Ok... developments. FIXMBR didn't do anything because I of course needed to
press F6 during the WinXP setup CD boot to install the correct RAID driver.
Once installed I could then see the windows installation on the new 750 raid
drives. (I had also disconnected the old 320GB XP installation drive by now).
I ran FIXMBR (rightly or wrongly again) and rebooted to the 750 raid. I was
then told that "<windowsroot>\system32\hal.dll" file is corrupt or missing.
My suspicion at this point was not that the file was missing or corrupt but
rather that the boot process couldn't find it as maybe it didn't know where
the <windowsroot> folder is. Rebooting to the recovery console to check, I
could see the hal.dll folder in the correct folder.
Running "bootcfg /scan" found the c:\windows folder ok.
Running "bootcfg /add", which in hindsight I shouldn't have done really as
the scan option showed all looked well, allowed me to add a new boot option
for the c:\windows install.
A fresh boot and selecting this new boot option tells me that windows could
not start because the "system32\drivers\pci.sys" file is missing or corrupt..
The curious thing here, and this might be a red herring, is that it says just
"system32" and not c:\windows\system32 or windowsroot\system32 etc.... maybe
that's normal though?
Of course the pci.sys file is there OK and I have no reason to suspect it is
corrupt.
At this point I think I tried the bootcfg /rebuild option. When I boot now I
am told that "windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot
path and disk hardware...". This further makes me think that the boot process
doesn't know where the install folder is even thought bootcfg /scan shows it
correctly.

The contents of my boot.ini file now contain a few installs!!:
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP PRO bootcfg
rebuild"
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Win XP Pro on C
Drive" /SOS
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

I'm not sure why the first 2 xp installs have the signature field whereas
the original 750 raid boot option "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" use the
normal "multi(0)..." option. Is this because the system needs the intel raid
driver for bootup and the first two boot options are actually correct?

Help!?!?
Thanks.

:




sh2811 wrote:




[snip]

When I went to boot back to the new system I altered the BIOS boot order
back to the RAID 750s but now the system just reboots in a continuous loop.
It gets past the BIOS boot to where it should start the windows load and
flashes a VERY quick message that I can't pause in time to read properly.

Press the F8 key when the computer boots and change the option to have
the computer restart on system failure and see if you can obtain
information from the stop error message.

John

 

[John John (MVP)]

I'm not sure what happened, I usually blame these unknown things on
Gremlins...

John

P.S. Reconnected everything as it was before, i.e. both 750s mirrored and the
old 320GB drive, and rebooted to the new installation on the now broken
mirror. The Intel matrix storage console just happily kicks off in XP and
starts rebuilding the RAID volume. The drives would definitely have been
different now as I had booted to, and performed some actions on, just one of
the 750s. Still leaves the question why it happened in the first place.
Thanks again.

:

Hi John. This may be premature but maybe things are OK again. I have now
rebooted with just one of the, now un-mirrored, 750s connected and the system
did boot up OK. CHKDSK kicked in and found a couple of issues (did I see
tracking log or tracking index? wasn't paying enough attention and of course
it doesn't wait at the end of the test to allow you to actually read what it
says!). I have yet to reconnect the other 750GB and rebuild the mirror but
I'm assuming all will be well (hope I'm not tempting fate!).
I wanted to avoid having to un-RAID the drives as the rebuild takes an age
but it seems to be the solution.
So thank you VERY much for your time and patience. I am still a bit baffled
as to why it happened in the first place. Maybe I was daft to leave the
drives hooked up and reboot to the old XP install but what would have
happened to cause my problem? I would like to know the answer to that to
satisfy my curiosity. I was wary of leaving the drives connected but thought
that as long as I didn't write to them I wouldn't risk damaging the mirror
and having to rebuild it. I certainly didn't think it would cause these
problems. I guess something wrote to them behind my back!?!
By the way.... I think I'm right in thinking that anyone can give out advice
on here but you have MVP in your user name. Is that a Microsoft..... V
something Professional? Do you actually work for MS or is that an MS
qualification?
Thanks again.

:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/119467/EN-US/

I don't know what to make of the fact that the array looks ok from the
system ROM or that the Recovery Console's map command appears to see it
correctly, but the error message about disk hardware configuration
problems tells us its trying to boot from the wrong disk or from a disk
that is not on the system, the boot.ini file points to an invalid location.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ntdebugging/archive/2007/06/28/how-windows-starts-up-part-the-second.aspx

John


sh2811 wrote:


John, sorry to be an idiot but with what sort of boot floppy? The intel raid
rom bios boot page, that starts after the main system rom boot page,
indicates that the mirror is ok. Also when i'm in recovery mode and do a
"map" there is only one 750gb drive listed which indicates to me that all is
'well' else it would list 2 750s wouldn't it?
Thanks.

:



The signature syntax in the boot.ini file is not unusual:

Windows May Use Signature() Syntax in the Boot.ini File
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/227704

Your mirror may have been broken. See if you can boot the installation
with a boot floppy.

John

sh2811 wrote:



Ok... developments. FIXMBR didn't do anything because I of course needed to
press F6 during the WinXP setup CD boot to install the correct RAID driver.
Once installed I could then see the windows installation on the new 750 raid
drives. (I had also disconnected the old 320GB XP installation drive by now).
I ran FIXMBR (rightly or wrongly again) and rebooted to the 750 raid. I was
then told that "<windowsroot>\system32\hal.dll" file is corrupt or missing.
My suspicion at this point was not that the file was missing or corrupt but
rather that the boot process couldn't find it as maybe it didn't know where
the <windowsroot> folder is. Rebooting to the recovery console to check, I
could see the hal.dll folder in the correct folder.
Running "bootcfg /scan" found the c:\windows folder ok.
Running "bootcfg /add", which in hindsight I shouldn't have done really as
the scan option showed all looked well, allowed me to add a new boot option
for the c:\windows install.
A fresh boot and selecting this new boot option tells me that windows could
not start because the "system32\drivers\pci.sys" file is missing or corrupt..
The curious thing here, and this might be a red herring, is that it says just
"system32" and not c:\windows\system32 or windowsroot\system32 etc.... maybe
that's normal though?
Of course the pci.sys file is there OK and I have no reason to suspect it is
corrupt.
At this point I think I tried the bootcfg /rebuild option. When I boot now I
am told that "windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware
configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot
path and disk hardware...". This further makes me think that the boot process
doesn't know where the install folder is even thought bootcfg /scan shows it
correctly.

The contents of my boot.ini file now contain a few installs!!:
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP PRO bootcfg
rebuild"
signature(d8e8b42e)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Win XP Pro on C
Drive" /SOS
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

I'm not sure why the first 2 xp installs have the signature field whereas
the original 750 raid boot option "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" use the
normal "multi(0)..." option. Is this because the system needs the intel raid
driver for bootup and the first two boot options are actually correct?

Help!?!?
Thanks.

:




sh2811 wrote:




[snip]

When I went to boot back to the new system I altered the BIOS boot order
back to the RAID 750s but now the system just reboots in a continuous loop.
It gets past the BIOS boot to where it should start the windows load and
flashes a VERY quick message that I can't pause in time to read properly.

Press the F8 key when the computer boots and change the option to have
the computer restart on system failure and see if you can obtain
information from the stop error message.

John