RAID-0 P4C800E Dlx Problem

[Randal Baker]

Hello!

I have the P4C800E-Deluxe board with 2-160Gb SATA drives in RAID 0
through the Intel RAID controller. I attempted to install XP Service
Pack 2 and it destroyed my system. Unfortunately, I had a large
amount of valuable data that I hadn't backed up.
I want to install a new drive to the system, preferably SATA since I
already have a spare, install XP to it and make it the boot drive, and
then backup the data from the hosed RAID set. Afterwards, I'll be
wiping the RAID set clean and reinstalling the system.
Is it possible to install a new SATA drive in addition to the SATA
RAID 0 volumne? If so how do I connect the RAID volume and how do I
connect the new SATA drive?

Any help is appreciated.

R.Baker

 

[RonK]

Did you lose the Raid Array or what ?

 

[Paul]

Hello!

I have the P4C800E-Deluxe board with 2-160Gb SATA drives in RAID 0
through the Intel RAID controller. I attempted to install XP Service
Pack 2 and it destroyed my system. Unfortunately, I had a large
amount of valuable data that I hadn't backed up.
I want to install a new drive to the system, preferably SATA since I
already have a spare, install XP to it and make it the boot drive, and
then backup the data from the hosed RAID set. Afterwards, I'll be
wiping the RAID set clean and reinstalling the system.
Is it possible to install a new SATA drive in addition to the SATA
RAID 0 volumne? If so how do I connect the RAID volume and how do I
connect the new SATA drive?

Any help is appreciated.

R.Baker

Why not put your new SATA drive on the Promise ? Remove the other
drives, and try a Windows install on the SATA while it is on the
Promise controller. You will probably need to F6 and install a
driver for it to work. There are two drivers for the Promise,
a RAID one and an ATA one. If one doesn't work, try the other.
After Windows is installed, connect the array back to the
Intel Southbridge. Make sure the boot order reflects the
Promise SATA drive as the boot device. Then, install the Intel
RAID driver, to regain access to the array.

If the RAID array itself isn't broken, you could also try a
repair install of WinXP. But I don't know how that will work
when it needs a driver for the Intel RAID, unless again it
will need to be installed with F6 ? It sounds safer to just
install on the new SATA, like you were planning to do.

Paul

 

[Randal Baker]

Did you lose the Raid Array or what ?

No. RAID Array is intact. Windows XP Pro simply stopped responding.
I can get to the point where the logo screen comes up and the
graphical progress bar starts moving across the screen and then it
just stops completely. I tried getting in through Safe mode and only
got lists of drivers showing up on the screen and then the computer
freezes. I attempted to get in by trying to recover through the setup
process, but now the computer is in a continuous do-loop rebooting
itself everytime the recovery screen comes up.

So, I have an idea to recover my datafiles. I can install another
hard drive and make it the boot drive. I won't tie to the RAID array.
Then, load XP Pro to the new disk and thereby gain access to the RAID
array as another disk in the system. From that point I can off-load
my datafiles. Then, recreate the system on the raid array and remove
the temporary hard drive.

I happen to have another SATA hard drive for building another system,
and I thought that maybe I could use it as the spare drive for my
attempt to get my files. But, I wasn't sure if I could install
another SATA drive to the mobo. I mean, the mobo already has the two
SATA drives in RAID 0.....can I install another SATA drive to one of
the other SATA headers? Will the system recognize it?

Any help is appreciated,

R.Baker

 

[RonK]

Do a Repair Installation of XP. It will get rid of SP2.

 

[LeeBos]

Subject: Re: RAID-0 P4C800E Dlx Problem

From: (e-mail address removed) (Randal Baker)
Date: 8/13/2004 11:57 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id: <[email protected]>


No. RAID Array is intact. Windows XP Pro simply stopped responding.
I can get to the point where the logo screen comes up and the
graphical progress bar starts moving across the screen and then it
just stops completely. I tried getting in through Safe mode and only
got lists of drivers showing up on the screen and then the computer
freezes. I attempted to get in by trying to recover through the setup
process, but now the computer is in a continuous do-loop rebooting
itself everytime the recovery screen comes up.

So, I have an idea to recover my datafiles. I can install another
hard drive and make it the boot drive. I won't tie to the RAID array.
Then, load XP Pro to the new disk and thereby gain access to the RAID
array as another disk in the system. From that point I can off-load
my datafiles. Then, recreate the system on the raid array and remove
the temporary hard drive.

I happen to have another SATA hard drive for building another system,
and I thought that maybe I could use it as the spare drive for my
attempt to get my files. But, I wasn't sure if I could install
another SATA drive to the mobo. I mean, the mobo already has the two
SATA drives in RAID 0.....can I install another SATA drive to one of
the other SATA headers? Will the system recognize it?

Any help is appreciated,

R.Baker

I had a similar situation, but without a RAID array. I solved it by booting
from the XP CD and then doing a repair install. All is now well. Note! a repair
install is not the same as recovery, you just reinstall XP to the same place.

 

[Randal Baker]

Do a Repair Installation of XP. It will get rid of SP2.

I tried the repair install of XP. I can't get past the do-loop I was
talking about earlier. Thanks for the suggestion. Any others?

 

[Randal Baker]

Why not put your new SATA drive on the Promise ? Remove the other
drives, and try a Windows install on the SATA while it is on the
Promise controller. You will probably need to F6 and install a
driver for it to work. There are two drivers for the Promise,
a RAID one and an ATA one. If one doesn't work, try the other.
After Windows is installed, connect the array back to the
Intel Southbridge. Make sure the boot order reflects the
Promise SATA drive as the boot device. Then, install the Intel
RAID driver, to regain access to the array.

If the RAID array itself isn't broken, you could also try a
repair install of WinXP. But I don't know how that will work
when it needs a driver for the Intel RAID, unless again it
will need to be installed with F6 ? It sounds safer to just
install on the new SATA, like you were planning to do.

Paul

Paul,

Thanks! I think this is what I'm looking for. Originally, when I was
building the system, I was confused by the mobo manual as to which of
the two sets of headers is the one to use with the Intel southbridge.
I have that figured out now.
So, where do I get the drivers for the Promise?
Are they on the original CD for the mobo?
Does anyone know the filenames I'm looking for?
Is it necessary to disconnect my original array from the Intel
Southbridge or can it be left installed and simply change boot order
in bios?

The repair install of XP didn't work. I still have the do-loop,
re-boot thing happening that I discussed earlier.


Thanks for your help,

Randy

 

[Randal Baker]

I had a similar situation, but without a RAID array. I solved it by booting
from the XP CD and then doing a repair install. All is now well. Note! a repair
install is not the same as recovery, you just reinstall XP to the same place.

I did the repair install. No joy. It still is in do-loop. I don't
care at this point if the system is hosed. I can fix that. What I
desperately want is the data. Yes, I'm aware I should have had a
back-up and RAID 0 is the wrong array for data retention. I'm going
to solve data backup after I can get my hands on it.

Thanks again for the response. Still looking for answers to the other
questions I've posed in other response.

R.Baker

 

[Ken]

Thanks! I think this is what I'm looking for. Originally, when I was
building the system, I was confused by the mobo manual as to which of
the two sets of headers is the one to use with the Intel southbridge.
I have that figured out now.
So, where do I get the drivers for the Promise?
Are they on the original CD for the mobo?
Yes.

Does anyone know the filenames I'm looking for?

Motherboard drivers CD: Drivers\Promise\378RAID

There are some text file and files to make floppy disk and more.

 

[Paul]

(e-mail address removed) (Paul) wrote in message


Paul,

Thanks! I think this is what I'm looking for. Originally, when I was
building the system, I was confused by the mobo manual as to which of
the two sets of headers is the one to use with the Intel southbridge.
I have that figured out now.
So, where do I get the drivers for the Promise?
Are they on the original CD for the mobo?
Does anyone know the filenames I'm looking for?
Is it necessary to disconnect my original array from the Intel
Southbridge or can it be left installed and simply change boot order
in bios?

The repair install of XP didn't work. I still have the do-loop,
re-boot thing happening that I discussed earlier.


Thanks for your help,

Randy

I cannot guarantee this is going to work, but it should. The Intel
RAID and Promise RAID probably both look like SCSI emulation to the
system. Potentially, the easiest part, will be disconnecting the
RAID drives, connection the single SATA to the Promise controller,
doing F6 install of Promise driver, installing the rest of WinXP,
installing IAAR RAID driver again.

The tough part will be when you connect the pair of drives back on
the Intel Southbridge. You will need to enter the BIOS and set the
boot order, as every time you change drive config, it seems to
bugger up the boot order. I don't know if the system is smart enough
to handle two SCSI emulating devices or not. Only time will tell...

The reason I'm feeling a little doubt, is I've seen scattered reports
of an inability to boot off the 20378, but since the 20378 is
used on a number of different boards, I don't know if there is
a pattern to these reports or not. There could be any number of
finger problems involved, so I don't want to jump to any
conclusions.

If you want drivers, the download site gives the current ones:

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/download.aspx ==>
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=P4C800-E Deluxe&Type=All&SLanguage=en-us

HTH,
Paul