Machine wont boot when array is setup

DezUk

DezUk

DezUk

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Joined
20 Sep 2003
Posts
2,384
Location
Scotland
Specs:
Windows 2003 Enterprise
AMD Athlon 2Ghz
1Gb Corsair ram
Gigabyte 7N400 motherboard
Adaptec AAR-2410SA 64Mb
2x Maxtor 500Gb SATA drives (Stripe 0)
1x 80Gb IDE drive with O/S installed

I have been having problems trying to setup a sata array on my system. On boot I login to the bios of the adaptec card and setup my array by adding both drives. The bios says the array is created and so I reboot the system but on boot it only gets to just before the windows boot screen and haults. There is no activity from my IDE drive that has the o/s installed and the system just sits there. But if I login to the adaptec bios and delete the array the system boots fine.

I can’t understand what the problem is, can anyone help me out?
 
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Could it be a driver issue with windows and the array? Make sure you have the correct driver loaded for the OS. Had a similar issue with Vista on a raid array. Had to goto the raid controller's website for the correct driver. The motherboard manufacturer driver would not work.
 
I am sure the adaptec card has the correct drivers as it is working properly in windows with no errors againt it in the device manager. The drivers installed fine and all went smoothly when i did install the card in windows.
 
Presumably the O/S drive is on it's own (As it's IDE).

When you create the RAID on the two drives, have you gone into the bios to check out boot orders etc?
 
Yeah I checked the boot order in the mobo bios and its set to

First Boot Device: HDD0

and I have disabled the second and third boot devices. So going by that it should boot from the IDE drive first.
 
Unplug the IDE drive, and see if it says the same thing.

Also, in the Adaptec bios, is there an option to set the boot drive? Can't remember if there is in those cards or not.
 
Yeah in the adaptec bios there is an option to set the array as the first boo device by pressing Ctrl and S or something. But I just left that as I want my first booit device to be the IDE drive.
 
Ok small update...

I noticed the 2 drives were connected to ports 3 & 4 so I re connected them to ports 1 & 2 and now the machine boots to windows :)

On boot the array is detected and shows up as being optimal which is good but when I get to windows I dont see the drive :(
 
May have to goto 'manage' after right clicking my computer perhaps? Then Disk management, and format the drive from there perhaps...just my first thought really.
 
Ok I did what you said and manged to get the array up and running. But I didnt think this is how it would be setup, the way it is just now gives me the impression is aided by software. I thought using the adaptec card it would be fully hardware built. For instance when setting up the array in the adaptec bios i expected to see a "Build Array" feature that would take a while to build it.

I have also found an adpatec storgae manager browser edition which I have seen working before on another system. This allows you to build an array and monitor its status etc. Again I cant get this working :(

Or have I got it all wrong is this it working properly?
 
I create RAID configs nearly every day, the cards are normally there to just create the volume (ie the two disks etc, into mirrors / stripes )...Then you would create whatever partitions you wanted.

If you wanted to view the array as such in Windows, then yeah you need the software (Such as Raid web console for intel based cards) But why your software isn't working atm, I'm not sure.

When we have RAID setups at work, they tend to be the disk they want the O/S on as well...But even if it isn't, say in your case, then yeah we would have to create the partitions etc.

The most you could do now is probably check the consistency of the drives / raid volume...(Either in the Bios of the Adaptec card, or in the software in windows)
 
Provided the controller is installed in windows and its seeing the aray then:

Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Computer Management / disk management / Create a partition and Format the array and

No real need to download the Makers GUI.
 
Delvis said:
As some have built in alarms that sound of when there are issues.
Click to expand...

AHAHA, if i close my eyes i can still hear some of those going off, besides a building fire alarm or the alarm clock in the morning i'm yet to come across a worse noise!

Hatefull Hatefull sound, used to be nothing worse than coming into work, BEEP BEEP BEEP, oh noes so thats another drive dropped off the Raid 5 array then!

*Alas i've ditched IT now as a job, thank god!
 
....Please don't....

That's why I tend to find the silence alarm as quick as possible.

heh...I wish I could find another job, but IT's the only thing I'm half decent at, well I think anyway.

That and finding job in the It after my current role WITHOUT it involving support (Shrudder) is next to impossible for some reason.
 
Delvis said:
And did you get your software from the following link: http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/downlo...=AAR-2410SA&dn=Adaptec+Serial+ATA+RAID+2410SA
Click to expand...

yeah that's where I downloaded the software from :)

I have noticed the adapted bios is a bit out of date so I'll try updating that. Its just a pain it needs to be done with old floppies :(

Btw I'm running v2.12 of the storage manager on it says not controller found even though its working fine in device manager. Hopefully the bios update will fix it.
 
have u like checked your storage controller / sata mode options in the bios to, its proberly still on IDE, change that to RAID.
 
That will change the way the motherboard see's his O/S drive, which isn't RAIDed...

Well, you could enable RAID, but then you'll either lose your drive, or have to install a driver in windows for the new RAID controller it detects (That's if the board has onboard RAID)

If you have a USB pen drive DezUk, you can update BIOS' from there as well, rather than using floppys. If your pen is bootable obviously.

Oh yeah, you could also try the Web version of the storage manager as well perhaps...It's just a way of monitoring it remotely...but it should be the same concept.
 
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