RAID 1 Problem

schumi84 · 8 Aug 2007 at 12:41

Hi there. Have just set up a RAID 1 array with 2 drives which i have Windows and general program files on and a separate drive for games.

All seemed fine when installing Windows (XP Home btw) but now when the PC is booting up it freezes in random places:

-Just after the Windows loading bar.
-Once loaded into Windows.
-When running an Installer for a program.
-Sometimes just at a random time.

As the CPU was overclocked slightly (220FSB instead of 200 on a X2 4200) i set that back to stock. Still no change, then it seemed to not freeze as much when the GFX drivers weren't installed, or more specifically when CCC wasnt (GFX is a 1950XTX).
The problem seemed to go away but then after a while it froze again. After looking around various other forums it look like it could be a possible PSU problem - wait for it, PSU is a 580W Hiper.
Before setting up this array there was just the one HD, so could these extra HDs have put too much load on the PSU - I would have thought very unlikely, or is it just Windows doesnt like to be installed on RAID 1?

Rest of Spec:
DualSata DDR 1 sckt 939 (has AGP and PCI-E)
1GB Geil RAM (not sure of details)
3 x HDs Seagate 7200.10 160GB

Anyway, sorry to go on, any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers very much

rpstewart · 8 Aug 2007 at 13:08

An extra couple of HDDs isn't going to overload your PSU.

Have you got the latest drivers for the chipset and the RAID controller? Did you go through the F6 driver install malarky when you put Windows onto the array?

schumi84 · 8 Aug 2007 at 13:11

Yep, pressed the F6 jobby when installing Windows, had to root around for a floppy drive to make the sata disk, which is a bit of a pain.

To make the disk i used the CD that came with the Mobo, would downloading the new drivers and installing them in Windows help then?

rpstewart · 8 Aug 2007 at 13:12

Updating the drivers is certainly worth a shot, the ones on the supplied CDs will be fairly old by now.

schumi84 · 8 Aug 2007 at 13:19

Thats cool, will give that a go. With those updated ones,would it be possible to create a new floppy disk in windows, as before u had to boot the pc with the mobo disk in to create the disk. On my mobo u do it windows.

rpstewart · 8 Aug 2007 at 13:24

You won't need to create another floppy, that's only to give the Windows installer the necessary drivers. Once Windows is installed you can update the drivers directly from the version you download.

schumi84 · 9 Aug 2007 at 09:08

Great stuff, thanks for your help. Will give that a go and let you know what happens.

schumi84 · 9 Aug 2007 at 09:23

Hahaha, slight problem with getting the new drivers, the ASRock website doesnt seem to be working and the links to get the drivers dont work either.

Managed to get some updated drivers for SATAII however the harddrives in RAID 1 are on the SATA controller so not sure if this will make a difference.

Will see what happens.....

schumi84 · 9 Aug 2007 at 13:13

Quick update on the situation. Have managed to get the new drivers for both the SATA I and SATA II RAID controller. Windows still takes an absolute age to get in and it is still freezing, though this time it lasted quite a while before freezing.

Not sure really what to do with it, may just break the mirror and set it up in RAID 0 instead.

schumi84 · 12 Aug 2007 at 14:15

Another quick update on his thread, sorry to revive it.

Set the same 2 drives in RAID 0 and still got the random freezes but no BSOD etc.

Split the drives up and have windows on one of them with the other used for manual backup and all seems fine at the moment.

After this i have come to the conclusion that either the hard drive used for the backup is a bit dodgy and so causing the lockups or the RAID controller on the mobo is rubbish.

Tried running the Seagate HD tools software u can get from the website after updating the SATA and SATAII drivers and it refuses to run at all.

All very strange.