Intel RAID array rebuilding a lot

[extremepcs]

Running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit RTM (Software Assurance customer, was able to download on Aug. 8th)

My RAID 10 array has rebuilt itself 4 or 5 times since installing Win 7 a week ago. I did a fresh install... did not upgrade from XP. It never did this under XP. Using the on-board Intel ICH7R controller. It's an Intel 975XBX motherboard with Core 2 Duo Extreme X6800 and 4GB RAM.

Running Intel Matrix Storage Manager 8.9.1023. Device manager shows the same number for the driver version, dated 6/4/2009. I did not have to install the "F6" driver during installation. It's showing different drives as failing each time, so it's not the drives. They are Seagate 320 GB SATA. 4 of them running RAID 10. All are identical models - ST3320620AS

Anyone else seeing this?

Thanks

 

[DJG]

Nope, and I have 10 Seagate drives in RAID 10 and RAID 0. The only time I've had rebuilds were from severe OC crashing, and only twice out of a couple dozen crashes :shock:.

I would use the Seagate drive checking software on your drives to make sure they're OK.

- Does the same drive fail, or is it random?
- Are the drives overheating?

I might check the PSU and make sure it's up to the task also.

 

[extremepcs]

It's a random drive each time. Hardware config has not changed in about a year, and up until I installed 7, had never done it. I'll try swapping the PSU to one with more output, but it just doesn't make sense that it does it under 7 and not XP. Maybe because 7 is hitting the CPU more and my PSU is right on the brink of not having enough juice...

 

[DJG]

That IS weird. It could be a coincidence that it's started around the time Win 7 was installed. Is it possible for you to re-do the array from scratch (delete the array and create it new) using backup and restore? I'm wondering if something got weird in the internal array config, particularly since the ICH arrays are somewhat dependent on the OS-level driver.

But if you have easy access to a bigger PSU I would try that first.

 

[extremepcs]

I think I found the problem. McAfee VirusScan8.7i. Looks like it was scanning things it shouldn't be and causing the problem. I uninstalled it and the problem went away.

 

[DJG]

That is very weird! That means they're mucking in the RAID array's internal data structure or somehow bypassing the normal driver access to the RAID data and getting one mirror out of sync with the other. Ouch ...

 

[Antman]

https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=KB54777&pmv=print

I do not know the connection, I just remember a connection to McAfee causing RAID issues. This link was in an email I have from a client with a similar problem.

 

[extremepcs]

Yeah, weird. I'll look in to it when I have more time. Running AVG Free now and no more problems. Running McAfee 8.7 on another machine (Dell workstation) with SCSI RAID 5 / PERC 4 controller and have not had issues.

 

[Jacee]

My machine was custom built for Vista Ultimate (see my specs, similar to yours). I had the same problem with the Raid array setup constantly rebuilding itself! I finally got so fed up with it, that I took out one of the 500GB harddrives. I've never had Macafee on this computer, btw.

 

[MarkW78]

Same Problem

I just discovered this thread when searching because I'm having a similar issue. My hardware specs are virtually the same. I had a D975XBX with the onboard RAID controller running RAID 5 with 4x Seagate 320 GB SATA drives (same model as original poster). This worked fine for three years with Vista Business 64-bit. I had the ability to download the RTM last month and did so. I did a fresh install with Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit. The first time rebooting after installation it showed the array as degraded. My initial thought was that the drive may have gone bad because it was 3 years old. I bought a WD 500 GB drive because it was the quickest thing I could get. I installed the new drive and went on reinstalling software. Then after a reboot, I had another drive give the same error. I've since swapped another drive out for a 500 GB Seagate drive because I may change the configuration again.
But I just ran into the issue yet again. I have never installed McAfee on this machine. I ran eTrust Anti-Virus under Vista and have switched to Vipre Anti-Virus in Windows 7. I never had an issue where I needed to rebuild when running Vista.

 

[afreeshrimp]

The problem is the Intel Matrix Storage Manager 8.9.1023
Go back to ver 8.8 (or 8.7) and you will most likely be fine. 8.8 works fine on my x64 Win7 RTM on a P55 MB, even it is not the offical win7 driver and doesn't offically support PCH on p55

See discussion at:
Random drive fails with new Matrix ...

 

[ldoodle]

Hmm interesting. I have the exact same issue with 2x 320GB drives in RAID 1 and 2x 500GB drives in a seperate RAID 1. Only difference is i'm running Windows Server 2008 R2 x64.

I will try the power supply first and see what happens. It's an Antec TruePower 550, but one thing i've noticed is that when disconnecting the power lead from either the socket or PSU itself and plugging it back in, the PC won't turn on for between 1 and 2 minutes, so I thought it could be a 'safety' feature of the PSU?

On another note, does anyone know if there's a performance hit when having multiple volumes per array vs multiple partitions per array?

Thanks

 

[Peaches491]

same problem over here

I am having a very similar problem.

4x Seagate 500gb Sata II's
Onboard ICH10R in my Gigabyte EP45-UD3R

Multiple rebuilds and general system instability. I have a kilowatt PSU, so its definately not a lack of power. Any ideas??

 

[bobll7]

Which version of the Intel Matrix are you running? 8.9.0.1023 is known to be causing this.
I experimented the same thing and got it fixed by reverting to the 8.8.0.1009 version.