Loss of NVIDIA Raid 1

[docholliday]

Hi:

This forum has been a remarkable resource in the past, so I thought I would again reach out for help for an extremely perplexing issue (before I cause damage by trying to fix it myself).

My AMD machine utilizes an ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe motherboard, which includes an NVIDIA nForce 570 raid controller. When I installed Windows 7, the install was a fresh copy of Windows 7 Professional, and I properly installed the Raid controller. Specifically, I had two Western Digital 640 GB HDD in a RAID 1 configuration, and all was well until yesterday, when I logged in and saw double the number of disks that I should have. Of course, the double number was due to the fact that for some reason, my RAID 1 configuration broke down. Windows 7 was now recognizing the other drive as a brand new piece of hardware. Furthermore, when I start up the machine, the RAID controller screen that was typically part of the start up sequence has disappeared entirely.

My questions are:

1. How is it that my RAID controller has broken? I mean, how is it that the driver was somehow removed? Is this an act of some strange malware? I have Avast running, and it's never complained. But, I also have not made any significant system changes that may have lead to this issue.

2. What is the safest way to fix this? I would like to realign the disks into RAID 1.

As always, thank you for your help.

 

[not so gray matter]

Well I'd suggest that you reinstall the drivers for your raid. Go to this website and enter your model number in the search box on the top left. It should also be noted that when prompted, I didn't see an option for Windows 7. You may have to install your raid drivers in Vista compatibility mode.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-

However, I don't know whether or not your first HDD's new information from booting after broken raid will hamper them rejoining into RAID 1. I'd wait for a more expert opinion.

 

[seekermeister]

I have no idea of what went wrong, except the possibility that one of the drives is defective in some fashion, even though it still appears in Windows. You need to determine which drive does appear in the raid configuration utility during the BIOS run and which doesn't. Obviously, the one that doesn't appear is the problem. I've not worked with your type of raid controller, but if it is like most, when you replace that drive with a working one, the raid utility should offer to rebuild the array or possibly do it automatically.

EDIT: Vaguely, it seems to me that Nvidia has a raid configuration utility called Media Shield in the Nvidia Control Panel. If so, perhaps you can figure out what is going on there.

 

[docholliday]

I will execute the ideas listed above and reply with the results. Thank you for your suggestions.

Also, I realize that this may require a different thread, but something else is happening with my system. I thought I would list it, as perhaps it is a related symptom:

For a few weeks now, my computer will 'lock up' sporadically for 30 - 60s. When I say 'lock up', I see the mouse cursor change to the circular ring, and I cannot change windows or perform any operations. If I remain patient, after 30-60s the circular ring disappears and the system becomes operational again. If seems to happen randomly without any discernable pattern.

Very bizarre. And I do not know if this is related to the above problem or if it is entirely different.

Anyway, I will look closer at the recommendations made above. If anyone has any ideas about what may be causing the frozen system, please let me know!

Thanks again.

 

[Dwarf]

Check the settings in your BIOS. By default, the system will run in non-RAID mode. This needs to be enabled in the BIOS.

 

[docholliday]

I followed your suggestions above and checked my bios settings.
Strangely enough, it appeared as if the bios settings were placed back into their default state. Again, very bizarre.

So I changed the settings back to a RAID configuration and performed a restart. Although the RAID screen again appeared during the start up sequence (and described the array as being healthy), the system did not start.

A start up error appeared, directing me to restart the system with the Windows 7 disk. I followed instructions hoping that I would be able to sucessfully perform a repair function, but I had no such luck. Essentially, the system is telling me that it is 'unrepairable'.

I even tried pulling out every peripheral and HDD, so that only the primary master was left plugged in, and the results are similar: it will not start.

A little more info about my configuration: it was a dual boot with XP. But now it won't even boot the XP partition.

From the boot menu, I can get to the start-up options page when I select the 'recovered' windows 7 partition, and I can select from safe-mode, safe-mode with networking, etc...

But whatever I select results in the BSOD, which describes some kind of error. If it would be helpful, I could take a camera shot of the BSOD and post it here. But it will likely look terrible.

Anyway, I would love to hear more suggestions. I am starting to think that I will need to do a reinstall, which I am seriously reluctant to do. To be honest, I am sick and tired of the bologna. I realize that this may be sacrilage, but I am very close to moving towards a Mac. I am tired of losing my money and time to microsoft.

Please save me. Don't make me turn to the dark side!

 

[seekermeister]

I get the feeling that you installed the systems while both sets of drives were connected (or on the same drive), thus creating a boot menu. This is something that I never do, so that if something goes awry in one OS, it doesn't effect the other.

As far as repairing the boot, I will have to defer to someone else with a better understanding of it.

 

[docholliday]

Indeed I did.
In fact, stupid as it may sound, Windows 7 was installed in a new partition of the same drive. Hence there were two drives in a RAID 1 configuration. One partition was XP. One partition was Seven. And the remainder was data.

The idea was that if one drive failed, I would obviously have an exact duplicate that would immediately step up. I have had drive failures in the past, so it sounded like a good idea to me.

But no worries gents...I also have all my data backed up on-line. Whew...

But still, I would prefer to avoid a re-install. It just takes too long to personalize the system and software.

 

[seekermeister]

Your reasoning has some merit, but when it comes to computers, I believe in Murphy's Law. Don't you have backup images...or did you feel that wouldn't be necessary either? In any case, someone here may be able to help you repair the boot.

 

[docholliday]

No images, but I did have system restores.
For some reason, the restore function is not working.

Perhaps in the future, I will need to look closer at performing backup images. But I really thought in terms of redundancy, that I was already being ridiculous. I guess not.

 

[zzz2496]

docholliday, make an IMPORTANT note for your self in the future... in case of this kind of thing happening to you in the future, DISCONNECT one of the mirror disk, keep it for safekeeping, let it go to "unhealthy" state - Then HAVE whatever you want to do with your system, you can still rebuild it in the future - just keep the mirror safe, VERY SAFE.

From what I understand, it seem that your BIOS got reset for some reason? Try disabling RAID, remove your mirror, let the RAID array go unhealthy, boot your OS. If it boots up, I assume the RAID adapter somehow went missing and Windows is using whatever storage adapter left in it's list...

zzz2496

 

[docholliday]

Hi zzz:

Yeah - I hate the expression, but 20/20 hindsight!

But, I really was not anticipating that the boot sector would be damaged as a result of turning RAID back on in the bios. The good news about this experience is that no matter what happens, my data is safe. The bad news is that I am rapidly moving through Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' stages of tragedy (denial, bargaining, anger, depression, acceptance) and accepting the fact that I will most likely need to reinstall Seven.

Feel free to ignore my previous threat of moving to Mac. I have too much invested in my machine, and even though Macs appear to 'simply work', they are too expensive and restrictive.

I am really hoping to hear back from SIW2...

 

[docholliday]

After doing some reading, I suppose I should try the recommendations made by iseeuu:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html

After I run through this exercise, I will post my results.

 

[chev65]

The intermittent freezing you saw earlier usually indicates that a harddrive is going bad. I would run tests on both HD's to determine if this is true or not.

Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.

 

[zzz2496]

After doing some reading, I suppose I should try the recommendations made by iseeuu:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html

After I run through this exercise, I will post my results.

Make sure you install the RAID controller driver before attempting the restore...

zzz2496

 

[docholliday]

OK, I tried repairing the boot sector using the above link.
Although the repair appears to be successful, I keep getting a BSOD on startup of 7.

If I disable automatic restart, I can read the BSOD.

I have typed it out below, verbatim. Again, the following is EXACTLY what appears on my BSOD.
*******************************************************************************
A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure that it is properly configured and terminated. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0xFFFFF880009A9928, 0xFFFFFFFFC0000034, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000)

********************************************************************************
Any ideas?
Note that all peripherals are unplugged. All drives except for one, are also unplugged.

I guess I am starting to believe that this HDD may be shot. Now, here is the million dollar question: I still have the duplicate drive (because before this started, there were two drives in a RAID 1 config). Shall I try working with the other one?

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[docholliday]

More info:

I am trying to rebuild the MBR using bootrec.exe

Whenever I run an operation a box pops up titled: 'BootRec.exe - Corrupt File'
Inside the box, I see an X inside of a red circle and the following text: 'The file or directory E:\Windows\$NtUninstallWMFDist11$ is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility.'

When I acknowledge the box by hitting 'OK', a new box appears that says: 'The file or directory E:\WINDOWS\LastGood is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the ChkDsk utility.'

Funny think about this is that when I run DISKPART and LIST VOLUME, drive letter 'E:' refers to the XP partition.

 

[seekermeister]

Here is the MS KB article on the error:

Advanced troubleshooting for "Stop 0x0000007B" errors in Windows XP

It seems reasonable to believe that one of the harddrives in the array failed, causing the array itself to fail. Therefore your idea to try the other harddrive seems correct.

 

[docholliday]

Thanks Seeker:

Upon further investigation, it looks as if I am still screwed.
When using DISKPART to examine volume on the second RAID disk, the parition corresponding to Windows 7 is RAW. So apparantly, when I installed 7, the OS was not mirrored to the second drive. So, unless anyone can pull a rabitt out of a hat, it looks like I have a long weekend ahead of me.

Damn.

OK, obviously even though I went through great lengths to prevent this from happening, it has happened yet again (this is now my third toasted drive). Someone previously mentioned periodically taking images. What is the best way to implement this, so next time, I can revert to the image and move on with my life, thereby resulting in a minimal amount of disruption.

Thanks.

 

[seekermeister]

You can get a variety of answers to that question. Mine would be to use Acronis True Image 2010, but it is not free. Some use Windows built-in system, but that didn't work for me. A couple of other backup programs that people use, which are free are Paragon and Macrium Reflect. I haven't used either sufficiently to make a recommendation, other than Macrium seemed better.