RAID array isn't recognized?

[mastacox]

Hey all,

So I'm running an ASUS M4N72-E mobo which has the Nvidia nForce 750a SLI chipset with built-in SATA RAID. I bought a pair of 1TB Samsung SATA hard drives to set up in a RAID 1 (mirrored) array for backing up pictures and the like, but I can't get the thing to show up in Windows for the life of me...

I first installed the nVidia driver set which supports in-Windows setup and configuration of RAID arrays (Nvidia Mediashield). With that all installed, I shutdown installed the two drives on SATA ports 5&6 which are supposedly for dedicated RAID according to the mobo manual. I went into the BIOS and set onboard SATA to RAID, and went to the RAID configuration utility to make sure both drives were showing up (they are). At first, I didn't set up the RAID in the BIOS config because I was going to do it in Mediashield.

Once I got back into windows the two drives show up as unpartitioned drives in Windows drive manager, and so I load up Nvidia Mediashield go through the steps to set up the array, and when I click "finish" the utility locks up for about 5 minutes (at first I thought formatting the array), but then closes with no messages. Once mediashield closes the drives no longer show up in the device manager or drive partitioner, and no RAID array shows up either. Rebooting is the only way to get them back. I've tried plugging the drives into different SATA ports, tried setting the RAID up in the BIOS config utility and then booting to Windows, and tried uninstalling and re-installing the Nvidia software/drivers... When I set the RAID up in the BIOS config utility and then boot to Windows, the drive just doesn't show up at all (but the BIOS post shows the drives set up in a healthy array).

So what gives? Is my onboard RAID bad? Do I need to update my BIOS? I'm stumped...

 

[Tweek]

Hey all,

So I'm running an ASUS M4N72-E mobo which has the Nvidia nForce 750a SLI chipset with built-in SATA RAID. I bought a pair of 1TB Samsung SATA hard drives to set up in a RAID 1 (mirrored) array for backing up pictures and the like, but I can't get the thing to show up in Windows for the life of me...

I first installed the nVidia driver set which supports in-Windows setup and configuration of RAID arrays (Nvidia Mediashield). With that all installed, I shutdown installed the two drives on SATA ports 5&6 which are supposedly for dedicated RAID according to the mobo manual. I went into the BIOS and set onboard SATA to RAID, and went to the RAID configuration utility to make sure both drives were showing up (they are). At first, I didn't set up the RAID in the BIOS config because I was going to do it in Mediashield.

Once I got back into windows the two drives show up as unpartitioned drives in Windows drive manager, and so I load up Nvidia Mediashield go through the steps to set up the array, and when I click "finish" the utility locks up for about 5 minutes (at first I thought formatting the array), but then closes with no messages. Once mediashield closes the drives no longer show up in the device manager or drive partitioner, and no RAID array shows up either. Rebooting is the only way to get them back. I've tried plugging the drives into different SATA ports, tried setting the RAID up in the BIOS config utility and then booting to Windows, and tried uninstalling and re-installing the Nvidia software/drivers... When I set the RAID up in the BIOS config utility and then boot to Windows, the drive just doesn't show up at all (but the BIOS post shows the drives set up in a healthy array).

So what gives? Is my onboard RAID bad? Do I need to update my BIOS? I'm stumped...

Ok, Let's run some thoughts,

1. Can you Init The Array using Your Local Disk Management, and just skip mediasheid and BIOSRAID?

2. Are you sure the RAID didn't Correctly Finish and you need to make sure that your GUI ust isn't Configured to the wrong listening port and just doesn't see the new array?

check those and lemme know i'll be checking for a reply...

Hope this helps, and Good luck

-Tweek

 

[mastacox]

Ok, Let's run some thoughts,

1. Can you Init The Array using Your Local Disk Management, and just skip mediasheid and BIOSRAID?

The array doesn't show up in windows. I only see the disks in Windows individually before they're applied to an array. The BIOS Raid utility is able to create an array as far as I can tell, but it never shows up in Windows; Mediashield apparently errors out and isn't able to create an array (and the drives disappear after is errors out).

Does Win7 have native support for creating RAID arrays from multiple drives?

2. Are you sure the RAID didn't Correctly Finish and you need to make sure that your GUI ust isn't Configured to the wrong listening port and just doesn't see the new array?

The BIOS RAID utility appears to be able to create an array successfully, but it doesn't show up in Windows as a drive. Mediashield is definitely not working correctly.

I'm fine with creating the aray in BIOS as long as it shows up in Windows. Mediashield doesn't appear to be working for me, not sure why.

 

[pooch]

Hello Mastacox,
You are trying to do the impossible with your mobo, you get a choice of IDE/AHCI or SATA but not both together this is quite normal on Asus motherboards with only one chipset.
See the attachment from your manual

 

[mastacox]

The only drives I'm trying to run over SATA are the two Samsung hard drives, although I do have a SATA Blu-Ray burner... Is the Blu-Ray burner preventing me from creating a RAID array?

If this is the case, I'll set up the RAID array on another computer on the network.

 

[pooch]

The only drives I'm trying to run over SATA are the two Samsung hard drives, although I do have a SATA Blu-Ray burner... Is the Blu-Ray burner preventing me from creating a RAID array?

If this is the case, I'll set up the RAID array on another computer on the network.

No you misunderstand your operating system is on a non raid drive

 

[mastacox]

My operating system is installed on a 160GB PATA drive (IDE). The only SATA devices plugged into the mobo are the 2 Samsung drives I want to set up in a RAID, and the LG Blu-Ray burner. It could be the SATA optical drive is causing the grief, but if that's the case I'm better off installing the RAID array on another computer on the network, even though I'll take a big hit in speed...

All this effort was to save some money avoid getting a NAS box, but now it's looking like a Gigabit NAS box might be my only solution that wouldn't bottleneck my access to the array... My only other option would be to buy a new mobo for my computer it looks like.

 

[pooch]

My operating system is installed on a 160GB PATA drive (IDE). The only SATA devices plugged into the mobo are the 2 Samsung drives I want to set up in a RAID, and the LG Blu-Ray burner. It could be the SATA optical drive is causing the grief, but if that's the case I'm better off installing the RAID array on another computer on the network, even though I'll take a big hit in speed...

All this effort was to save some money avoid getting a NAS box, but now it's looking like a Gigabit NAS box might be my only solution that wouldn't bottleneck my access to the array... My only other option would be to buy a new mobo for my computer it looks like.

Sorry my bad I didn't see the PATA
The optical drive may well cause problems I am not sure

 

[mastacox]

Well it's an easy thing to find out- all I have to do is unplug the optical drive and see what happens.

Problem is, I need that optical drive because this machine is our media center for watching movies and such, so we may have to dump the RAID on this machine and run it somewhere else. The other box on the network that can support SATA RAID is an older one that's connected to the network through Wireless-N on the other side of the house...

Decisions, decisions. The "best" option may be to find a replacement mobo, but most if not all mobos that suport AM2+ and DDR2 ram are running the nVidia 750a chippset, which means they're probably hobbled by the same RAID limitation. But it occurs to me I could get a SATA card for one of my PCI-E slots and run the optical drive on that; or I could get a SATA PCI-E card that supports RAID and run the hard drives on that.

 

[pooch]

I can't find a complete manual for this but you have to select RAID in the BIOS which you said you did.
When you start the PC do you get a screen to make a RAID array?
I ask because I am somewhat confused as windows should see just one disc
when the RAID is set up and running you might be able to reconnect the optical drive

 

[mastacox]

So my power supply took a dump last week, after shutting down the rig I couldn't turn it back on (the system wouldn't post or anything). There were multiple symptoms prior to final failure- my overclock stopped working, the BIOS was resetting intermittently, and several of my case fans were running very slowly. Putting a spare power supply in the machine fixed the problems; I was happy it wasn't the mobo or anything...

So I bought a new power supply (Thermaltake Toughpower 775W modular) and while I was at it bought a PCI-E SATA RAID card.

Newegg.com - Thermaltake Toughpower XT TPX-775M 775W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply GeForce GTX 470 Certified

Amazon.com: Syba SY-PEX40013 PCI Express SATA II 4x Ports RAID Controller Card, JMB Chipset: Electronics

I think with the new power supply I'll try using the PCI-E card for just my optical drive, and see if I can get the mobo's onboard RAID to work for me (I like nVidia's Windows RAID configuration utililty). It could be the problems I was seeing in setting up the RAID were all related to voltage drop due to a failing PSU, who knew? :sarc:

 

[pooch]

Thanks for the post keep us informed how it goes

 

[mastacox]

Well I got the power supply installed- it works great; but it didn't solve my problems in setting up a RAID array on the motherboard. I tried setting up an array in BIOS, it doesn't show up in windows; I tried setting up the array in the nVidia windows utility, same problem as before.

SO, I'm going to set it up on the PCI-E RAID board I got, and I'll just run the Blu-Ray drive on the motherboard. Would have liked to use the mobo for the nVidia configuration software in windows, but it seems that it doesn't work for me.

 

[mastacox]

Scratch that, I FINALLY got Windows to recognize a RAID array that I set up using the BIOS utility. It turns out that I had some sort of corrupt driver install- I went into Device Manager and uninstalled the driver for the nForce RAID controller and restarted. Windows found a driver on Windows Update and installed it, and after a restart voila! A new unallocated disk appears in the hard disk manager.

The nVidia configuration utility still doesn't seem to work, and in fact I think it was never properly communicating (maybe another driver problem?) When I load the nVidia Storage utility, it gives a message that "System information is not available." Not sure what's going on there, but at least I've finally got a mirrored array going that I can back my stuff up on.

Thank you Windows Update!

 

[mastacox]

Pictures of the new power supply. The cable routing's nothing exotic, but it is cleaner than before, and I've got less extra cables lying around in there...

 

[promillo]

Scratch that, I FINALLY got Windows to recognize a RAID array that I set up using the BIOS utility. It turns out that I had some sort of corrupt driver install- I went into Device Manager and uninstalled the driver for the nForce RAID controller and restarted. Windows found a driver on Windows Update and installed it, and after a restart voila! A new unallocated disk appears in the hard disk manager.

Mastacox you made my day! I had the same problem and nearly gave up until I found your post! Thank you!!!