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Questions about GIGABYTE products => Motherboards with Intel processors => Topic started by: celegansium on June 11, 2015, 02:39:07 am

Title: Power issue, now can't boot from RAID 0
Post by: celegansium on June 11, 2015, 02:39:07 am
Have fever, can't think well, sorry.

I have a system based on ga x58a-ud3r rev 1.0 board. I have Windows 7 installed on dual RAID 0 SSD drives. A problem with my UPS caused power to machine to fail. (Plus surge?) Would only reboot to a point where I get message saying something like: remove disks and press any key to start. Couldn't get past that point. In setup I tried Load Default Bios or similar. That made RAID go away, but I made BIOS alterations that seemed to bring it back. BIOS seems to show array now. But system will not boot from it, wants to  boot from system disc. I'm afraid to choose Rebuild Array (or similar wording) because I'm afraid that will wipe out everything on the previous array. I don't know whether anything is fried (and it's time for a new system anyway), but I'd like to save existing system and data if I can (Yep, I was lazy with backup.) . Any ideas?
Title: Re: Power issue, now can't boot from RAID 0
Post by: dmdilks on June 11, 2015, 12:24:28 pm
Go back in to the bios go to "Advanced BIOS Features" the first one "Hard Disk Boot Priority". Make sure the array is the first one.
Title: Re: Power issue, now can't boot from RAID 0
Post by: celegansium on June 11, 2015, 08:30:02 pm
Go back in to the bios go to "Advanced BIOS Features" the first one "Hard Disk Boot Priority". Make sure the array is the first one.
Had already done that.

Here is what has me confused: the RAID array shows up, apparently unharmed, when I press ctrl-I (if I remember the key correctly). Under Setup, Sata 3 Raid Mode Control lists RAID.
But when I select Sata 3 RAID Configuration, a window shows up saying that the disks are in IDE mode, that I should switch them to RAID, then reboot and configure the RAID array. But the disks weren't in IDE mode ever before, and Setup seems to be telling me that they're both in RAID mode *and* IDE.
Title: Re: Power issue, now can't boot from RAID 0
Post by: dmdilks on June 12, 2015, 01:56:30 am
Have you tried to do a repair on windows maybe the boot got screwed up when all this happen. I don't know anything else to tell you. You can try and PM this guy shadowsports http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=132428 . He knows raid inside & out.
Title: Re: Power issue, now can't boot from RAID 0
Post by: celegansium on June 16, 2015, 03:59:16 am
The problem seems to be before windows tries to load. I tried booting from the Windows disk anyway and no existing copy of Windows seems to be visible. Under Repair I am only offered a memory test, which it passes. Thanks for your help.
Title: Re: Power issue, now can't boot from RAID 0
Post by: shadowsports on June 16, 2015, 06:12:15 am
Greetings Gentleman,

Tom, I received your PM.  Sorry to hear of your troubles.  Unfortunately, all RAID levels should be protected with back ups. 

RAID 0, data is interleaved in chunks (stripes) between 2 or more disk.  None contain a full image of your data and thus, a failure of any member disk causes the array to fail. 

Your array may still appear in tact in the RAID Config utility.  Here's why, when a RAID is created metadata is written to each member disk, the utility also caches the name given to the array.  The utility remains capable of identifying the last known configuration/array even if a member disk fails, or the array become degraded or broken.

From your description, it sounds like you are using the ICH10R as your controller (you said ctrl+I shows your RAID0).  Please confirm this, and tell us what ports the disks are connected to.  The first thing to do is verify that both disks are in fact marked as RAID members in the Config Utility.  Next you will verify BIOS settings. 

Being prompted to rebuild a RAID 0 array is not good.  RAID 0 cannot be rebuilt conventionally.  Software corruption is normally why you see a prompt to rebuild.  If you look in your manual, you'll see that all references for "rebuilding" degraded or failed RAID are referring only to fault-tolerant arrays such as RAID 1, RAID 5 or RAID 10. 

Again, I'm assuming you are using the Intel controller for RAID.  BIOS > Integrated Peripherals.  Ensure the Operate mode of the ICH SATA Controller is set to RAID (XHD).  I would disable the other two controllers for the time being.  They aren't needed for start up and only add additional layers during troubleshooting.  These are also found under the > Integrated Peripherals heading.  As dmdilks pointed out originally, you want to ensure your array appears as the first boot device in your boot order.

Both the JMicron and Marvell controllers offer native and non-native SATA support (aka emulated IDE mode) which is no longer needed (windows 7 or >)

Your moment of truth should come quickly.  You've either dodged a bullet or have lost your OS.  Let us know how you make out.  :)