Intel RAID will not boot

Question

This is a duplicate of a post I made in the BIOS section, but it'll probably get more traffic here:

My primary hard drive crashed. Dell is sending me a replacement drive, but I lost some data as a result. I'd like to configure two SATA drives in RAID 1 using the Intel RAID (Application Accelerator). I've tried this using both methods recommended in the system documentation to no avail:

1. I tried setting up the RAID before installing Windows using the Recovery CD. After configuring the drives, I found that I could not boot from the Recovery CD. I also found that I could not use an alternate bootable CD, nor could I use a boot disk in an attached USB floppy drive. As a result, I broke the RAID by using option #3 (Reset drives to non-RAID) in the RAID utility accessed via Ctrl+I at startup. At that point I was able to boot from the Recovery CD and install Windows successfully. This leads me to method #2.

2. After installing XP, I updated all firmware and BIOS, then tried building a RAID 1 drive from my system drive using the Intel Application Accelerator, version 4.5.0.6515. The "Create RAID volume from existing Hard Drive" creates the mirror successfully, but when I reboot, I run into the same problem as with method #1. I cannot boot to any device. Booting to floppy, CD or the system drive yields a black screen with no apparent activity. Reseting the drives to non-RAID allows me to boot into Windows again.

It seems to me that there's a problem with the BIOS post when the RAID option is used. What's the deal? Is this a common problem? I don't mind experimenting, but I'd like to get this right since it takes two hours to rebuild the RAID volume for each attempt I make.

Other Details:
- I'm building a RAID one with two Maxtor 200GB drives plugged into the onboard SATA controller, ports SATA-0 and SATA-1.
- I've tried using BIOS options RAID/AHCI, RAID/ATA, RAID On and Combination after configuring the drive. None will allow me to boot. Initially, I set the BIOS to "RAID On".
- I'm using BIOS A07 (D8400A07)
- I've installed the Intel Chipset drivers (R91894)

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Brad

TomXPS · Answer

On my XPS gen 2, I have reloaded once and broke my RAID 1 before and hand.

The process to load was as follows: (Note your BIOS has to be setup with the RAID on) in my case it was SATA RAID=YES.

Created RAID Pre-OS Diskette, executing Pre-OS RAID Driver from Dell UTIL disk or download.
Booted of the OS CD
Hit F6 Shortly after boot of CD
Selected option to Load Driver
Loaded RAID Pre-OS Driver (Without installing this driver the OS will not find HD)
Completed install of OS
Installed chip set drivers
Installed other drivers
Install Intel Application Accelerator
Installed SP2
Installed Windows Updates
Migrated to RAID 1 using Intel Application Accelerator
Install Applications etc... Actually could do this before RAID 1 Migration.

I never have tried setting up the RAID 1 from BIOS and then load the system, see no advantage for RAID 1, the migration task worked well.

TomXPS · Answer

Personally since you already have lost all the data. Break the Array and do as I instructed. Break Array by press CTR I at boot up. Then install as I instructed, on my previous posting. At the end your be RAID ready and can migrate to RAID 1. I did that initially with my system, was able to migrate to RAID 1 with np. Also did the the same on a re-load about 9 months ago.

brad77 · Answer

Thanks for the tips, TomXPS. The problem I seem to be having involves the fact that I cannot boot to any device after creating the RAID. I have created the RAID driver disk as you mention, but I can't get far enough in the process to use it. Here are the steps I followed:

1. Reset the RAID
2. Reboot re-create the RAID (RAID 1 using the two primary drives on ports SATA-0 and SATA-1)
3. Reboot and set appropriate boot device order in BIOS (the RAID is the first disc listed after the USB floppy and USB CD-ROM)
4. Reboot and attempt to boot to the Recovery Disc. The drive spins up and I get the "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration..." message. At this point the CD spins back down and the machine hangs.

More info:
- I have two other drives installed in SATA-2 and SATA-3. They are standalone drives and are not being used in the array.
- I am using Intel RAID version 4.0.0.6211, which I believe is bundled with BIOS update A07.

I noticed that Intel has released version 5.1. Is that available for the Dell machines?

I may end up calling into Dell support for this one.

Thanks,
Brad

brad77 · Answer

Thanks for you help, Tom. I've already tried installing to a single disk, followed by a migration to RAID 1, which gave me the same problems as with creating a RAID from scratch. In RAID mode, the machine will not boot to any media. I don't see why a missing driver would cause floppy and CD-ROM's to fail to boot.

I gave Dell a call, and they're sending a new mobo. I have my doubts, but will give it a try. In the meantime, I may try the single disk installation/migration path again.

I'll let you know what I find.

Brad

TomXPS · Answer

Do you have your boot order set properly.    Have not gone into my BIOS lately but seems like I have my CD and Floopy destinated first as my boot order.

brad77 · Answer

Problem resolved (sort of)! A new motherboard did not do the trick, as I suspected. It ends up that there was a conflict between my IDE controller and the Intel RAID ROM. Once I pulled out the Promise Ultra 100 TX2 card used to support an older EIDE drive, things worked beautifully. I was then able to create the RAID before installing Windows.

One thing to note: The F6 install DID NOT work. Using the driver from the floppy disc caused a stop error on my machine. Luckily, I'm using the XP SP2 recovery disc which contained drivers for the Intel Controller. Those drivers DID work and I was able to install successfully.

After installing, I immediately installed the Intel Chipset drivers followed by various updates. Things are now running smoothly.

Now I need to figure out how to hook up my EIDE drive without using the Promise controller. I want that data! I have some leftover IDE/SATA cards from the Maxtor drives that I bought...

Thanks for your persistence, Tom. I appreciate your help.

Brad

TomXPS · Answer

Thanks for the update. Always good when someone responds with the resolution to the problem, makes it easier as contributors to know that you gave information that was helpfull to resolve the issue.

Thanks again for the update.

Tom

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Intel RAID will not boot

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