A8N Deluxe SiImage RAID Problem, need help, thanks.
Hi All,
This is my first post, so here I go, my hardware:
ASUS A8NX-SLI mobo,
SiImage 3114 SATA RAID chipset,
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Core CPU,
2048 GB SDDRAM,
ATI Sapphire graphics card on mobo’s x1 adapter,
C: Hitachi SATA2 160 GB drive,
SiImage RAID0 drives: 2 WD SATA1 120GB matching drives,
550w PSU,
32 bit XP Pro SP2 up-to-date.
My problem is that after doing the f6 thing when loading XP, I loaded the SiImage driver diskette I created from the mobo’s CD, hit f4 (I think) during boot seq. and configured the SiI3114 RAID0 setup (it took both formatted WD drives and combined them into a RAID0 set). No luck in displaying the RAID drive. I updated the mobo’s BIOS, and the RAID drivers to the latest, from that VERY confusing SiImage Web Page. However, neither Sys Explorer (SE) recognizes the RAID config, nor does Dev Mgr. (DM) Yet, DM displays a SCSI adapter, with the updated SiI RAID5 Driver, but there is a BIOS tab under the driver with all of the entries blank, and most entries and buttons faded out. I just found on the SiImage Web site the SiImage updates for the System BIOS (and add-on system BIOS update? Never heard of that before), and an IDE BIOS update (again, did not know IDE devices had seperate BIOS?). There were two .bin files, but no update tools to set up any type of BIOS updating. I’m very confused, as this is my first foray into RAID and perhaps I picked the wrote mobo with which to start.
To add fuel to the fire, and this may be related to the RAID issue, SE and DM also display 4 “Removable USB Storage Devices” as active drives on the machine, when I have no USB storage devices at all. Has this got something to do with the SATA (Serial ATA) configuration, as there are 8 (4 nVidia SATA, one of which is my C drive, and 4 SiImage SATA RAID connections, 2 of which have my WD drives). I have enabled all of the system BIOS settings for SATA, and SiImage RAID, disabled the nVidia RAID, but enabled all of the other nVidia controllers.
I would appreciate any advice and guidance, thanks in advance.
This is my first post, so here I go, my hardware:
ASUS A8NX-SLI mobo,
SiImage 3114 SATA RAID chipset,
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Core CPU,
2048 GB SDDRAM,
ATI Sapphire graphics card on mobo’s x1 adapter,
C: Hitachi SATA2 160 GB drive,
SiImage RAID0 drives: 2 WD SATA1 120GB matching drives,
550w PSU,
32 bit XP Pro SP2 up-to-date.
My problem is that after doing the f6 thing when loading XP, I loaded the SiImage driver diskette I created from the mobo’s CD, hit f4 (I think) during boot seq. and configured the SiI3114 RAID0 setup (it took both formatted WD drives and combined them into a RAID0 set). No luck in displaying the RAID drive. I updated the mobo’s BIOS, and the RAID drivers to the latest, from that VERY confusing SiImage Web Page. However, neither Sys Explorer (SE) recognizes the RAID config, nor does Dev Mgr. (DM) Yet, DM displays a SCSI adapter, with the updated SiI RAID5 Driver, but there is a BIOS tab under the driver with all of the entries blank, and most entries and buttons faded out. I just found on the SiImage Web site the SiImage updates for the System BIOS (and add-on system BIOS update? Never heard of that before), and an IDE BIOS update (again, did not know IDE devices had seperate BIOS?). There were two .bin files, but no update tools to set up any type of BIOS updating. I’m very confused, as this is my first foray into RAID and perhaps I picked the wrote mobo with which to start.
To add fuel to the fire, and this may be related to the RAID issue, SE and DM also display 4 “Removable USB Storage Devices” as active drives on the machine, when I have no USB storage devices at all. Has this got something to do with the SATA (Serial ATA) configuration, as there are 8 (4 nVidia SATA, one of which is my C drive, and 4 SiImage SATA RAID connections, 2 of which have my WD drives). I have enabled all of the system BIOS settings for SATA, and SiImage RAID, disabled the nVidia RAID, but enabled all of the other nVidia controllers.
I would appreciate any advice and guidance, thanks in advance.
0
Comments
i run a raid 5 config off the same board
you shouldnt need those floppies, those are just if you want to boot off the raid into windows
once in windows i had to install the SiliconImage SATARAID5 console manager, with the manager it dosnt really matter if you created the raid in the bios or not, with the manager it should be able to see all the drives connected to the SATA ports.
heres what mine looks like:
if they are not in an array already there will be no volume on the left side under Controller 0
any hoo, your should be able to Raid Groud->Create Raid Group
and set up the whole raid right from there, that kind of "mounts" the volume in windows and you should be able to see it in disk managment after that to format the array and give it a name and a drive letter
the safely remove hardware optin your talking about is from installing that SW IDE driver when installing the nForce drivers. Because SATA is hot swappable it shows up in that list if you install the SW IDE, or IDE SW ... driver. i choose not to install it because seeing 6 SATA drives in that list dosnt help me one bit.
Sorry for the latency of my reply and thank you very much for your info; however, I found what I thought was the SiImg Concole Manager (it required a Java download to work?). Well, I downloaded the Java and ran the app. for the console manager and immediately got a BSOD with the machine shutting down in less than 1/2 a second, so I could not even get a number or screen shot of the BSOD. Any advice from this point.
hbi
right click my computer->go to properties->click advanced->under startup and recovery under settings, find under system failure "automaticly restart on error" uncheck that box
the next time it comes up with a BSOD it will just sit there untill you restart the machine yourself, this will allow you to get all the information on the BSOD. let us know what it says if it happens again
//edit// yea the SI console is al doen in java, unfortunatly... but it still seems to work rather well when it does work at all
I turned off the auto-off as suggested and here is the BSOD message and code:
Msg: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Code: 0x00000050 (0xE4453858, 0x0000000, 0x00000001, 0x805379ea)
I've complied some screen shots to give you a picture of what I see on my machine; however, I'm new to this forum and not used to how to insert them and don't know how to use the 'insert picture' prompt displayed when you click on the 'insert picture' icon above (as an aside I could use some advice on that too).
The bottom line is I did generate a RAID ARRAY display right after reloading JAVA; however, the machine will not repeat the display, and in fact goes down with the BSOD that I've described above. Can this be something about how JAVA is working on my machine?
I cannot forward the screenshot images (basically, WinExp, DM, SCSI Dev, SilImage RAID5 driver, details, and bios shots, to you. I can offer my email address: hbi1000@gmail.com, if you'd like to send me an email I could then attach my screenshots, but I'd really like to post them for everyone here on the forum to view.
Thanks for helping,
hbi
Run Memtest - Get it Here and follow the directions provided in the link.
Also, this error might also show up with a corrupt driver or system file- but do the Memtest FIRST. Your memory might be key to your other woes too. If you find an error, you will need to find and replace the faulty memory card.
If you still have a problem after running Memtest, see if you can get into Safe Mode (press F8 immediately after POST) If you can, you may have a bad driver and can recover by going through a series of driver uninstalls (begin with the video card- it's generally the largest) and reboots until you can get back into Normal Mode.
I downloaded memtest86+ and burned a CD. I've run it for 3 days straight and it has not detected any errors. Although I ran it on another AMD machine I have and I found several errors, so thanks for the advice. Now back to my RAID issue, do you have any other suggestions, advice, or guidance? I'm rather in-over-my-head on this one (first RAID config.), and I need all the assistance I can get. I also want to thank you very much for helping, I really appreciate it.
hbi1000
I'd appreciate anything you could provide which would help he resolve this issue, thanks. Also, I'm a new on this forum, and am unfamiliar with how to insert/upload screen inmages (such as you did in one of your posts), hate to ask, but could you advise me as to how to include a screen shot (or 2) in a post? I've tried both the "Inset Image" icon on the top of this page (which really confuses me) and the "manage attachments" button below, but it gives me an error when I attempt to upload screenshots in a Word doc?? Thanks s much, and sorry I'm so late in responding, but it's been one heck of a week.
hbi1000
I think I can help you. First, the file type has to be recognized by the attachment engine (bmp doc gif jpe jpeg jpg pdf png psd txt zip) AND it must be (technically) smaller than 1MB (unless there has been an update?). I'd also recommend using JPEGs (.jpg) since they compress nicely and help the owners conserve on disk space.
If it is listed by the attachment manager, it is uploaded and it should be postable, but you might still have issues (at least I sometimes do). Close the attachment manager (first) and try to preview the post. If it displays, go ahead and submit the post. If it still doesn't show the picture, you can manually insert it. Doubleclick on the filename in the attachment manager so it displays. Copy the display link into your post between
On your other issue, the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (and many others) automatically triggers for me to run Memtest and eliminate the hardware possibility. A pass or two usually tells me all I need to know. The codes you gave has the Microsoft article
Check RAM
cropping up. The weird part of it is, is that your code (0x50) is consistent with PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA which also led me to suggest to try and eliminate driver problems.
Basically, what you need to know is that these messages are memory access problems within the Kernel. It is either faulty hardware (memory, or device), or a problem with the driver(s). If your memory is clean, I'd see if there might not be a diagnostic utility or few for your system and eliminate the hardware end. ASUS is usually has something for the mobo (right now their link is down).
I will always defer to someone else's familiarity with a system- as Armo saw something familiar here. Sometimes issues are system specific. When you get to software, Armo's update might be a possibility too (when he posts). I just wanted to make sure the better than remote possibility of memory was eliminated.
If it isn't hardware, and you and Armo don't figure something, I think it is a matter of doing a patient process of uninstalling and reinstalling drivers for you. Video drivers are likely candidates and a good place to start because they take up so much of driver-ville and a corruption there will certainly cause issues.
Hope that helps
Hi Arno,
I'll attempt to post some screenshots (titles are self-explanatory), perhaps they can shed more light on my situation. I did as Quldroma suggested and ran Memtest86 for 3 days, with zero errors (I purchased the best memory for this machine, so no surprises, but?). Anyway, I will attempt to post the several screenshots for your review and advice; I believe I've achieved the method of uploading; howver, it's limited to 3, so I'll be sending along 2 more posts with the remaining screenshots, thanks.
hbi1000
thanks.
hbi1000
hbi1000
Thanks,
hbi1000
As as suggestion, try using Alt-Print Screen as that will only take a snapshot of the window of focus and ignore the background.
That being said, give us a little time to analyze what you've posted. Someone may have something soon.
ASUS Downloads Page
Enter Motherboard, Socket939, and A8N-SLI Deluxe (or whatever your board), then go about 7 entries down.
You may want to go through the list and be sure you've got all the latest for your other chipset/components too. The version you have is 7/2004, the new one is Version 1.1.9.9, 8/2005.
Hope that helps this time.
As a note, I know you're trying to get Armo's attention- it's just that I'm available with some time right now and caught this. If Armo catches it, sees something and has a moment, I'm pretty sure he'll chime in.
Thanks for the screenshot tip, works great; and also thanks for picking up on the dated RAID driver date. I downloaded and updated the latest driver and as you can see in the attachment the RAID5 display worked; however, the array does not appear in Windows Explorer? I'm rather confused, and I inserted a shot of the Flash BIOS tab of the driver display, all of the entries are blank. Should that be the case? Again, this is my first attempt at configuring a RAID array, so I really appreciate all your tips and help, thanks again (we are getting there).
hbi1000
Go to Control Panel>>>Administrative Tools>>>Computer Management, then click on Disc Management and see if there is a drive with an unknown partition. Right-Click on it and pick Format.
just rememmber, the computer sees hardware two different ways. once in the BIOS where there really arent drivers or an OS< everything is communicated using the firmware on the devices.
and once in the operating system ( windows ) where windows needs drivers and the like in order to functio in the windows enviroment. just because it sees the device in the bios dosnt mean windows has all the correct files in order to run in the enviroment.
that concept gets really blurry when you have to create the array twice.. once in the bios and once in windows. it took me some time and thinking to make sure i had stuff in the right order.
I recommend, if you have the drives, raid 0+1. The first time your raid 5 takes a crap on you and your data is hasta la bye bye you will kick yourself. Its like here at work, I build servers, I built myself a NAS. Its 1 tera mirrored.
Make sure you've done what Gobbles mentioned, then do the Format process I referred to before.
and i dont think anything shows up in that bios box you are talking about. i can see when i get home, if the internet isnt out again.
Don't sweat this- mine is the same way- it's because your controller is on-board.
HBI1000
Regarding FAH, are you running the graphical or console version?
Also, how do I get one of the "Team 93" logo buttons under my login name? Do you have to accumulate a certain number of points or something? Advice here would be helpful also.
Here I go again, I'm not really comfortable from a security perspective leaving all my machines logged on; is there a way I can logoff, but not shutoff, and Folding continues?
Sorry, I seem to have as many Folding questions as I did my RAID config questions, thanks again and sorry for being a pest.
That said, you may find this thread split and migrated to the Folding@Home forum as this is no longer a storage/controller issue. The Short-Media moderators are pretty careful about this and will post a link or tell you how to proceed.
As for the Team 93 logo, unless something has changed- Try this
You can even generate your own FAH signature (like mine) with our Signature Generator
Hope that all helps
Go to your User CP>>Edit Profile>>Additional Information and enter your FAH username. It should then show up automatically.
The service method (via the console version) should take care of that.
Every single one of us had pretty much the same questions when we started. We're glad to be of assistance.
As for monitoring the console version, go to the Downloads section of the Electron Microscope page and get the (free) program. It will not only monitor the machine on which it is installed, but can keep track of all the computers on your LAN. There are lots of options to allow you to customize the view, etc. If you need help setting it up, just yell.