silverecco
06-23-2008, 06:39 PM
EDIT:Thanks for all of the help guys - I've decided just to go back to a single drive, since I've been hassling with this for a solid month now, and the trivial performance gains aren't worth the trouble.
Original post:
Specs are in my signature.
So, recently I decided to put my two WD raptor 35GB's into a RAID0 for my primary HDD. I've had the things forever (manufacture date 01/2004), and one of them starting making a grinding noise a few years back. I was too lazy to send it back, but I decided to before implementing the RAID, so it didn't decide to fail on me in a RAID0.
A few weeks later I receive the replacement drive and I notice that it's slightly different cosmetically and the jumper settings are different, I throw it into the setup anyway because the capacity is still identical. (It may also be prudent to note that the BIOS recognizes them as SLIGHTLY different drives)
It's my first time RAIDing so I work through it carefully using SATA 1 and 2 for the drives (despite the terrible placement on the 780i board), go to install Windows XP (an old SP1 disk) on the new array and it freezes. I search around and find out that I need the RAID drivers, which I found in the box from my motherboard .. as a floppy. This proves problematic since a part of my case (motherboard platter handle) is blocking the FDD header, so I can't attach a floppy. I'm too cheap to dish out 40 bucks to buy an external floppy locally and I'm too impatient to buy it online, so I end up reading about slipstreaming the drivers into the XP install. I download nLite and slipstream them in, but while I was assembling the disk I decided to go ahead and throw SP3 in there too, so I wouldn't have to deal with it later.
I install XP ... success!
I update to the latest drivers (and I updated to the latest BIOS before making the array) and install some games and benchmarking software (and Firefox). I play some and benchmark some, everything's dandy. I was getting tired so I decided to download the latest Windows updates and call it a night. I wake up the next day to play and everything's going great until I get a BSOD while playing UT3 .. hmm probably just something I'm running in the background. Reboot, play FarCry (I decided to monitor my temperatures with Speedfan, too, and nothing got hot).. ten minutes later? Same thing. Reboot ... and now I can't boot - after the Windows XP loading screen it's just a black screen. I let it sit for a few hours and come back to find a BSOD. I decided to reinstall Windows, but without SP3. I make a copy with SP1 and the NVRAID drivers, but it freezes during install like it does when using the official SP1 disk. I use the SP3 disk again but decide to skip the Windows updates, since it started after I installed them.
I do everything again, skipping the Windows updates, and it went decently: I got the occasional BSOD (always while playing a game), but nothing I couldn't deal with, I figured the latest drivers would resolve things and it would be fine.
Today I got a BSOD immediately after starting a game of UT3, so I decided to check if new drivers were available. I download the Forceware 175.19 drivers for graphics, and the nForce 15.17 drivers for my mainboard. Install graphics drivers, restart, install mainboard drivers - black screen.
Shit.
Check temps in BIOS .. they're fine, try last good config: nothing, try normal a few more times: nothing, and when booting safemode, I get to the Welcome screen, and I can't input anything .. keyboard or mouse, I try a PS/2 keyboard and mouse next boot ... nothing.. Not even Num/caps/scrollock works (interestingly enough .. the computer seems frozen, but when pressing the power button once, it performs a soft-shutdown from the safemode welcome screen, it's almost like I don't have drivers).
This is where I am now, I've exhausted all that I know (hell I've even tried pulling out a RAM stick because I read somewhere that XP32bit doesn't like 4GB of RAM), so I figured I'd come to the gurus to see if you guys have any answers.
Possible problems:
- NVidia RAID support is crap
- Slightly different HDD drives are problematic
- Jumper settings (my old raptor doesn't tell me what the jumper settings are, and my new one didn't come with a damn jumper!)
- SP3 and NV drivers not compatible
- Slipstreaming the drivers is causing problems (I've actually heard that this is better, since when slipstreaming with nLite, it replaces the Windows default RAID drivers, forcing the NV ones to be used; not to mention that I update the nForce drivers as soon as I boot)
- The computer god doesn't want me to have RAID performance :(
Additional notes:
- I only get blue screened when playing relatively graphically intense games. Older games don't do it, general computing doesn't do it, big HDD transfers don't do it (I pulled an 8GB DVD through the network without problems), benchmarking doesn't do it (and that maxes out my GFx card more than FarCry and UT3!).
I tend to think that it's Windows being a bitch about something with the RAID drivers .. the two times I've produced the "black screen of death" is after an update .. once with a Windows update, once with an nForce update.
Thanks in advance ... and if you read all of that nonsense above ... damn.
Having read http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles?&id=29 and with all the trouble I'm having, I'm debating going back to two separate drives. I didn't see a huge performance benefit from the RAID setup, but I thoroughly enjoyed having one 70GB HDD instead of two 35 GB ones, it simplifies life so much.
Original post:
Specs are in my signature.
So, recently I decided to put my two WD raptor 35GB's into a RAID0 for my primary HDD. I've had the things forever (manufacture date 01/2004), and one of them starting making a grinding noise a few years back. I was too lazy to send it back, but I decided to before implementing the RAID, so it didn't decide to fail on me in a RAID0.
A few weeks later I receive the replacement drive and I notice that it's slightly different cosmetically and the jumper settings are different, I throw it into the setup anyway because the capacity is still identical. (It may also be prudent to note that the BIOS recognizes them as SLIGHTLY different drives)
It's my first time RAIDing so I work through it carefully using SATA 1 and 2 for the drives (despite the terrible placement on the 780i board), go to install Windows XP (an old SP1 disk) on the new array and it freezes. I search around and find out that I need the RAID drivers, which I found in the box from my motherboard .. as a floppy. This proves problematic since a part of my case (motherboard platter handle) is blocking the FDD header, so I can't attach a floppy. I'm too cheap to dish out 40 bucks to buy an external floppy locally and I'm too impatient to buy it online, so I end up reading about slipstreaming the drivers into the XP install. I download nLite and slipstream them in, but while I was assembling the disk I decided to go ahead and throw SP3 in there too, so I wouldn't have to deal with it later.
I install XP ... success!
I update to the latest drivers (and I updated to the latest BIOS before making the array) and install some games and benchmarking software (and Firefox). I play some and benchmark some, everything's dandy. I was getting tired so I decided to download the latest Windows updates and call it a night. I wake up the next day to play and everything's going great until I get a BSOD while playing UT3 .. hmm probably just something I'm running in the background. Reboot, play FarCry (I decided to monitor my temperatures with Speedfan, too, and nothing got hot).. ten minutes later? Same thing. Reboot ... and now I can't boot - after the Windows XP loading screen it's just a black screen. I let it sit for a few hours and come back to find a BSOD. I decided to reinstall Windows, but without SP3. I make a copy with SP1 and the NVRAID drivers, but it freezes during install like it does when using the official SP1 disk. I use the SP3 disk again but decide to skip the Windows updates, since it started after I installed them.
I do everything again, skipping the Windows updates, and it went decently: I got the occasional BSOD (always while playing a game), but nothing I couldn't deal with, I figured the latest drivers would resolve things and it would be fine.
Today I got a BSOD immediately after starting a game of UT3, so I decided to check if new drivers were available. I download the Forceware 175.19 drivers for graphics, and the nForce 15.17 drivers for my mainboard. Install graphics drivers, restart, install mainboard drivers - black screen.
Shit.
Check temps in BIOS .. they're fine, try last good config: nothing, try normal a few more times: nothing, and when booting safemode, I get to the Welcome screen, and I can't input anything .. keyboard or mouse, I try a PS/2 keyboard and mouse next boot ... nothing.. Not even Num/caps/scrollock works (interestingly enough .. the computer seems frozen, but when pressing the power button once, it performs a soft-shutdown from the safemode welcome screen, it's almost like I don't have drivers).
This is where I am now, I've exhausted all that I know (hell I've even tried pulling out a RAM stick because I read somewhere that XP32bit doesn't like 4GB of RAM), so I figured I'd come to the gurus to see if you guys have any answers.
Possible problems:
- NVidia RAID support is crap
- Slightly different HDD drives are problematic
- Jumper settings (my old raptor doesn't tell me what the jumper settings are, and my new one didn't come with a damn jumper!)
- SP3 and NV drivers not compatible
- Slipstreaming the drivers is causing problems (I've actually heard that this is better, since when slipstreaming with nLite, it replaces the Windows default RAID drivers, forcing the NV ones to be used; not to mention that I update the nForce drivers as soon as I boot)
- The computer god doesn't want me to have RAID performance :(
Additional notes:
- I only get blue screened when playing relatively graphically intense games. Older games don't do it, general computing doesn't do it, big HDD transfers don't do it (I pulled an 8GB DVD through the network without problems), benchmarking doesn't do it (and that maxes out my GFx card more than FarCry and UT3!).
I tend to think that it's Windows being a bitch about something with the RAID drivers .. the two times I've produced the "black screen of death" is after an update .. once with a Windows update, once with an nForce update.
Thanks in advance ... and if you read all of that nonsense above ... damn.
Having read http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles?&id=29 and with all the trouble I'm having, I'm debating going back to two separate drives. I didn't see a huge performance benefit from the RAID setup, but I thoroughly enjoyed having one 70GB HDD instead of two 35 GB ones, it simplifies life so much.