NF4 SLI-DR - Raid 0 - Disk read error and disk boot error

[DarkenReaper57]

Ok, I did a system build for a friend a while back. He has the following components:

DFI NF4 SLI-DR
Opteron 165
2 74 GB SATA 150 raptors in Raid 0
2 IDE 250 GB HD's
1 IDE 200 GB HD (uses PCI IDE controller card for this)
2 x 1 GB sticks of corsair valueselect PC3200
2 x 7800 GT's (eVGA)
550W Rosewill PSU (~34A on 12V rail)

I installed windows on the raptor drives in RAID 0. I used the SIL controller because the NVIDIA one gave me problems. I am using the latest official DFI BIOS.

After a while, he is having a problem with booting into windows. He gets the "disk boot failure - press ctrl alt delete to restart" error. If he swaps the SATA cabled (he is using 3 and 4 on the SIL controller) then he gets a disk read error.

How could I fix this without him losing his data? Can I rebuild the RAID array in the SIL RAID setup?

He unplugged everything except the raptor drives for the moment, and I really want to get his stuff to work. I am unsure if rebuilding a RAID array deletes all data, so I am hesitant to do that.

Thanks for any help.

EDIT: After plugging in the 2 250 GB drives, he gets a new message "error loading OS". The order of the two drives in the RAID 0 array doesn't matter. The single 200 GB drive has been formatted and is disconnected.

 

[Shane]

dam I have the same problem right now and I cant even boot from a cd to reformat... cleared my cmos etc etc etc im at a total loss also this was my first attempt to do raid and I crashed and burned. I have a very expensive computer right now as of 3 days non working

 

[DarkenReaper57]

Ok, I got it working for him. It turns out he was using the NVIDIA SATA ports instead of the SIL ones. Whoops. Doing stuff over the phone is nerve racking.