Strange Disk Issues

[atmo]

So, long story short, I order a HighPoint RocketRAID 1740 for this server I am building. Many driver issues with Server 2003 R2, so I decided that I am not going to use this card. Now for the problem...

The drives that I had configured in RAID5 (4 WD3200AAKS's) are not recognized by the BIOS when I plug them into the onboard SATA ports. I did delete the array before I removed the HighPoint card, and I thought this would be enough.... apparently, I am wrong.


Any tips?

 

[sabregen]

double check to make sure that the SATA ports onboard are turned on (probably under integrated features in system BIOS). Also, if you intend to RAID them, you'll need to make sure that BIOS can see them, then you'll need to enable the onboard RAID function. After that is done, reboot the system (save & exit in BIOS) and after the main BIOS screen, you should see the SATA controller BIOS tell you to press a key combination to enter the BIOS for the controller. After you're in that BIOS, create a RAID array with the appropriate settings, save & exit. Be sure to set the array bootable, if that is your intent, and go back into main system BIOS, and set the RAID array as bootable the first bootable hard drive. If you intend to install an OS that will require the RAID drivers (XP or Server 2003), make sure to have the floppy handy.

 

[atmo]

Tried what you suggested already and the drives can be seen by the onboard controller, (Tyan S2925) however I cannot create a RAID since the drives act as if they have no space available. When the machine POSTs, all I get on these drives are failure errors.

If I reinstall the Highpoint card and hook the drives back up. I can see them fine, but that doesn't help much as I do not wish to use this card anymore.

Am I making sense here?

Basically, how can I undo whatever the highpoint card has done to these drives to make them usable again?

 

[sabregen]

that's odd, as the TYan board usually would not care what was on the drives. I would hook them back up the highpoint, and kill any existing array, then save & exit. Upon reboot, verify that the array is not showing in Highpoint BIOS. Then hook them to onboard connections and see if that gets you anywhere. Only option besides that is to low-level the drives and set up new array on Tyan.

 

[atmo]

that's odd, as the TYan board usually would not care what was on the drives. I would hook them back up the highpoint, and kill any existing array, then save & exit. Upon reboot, verify that the array is not showing in Highpoint BIOS. Then hook them to onboard connections and see if that gets you anywhere. Only option besides that is to low-level the drives and set up new array on Tyan.

Tried that as well. Trying the low-level format tomorrow. Didn't have much success earlier today seeing the drives with HDDGuru's software.

 

[Nenu]

Your SATA controller BIOS may be out of date and unable to support those drives properly.
Check for a newer motherboard BIOS.
If using the RAID controller, check to see if that has a separate BIOS update.

Failing that, it sounds as though the drives may have a partition that fills them if they report no free space.
(You can expect to get a boot error if you try to boot them, that is normal)

Put them in a newish machine with windows already installed and use disk manager to make sure all partitions are removed.
If there arent any partitions, create one that fills the drive (quick format), test it and see if the drive is functional.
ie run HD tune to test the DTR across the drive
copy files to the drive, see that they remain usable.

Delete the partition when finished and see if things improve with them back in your PC.

 

[atmo]

Your SATA controller BIOS may be out of date and unable to support those drives properly.
Check for a newer motherboard BIOS.

Will do.

If using the RAID controller, check to see if that has a separate BIOS update.

It does in fact have its own BIOS and it is up to date.

Failing that, it sounds as though the drives may have a partition that fills them if they report no free space.
(You can expect to get a boot error if you try to boot them, that is normal)

Put them in a newish machine with windows already installed and use disk manager to make sure all partitions are removed.
If there arent any partitions, create one that fills the drive (quick format), test it and see if the drive is functional.

I know they are functional, because they still work if I put the Highpoint card back in there.

ie run HD tune to test the DTR across the drive
copy files to the drive, see that they remain usable.

Delete the partition when finished and see if things improve with them back in your PC.

The only problem with this is when I remove the drive from the highpoint card and use the onboard SATA ports, I cannot see the drives... Perhaps updating the BIOS could help this. We shall see.

 

[Nenu]

I know they are functional, because they still work if I put the Highpoint card back in there.

The only problem with this is when I remove the drive from the highpoint card and use the onboard SATA ports, I cannot see the drives... Perhaps updating the BIOS could help this. We shall see.

The idea was to try them out in another newish machine (ie will support the drives fully) and make sure that the basic drive functions work ok.

 

[atmo]

WD support thinks that the highpoint card has somehow changed the firmware on the drives. Sound feasible?

 

[Nenu]

That made me laugh, its not something I have encountered before.

As far as I am aware, drive firmware updates are only performed by the user with a manufacturer supplied tool.
I dont think a different manufacturers RAID card would have a feature that lets it change your drives firmware of its own accord.
That could even invalidate the drives warranty!
If an update to your hardware is needed, it must be the users decision whether it gets installed or not and the new firmware must be authorised by the drive manufacturer.

Can you ask them for a more detailed explanation if how this might occur?
Do they have proof a RAID card will update a drives firmware?
If so where is this firmware likely to come from.
Do they permit these firmwares to be used on their drives?
If not, why are they not stopping Highpoint from doing this?
...

 

[atmo]

At the urging of the WD tech, I have RMA'ed the drives. The card is going back as well...

No word from HighPoint support, and I cannot afford to wait any longer.

 

[PatrickBateman]

I have the same issue. Soooo frustrating. I'll let you know if I find some work-through for this.

I ordered a replacement drive for my RAID 5 array and it seemed to kill the new drive as well. After about 5 days, there are still a few things I haven't tried.
If the drives don't read under anything but this controller, maybe even switching to a simple RAID 1 set with a couple volumes won't be worth it since the drives become unreadable without the controller.

Also, I attempted a reconstruction of my RAID 5 array several times and I continued to fail. In HighPoints defense, they don't recommend use of my WD5000AAKS drives except in legacy (but I don't know how to revert them to a "legacy" mode as yet).