Boot problem with IDE Raid card!

[BarryB]

First post, so go easy on me please

I have a problem! I've got an ASUS Crosshair mobo that only has 1 onboard IDE connector but I have this A-Bit Hotrod Pro 100 PCI IDE Raid card that I've used in my previous system as an extra IDE Controller (not using it as a RAID Controller) as I have 5 IDE Devices, 2 x DVD and 3 x HDD. This worked great to hang my 3rd HDD off and got it working in both XP and Vista (32Bit version).

Now I've built my new system, I have to plug both my DVD drives into the onboard IDE (the RAID card is for HDD's only) and put all 3 HDD's on the RAID card, problem is the system won't boot from the RAID card if the boot drive is connected with the other 2 HDD's? Disconnect the 2 extra HDD's (both formatted as DATA drives, no boot partition) then the main boot drive can boot into XP?

The BIOS on the RAID card (latest version 2.351) can be set to say which is the boot drive, but setting the Primary Master as the boot drive still won't allow the system to boot if I connect either 1 or 2 of my extra drives. Even putting them both on the Secondary channel as Master/Slave and leaving the my boot drive as Primary Master the system won't boot.

It's doing my head in

Anyone have a clue as what could be the problem please?

[DataMatrix]

Connect 1 and 2 drives as master and slave on the primary channel, and the other one as master on the secondary channel, go into the RAID card's BIOS and setup the RAID array, select the CD rom drive to boot from and install windows (remember to install the drivers for the RAID card by pressing F6).

Once installed, go into mobo's BIOS and change back to the RAID controller to boot from.

[BarryB]

Not sure what you mean by setup the RAID array? Will this delete my data on the HDD's as I don't want to use RAID as everything on the HDD's is setup and I want to keep them that way, I only want to use it as an IDE controller if possible so I can access my drives data.

I've since flashed in a BIOS from a Rocket 100 which is the Non-RAID version of the same controller, both use the HPT370A controller chip, but this does exactly the same thing with 2 or more drives connected: BOOT DISK FAILURE. The BIOS shows the 3 drives connected and a '*' at the side of the Primary Master so it's set to boot from my boot drive. Could it be that the 2 other drives I'm connecting have been formatted as Extended DOS partitions and don't have any primary partions that causes the problem?

As a workaround I've had to plug my bootdrive into the mobo and slave my DVD Writer to it, then plug my other 2 HDD's into the RAID card. This allows windows to boot and I can access all my drives, so I've only lost my DVD drive but can use the Writer for now as a DVD Reader/Writer.

Would still like to get all 3 HDD's working on this controller in non RAID mode, or do I have to configure a RAID even if I'm using the drives as 3 separate items?

Sorry to sound thick, never used RAID before!

[DataMatrix]

It should allow you to use it in JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks, non-RAID) mode. Make sure you have selected the hard-drive to boot from on the RAID controller's BIOS.

[BarryB]

Right, I reflashed the proper BIOS back into the controller, connected 2 drives as master/slave on the Primary channel and enterd the cards BIOS. I go to 'create raid' and select JBOD as the RAID config and it says there is a primary partion on the master disk, so I answered NO to the continue Y/N message!

What I'm afraid of is if I had continued, would it have deleted those 2 drives content? I don't want any data on the drives to be lost! This is scary stuff, I don't want any data loss

[DataMatrix]

Hmm, are you able to select a drive in the RAID controller as the default boot device?

[BarryB]

Yes, I can set any of the 4 drives it supports as a boot drive in the BIOS of the card.

I can get hold of a spare 60GB drive and I can backup the 60GB drive I have so I'll dump some temp data on them and experiment with 2 drives in JBOD mode and see if it wipes the data off the drives when it's setup, that way at least I'll know if it works!

[BarryB]

Right, just plugged in 2 x Hitachi/IBM 46.1GB drives as Master/Slave into the Primary channel, setup a JBOD array and found it WILL DELETE ALL THE DATA to creat a single volume of 95GB, so this has finally confirmed this card WILL NOT WORK AS A STANDALONE IDE CONTROLLER!!

Also, JBOD just seems to take 2 or more disks of any size and makes them 'LOOK' like a single disk, again not what I want to do!

So i'm forced to buy a SATA300 drive afterall!

Thanks for help though DataMatrix!

[Splash]

Erm... that's not my definition of JBOD...

[BarryB]

This controller then doesn't support your version of JBOD. Concatenation or Spanning is what it seems to be doing!

This controller will format all the drives into 1 large drive, not treat them as individual disks and allow them to be accessed as such!

[DataMatrix]

Hmm, I'm unsure on why it isn't booting, have you flashed the controller's BIOS?

The RAID card should allow for you to just connect the disks and boot from them.

[BarryB]

I flashed the latest BIOS (v2.351) quite a long time ago!

It just seems odd that if I unplug everything from the onboard IDE, plug my boot drive into the card and set it as the boot drive then it will boot. If I then slave another drive to the boot drive then it won't boot, it's like it sees the drive I've just added as the boot drive but it's not been formatted as bootable drive. I only have ONE drive formatted as a boot drive so I can't understand the reason it fails to boot with another drive connected.

[BarryB]

Somebody somewhere is having a laugh at my expense!

I've now got to a situation where I can actually boot up with 2 drives attached to the card and both DVD drives attached to the onboard IDE. Quite how I managed this is so stupid it's just not funny anymore! If I set my boot drive as master and 2nd drive as slave on the Primary channel of the card, I have to set the SLAVE drive as the boot drive for the boot drive to boot????? On another day I'd probably laugh this off, but today it's just not funny!

Needless to say if I attach the third drive it goes tits up again, even if I set that as the boot drive. So I'm actually still not going to get this damn thing working with 3 drives! I swear somebody is having a bloody good laugh over this.

[BarryB]

FINALLY!!!

We have a WINNER!!!

Yes, after much frustration and perseverance, I've found the MYSTICAL COMBINATION that gets 3 HDD's to work on this controller and BOOT!!!

I've found after much hardship that you must attach the BOOT drive to the secondary channel jumpered as Master, then attach the 2 data drives as Master/Slave on the Primary channel and then set the Primary SLAVE as the boot drive in the card?!

Don't ask me WHY this works but it DOES!!!

So now I can boot XP/Vista and have all 3 HDD drives listed and both DVD drives too!

Oh yes, do I feel like a smug bastard!!!

[DataMatrix]

Hmm, what a strange controller. Good to see it working though

[BarryB]

I think the BIOS must be programmed wrong or something, now I don't have to spend money on a SATA drive