mass raid confusion

[robin801]

i have a gigabyte ga-7vaxp mobo.

i have been trying to get this board setup all day.

according to the directions in the raid manual it says to---

attach one cable to each of the raid connectors.

when i do this no hdd show up in bios.


according to the mobo setup manual---

connect first hdd to ide 1 and cdrom to ide 2.

ide3/ide4 are the raid/ata133 green connectors.

when i connect this way i get a primary master disk and a secondary master disk.

what am i doing wrong?

am i supposed to install the os first?

if yes then how do i setup the hdd on the ide controllers?

using 2 80gb hdds.

[BBA]

The drives connected to the secondary/added in (raid) controller have to be configured in the raid setup utility.

You must set main bios to boot to the external/ata raid controller so the raid setup option will appear during the boot cycle. When the raid detection screen shows, it will also prompt you for a key sequence like "Ctrl+F" to enter raid setup. That is where you can configure the array.

[BBA]

BTW: With my Gigabyte boards, the bios setup default will enable the raid controller boot up.

[robin801]

in my bios i have
ide primary master wd 80gb hdd
ide secondary master master maxtor 80gb hdd

nothing shows up as primary slave/secondary slave even though i have my cdrw/dvd rom/dvd burner hooked up.

i hit ctrl/F and i get this error----


it says no disk found. please check the power and data cable connection. press any key to exit.

so what isn't connected right? i have tried ever combination and all i get is errors.

[robin801]

robinwhen i hit ctrl/f this is what i get.

1-no available disks. any key to continue
2-both drives show up---
maxtor hdd assignment array 1---mode u6
wd hdd assignemnt array 2----mode u5

3-raid mode --stripe---total drives 1---capacity(mb) 80053/80026---status---functional

now what do i do from here?

[BBA]

Are the drive jumpers set right? It should be one drive per cable, meaing you need each of the two drives connected to a seperate ribbon cable/ide connector on the motherboard.

If the drives dont show as single/master jumper posityions, set both to cable select and see if they show.

[BBA]

Originally posted by robin801
robinwhen i hit ctrl/f this is what i get.

1-no available disks. any key to continue
2-both drives show up---
maxtor hdd assignment array 1---mode u6
wd hdd assignemnt array 2----mode u5

3-raid mode --stripe---total drives 1---capacity(mb) 80053/80026---status---functional

now what do i do from here?

Both drives need to be set to the same array, either in striping ( raid 0)or mirroring (raid 1)

[robin801]

when i choose "view array" what should i expect to see when i get this thing right?

[Xaotic]

Robin

If the array status is fuunctional, then you're ready to set up the BIOS and OS. Attach the CDROM to IDE 1 as master. Boot into the BIOS and set the boot order as FDD(if required) first, then the CDROM and then the RAID controller. You'll need the Fasttrack driver on FDD to load them during setup for either W2K or XP.

Hope this helps.

[BBA]

when i choose "view array" what should i expect to see when i get this thing right?



You should see both drives in the same array. Your array size should be double the capacity of the smallest drive. If they are both 80GB drives, it will report as 160GB.

You may have to delete any current arrays and rebuild the arrays using the fast build selection. For video performance, set it for server application optimization.

[robin801]

i did what Xaotic told me to do.

i did the install and winxp pro says---

setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. setup can not continue.

when i hit ctrl/f and view the hdds, i still see 2 80gb hdd in the same setup like i posted up above.

it will not let me delete anything. i checked all the jumpers on the drives.

both drives show up as master when i hit ctrl/f and view them.

i put both drives on the raid controller on the mobo.

"You may have to delete any current arrays and rebuild the arrays using the fast build selection. For video performance, set it for server application optimization"

i can't even get to anything that will allow me to do this.

[Mntsnow]

Start from Scratch......

connect one each of your 80gig drives to IDE #3 & #4

connect your CDrom to IDE #2

Power on your system and proceed into your bios. In the bios put your boot order to CD, SCSI/Raid, C (or something like that I dont have a manual to tell you exactly how it will be named but something like that)

Then save those changes (btw you WILL NOT list the 2 80gig drives in the "standard" bios)

when the system reboots go PAST the "standard" bios and when you see the "fastrack" bios enter into that one using "cntrl + F" and from within that bios you define your array as BBA has said. Save those changes and it will then restart

Allow your system to go past BOTH bios screens and allow the install from CD to start. When it first starts it will give you the opportunity to hit "F6" to install "scsi or raid" drivers. DO SO! (you should have a diskett that has those drivers on it)

Then proceed with the install :)

[robin801]

mntsnow--i did like you said.

when i press auto setup which is number 1 i get this "no available disks"

when i press--view drive assignments which is number 2 i get this---

channel id drive-1 mas maxtor 6l080J4model capacity(mb)-80053assignment-array 1 mode-U6

drive model mas wdc wd800JB-00CRA1 capacity (mb)-80026 assignment--array 2---mode--U5

when i hit number 3 i get

array 11--raid mode---stripe--total drv--1--capacity(mb)--80053---status---functional

array2 shows the same thing except the capacity is different

when i hit enter i get stripe block--0.5mb
gigabyte boundary--off


this shows for both drives.

i can't delete array or rebuild array

[Mntsnow]

Hmmmm I would have to download the manual for your board but basically there MUST be a way to delete your existing arrays...

[robin801]

thanks for the help mntsnow. i was beginning to go crazy.

no rush. i can't do anything right now. my babysitting duties kicked in.

be back after 7pm.

[Mntsnow]

Well it's there...Here is a screenshot from the promise raid controller pdf for your motherboard. Shows that option #4 is for deleting arrays.

[robin801]

it worked. thanks for all your time and patience once again.

[Mntsnow]

My Pleasure. and Good luck ...Holler if you need any more help

We all be here for you :)

[robin801]

one more question before i start installing winxp pro.

will winxp be able to use the whole 160gb hdd?

[Mntsnow]

Yes

[BBA]

Cool...thanks for stepping in Mike...my computer died last night...or something like that. I think it's a combination of vid card/power supply causing issues.

[robin801]

well i got my system up and running. i haven't finished installing all my drives yet.(just video left to install)

you can imagine what my screen looks like while i am typing this.:)

thanks again for all the help that everyone stepped in to give me.:D

boy this thing is fast now.:D

[Mntsnow]

WhooHooo Rock on Robin! Congrats!

No problem BBA. Hope you get your issues straightened out quickly too!