Nforce3 250gb overclocking with s-ata raid setup

i have heard that msi k8n neo2 platin and gigabyte k8nsnxp which have already pci/agp lock, when you increase the fsb above 230mhz then the serial ata controllers are vanished or you have corrupted files.Is there anyone can confirm this?

Right now I'm on a raid array at 9.5x245 1:1 and working all right. I think what you may have been hearing about is that when you OC a little too far your raid array is not detected during boot. To get it back I usually go into bios and enable and disable sata ports 1+2 and then turn off the power switch on the back of the pc. On the next boot the raid array is back again. There is some sort of an "issue" with the raid array on these boards though. I tend to think that the raid implementation by nvidia may have been a little rushed to get these boards to market. Not a huge problem though, my data has always been there once the raid array was detected again. But that combined with the fact that Norton Ghost 8 can't back up my raid does keep me a little freaked out when OC'ing my board.

Similar Messages

Need Help with Firewire 800 Raid setup

Hello everyone. I am still a newbie with OS X as to most people here but here is my problem. I bought 2 external FW 800 HDD enclosures and install 2 500GB HDD's in them.
I daisy chained them and they work just fine. I would like to setup a Raid 0 on these drives. How do I do it? I go into the disk utility, it states to drag the disks or volumes in, "Cannot Do" and to hot create, "Which is grayed out!"
Can anyone help please? I would like to get this up and running asap.
One more thing, do the drives need to be OSX Journaled or can they be FAT32?
All the help is much appreciated.
Thanks.

Take your pick [Setting up a raid backup for OS X|http://www.google.com/custom?q=setting+up%20a%20raid%20backup%20for%20os%20x& sa=Search&client=pub-6263300333013957&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GA LT:%23008000;GL:1;DIV:%23336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC: 0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;&hl=en]

Major issues with nforce3 250GB IDE controller: help needed

I am currently facing the following issues with the IDE controller of the Nforce3 250GB:
1.   On random occasions, the PC hangs on the BIOS boot logo (Platinum) and fails to detect the IDE drives.
2.   In most of the above cases, one of the PATA drives (generally the Seagate ST340016A) is not detected.
3.   Sometimes, the PC shows a faded ‘Windows XP’ boot logo and gets stuck there.
4.   Occasionally, the PC boots successfully into Windows but runs slower than a 386 (All IDE read/write operations take an eternity to complete)
I have thoroughly checked all the drives using Seagate SEATOOLS and Samsung HUTIL (done a complete surface scan and IDE cable checks) and found no errors.
All the drives are configured using the ‘Cable select’ option on their respective jumper terminals.
Here is a short summary of the drives:
Samsung SP0802N (boot drive), PATA primary master (Cable select)
Seagate ST340016A PATA primary slave (Cable select)
Seagate SATA drive with 2MB cache (shall update model number soon)
Optical drives:
Asus CD writer Secondary master, cable select
Asus DVD Rom secondary slave cable select
--Total 4 PATA devices, 1 SATA device NO RAID
All the drives have been checked thoroughly. They are working fine. However, the motherboard fails to detect them on random occasions.
I have tried resetting the CMOS.
Configuration:
Athlon 64 3000+ E6 core with SSE3 support
MSI K8N Neo2-FX BIOS 1.C
1GB dual channel kit Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2 running at 2.5-3-3-8 @ 2.75 V
XFX 7600GT AGP (1.5V AGP)
Seagate ST340016A 7200 RPM PATA
Samsung SP0802N 7200 RPM SATA
Seagate 80GB SATA Drive with 2 MB cache
ANTEC Smartpower SL450 450 watt PSU
Windows XP Home Edition SP2 + all updates
Latest drivers for everything

Hi,
I am back here after a long long time Now a days, I run a Intel 965P based Core 2 Duo as my primary desktop. I still use my AMD64 platform and I did fix all the issues with it!
Sorry, I didn't update this thread earlier with the details of how I had solved those issues...
Well, initially I could not get my Radeon 9600XT to work on the nforce 3. I dirched it and got a 7600GT and that solved the GFX crashes..
The HDD problem (the one that I described in this thread) was fixed by:
1. Using the SATA ports 3 & 4 instead of SATA1 & 2!!!
Apparently, the issue of the cyclic reboot & the faded XP logo crash during reboot happens with a lot of Nforce 3 250 owners.
Using the other set of SATA ports fixes this for good...
I also replaced the 40GB Seagate ... But that wasn't the cause of this issue, because the cyclic reboot recurred with the remaining HDDs when SATA1 & 2 were in use...
Motherboards are really quirky, I admit

Help With RAID Setup

I have two 250gb internal Hardrives(western digital) and one 500gb internal Hard drive(Maxtor).
Is it possible for me to RAID(Stripped) the two 250gb hdd's than Mirror that setup to the one 500gb hdd for back-up?
If yes, how do I set it up? which options in disk utility do use to creat this

Open Disk Utility and select any of the drives in the left side list then click on the RAID tab in the DU main window. You can configure RAIDs there. You can create a striped RAID with the two smaller drives. You can then create a mirrored RAID of the large drive and the striped RAID.
Note that you cannot add a drive to a RAID if that drive is a startup volume. You must boot from an installer disc, create the RAID(s), then install OS X on one of them. You should also know that you cannot do firmware updates when booted from a system installed on a RAID. Boot Camp will not create a Windows partition on a RAIDed drive.
Use Disk Utility Help from the DU Help menu for more assistance.
Why reward points?(Quoted from Discussions Terms of Use.)
The reward system helps to increase community participation. When a community member gives you (or another member) a reward for providing helpful advice or a solution to their question, your accumulated points will increase your status level within the community.
Members may reward you with 5 points if they deem that your reply is helpful and 10 points if you post a solution to their issue. Likewise, when you mark a reply as Helpful or Solved in your own created topic, you will be awarding the respondent with the same point values.

Raid setup with g-tech raid

hello there.
bit confused by this raid business. Just got a 4tb g-tech raid system which has 2 drives of 2tb each.
It shows as one disk in finder. DO i only have to set 'RAID Type' to 'Mirrored RAID set' in disk utility? Do i need to make 2 partitions first?!
its just that it still shows 4tb available and i was presuming it would say 2tb?
any clarification welcome..! Dan

I don't know much about these, but since nobody who does has happened along . . .
There are different kinds of RAID. The two most common are:
A +Concatenated RAID Set+ (or RAID-0) combines multiple disks into one volume; the size is the total of all the disks in the set. It sounds like that's how yours is set up.
A +Mirrored RAID Set+ (often called RAID-1) keeps identical copies on each disk, so if one fails, you don't lose any data, and can keep running. The size is the size of the smallest disk in the set. It sounds like that's what you want.
If all the drives are in one enclosure, they're usually configured by hardware switches on the controller, or possibly software options you can set via an app that comes with the set.
Check with the maker (or instructions that came with the system) for setup information.

Building an editing raid setup with an areca 1220 (8 port)

and here's goes yet another "what should i do raid-wise" question:
gonna build another editing station using some extra parts i have laying around. board is an asus x58 with a intel 980, video will be a nvidia 470. i found my old areca 1220 which i know is a little long in the tooth but would be nice to get some more use out of.
doing a little research i found some articles on what kind of speeds im looking at with it. its obviously not quite what a shiny new card would give me but im hoping with a faster pc and faster drives (articles are from 2007) it'll give decent performance for what i need.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/RAID-SCALING-CHARTS,1635-7.html   (raid 0)
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/RAID-SCALING-CHARTS,1662.html (raid 5,6)
ill buy all new drives for this machine (os, media, etc...). i know harm likes his raid 3 thing and im hoping he pops in with his expertise. so my question is how should i go about my complete disk setup from scratch here? type of disks? how many? which raid setup?
My budget is $1000 for the disks. also i mostly edit hd from my mark iii. im using the ml raw hack for about half my shots (and growing). pp cs6, ae cs6, cinema 4d r14 are my progs, though im a cc subscriber and will be integrating the new cc progs into my workflow over the next month or 2 as they work out the bugs/kinks. TIA

With 8 ports available your choices are somewhat limited, but then your budget for the drives is adequate.
You did not mention how much storage space you need, so I will assume 6 or 12 TB net space is enough for your purposes.
If 6 TB is enough, you could look at Seagate Constellation ES 1 TB disks and keep the rest of your budget for the future, if you need 12 TB you could look at HGST Ultrastar or Seagate Constellation 2 TB disks. I would only suggest enterprise drives.
With 8 ports I would configure them as 7 x raid3 or raid5 plus one hot-spare, giving you a net capacity of 6 disks, protection against failure of two disks and a sustained transfer rate of around 0.85 x (N - 1) x T = 0.85 x (7 - 1) x 150 = 765 MB/s. My preference is raid3, but you already know that.
The advantage of this setup is you have double protection in case of disk failure, you have a very high transfer rate and it is easy to administer. Using two arrays reduces performance, reduces protection and is somewhat more cumbersome to administer.

RAID Setup on Mac Pro with OS X 10.5.2 Server Software

Hello All,
Have Mac Pro Tower 2.66 GHZ with Leopard Server OS X 10.5.2 installed, all software up to date, 2 GB RAM and 3 Hard Drives, 250 GB with System and Users, 2 by 500 GB I want to set-up in RAID 1 Configuration to mirror the 250 GB Start-up Drive.
Have set-up the RAID successfully using Disk Utility a number of times but it does not replicate.
Read that I cannot set-up the RAID when started from the 250 GB Start-up, so started from OS X Leopard Installer DVD and set-up the RAID using Disk Utility again, restart Server from 250 GB Drive, does not replicate, 500 GB RAID 1 Array still says 465 GB available.
What am I doing wrong?
Can someone post a step by step set-up for the RAID 1 Configuration I want to use please?

I you mirror the 250GB drive with one of the 500GB you will end up with a 250GB mirrored drive.
(You can't first mirror/RAID 1 the 2 500GB and expect the server to "understand" what to do?!)
You might better get another 250GB and mirror those two 250GB drives...
(And you can't partition a mirrored drive.)

C240 M3S can't setup first boot with Cisco UCSC RAID SAS 2008M-8i Mezzanine in BIOS

Hi all,
I have a problem with C240 M3S with boot device.
1. There is a Cisco UCSC RAID SAS 2008M-8i Mezzanine in the C240 M3S
2. I set up the raid5 for four SAS disks with Cisco UCSC RAID SAS 2008M-8i Mezzanine
3. When I install the ESXi 5.5, it can be installed in SAS disks.
4.When I press F2 to setup bios for C240 M3S, I can't find the item for the raid of Cisco UCSC RAID SAS 2008M-8i Mezzanine
5. C240 M3S can't boot from the Cisco UCSC RAID SAS 2008M-8i Mezzanine
6. BIOS have been reloaded for many times, it can't work.
Anybody have any idea for this problem? Thank you!

Sorry,
I can't find the item of local storage.
I never setup the boot order ( default bios can find raid card, I don't know that raid can't be found at this time )
Would you please offer any references, thank you
By the way, I check the install guide for c240 m3
If the RAID controller does not appear in the system boot order even with the option ROMs for those
slots are enabled, the RAID controller option ROM might not have sufficient memory space to
execute. In that case, disable other option ROMs that are not needed for the system configuration to
free up some memory space for the RAID controller option ROM.
this means I want to turn off all option ROMs to get more memory ? However, I turn off all option ROMs, I still can't find the raid.
Thank you very much!!

Pros and cons to JBOD/N-RAID setup on MacBook Pro with two internal SSDs

First, to clarify, in this case, I mean the term "JBOD/N-RAID" to refer to a concatenated or spanning set of drives as supported by OS X and Disk Utility.
I've got an original Apple-installed 120GB 3G (3Gb/s) SSD which I'll be moving into the optical bay using an OWC "Data Doubler" and swapping a new 240GB OWC Mercury Electra 6G (6Gb/s) SSD into the main drive bay.
My goal is to avoid having two separate volumes.
Understand that a RAID 0 array would essentially only perform as well as the slowest drive in the array (the 3G SSD in this case), if it would even work at all given the two drives are not identical in make and capacity.
I've read that a JBOD/N-RAID array isn't subject to the "same make and capacity" constraints. But how does this setup perform?
Would the speed of the 6G be hobbled, slowed down to the 3G's speed (or worse?), if I were to set up the two SSDs as a JBOD/N-RAID array?
Is this even a recommended idea - that is, paying for the convenience of having one virtual volume by adding the complexity (and risks?) of a JBOD / N-RAID setup?

I am following your advice and attempting to install Bonjour. I wasn't sure where to install it so I am following the VMWare Knowledge Base #1003814: Sharing a printer with a Windows virtual machine using Apple Bonjour.
I have copied it below to refer to because I've run into a problem.
I have completed steps 1 a-d.
The Problem: Step 1 e. Click Printers. Printers is not shown under Removable Devices. When I try to Add Device (Printers) it says "New Devices cannot be added until the Virtual Machine is Shut Down and then Resumed." I have shut down the Virtual Machine alone, I've shut down AMware Fusion and I've shut down both Windows and Mac. Nothing has changed when I try and add Printers so I can do Step e.
I sure hope someone can help.
To configure a printer connected to your Mac for use with the Bonjour utility and a virtual machine in Fusion:
Configure your virtual machine for Bridged Networking and disable ThinPrint:
Click Virtual Machine > Settings.
Click Network (Adapter).
Enable Bridged Mode. In Fusion 5.x, select Autodetect under Bridge networking.
Click Show All.
Click Printers.
Set printer sharing to Off.
Click Close.
Reboot the virtual machine.
Install Bonjour for Windows. Download and install Bonjour for Windows in the virtual machine. Bonjour is available from Apple at http://support.apple.com/kb/DL999.
Note: The preceding link was correct as of January 20, 2010. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.
Share the printer in Mac OS:
Open System Preferences.
Click Print and Fax.
Select the printer you want to share, and select Share this printer.
To configure the printer in the guest operating system with the Bonjour Utility:
Double-click the Bonjour Printer Wizard.
Click Next.
Under Shared printers select the printer you want to use.
Click Next.
Click Finish.

Having probs with a raid setup on K8N Neo2

Hey all i have a MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum [MS-7025 ver 1] mobo with 2 WD 36 gig Raptors ...i am having one hell of a time settin up my raid system
after i load my drivers after the f6 prompt and follow the instructions in my windows setup it shows as me having 2 drives rather then one...and if i try t install, it gives me a blue error screen..i forget the actuall error msg but it is along the lines of a general hardware failure...Both harddrives are good as i have installed os's on both drives seperatly and i have run raid setups on my last 5 systems and never encoutered any probs..I have replaced my sata cables,changed power connections,2 different xp discs,new sata and raid drivers,and updated the bios but with no success.If anyone has a link or a similar experience with this can u plz help me out. i have the 1.4 bios and like i said earlier all new sata cables so i think i have all the basics covered.i love this mobo's features but if i can't get my raid goin its not much good to me so any help would be appreciated
Thx

Here is what I meant:
Unplug the power connector from one of the two raptors so that your system "sees" just one HDD.
Install Windows with just that drive being visible (maybe you have already done that I am not sure).
After Windows is up and running that way, then shut down the computer, plug the power back into the second drive,
set up your raid arry in BIOS and then boot into Windows. You should then see Windows detect the raid and ask you to install the drivers for it.
I think we are saying the same thing but not sure.

Extremely Unhappy with FM2-A85XA-G65 Raid setup

I was going to setup a Raid5 array on my new FM2-A85XA-G65 but it seems to really be an unusable mess. I have updated to latest 1.7 Bios and got no improvement. I am loading Windows Server 2012 Essentials on this machine so UEFI is a must and there for Legacy Raid is out. There was supposed to be an improved way to set up an UEFI Raid 5 array in this new BIOS but I don't see squat. Setting the Legacy Raid seems to be the only way to get into the board's Raid setup but as I said that is a none starter. I had read elsewhere that the 1.7 Bios allowed UEFI Raid setup from the Bios menus (which is how it should be with a board boasting easy graphical UEFI setup) but there appears to be no such thing.
Extremely unhappy and thinking of returning this board. I've currently setup the Raid5 array using the Windows Server 2012 and it seems to work fine but I assume the motherboard based Raid would have significantly better performance, correct?
How much better performance should the motherboard based Raid be, and has anyone got Windows 2012 Server to load on Legacy Raid?
Is anyone using AMD Raid Expert with this Motherboard's native Raid setup?
Is the new Storage Spaces feature in Windows Server 2012 a better option than Raid5?

Quote
Is there any other way to fix it?
Not without a Trinity cpu. Alternatively ask reseller or MSI to flash it for you.
Quote
For example: can I get an old FM1 CPU from a friend to test it?
Of course not. You need a FM2 cpu. FM2 and 1 aren't compatible.
Quote
And what can you tell me about the memory?
Will it work on this board?
Those sticks are ment for Intel systems (http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KHX21C11T2K2_8X.pdf) but they will most likely work with safe settings. Don't expect them to go anywhere near 2133. First that would be oc as your cpu's mem controller supports just up to 1866. Secondly because the ram is meant for Intel system's it might even with oc not work at the same settings/speeds it would work on Intel systems it is specified for.

Using IDE3 in non-RAID setup

Hi
I have a few questions regarding my setup which I hope some users who have or have had the same configuration can answer for me? I know that this post may turn out to be a bit long but I really would appreciate some help and answers from users who have been down this road please.
System:
MSI 875P Neo FIS2R (no overclocking)
Intel 2.40C Ghz P4 (800Mhz)
BIOS 1.7
Nvidia FX5200 AGP 8x
LG CDRW on IDE1 (Master)
LG DVD on IDE1 (Slave)
IDE2 - Nothing installed
Maxtor 20GB ATA133 on IDE3 (Master - Non-RAID)
Maxtor 80GB ATA133 on IDE3 (Slave)
With thanks to "mdc007", I have just setup my two Maxtor drives which were previously installed on IDE1, on IDE3 as master and slave, using the following method:
Enabled Promise controller in BIOS, setup Promise IDE "as S-ATA", boot into XP, install S-ATA drivers from Device Manager and reboot. Made sure drivers were installed. Turned off computerm connected Maxtor hard drives to IDE3 and turn on computer. enter BIOS and select Maxtor master drive as first boot device and then F10 to save and exit.
Everything worked just fine but I noticed on the POST screen that I had 1st IDE master/slave (CDRW/DVD), 2nd IDE master/slave (not installed), 3rd IDE master/slave (not installed), 4th IDE master/slave.
The drives on IDE3 are shown in Device Manager and I have a SCSI RAID Promise 378 S-ATA in Device Manager. The drives also appear to be opering correctly in XP.
Q: As my hard drives are on IDE3, why are they not shown on the POST screen?
(Note - both drives were shown on the next screen with UDMA6)
Q: Also in the mainboard BIOS, the drives are not shown connected to IDE3. Why? I tried choosing "AUTO" but that made no difference.
Q: With reference to the HDD LED, I was aware that the LED did not work with S-ATA drives on the Promise Controller at the moment but, although the HDD LED is on during POST, it shows no activity when booting into to XP or once on the desktop. Is this correct?
Q: With reference to the Intel IAA and IAA RAID latest software versions, I tried installing these and got a message which said something like "no compatible devices - software not supported on this chipset". Has anyone got this software to install or am I installing the incorrect version?
Q: I downloaded the correct version of IAA and I can't understand why it won't install so, which chipset is the message referring to?
Q: I have seen mention of the Intel 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controller, which my 875P has, and also the Intel 82801ER. Which board has the 82801ER?
Q: With reference to the "On chip ATA(s) Operate Mode" in the BIOS, with my setup as shown above, I would appreciate advice from users who have this setup working ok, about which options are best to enable/disable in this area:
* Mode: Legacy or Native?
* ATA Configuration: Disabled/P-ATA only/S-ATA only/P-ATA + S-ATA/Both
* S-ATA Keep enabled: Yes/No
* P-ATA Keep enabled: Yes/No?
* P-ATA Channel Selection: Primary/Secondary/Both?
* Combined Mode Option: P-ATA 1st Channel/S-ATA st Channel?
(this option depends on what other options you have choen above)
* S-ATA Ports Definition: PO-1st / P1-2nd - PO-2nd / P1-1st
PO-3rd / P1-4th - PO-4th / P1-3rd
(this option also depends on what other options you have chsoen above)
Q: With reference to PNP/PNP Configuration Option in the BIOS, with my new setup, should PCI IDE Bus Mastering be enabled?
BTW, about an hour after running my drives from IDE, I attempted to install the new drivers for the WinXP Promise SATA378 IDE Controller (from v1.00.16 to v1.00.29) and after reboot, the pc just kept rebooting and i had to choose "last known good configuration" and then once in windows, I got my first 'blue screen' with a message something like "IRQ less or equal to" etc, etc. Don't know if that relevant or not?
Regards

To answer a few of your questions,
Reason you can't see the devices on the Promise controller in the Bios is because the Promise controller has its own separate Bios(that's the one you get into by hitting control-F. The only link the main Bios has to it is the 1 setting(disabled, SATA, Raid). Also, you'll see the Promise devices listed in the boot devices setting although with unusual prefixes like "BBS Device 0" or something like that.
Note that the 1st-4th channels listed in the standard Cmos Features are for the Intel controller only(IE: 2IDE channels + 2SATA channels)
I know that the HDD light DOES NOT work for ANY SATA devices. I haven't used my IDE3 yet but it sounds like it doesn't work for that either. As far as I know, there is no work-around for this. Unbelievable, isn't it?
For your setup:
Native Mode for WinXP
Pata Only (you're not using the SATA's)
Keep SATA enabled: Yes(only if you are overclocking and can't lock AGP/PCI frequency. Don't know why, but this has worked for many of us.)
Pata enabled should be greyed out with above settings.
Pata channels: Just primary if that's all you're using but "both" would work too.
Combined Mode: greyed out
SATA ports def: greyed out or leave default.
Not 100% sure on your other questions but I think IAA is not required on this board and IAA-Raid version will only install if you have the controller configured for Raid in the Bios. I don't think you need either with your setup. I don't have either installed atm.
I'm not sure of the difference between the 82801EB & ER but device manager lists all the 82801EB devices for me and everything seems fine.
Hope that helps out a little.
Didn't see Danny's post above when I wrote this but I pretty much agree with everything. I have Bus Mastering on but only because it sounded like a good thing and everything seems fine with it on. (I think I read somewhere that it speed up data transfers when you're running in DOS-IE: Booting Ghost or Drive Image etc off the CD/Floppy). Never really tested though.

Raid Setup Guide 865/875 LSR/FIS2R Rev 1.04

On-Board Raid Setup MSI 865PE/875P
Revision History
Revision 1.0 (January 2004)
- Original Raid Article
Revision 1.01 (February 2004)
- Reformatted text and fixed spelling/grammar
Revision 1.02 (October 2004)
- Added warnings to temporarily disconnect ALL drives including Zip drives during formatting Raid drives for WinXP.
Revision 1.03 (October 2005)
- Reformatted text and added links to download Promise/Intel Raid floppies if user is missing them.
Revision1.04 (February 2006)
- Minor BB reformatting
Intro
Equipment List For Tests
Description of Tests
Pre-Raid Setup Bios Tweaks
Raid Setup On Promise Controller
Raid Setup On Intel Controller
--->Intel- Migrating from single SATA to Full Raid Array
Intro
This guide is intended to help people configure their Bios and setup Windows for Raid using the Intel ICH5R controller and the Promise FastTrak 378 controller. Although all the tests were done using Raid-0 the methods described should be virtually identical to setting up Raid-1 provided the user is aware of the fundamental differences between the two. It should be useful for anyone with an MSI 865PE/875P chipset on motherboards with LSR and FIS2R suffixes. Before continuing, please read the FAQ thread posted by Maesus and the Raid manual(s) that came with your motherboard. There's also some good info regarding Raid Here and Here and Here
Keep in mind this guide is intended as a reference to help you. It is not a manual. I do not work for MSI and my equipment and time are limited. You will have different equipment and different versions of software.
All the data below is based on tests that I ran and I tried to avoid using any theory that I did not test. If you feel I’ve missed something obvious or if you have something you feel should be added to make this guide clearer or simpler, please PM me with your thoughts. If you have a specific problem that this guide does not help you with, post a detailed thread in the forum on the main page.
Equipment List For Tests
MSI 875P FIS2R Motherboard
Bios 1.8
Enermax EG365P-VE (350w) PSU
P4 2.6c CPU
Kingston KHX-3200A2 2x512MB Memory
Radeon 9800Pro AIW Video Card
WD 400JB 40GB/8MB cache IDE Hdd
2-Seagate 80GB 7200.7 SATA Hdd's
Liteon 52x32x52 CDRW
Floppy Drive
Tests
Generally, tests were as follows:
Configure 2 SATA on Promise controller(serial3&4) as Raid0 and install WindowsXP Home SP1a on Raid
Configure 2 SATA on Promise controller(serial3&4) as Raid0 and add Raid to an existing WindowsXP installation on IDE drive(IDE1)
Configure 2 SATA on Intel Raid controller(serial1&2) as Raid0 and install WindowsXP Home SP1a on Raid
Configure 2 SATA on Intel Raid controller(serial1&2) as Raid0 and add Raid to an existing WindowsXP installation on IDE drive(IDE1)
Configure 1 SATA on Intel Raid controller(serial1) and install WindowsXP Home SP1a on it. Then add 2nd SATA on Intel Raid controller(serial2) and migrate to Raid0 using Intel Application Accelerator-Raid edition.
IDE drive used in these tests was pre-installed with a fresh copy of WinXP Home SP1a using default settings and the following drivers all from MSI setup CD and Raid Floppy Disks that came with motherboard:
Intel INF files - version 1002
Gigabit Lan drivers - 7.0.37.0
SoundMax drivers - 5.12.1.3538
Catalyst 3.7 & Multimedia Center drivers from standard ATI CD came with video card.
Pre-Raid BIOS Tweaks
Before I continue, I'd like to point out a few changes from the defaults that I alway make to Bios before I attempt a WinXP install or hardware change. I can't guarantee that they all apply to you but none should make things worse. If anything differs from a setting that you feel is fixing another problem you're having, by all means leave at your prefferred setting. Anything related to performance and overclocking can be raised again AFTER the Raid is all setup and everything is running smoothly.
Standard Cmos Features
The only thing I change here is to enable "32bit transfer mode" whenever I connect new devices to the Intel IDE controller.
Note: Devices attached to the Promise controller and the Intel Raid(when it is enabled) will NOT appear in the standard Cmos page
Advanced Bios Features
Everything on defaults is usually fine except I always change the following for WinXP:
APIC ACPI SCI IRQ - Enabled
Boot Device select is also on this page and you'll be changing it after all the hardware is setup; more later.
Advanced Cipset Features
Confirm that the memory timing "by SPD" is enabled
PNP/PCI Configurations
Clear NVRam option I always set to "YES" before the first boot after making hardware changes. I'm not sure how important this is but I understand that's what you're supposed to do. I believe it forces the motherboard to detect hardware changes. It reverts to "NO" after the reboot.
PCI/IDE Busmaster set to "enabled" to speed things up outside of Windows.
Integrated Peripherals (Before Raid for most flexibilty)
Onboard Promise IDE - Disabled if you have nothing attached to IDE3 and Serial 3&4
ON-Chip IDE Configuration:
Native Mode (Supported by WinXP- Allows all devices connected to IDE 1&2 and Serial 1&2 to be detected)
SATA Only or PATA Only (select the one that you boot XP with)
Keep SATA Active - Yes (if option available)
Keep PATA Active - Yes (if option available)
PATA Channel selection - Both (if option available)
Configure SATA as Raid - No (if option available)
Leave other settings here at default
Note: Some older Bios versions may appear different than above
Frequency/Voltage Control
Dynamic Overclocking - Disabled
Performance Mode - Slow
Dram Frequency - Auto
Adjust CPU Bus - 201 (for "c" type cpu's)
DDR Voltage - 2.65 (minimum for Dual-Channel Mem stability)
AGP Voltage - 1.55
Note: some features above may not appear with your Bios
Note: performance & overclocking features can be increased again AFTER the Raid array has been setup and is stable with Windows.
Raid On Promise Controller
This procedure should work for anyone adding a Raid array to a system already having XP installed on another drive on the Intel controller or intending to install Windows XP on the new Raid array.
Note: IDE 3 and Serial 3&4 connectors are controlled by the Promise controller.
Note: It is possible to setup Raid arrays using 2 IDE drives on IDE3 or even 2 SATA & 2 IDE drives. I only tested 2 SATA drives on Serial 3&4 connectors.
Note: It is possible to setup Raid 0+1 using 2 IDE drives on IDE3 and 2 SATA drives on Serial 3&4. See HERE for a related thread.
Note: It is possible to setup SATA or IDE drives on the Promise controller as separate drives NOT using Raid but I did not test this. See your manual.
- Attach the SATA drives to Serial 3&4 connectors and ensure that both power and data cables are securely connected. Most SATA drives do NOT need any changes to default jumper positions if any(check Hdd installation instructions).
- Boot into Bios
Integrated Peripherals:
Set Onboard Promise IDE - As Raid
- Save and reboot computer
- Use control-F keys during the boot(when prompted-goes by quickly) to enter the Promise Raid Bios.
Note: You will only be able to enter the promise Bios if you have set the Promise controller to "As Raid" AND there are devices connected and detected by the Promise Bios.
- Use the menus to configure the Raid for your preferences.
Note: I can't say which settings you should use for creating the Raid. It depends on many things. Do some research.
- After saving the Raid array, reboot to Bios.(you should see the configured array for a second or two during the post and it should be "functional")
- In Advanced bios Features>>Boot Device Select:
Set the order you prefer to boot from
- If you already have XP installed on another drive and are just adding the Raid for an extra drive, Ensure that the list is still appropriate and includes your XP drive.
- If you will be installing XP on the new Raid, make sure the new Raid array is in the boot list and any other hard drives are NOT.
Note: Typically, I put the disk with XP first and use F11 key during post to boot from another device. This is not required though.
- Save bios
Important!: If you are installing XP on the new Raid array, you should now shutdown and either disconnect or disable any other drives connected until AFTER XP is installed. This includes USB/Zip drives.(See "Bugs" below).
If Installing XP On The New Raid Array(others skip to below):
- Boot from the Windows XP Setup CD and use F6 key when prompted(at the beginning).
- Follow prompts to load the WinXP Promise FastTrack 376/378 Controller from the floppy that came with motherboard(If Required Download Floppy Here). There are a number of different choices on the floppy. PICK THE RIGHT ONE.
Note: if using Win2K with the floppy, you can scroll down to get more driver options on this screen. It's not readily apparent on the screen.
- Continue setup and Windows should now show you the new Raid array as a single drive available to install to. If it shows other drives that you have connected, re-read the "important" note above and the related section on "Bugs" below.
- When XP setup makes its first re-boot, make sure the floppy has been removed or depending on your settings it may give you a scary moment. Yes I did this(tries to boot from floppy).
- After XP is up and running, you can re-connect/re-enable any drives you disconnected earlier. If they have been formatted, they should show up immediately and be assigned letters after your CD/DVD drives.
- You can also install the Promise Array Manager software(from MSI CD utilities tab or download) which adds some array management settings.
If XP Already Installed On Another Drive(and you're just adding the Raid as an extra storage disk):
- Boot into WindowsXP.
- As Windows starts, it should detect a new Raid device and offer to install drivers.
- Select Cancel. It will tell you that it was unable to install new device. If you want you can confirm the new device is present by checking Windows device Manager. It should show the new device with a yellow exclamation mark beside it since the drivers aren't installed yet.
- Download the appropriate drivers or use the MSI CD that came with motherboard.
Note: The MSI CD detects devices connected and shows available drivers/utilities depending on what it sees. You might not have seen the Promise drivers when using the CD before but now that you have a Raid array connected to it, the drivers will be availble from the MSI setup CD.
- Install the drivers and re-boot
- Device Manager should now show the Raid properly identified by XP.
- If the Raid array was not previously formatted, you can now use Windows Disk Manager (Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc) to Initialize and then format the Raid array.
- The Raid array should now show in Windows Explorer with it's own drive letter.
Bugs/Surprises
- Trying to install WinXP on the Promise Raid while my IDE drive was connected to the Intel IDE connector resulted in Windows installing boot files to the IDE drive and the rest on the Raid drives. This was especially bad since I had another installation of XP on the IDE drive which was overwritten. The work-around was to disable the IDE drive until AFTER XP was setup on the Raid array.
Update: There have been a few posts on the forum since I wrote this guide where people installing XP have had problems similar to the one above with USB/Zip drives connected so i am adding them to the list of drives to disconnect while installing XP.
- When setting "Boot Device Select", if I selected "NO" for "boot from other devices", the motherboard would ignore my selection and still boot from other devices if the ones in the list were unusable.
- Be gentle with SATA connectors on the motherboard. They can stand firm downward pressure but not a lot of side-to-side pressure.
Raid On Intel Controller
This procedure should work for anyone adding 2 SATA hard drives for a Raid array on a system already having XP installed on another drive or intending to install XP on the new Raid array.
Note: IDE 1&2 and Serial 1&2 connectors are controlled by the Intel ICH5R controller. Only Serial 1&2 can be configured for Raid arrays.
You can also install a single SATA drive and configure the system for Raid BEFORE installing XP on this drive if you intend to add another SATA drive later to form a Raid array. This method was also tested. I will refer to this for the rest of the thread as the Raid-Ready Method.
Note: If you install WinXP on a single SATA drive without enabling Raid and loading Raid drivers, you will NOT be able to migrate the XP disk to a Raid array at a later date. Reinstalling XP would be required.
Note: There is no performance advantage to having a single drive with Raid enabled. But doing so makes the disk Raid-ready and XP reinstall unnecessary.
- Attach the SATA drive(s) to Serial 1&2 connectors and ensure that both power and data cables are securely connected. Most SATA drives do NOT need any changes to default jumper positions if any(check Hdd installation instructions).
- Boot into Bios
- In "Integrated Peripherals>>On-Chip IDE Configuration" set:
Native Mode (Supported by WinXP- Allows all devices connected to IDE 1&2 and Serial 1&2 to be detected)
SATA Only (Even if you will be booting XP from a PATA drive)
Keep PATA Active - Yes
PATA Channel selection - Both
Configure SATA as Raid - Yes
Leave other settings here at default
Note: Some older Bios versions may appear different than above.
- Save Bios and reboot computer
- Use control-I keys during post(when prompted-goes by quickly) to enter the Intel Raid Bios Utility.
Note: If you are using the single SATA Raid-Ready Method, you can skip the steps involving the Intel Raid utility. Go to the step for setting Boot device select in main Bios.
Note: You will only be able to enter the Intel Raid Bios if you have set the "Configure SATA as Raid" option to "YES" AND there are devices connected and detected by the Intel Raid Bios.
- Use the menus to configure the Raid for your preferences.
Note: I can't say which settings you should use for creating the Raid. It depends on many things. The Intel utility does describe the different options well though.
- After saving the Raid array, reboot to Bios.(you should see the configured array for a second or two during the post and it should be "functional")
- In Advanced bios Features>>Boot Device Select:
Set the order you prefer to boot from;
If you already have XP installed on another drive and are just adding the Raid for an extra drive, Ensure that the list is still appropriate and includes your XP drive.
If you will be installing XP on the new Raid or using Raid-Ready Method, make sure the new Raid array or raid-ready drive is in the boot list and any other hard drives are NOT.
Note: Typically, I put the disk with XP first and use F11 key during post to boot from another device. This is not required though.
- Save bios
Important!: If you are installing XP on the new Raid array or using the Raid-Ready Method, you should now shutdown and either disconnect or disable any other hard drives connected until AFTER XP is installed. This includes Zip/USB drives. (See "Bugs" below).
If Installing XP On The New Raid Array Or Using Raid-Ready Method(others skip to below):
- Boot from the Windows XP Setup CD and use F6 key when prompted(at the beginning).
- Follow prompts to load the IAA Raid Driver for ICH5R (If Required Download Floppy Here) from the floppy that came with motherboard. I only had 1 driver to choose from on my floppy but if you have more, CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE!
- Continue and Windows Setup should now show you the new Raid array or Raid Ready drive as a single drive available to install to. If it shows other drives that you have connected, re-read the "important" note above and the related section on "Bugs" below.
- When XP setup makes its first re-boot, make sure the floppy has been removed or depending on your settings it may give you a scary moment. Yes I did this(tries to boot from floppy).
- After XP is up and running and INF files and other important drivers installed, you can re-connect/re-enable any hard drives you disconnected earlier. If they have been formatted, they should show up immediately and be assigned letters after your CD/DVD drives.
- You can also install the Intel IAA-Raid Program(from MSI CD utilities tab or download) which gives some info and adds the array management settings(Not many. Just the enable/disable cache setting and the migrate to raid option).
If XP Already Installed On Another Drive(and you're just adding the Raid as an extra storage disk):
- Boot into WindowsXP.
- As Windows starts, it should detect a new Raid device and offer to install drivers. Select Cancel. It will tell you that it was unable to install new device. If you want you can confirm the new device is present by checking Windows device Manager. It should show the new device with a yellow exclamation mark beside it since the drivers aren't installed yet.
- Download the appropriate drivers or use the MSI CD that came with motherboard.
Note: The MSI CD detects devices connected and shows available drivers/utilities depending on what it sees. You might not have seen the IAA Raid drivers when using the CD before but now that you have a Raid array connected to it, the drivers will be availble from the MSI setup CD.
- Install the drivers and re-boot
Note: If the IAA Raid program detects that the Raid controller is not enabled or no device is present, it will NOT allow you to install the drivers/utility.
- Using Windows Device Manager should now show the Raid device properly with no problems.
- If the Raid array has not been formatted, you can now use Windows Disk Manager (Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc) to Initialize and then format the Raid array.
- The new drive should now appear in Windows Explorer with it's own drive letter.
Bugs/Surprises
- Trying to install WinXP on the Promise Raid while my IDE drive was connected to the Intel IDE connector resulted in Windows installing boot files to the IDE drive and the rest on the Raid drives. This was especially bad since I had another installation of XP on the IDE drive which was overwritten. The work-around was to disable the IDE drive until AFTER XP was setup on the Raid array. It is safe to assume this can occur with the Intel controller as well since I believe the problem occurs because of how WinXP setup addresses the hard drives.
Update: There have been a few posts on the forum since I wrote this guide where people installing XP have had problems similar to the one above with USB/Zip drives connected so i am adding them to the list of drives to disconnect while installing XP.
- Be gentle with SATA connectors on the motherboard. They can stand firm downward pressure but not a lot of side-to-side pressure.
Migrating XP System Disk To Raid On Raid-Ready System
This part describes how to use the Intel Application Accelerator-Raid edition to migrate an existing WinXP system disk (1-SATA) to a 2-SATA Raid array.
This procedure is actually very well documented in the last part of the Intel SATA Raid manual that ships with the motherboard but I thought I’d add it to make this thread more complete.
Please note that to use this feature of the Intel raid software the disk you are migrating FROM must have been made Raid-Ready as described above. Basically, this means that Raid should have been enabled in the Bios and the drivers installed from floppy during the WinXP install.
Note: I tested this by migrating to a Raid0 array but Raid1 should work also if the latest Bios and version of Intel-Raid application used.
- Open the Intel Application Accelerator Raid utility.
- With the “Raid” tab window open, right-click on “Raid volume” and select “Create from Existing Disk” as seen below.
- Follow the next several steps to choose the type of Raid array and the strip size.
Note: 64kb strip size is good for general purpose and 128kb best for most desktops and work stations according to Intel. Anything smaller is for specialized purposes. You should research this a little because you can’t change it after easily.
- After configuring the array for your preferences, you will face a couple of warnings telling you that “All data will be deleted from the Raid-controlled drive(s) and is unrecoverable” and ask if you want to continue. Obviously all data(if any) on the new drive you’re adding will be lost but the OS and other data on the disk you’re migrating FROM will be striped to the new array and will remain intact.
Note: Any complex disk procedure such as this carries the risk of losing data. A backup of the disk is important BEFORE beginning the migration process. Don't say I didn't warn you.
- The migration process can take a long time. You should see the window below during the operation.
Note: With just a default WinXP installation, migrating to 2-80Gb drives took about an hour for me.
- After the migration is complete, you will be prompted to re-boot to complete the process.
- During the reboot, as the Intel Bios comes up for a couple of seconds(don’t blink) you will see the 2 drives configured as an array and they will be listed as “functional”.
- After the reboot, you should have a fully functional Raid array with 2 SATA drives and all data from the single drive will have been striped or mirrored into the second one. Check Windows Disk manager(Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc) to see the status of the new drive. See bugs/surprises below.
Bugs/Surprises
The only problem I had with this test came in the form of a small surprise after everything was completed and the computer had rebooted. Although the Intel Application Accelerator showed everything functioning normally, Windows explorer showed my Raid drive as 74Gb in size instead of the 150Gb or so that I expected. After checking Windows disk Manager (Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc), I found that the missing GB’s were in fact there but were unformatted. Unfortunately, Disk Manager does not seem to allow merging or extending partitions so I ended up using Partition Magic 8 to format the empty space and merge it with the rest of the partition. This seemed to work fine and I ended up with a single 150Gb drive showing up in Windows Explorer. I also briefly tested the performance to confirm that it was operating as a Raid array.
I know there is a utility for Win2K called DiskPart.exe that is run from command console to extend NTFS partitions but if anyone knows of an easier way or a FREE utility that will format/merge NTFS partitions that they have confirmed works, please PM me so that I can include a reference to it here.
All the data above is based on tests that I ran and I tried to avoid using any theory that I did not test. If you feel I’ve missed something obvious or if you have something you feel should be added to make this guide clearer or simpler, please PM me with your thoughts. If you have a specific problem that this guide does not help you with, post a detailed thread in the forum on the main page.
Vango44

Great work vango44!
Here are some RAID performance statistics I gathered while testing RAID on my system. The testing software was Winbench 99. The hard drives tested were new Seagate ST380013AS drives, formatted NTFS. Winbench was running on a third drive that is not included in the tests and should not affect the results.
The drives were reformatted between tests and chkdsk'ed to try and keep things "apples to apples".
No hardware or software changes other than the RAID setup/connections were made between tests.
Higher numbers mean better performance.
I also ran the same tests on the newish WD Raptor 10K drives:
I couldn't stand all the noise the Raptors made, so I returned them.
On my motherboard:
SATA 1 & 2 = Intel RAID controller
SATA 3 & 4 = Promise RAID controller
If the test title does not include "RAID", then it was a single drive test.
Unfortunately, I don't have a spreadsheet version of the above stats. Otherwise I'd create nice bar charts for us and it's would be easier to deduce performance.
Perhaps some kind reader will OCR the pictures, put them into Excel, and make some nice bar charts for us?
Hope the info helps.

How to enter ICH5R RAID SETUP MENU?

It is said USE "CTRL+I" enter ICH5R RAID SETUP MENU,but when my computer boot up , there only show press "CTRL+F" for promise 378 raid setup,not "CTRL+I"
even you press "CTRL+I" for many times,when computer is power on,it is nothing happen. If you don't install S-ATA harddisk ,you may not enter ICH5R RAID SETUP MENU? isn't it?
I can use "CTRL+F" enter promise 378 raid setup menu,and how can I enter ICH5R RAID SETUP MENU as the explanatory book said??

In BIOS set S-ATA as RAID, after that you will be able to enter the ICH5R-BIOS with ctrl+I. It appears after the promise BIOS.

Cannot see other drives after RAID setup

heys..ppls. i just setup my first RAID array with help from vango44..thnx alot m8.. all worked out perfectly.. but..when i was done and installed XP i hooked up my ''old'' drives and yes i put the jumpers to slave.. they dont appear in Windows and it takes a considerable amount of time to start XP while b4 this all XP started very quickly..can ya'll help me out?
btw here's the guide i used.. i am using the Intel controller..
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threadid=38845&sid=

First of all sorry for being incomplete with info .. but i just came home from a long vacation.. tired ..cranky.. computer not working .. u know the usual agony..
anyhows..
I have 2 drives as u can see in my sig that i want to use as storage. And yes they are IDE
The Raptors are for my OS, games and programs.
My bios on chip ata settings are:
Native Mode
S-ata only
sata and pata both active
pata channel both
config sata as raid yes
How do i reconnect my 2 Maxtors.. physically? I presume on IDE2..?
And is it a problem that one 1 of those Maxtors an old version of XP is installed?
And yes during the RAID setup i dissconnected my 2 Maxtors..
After have gone to bed yesterday i shut down my pc with 2 Maxtors connected and when i started it up this morning all settings were gone.. RAID gone at least not activated.. and i had 2 activate the RAID settings again. I just removed the Maxtors and activated everything again.. RAID is working fine.. please help :(
Need more info? just hollar..

Nforce3 250gb overclocking with s-ata raid setup

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