SATA Mirror if motherboard fails

**glenglenn** · January 24th, 2005, 12:24 PM

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Hi guys, new to the Forum but longtime Windrivers subscriber.

I have an Elite Motherboard running W2k on a 40GB IDE for the OS, and data stored on 2-160GB SATA RAID drives in mirror configuration. Chipset is the VIA VT8237 for the RAID. I am using this for my server in my shop. 2.53GHz Celeron D, 256MB PC2700 333MHz. The computer seemed not to want to start a few times, shutting off after just a second or two. I started leaving it running all the time. This weekend I came in and it was shut off. If I switched the power supply off and then on, I would get the second of so of startup, then shutdown. I pulled the power supply and put in a new one, and it starts - sort of - It stays on, video comes on, but does not complete POST. Checks RAM but does not get to attempting to recognize the hard drive(s) or looking for any other boot device. Video shows slight swirl to it against the black . Pulled the RAM, cleaned the contacts, same. Pulled the RAM and tried a brand new stick. Same. Disconnected SATA drives. Same. Disconnected IDE drive, with ESD floppy for starting. Same.

Question: If I replace the board, will the existing RAID pair still be able to have access to the data? Do I need to recreate the RAID mirror and in so doing destroy the existing data? Any ideas of this or what may be going on. I am thinking that because I can view video, check RAM, that I have CPU function. The RAM swap tells me it's not the RAM. Definately had prob with power supply, but not a complete fix, have this partial boot scenario going on. Concerned about keeping the data intact if I replace the motherboard.

**asm481** · January 24th, 2005, 02:56 PM

Sounds to me like worst case is blown m/b and ps. You need to replace with a board that uses the same chipset for raid to at least save the data. Possibly set up with other drive then insert the raid set?!

**MobilePCPhysician** · January 24th, 2005, 03:10 PM

replace the board. Go into raid setup and name the array. Use the same name. You will then have to copy drive one to drive 2. Since the data is on drive one, it will just copy to drive two.

**glenglenn** · January 24th, 2005, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by MobilePCPhysician

replace the board. Go into raid setup and name the array. Use the same name. You will then have to copy drive one to drive 2. Since the data is on drive one, it will just copy to drive two.

Really appreciating the feedback here. My server is really trying to spook me today! I decided to reassemble it and prepare for a motherboard replacement, using your great suggestions regarding trying to preserve the mirror. I tried one more time to boot it and was hitting the "DEL" key repeatedly and sooner than usual, and it went into CMOS, a promising sign. On my first look, I noticed the time was off, suggesting the battery, though not very old. Also, it was not going through the "Hit Tab key" to enter RAID mode during boot, and when I got into Windows (a thrill in itself), it was showing no array detected. So I went back into CMOS and checked the Intergrated Peripherals and noticed that the settings had jumped to default IDE instead of RAID. I reset it and now we are back to normal. Why it hung after RAM check, I don't know. Could be a sign of the real culprit, but so far for now it's a power supply and I'm going to watch it's ability to hold CMOS settings. Even if this is it and I am back, I'm glad this happened because it is a wakeup call. I better record the name of the mirror set at the very least in case this comes up again. Could the CMOS have jumped to defaults and lost time when the power supply went? I was dissappointed to think that my paranoia at trying to go for fault tolerance seemed to backfire on me. At least a regular IDE data drive that I used to Ghost once in awhile could be read from any PC in a heartbeat. But, it's great knowing the mirror is constantly backing up.

Anyway, thanks, we seem to be up... for the moment. Can't help holding my breath, though.

Glen

**Spork** · January 25th, 2005, 01:09 PM

Another thing to watch out for is the processor. I've seen bad processors do weird stuff that will point to everything else but itself.

**glenglenn** · January 28th, 2005, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by MobilePCPhysician

replace the board. Go into raid setup and name the array. Use the same name. You will then have to copy drive one to drive 2. Since the data is on drive one, it will just copy to drive two.

Looks like we get to learn more about what happens. Today the server was on alright, but not putting out any video. I did a successful restart and began copying off all the data. Then I placed an order for an Asus motherboard with the same VIA8237 RAID Southbridge chipset, so I get to test out your method. I may post more questions as we go along. I'm also going to install a more beefed up power supply to keep up with the 3 hard drives: the IDE Master the OS is on, and both SATA drives that make up the mirror where I keep all the data.

So I am going to try to see if you can replace the motherboard and still keep the data on the mirror set. I will keep you posted. Worst case: I destroy the mirror in the process of creating a new one, and copy the data back over from backup drives. I originally formatted the mirror (after it was created in the VIA RAID setup in BIOS) as a dynamic volume using Windows 2000 Professional/Administrative Tools/Computer Management/Disk Management mmc console. That seemed to work fine. Any of you guys used any other methods of formatting a newly created RAID mirror? For me, it became Drive E showing only the capacity of a single drive of course. From the perspective of viewing it from the OS in "My Computer", you would never know it was two drives, unless you launched the VIA RAID Tool and viewed the status of the mirror from there.

**asm481** · January 28th, 2005, 03:39 PM

If using the same raid controller you should have a cake walk if the data is what you are looking to save. Build your O/S on your IDE drive and then after it is set up I would plug the SATA drives into the Raid configuration. The mirror should make itself seen without any formatting of the Raid....that is why you want the same Raid chipset in the first place. The raid Bios should read the drive just fine.
Do not, again, do not do any formatting with the mirror drives installed if you want to save the data.

After getting the IDE set up with O/S which should be a fresh install meaning format....go into BIOS and enable the Raid after the PC is operating good. Your original problem of CMOS resetting itself I have seen from dead batteries and static shock

**glenglenn** · February 9th, 2005, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by glenglenn

Looks like we get to learn more about what happens. Today the server was on alright, but not putting out any video. I did a successful restart and began copying off all the data. Then I placed an order for an Asus motherboard with the same VIA8237 RAID Southbridge chipset, so I get to test out your method. I may post more questions as we go along. I'm also going to install a more beefed up power supply to keep up with the 3 hard drives: the IDE Master the OS is on, and both SATA drives that make up the mirror where I keep all the data.

So I am going to try to see if you can replace the motherboard and still keep the data on the mirror set. I will keep you posted. Worst case: I destroy the mirror in the process of creating a new one, and copy the data back over from backup drives. I originally formatted the mirror (after it was created in the VIA RAID setup in BIOS) as a dynamic volume using Windows 2000 Professional/Administrative Tools/Computer Management/Disk Management mmc console. That seemed to work fine. Any of you guys used any other methods of formatting a newly created RAID mirror? For me, it became Drive E showing only the capacity of a single drive of course. From the perspective of viewing it from the OS in "My Computer", you would never know it was two drives, unless you launched the VIA RAID Tool and viewed the status of the mirror from there.

OK, here is the answer to the question "Will you lose the data on the RAID mirror if the motherboard dies and requires replacement"...at least in my case now that I have indeed installed the new motherboard. I may have made it easier for myself as the old Elite board and the new Asus board both had the same southbridge VIA 8237 chipset. After the new board was installed, and on my first bootup, I hit the tab key into RAID setup, and discovered that the mirror was recognized as already configured. After I got into the OS, the VIA RAID application confirmed the same. So after a few drivers, I was on my way again, data in great shape.