RAID Array Deletion and OS Install Problems

I have worked with computers for 7 years now and currently work with our Network Admin but this problem has me stumped. I have wrestled with it for several days and finally decided to submit the problem as it is beyond my experience.

I have a Dell Dimension 8400 that WAS running XP Home with a mirrored array. I had two 150 GB drives mirrored giving me a total of 149 GB of useable space. I bought a 1000 GB external and decided to break the mirror, format, and reinstall XP so as to have two 150 GB drives I could use in addition to my external drive.

After breaking the mirror and formatting, I am left with this information on boot:

Drive 1 not found, serial/ATA, SATA-1
Drive 3 not found, serial/ATA, SATA-3

NOTE: My two drives are drives 0 and two. All drives are enabled in the BIOS and the detect configuration is set to the default of RAID Autodect / ACHI. There are three options here and I have tried all three.

Windows XP setup says no useable disks can be found. FDISK shows:

Disk Drive Mbytes free usage
1 - 15262 5 100 {The dell diagnostic CD I have ion CD?}
% C :1526 25 -
- 2 152 625 1
0 d:15 2625



I have tried to run the option from the diagnostic CD to extract RAID drivers to a floppy but get the message of a bad track 0 or unusable disk. It then displays F:\csd\drivers\IAA\XPG3\IAAHCI.CAT. I have gone through 5 or 6 floppies and even downloaded the drivers from Dell to my laptop. If I use the download, I always get an error message saying again, bad track, at about 94%. I have gone through 5 floppies with the download and even made the download again to ensure the download was not corrupted.

My intentions are to have two drives, C and D, at 150 GB each and my 1000 GB external as well.

What am I overlooking here and which direction do I need to move in. Right now, I’d just be happy to recreate the mirror, have only 150 GB of useable space as before, and just use the 1000 GB external.


Thanks!

Jeff Farrar

First off I would use a wipe or zap program on the drives to make sure no raid info is left on the drives themselves .
Then I would hook up and use only the 1 drive you intend to use for C drive.
Also I assume this is an on board controller so maybe a bios reset is nessecary by removing all power and the battery for 30 minutes.
Also I would go to the original manufacturer of the onboard controller like intel for the sata drivers.
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/sb/cs-015001.htm

Thanks...I will try those steps.

Jeff

if this is onboard raid, you will need to set the bios to allow treating the sata connections as standard ide...

OK...I have completed every step suggested and still have problems. I spent 6-8 hours today trying differnet utilities, driverrs, changing BIOS and RAID settings, etc. and I am still not able to view either drive. I have also removed the battery from the MB to reset the BIOS which made no differnce either. When booting to the XP setup disk, I am told that there are no configured drives. When using FDISK, I see only the Dell Resource CD I am using to get to a command prompt.

Upon booting, here is what I see:

A description of the RAID array saying there is a 149 GB mirror with a normal status and the array is bootable.

A listing of each physical drive. The drives show up on ports 0 and 2 respectively with identical information other than the serial numbers. Each shows as 149 GB.

Then, I see a line stating I can access the RAID configuration panel by pressing CTRL-I {which I DID access about 100 times today} and following that, a flashing cursor. that is as far as I can get. I do have the RAID configured to the default setting of RAID / ACHI. The other settings are RAID / ATA, RAID Only, and Composite. I have tried all optons.

I am at the point of buying a barebones Dell, pulling my RAM, DVD Writer, etc. and putting what's left in the back of the closet BUT I KNOW there is something simple I am overlooking.:confused: :confused: :confused:

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Jeff Farrar

Under Integrated peripherals, On Chip ATA Devices, set:


On Chip IDE Controller - enabled

On Chip Sata Channel - enabled

On Chip Sata Type - native IDE


edit: apparently, on bootup, you have a very brief window to enter array management by pressing ctrl+F to create/delete arrays.

another way is described in the ATIRaid_manual available from the MSI site (with a bit of ingenious searching because it's lkike they don't want you to find it)

gl

Thanks...I did not see the settings above.I did have "Onboard Devices" and one option was to change theperformance of the IDE DRIVES to be set according to the "manufacturer's specs". I enabled that and was then able to see the drives via FDISK. I am now installing XP Home!

Thanks. In 7 years of frequenting this board, I have yet to have a questioned unanswered.

Thanks Again,

Jeff Farrar