Raid0 WD800JD slow bootup

[adriana]

hey, i just put 2xwd800jd in raid0 and booting up is a pain! it takes about 10 bars and i get some bar lag during the window xp bootup screen. whats wrong?

[Enablingwolf]

You more then likely have a driver hangning up. Could also be the controller bieng a dud. Are you using nVidia raid? or SiL? Software or hardware controlled.

Have you ran any optimising software? or defragged the boot? Was this from a fresh install or a exisiting OS transfer of an image.

[adriana]

fresh install and nVidia raid. its call NnVida Stripes. i haven't ran any optimising software yet, which is good? I will try to defrag with diskeeper to see if it gets better.

[Enablingwolf]

TuneXp is safe to use.

or just envoke the built in idletasks in Windows.

Run command:
Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

Let it do its thing, you will hear your disks spinning. When it is done you can reboot to check to see if it helped. It is the same thing Windows does normally, but you are asking for it too happen. Usually it happens when you leave your computer alone for awhile. this is the thing you see @99% CPU time in task manager. This is the least risky way of optimisint the boot. Using the idletasks. Though the TuneXP does the same thing. It is easier and there is some features that can help with booting while using TuneXp.

If running a defrag of the boot does not help it could be a driver (network drivers are good for this) hanging your boot up. You could disable the network for a test then see how fast it boots. It could aslo be chipset drivers bieng funky.

If none of these help, then I would assume the controller is just bieng a butt. You could check the performance of the array with a drive benching program. If it seems low, then you know it is the controller not properly setup or bieng funky. Finding out what is hanging up a boot is not as easy as most things. Since you have to do some 'narrow it down' sometimes.

[adriana]

i benched a test for HD TACH and i got 205mb/s. i will try the other thing you suggested. thanks

[Enablingwolf]

Also you could do a BIOS update if all alse fails. Sometimes they(MSI) are not the best in handling certain hardware. I assume your using the latest BIOS for your board. Why I did not mention it before.

What stripe size are you using? Also is the array set to dynamic. If so rebuild the array, that means your software RAID. You don't want dynamic drives in RAID.

Good luck. :D

[adriana]

heh, sorry to say but i'm not using the latest bios! i decided to follow that one rule "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" because last time i wanted to update my bios, but now i might have a reason to. i am using 16kb stripe sizes and how do we check if its dynamic or not?

[Enablingwolf]

Well to me, BIOS updates are an option when I know they will benifit me. Otherwise I ignore them. I tried the latest on my setup and got no benfit, so I went back to those I knew did. You could browse your board maker and see if there is any fixes on the site for your issue or parts. If you see a controller fix, you know it might speed up the boot. I always try Windows fixes first, then go after lowlevel issues. Since that is the most difficult to fix if something goes wonky.

To check if the disks are dynamic or not. Just go to the drive manager in Computer managment. It should show as a basic drive.

Right click:

My Computer
<manage>
Disk Management

It will show all your goodies there. Your looking for type. You want to see Basic, not dynamic.

[NODES]

nVidia raid: im thinking thats your culprit. try an older version or newer, if u havent done so.

try installing the Nforce package

[adriana]

enablingwolf: its says basic =) i tried disk keeper and tunexp still the same slow boot up. i will try nforce package.

[adriana]

installed new one. this helped out a bit. i get about 4 bars now, but that almost the same speed w/o raid0. so far raid0 is not so great, i only see raid0 speed when im formating!

[NODES]

u should see raid0 speed while loading games, programs and even installing winxp.

dont mind the colorful bars....

[adriana]

am i not seeing it but i think program loads the same?

[Enablingwolf]

RAID0 is only realised when you move a large file or files. Booting is a large migration of files same as games or moving that movie over.

Does the system respond good when you are inside of Windows? If so count it on a driver that is slow to load. Some of the ATI drivers slow me up actually. I take the slight hit in loading Windows over the performance when I am there. Does it feel sluggish inside of windows compared to before? Please discount small bursts since RAID0 accels with large file movements.

[adriana]

everything feels teh same actually. CS loads up the same, firefox, winamp, antivirus.

[Enablingwolf]

Do you load Winderz alot, or is it like in the morn when you are doing the opening routine? If so, just let it settle and maybe it will drop a bar or two over time. I know I have had a install start at 5 bars, then after a bit go down to 3 or lower in time.

The best I gotten was 1.5 bars. I still have no clue on the combo I had got get that. Every install is different it seems. Depending on what I install and how it goes I guess.

I have had an image of an istall vary between 2- 6 bars. That is when Ilost interest in how many bars go by. If it a real long time. Them I know a "insert something" is hosing my boot.

[adriana]

i used to get 1.5 bars for about a month or two. i would always get 1.5 bars when i install SP2, but after a couple of formats it went away :shrug: if sp2 is not installed i get about 3-6 bars.

[Enablingwolf]

What drviers have you advanced on? Drivers take a large role in how long things take to load on the bootup. I know my latest ATi drivers added a little bit of time to my boot up. I figured the performance I got was worth the few extra seconds.

[adriana]

i'm using the latest nVida system drivers and the newest 6.5 catalyst drivers for my video card.

[RangerXLT8]

i benched a test for HD TACH and i got 205mb/s. i will try the other thing you suggested. thanks
205MB/s burst is exactly what i get with 2xWD80SE SATA 7200rpm 8mb in RAID 0 on ICH7r. Average read should be 100MB\s at the most.

[clocker2]

Try running Bootvis (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=664)...three passes to analyze boot activity then a final "optimise" run.

You can also decrease boot times with a custom nLite (http://www.nliteos.com/) install. Slipstreaming the drivers into the initial install rather than grafting them in later seems to be the trick.

[adriana]

Try running Bootvis (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=664)...three passes to analyze boot activity then a final "optimise" run.

You can also decrease boot times with a custom nLite (http://www.nliteos.com/) install. Slipstreaming the drivers into the initial install rather than grafting them in later seems to be the trick.
thank you! shall try

[adriana]

bootvis really helped! one bar now. WOOT. lets see how long it can keep this up.