RAID0 - I gave up !

To sum it up, I have a Asus Commando (Bios 0902) and two 160GB Western Digital Raptor WD1600ADFD (HP OEM - partnr: EW222AA).

These discs are killing me - or at least trying to !

What happen is - when pc is turned on, suddenly the pc freezes and HDD light stays on. It can happen every second day or 2-3 times a day. It can happen while surfing, installing something or while gaming. Pc can stay turned on for 5-6 hours and suddenly freeze up or 5 mins after a boot. It happens when they run as single discs or as a RAID !

The Raptors are the only discs connected to SATA controller (I tried moving them around on all 6 SATA ports - no difference), I have two DVD drives connected to the JMicron IDE controller.

I am using Intel Matrix F6 drivers ver: 6.2.1.1002

I ran all possible tests on the discs - HD Tach, HD Tune, WD Data Lifeguard tools in Windows and from bootdisc - no errors found in any of them.

Yesterday I got them up and running in a RAID0 (45GB from each). Ran a HD Tach - 185MB/s transfer, so far so good. During Windows update it got stuck again !

Both Raptors have the 150MB/s limit transfer rate jumper on. Without the jumper they seem worse !

I have two older SATA discs, they work without problems !

DAMN i sometimes hate working with computers !

Nittenti said:

It happens when they run as single discs or as a RAID !

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Have you tried using the diagnostic tools to see if one of the raptors are faulty? http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=127203

Nittenti said:

I ran all possible tests on the discs - HD Tach, HD Tune, WD Data Lifeguard tools in Windows and from bootdisc - no errors found in any of them.

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Yep - no erros found on any of the Raptors

I don't think it's the hard drives. At least, you gave no conclusive evidence that it is the hard drives.

i agree. seems like most issues in this case are caused from the motherboard raid utility. i'd look into your mobo and see in anyone else has had the same issues. hdd's either work or done work.

Yeah sometimes they just down work, I built my dad a server pc, it was an opteron with an asus a8n board, the drives were 2 250gb maxtors and they HATED the raid controller.. the raid1 never stayed synced the drives would randomly disapear, I bought him new drives and took the 250's for myself, they work great! lol

I'd google for problems with the raptors on that board and read up on that driver version to see if its been stable. Try using intels inf updater yet?

but nittenti said that this happens even when running a single raptor. and other SATA horddisks works. so its a weird one.

Where did you get a 1600GB raptor?

Airbornederekc said:

Where did you get a 1600GB raptor?

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That's not very helpful... maybe its just a typo


Anyway, have u tried using other Intel Matrix drivers?
Maybe that driver version doesnt like raptors

Airbornederekc said:

Where did you get a 1600GB raptor?

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I bought them from HP (don't tell my boss), and they are "only" 160GB

GáTê©rÀ$Hë® said:

Anyway, have u tried using other Intel Matrix drivers?
Maybe that driver version doesnt like raptors

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I tried version 6.0.0.1022 from the motherboard dvd, same problem with those.

I also looked on Asus forums, no specific problems found with Asus Commando and RAID. I saw some in here (signatures) have a RAID going on their Commando.

Another thing came to my mind. The WD1600ADFD Raptors are HP & Dell OEM discs supposed to be sold to their workstations ! Could the issue be that the firmware on the discs don't like a raid controller like the Intel Matrix ?

Anyway, even though they are the biggest Raptors available - I need more space so I decided to go for two 320/400GB perps - will make a new thread asking for advice on which ones to buy

Have you tested the ram for stabiltiy?

Have you considered that it might be a PSU issue as well?

btw. WD wacks off the slowest 10Gb in there firmware for higher min transfer rates.. OEM firmware does not (Dell's Raptors are the full 160Gb as well)

I ran memtest86 for 5 hours - no problems

PSU issue - well I have no possibility to test my Hiper Type-R. Asus PC Probe did'nt report any voltage errors. I had that running for a couple of hours while gaming. I know it's powerfull enough, but I still considered bying the Corsair HX-620 - maybe overkill but better safe than sorry

I might have solved the problem. My collegue suggested that the discs had a bad grounding, since they spin faster than normal discs, they might build up static electricity !

I have a Thermaltake Soprano case with "tool-free" disc mounting. My collegue has a external harddrive (NAS) and the manufacturer pointed out in the manual that the discs MUST be proper grounded. They even put in some "grounding strips" in the box. He tried without and it gave some strange behaviors from the NAS - with the strips mounted it works perfect. The "Grounding strips" is mounted between the mounting screws and the case itself.

I removed the Thermaltake mounting clips, mounted the Raptors with screws and attached a small wire from one of the mounting screws from each disc and connected it to one of the mounting screws on motherboard.

It may sound crazy, but for 3 days and 10+ power on/off - not a single disc freeze !

Huh... learn something new every day...

Maybe I should ground my raptors now... they're suspended by bits of rubber and bungie cord...

I would have thought if they're attached to the PSU there should be no grounding issues though...

Maviryk said:

Huh... learn something new every day...

Maybe I should ground my raptors now... they're suspended by bits of rubber and bungie cord...

I would have thought if they're attached to the PSU there should be no grounding issues though...

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My thoughts were exactly the same, but as my collegue pointed out - the print/electronics is grounded through PSU - the disc "case" is not, and with those "tool-free" clips there might not be proper ground connection

Hey, I've been havong some issues with driver errors too and my SATA2 drive is not mounted in the case at all. To ground it fully, do I simply attach a wire to a screw, put the screw in the drive and attach the other end of the wire to one of the screws that holds the mobo in place? Does it matter which mounting hole is used on the drive?

It shouldn't. Probably doesn't have to be a screwhole on the mobo either, just ground it to your case.

Yes I thought that too but then my case is looking a bit shabby so I attached a wire to the mobo screw holes to be sure. My regular IDE drive is mounted in a drive bay so that won't need grounding right?

It's funny, I've done both my SATA2 drive and my SATA1 drive and now the HD light is on all the time. HD Tune shows all drives are working normally. Why might that have happened?

Now HD light is working normally again after loading SATA1 OS! Works on all OS now funny. Thanks for sharing this advice BTW, I've had similar problems except more severe where my OS wouldn't load and then when I loaded my IDE OS it would run chkdsk on my SATA2 drive and delete everything. Happened again on this new drive last week but perhaps this is the solution and if it is then great, I've got another drive to use as I replaced the original SATA2 with a new one.

Nittenti, thanks for sharing, glad you solved it !

Thread bookmarked !