ICH8R RAID problem with OC?

Hi,

I have a RAID5 array set up using the ICH8R chipset and it has been experiencing a lot of errors recently. I also recently overlcocked my E6400 3GHz and thought that maybe this could be the cause.

I was wondering if anyone else has seen similar problems.

I recently went back to the stock frequencies to see if things settle down with the array or if the problems continue.

I recall having a few problems with my Raid 5 array when I was pushing an overclock on an older system. It would have to rebuild after a crash when pushing too far. The PCIe/PCI was locked at 100/33 too.

Are your PCIe/PCI frequencies locked? Have things settled now that you're running stock?

to the Forum

Yep, PCIe is locked @ 100. Didn't see anywhere in my BIOS to lock PCI frequency. I'll have to look into it.

Been back to stock frequency for about 12 hours and no problems yet, but not enough time for me to say I think it's settled down.

I remember on older systems I would have to raise the PCIe bus to 105-107 when I was overclocking. Maybe try that and see? I wouldn't go 110 tho, but 107 would be the max.

Once I determine that it's stable back at stock, I'll try boosting the PCIe bus.

Thanks to all for the suggestions!

Thnigs seem to be stable for now.

Can anyone recommend a tool that will stress the disk subsystem, but will not cause a problem if the PC crashes in the middle of it?

My first thought was that defrag stresses the disks, but if it craps out during that, there is significant potential for damage. So, probably looking for something that will read and write just in the free space. Any suggestions are appreciated!

Well, I spoke WAY too soon!

RAID volume degraded over the evening and when I restarted I got a chkdsk at startup. When booting into Win 7 I got all sorts of fun errors including not being able to access the network and windows thinking it had not been activated.

Any good suggestions on how to troubleshoot this? Or a good place to go to ask questions?

TIA!

I used to run RADI10 on my main rig (was ICH9R; now it's ICH10R), and the rebuilds got old. OCing and RAID10 on ICHxR just did not work well together for me. Some people seem to have no problems, though.

Now I run a single 300GB VR in the main rig, and use a separate PC (underclocked and undervolted) as a file server. I'm much happier now!

I still avoid RAID5 or RAID10 on Intel chipsets because of my past experiences. Now I'm using unRAID! JBOD + parity ftw!

for me it was a tiny bit to high of memory overclock. i actually run with 110 on the PCI, and can go to 115, and it breaks around 118.
after some strange issues with memory i swapped out my memory with the other computer, and the other computer liked MY memory better and both were happy. i was glad they could work things out

Sailing_Nut said:

Well, I spoke WAY too soon!

RAID volume degraded over the evening and when I restarted I got a chkdsk at startup. When booting into Win 7 I got all sorts of fun errors including not being able to access the network and windows thinking it had not been activated.

Any good suggestions on how to troubleshoot this? Or a good place to go to ask questions?

TIA!

Click to expand...

Since you are not overclocked & are still having problems, start a new thread in the Storage section.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=69
Have you completely started over & built a new array with no overclock? You could still have some corruption if you haven't started fresh.

The ICH8 was never a good raid implementation...it might even have been the 1st Intel chipset to have raid for the consumer boards. If you can find one, an Iwill or Abit or Promise raid card would do much better than ICH8.
In this day, raid is mostly for extra speed..and most people just get two drives, install the OS and drivers and clone the drive and leave the clone for emergencies, and only re-clone when they make a significant change that needs saving.
Also try to keep your PCI frequency at 100mhz. Older parts (as old as the ICH8) do not like a high PCI bus
Hope this helps,
Doc

Edit: I forgot to mention that in some boards, the last PCI slot shares an IRQ with the ICH8R...so if you have the last slot poplulated, you may want to try moving the card to the next slot over, and see if that helps...worth a try.