GA-EP45C-DS3R Two problems - Creating a RAID array and using both LAN PORTs

[owr084]

Basic info: GA-EP45C-DS3R MB with F4 bios Q6600 CPU - stock speed 2x2GB OCZ Platinum DDR2 1066 memory Win Vista Ultimate 64 SP1 Four 1TB WD HDDs on IDE channels 0 and 1 (SATA ports 0-3 on the Motherboard) One 640GB WD HDD on IDE Channel 2 (SATA port 4) Pioneer BDC-202 SATA Blu-Ray drive on channel 3 (SATA port 5) Problem 1. I am not having any luck setting up a RAID 5 array with four 1TB WD HDDs. When I first set up the system, I installed Vista on the 640Gig drive. I did not set up a raid drive at that time. I did format the 1TB drives later to make sure they were working. When I go to set SATA controller to RAID in the bios, the system refuses to boot. It will just get past the Vista wait screen, flash a blue screen error (too fast to read) and then reboot - over and over. Once I set the controller to RAID, the BD-ROM appears as a boot device in the list of bootable devices. Selecting it as the first device and inserting the vista disk brings up the rescue menu. But, after installing the RAID drivers, it says it cannot fix the boot disk. I do not want to reinstall Vista. Is there a way to create a RAID 5 array without trashing my boot drive? Problem 2: If I plug both lan ports into my router, only the first lan port (next to the speaker jacks) gets an IP address. The second lan port only connects with a private lan address (69.xxx.xxx.xxx). Shouldn't both receive an IP address from the router? Or could it be that Vista doesn't know how to handle the two onbopard ports properly. Thanks. RBB

[godto]

as far as i know ... you need to install window with raid enable .. do the F6 load driver ... and that is with only one drive or a raid aray ... then when you add more drive you then can use the raid software in window to addrive to it ... that is how i do it.

but if you install window with out raid .... then you will have to install fresh with Raid enable.

i some time after install raid .. i use norton ghost to copy image ... then when i created Raid array ... i just restore the image to raid array.

and the Lan thing i was wonder the same ...

[Lsdmeasap]

You will need to install The Matrix Software in Vista and then you should be able to Create a array. Not so sure though since you did not Install with the correct driver. Try the Matrix software and if no luck you will need to either try to install the RAID Driver within windows (By updating the drive controller driver in device manager) and then reboot and set system to RAID and go directly into RAID BIOS and create your array. Or a clean install with RAID Set in the BIOS, Your Array created in the RAID BIOS, then install vista using the RAID Driver

As for your LAN. You MUST have two separate LAN's or two Single/separate incoming lines and you must install the teaming software.

If you are just trying to setup your main connection and then a separate connection to your LAN then you need to assign the second port a IP in your Router setup page and then change that ports properties to use that IP

[owr084]

Here is the solution to the RAID problem:

Problem: You install VISTA onto your boot drive but do not install any RAID drivers at that time. Then you decide to install a RAID array. The moment you switch the controllers to RAID in the bios, the system will no longer boot because your VISTA installation does not have the RAID drivers installed. Basically, a chicken and the egg / Catch-22 situation. Trying to repair the installation using the VISTA DVD and patching in the RAID drivers does not work. The trick of installing drivers by right clicking on the *.inf file does not work in VISTA like it does in XP. VISTA will tell you the system does not meet the requirements for the driver and not install it, while XP just does it...

As long as the boot drive was connected to the SATA ports on the MB, there was no way to make it boot. So, I thought I would try taking out the boot drive and finding another way to make the system boot from it. I was going to try mounting it in a SATA to USB enclosure, but then I was not sure if it would boot properly. So, I settled on adding a SATA PCI-E card, the BYTECC BT-PESAPA available from NEWEGG http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815283005

Install the card. Remove all the SATA devices from the MB except your boot drive. Start the system. Install the drivers for the card. Verify its operation in the device manager. Shutdown.

Disconnect the boot drive from the MB and attach it to the card. Go into the bios and set the controller to RAID. Start the system. The system should now start and allow you install the proper RAID drivers. Shut it down.

Connect the drives you wish to make a RAID array with to the MB. DO NOT connect any other devices to the MB (like your DVD drive). Start it up and create the RAID array in bios. When the system finishes booting, check to see if the RAID array shows up in the device manager and on the management console. Shutdown.

Connect up your DVD drive to the MB. Start, check, shutdown.

Finally, disconnect the boot drive from the card (if you want to that is) and attach it to the MB.

Success! $26 is definitely worth not having to re-install Vista Ultimate 64!

One last note - if you choose to format a RAID 5 array using 4 one terabyte HDs, it will take ~42 hours at the rate of writing 1.1 - 1.2 gigbytes per minute.

[Lsdmeasap]

WOW, so it took 42 hours all together eh!

Nice to see it is finally done

[owr084]

Originally Posted by Lsdmeasap

WOW, so it took 42 hours all together eh!

Nice to see it is finally done

42 hours plus a couple of days banging my head against the wall trying to figure out a solution...

[Lsdmeasap]

Ahh, well you got it and it wasnt a expensive project! Nice to hear you are issue free!