VRXP 2.0 and RAID

Hello folks,

I have read what my news server has, as far as messages in this group, that
pertain to the promise raid controller.

I have a machine that had 2 IDE Master drives on the Pri and Sec IDE
controllers. I am trying to move them to the raid channels. Once there, I
will format them, and then make my mirror.

The thing is that the controller will not detect any drives. period. i know
the drives are good, but nothinging shows up. therefore, i cant setup a raid
set.

Is this a common problem with this board... is there a bios hack somewhere ?

Thanks,

NuTs

I am not sure I understand. Once the main board BIOS has On Board H/W RAID
enabled it will ( at boot time ) go out set up the controller and invite you
to set up your array. I don't know how yours works but all mine use crl-H.
You set up RAID 1 and some how specify a lead ( boot)drive. This looks to
the system like new drive and you must fdisk and format.
JPS

"NuT CrAcKeR" wrote in message
...
Hello folks,

I have read what my news server has, as far as messages in this group,
that
pertain to the promise raid controller.

I have a machine that had 2 IDE Master drives on the Pri and Sec IDE
controllers. I am trying to move them to the raid channels. Once there, I
will format them, and then make my mirror.

The thing is that the controller will not detect any drives. period. i
know
the drives are good, but nothinging shows up. therefore, i cant setup a
raid
set.

Is this a common problem with this board... is there a bios hack somewhere
?

Thanks,

NuTs

before you can tell the controller which drives to use for an array set, it
has to see the drives attached to the channel.

I was able to get my controller to see a drive, only in ATA mode, and only
if there was a CDROM attached to same ribon cable as the drive.

Obviously, i dont want that.

Does raid on this board just suck, or is there some magical incantation and
sacrafice that needs to happen to get the promise controller to see the
drives?

NuTs

"jpsga" wrote in message
news:McAXb.39546$uV3.68839@attbi_s51...
I am not sure I understand. Once the main board BIOS has On Board H/W
RAID
enabled it will ( at boot time ) go out set up the controller and invite
you
to set up your array. I don't know how yours works but all mine use crl-H.
You set up RAID 1 and some how specify a lead ( boot)drive. This looks to
the system like new drive and you must fdisk and format.
JPS

"NuT CrAcKeR" wrote in message
...
Hello folks,

I have read what my news server has, as far as messages in this group,
that
pertain to the promise raid controller.

I have a machine that had 2 IDE Master drives on the Pri and Sec IDE
controllers. I am trying to move them to the raid channels. Once there,
I
will format them, and then make my mirror.

The thing is that the controller will not detect any drives. period. i
know
the drives are good, but nothinging shows up. therefore, i cant setup a
raid
set.

Is this a common problem with this board... is there a bios hack
somewhere
?

Thanks,

NuTs

It would help if you mention the make/brand of HDD. If you are using a
Western Digital (WDC) drive, remove the jumper. When a WDC drive is on an
IDE cable by itself, the jumper should be removed, DO NOT jumper it as
Master or Cable Select (CS).

"NuT CrAcKeR" wrote in message
...
before you can tell the controller which drives to use for an array set,
it
has to see the drives attached to the channel.

I was able to get my controller to see a drive, only in ATA mode, and only
if there was a CDROM attached to same ribon cable as the drive.

Obviously, i dont want that.

Does raid on this board just suck, or is there some magical incantation
and
sacrafice that needs to happen to get the promise controller to see the
drives?

NuTs

"jpsga" wrote in message
news:McAXb.39546$uV3.68839@attbi_s51...
I am not sure I understand. Once the main board BIOS has On Board H/W
RAID
enabled it will ( at boot time ) go out set up the controller and invite
you
to set up your array. I don't know how yours works but all mine use
crl-H.
You set up RAID 1 and some how specify a lead ( boot)drive. This looks
to
the system like new drive and you must fdisk and format.
JPS

"NuT CrAcKeR" wrote in message
...
Hello folks,

I have read what my news server has, as far as messages in this group,
that
pertain to the promise raid controller.

I have a machine that had 2 IDE Master drives on the Pri and Sec IDE
controllers. I am trying to move them to the raid channels. Once
there,
I
will format them, and then make my mirror.

The thing is that the controller will not detect any drives. period. i
know
the drives are good, but nothinging shows up. therefore, i cant setup
a
raid
set.

Is this a common problem with this board... is there a bios hack
somewhere
?

Thanks,

NuTs

Thanks...

2 WDC and one no-name...

I got the controller to see the drives by using cable select.

Now, I cant get XP to see the controller when i try to install the OS. Yes,
i did the F6. I tried the raid drivers from the CD that came with the board,
and I tried the latest drivers from the gigabyte website.

I have done IDE Raid before, and know how to install operating systems on
raid systems.
This particular board seems to be very problematic.

I found a thread on google about installing an f12 hack that changes the
bios of the raid chip to a fasttrackTX2, and when using the drivers from the
promise site, it all works great.

has anyone had to resort to this ??

NuTs

"Homer J. Simpson" wrote in message
news:1YRXb.520555$ts4.449826@pd7tw3no...
It would help if you mention the make/brand of HDD. If you are using a
Western Digital (WDC) drive, remove the jumper. When a WDC drive is on an
IDE cable by itself, the jumper should be removed, DO NOT jumper it as
Master or Cable Select (CS).

"NuT CrAcKeR" wrote in message
...
before you can tell the controller which drives to use for an array set,
it
has to see the drives attached to the channel.

I was able to get my controller to see a drive, only in ATA mode, and
only
if there was a CDROM attached to same ribon cable as the drive.

Obviously, i dont want that.

Does raid on this board just suck, or is there some magical incantation
and
sacrafice that needs to happen to get the promise controller to see the
drives?

NuTs

"jpsga" wrote in message
news:McAXb.39546$uV3.68839@attbi_s51...
I am not sure I understand. Once the main board BIOS has On Board H/W
RAID
enabled it will ( at boot time ) go out set up the controller and
invite
you
to set up your array. I don't know how yours works but all mine use
crl-H.
You set up RAID 1 and some how specify a lead ( boot)drive. This looks
to
the system like new drive and you must fdisk and format.
JPS

"NuT CrAcKeR" wrote in message
...
Hello folks,

I have read what my news server has, as far as messages in this
group,
that
pertain to the promise raid controller.

I have a machine that had 2 IDE Master drives on the Pri and Sec IDE
controllers. I am trying to move them to the raid channels. Once
there,
I
will format them, and then make my mirror.

The thing is that the controller will not detect any drives. period.
i
know
the drives are good, but nothinging shows up. therefore, i cant
setup
a
raid
set.

Is this a common problem with this board... is there a bios hack
somewhere
?

Thanks,

NuTs

Making progress...

I got the controller to see the disks... but cant get the XPsetup to see the
controller.

So, I am installing XP on one of the drives attached to the ATA controller
(Primary). Once its kinda tuned, and has drivers, i will move it to the
promise, and enable RAID. Then, copy the image from one disk to the other so
I will have my raid set. Get it all done and happy. Then...

pull one of the drives and reestablish the mirror with a 3rd drive. Not my
idea of perfection, but it should provide for a perfect snapshot of the
system to be recovered from (should it ever become necessary). Change drives
around once a month, and it should be golden.

Will post back with stories of my adventures.

NuTs

"NuT CrAcKeR" wrote in message
...
Hello folks,

I have read what my news server has, as far as messages in this group,
that
pertain to the promise raid controller.

I have a machine that had 2 IDE Master drives on the Pri and Sec IDE
controllers. I am trying to move them to the raid channels. Once there, I
will format them, and then make my mirror.

The thing is that the controller will not detect any drives. period. i
know
the drives are good, but nothinging shows up. therefore, i cant setup a
raid
set.

Is this a common problem with this board... is there a bios hack somewhere
?

Thanks,

NuTs