Help! With the RAID controller!

[xxsk8er101xx]

I have a problem with the KT7-RAID Motherboard. Actually it's windows 98SE

Here is my setup that i have now.

AMD Duron 700
Abit KT7-RAID
Sound blaster live x-gamer 5.1
ati aiw radeon
10/100 NIC
harddrive
creative pc-dvd
plextor 12x10x32A
72trueX cd-rom

i think thats all that matters.

now i have the 72x(slave) and the plextor(master) drives on the first controller on the master chain. I have the dvd(master) on the first controller on the slave chain. I have the hard drive(master) on the raid controller.

The BIOS reads all cd-roms on boot up. The raid bios reads the hard drive just fine. I boot off the ata100 raid controller just fine. windows 98SE boots up just fine. No blue screens or conflicts. Here is my problem. Under my computer it shows the hard drive and then the dvd and thats it! it will not show my other two drives: the writer and the 72x. Under the device manager it lists all 3 drives. pc-dvd, the writer and the kenwood 72x drive. How come under my computer the two drives are gone?

can someone give me some ideas! I'm completely stumped! this is way too weird!

HELP!!! PLEASE!!

email me at xxsk8er101xx@yahoo.com

Thank you!

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

ok i took out the dvd completely. I switched the IDE cables and controller slots. I also noticed on the 72x that the jumper was misplaced. fixed that. Now in the BIOS i changed IRQ's and i made it so the BIOS doesn't auto detect.

Windows cannot find the 2 cd-roms!? in the device manage and the registry it sees it but windows (my computer, explorer) cannot! Does anyone have a freakin clue why? this is [-peep-] up!

windows seems to find the dvd just fine.

 

[Guest]

If you're not using your RAID Mobo for RAID, then you should always have your master Hard Drive on the primary IDE channel. Try placing it and your DVD on the primary, and your two CDs on the secondary. You don't need to use the RAID controller at all. You simply do not have enough drives to bother. Return your BIOS to auto-detect and pay attention to what they find at startup. Make sure one CD is jumpered for master, the other for slave (which one doesn't matter) and do the same on the primary channel. Of course, the HD should be the master there. Try it out and let me know if it worked for you.

<b><i><font color=purple> Whispers of Clay </font color=purple></b></i>

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

Hey

Thanks! Umm actually here are my drives.

pc-dvd, plextor writer 12x10x32A, 72trueX, maxtor hard drive, IBM hard drive and a seagate harddrive (i don't use the seagate drive). There are 5 drives that i'd like to install. the maxtor is a 6GB and the IBM is a 30 GB. but i could lose the 6gb maxtor and maybe use that as a backup. But i do see your point and i might have to disable the RAID controller. I got it working where i don't get any bluescreens now (LOL) but now windows doesn't see these two cd-roms. *shrugs* i was thinking of buying a ATA100 controller card has anyone had any luck with those? Next mobo is not going to have raid on it! TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY!

Thanks!

 

[uncoando]

Go into BIOS and select auto for all 4 IDE devices. Leave your hdd on the RAID controller. Choose to boot from ata device (although this is already happening). Sounds like you're nearly there...

<b><font color=blue>Brainy Sturgeon</b></font color=blue>

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

Hey

Thanks but that is what i had and then changed it to see what would happen.

This is my problem i'll kind of like list it...

First Controller:
IDE1 has plextor writer and 72x --+
-plextor is master +---- IDE1 = problem
-72x is slave ---------------------+

IDE2 has the DVD ------------+
DVD is Master +---- IDE2 = working fine
no slave---------------------+

RAID controller:
IDE3 has the hard drive on it -----+
-Hard drive is master +--- works fine
-No slave -------------------------+

Nothing on IDE4

I know your all not retarded lol, i'm just doing it so you can visualize what i'm talking about because with the responses i'm getting, i don't think you get it.

Now you may think that IDE1 is bad, it isn't because i switched chains remember? i went from IDE2 to IDE1 and same problem. Also, i had the hard drive (IBM 75GXP 7200RPM HDD) on IDE1 and it worked fine so that is not the problem. The problem is, is that windows does NOT see the 2 cd-roms with that configuration. In the device manager it does list them. It's also in the registry. So it's there. For some reason explorer (windows) cannot see it. Meaning under my-computer-> the only drives listed is C: ... no D or E for cd-roms. However under device manager it did list the cd-roms.

I bet if i moved the harddrive to IDE 2 and made the DVD slave, switched chains and disabled RAID it would work fine. There is something wrong with the RAID controller i bet. I think it's a driver/hardware problem. I've been in the computer industry for 7 years and i have never, NEVER, ran into a problem like this. This has to be a bug of somesort. It could also be a driver problem hmm? What do you guys think?

For those who have the KT7-RAID mobo try putting your hard drive on IDE3 - master. if you have 2 cd-roms, chain them on IDE1. What should happen is that windows won't see your cd-roms. If you have a DVD + cd-rom/writer and it reads the dvd but not the cd-rom/writer that would be very interesting. For those with the KT7A-RAID mobo it would very interesting if you tried that and it worked.

Very interesting indeed! I'll have to play with it more.

keep the ideas flowing! Thanks!

 

[uncoando]

Is this a Promise or High point RAID controller? At boot hit ctrl+h if high point, F6 if promise. You'll need to load the appropriate drivers for your controller: Windows will treat the RAID controller as a mass - storage SCSI device.
Also, does the SB want to load DOS drivers at IRQ 5? This may conflict with the IRQ that the RAID/ATA controller wants to use.

<b><font color=blue>Brainy Sturgeon</b></font color=blue>

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

What would going into the High Point BIOS do for me though? Thats all that is there is creating RAID and whatnot. I have the drivers loaded that came with the disk. With the SB i did not load the DOS drivers. Also just so you know (JSYK), the only IRQ that should conflict with the RAID controller is anything on PCI slot 5. Thats it. So it shouldn't be a IRQ conflict. Not saying your wrong just saying it is doubtful, then again i have witnessed some really strang events concerning computers. lol! Computers are just soo strang! I'm at work right now, i'll play with it when i get home.

Thanks for the ideas and anything even if you think it's dumb just say it. The simple and what seems to be dumb is usually the answer lol!

 

[uncoando]

It's not just a RAID utility, it does drive duplication and allows you to select drive mode and boot device.
Have you tried assigning drive letters to the phantom drives in device manager?
If all devices are being recognized in the BIOS and Device Manager, you would think Windows would have the good sense to bequeath letters to the drives!
Which 4-in-1 drivers are you using? I'd reload the bus master drivers after installing the HPT drivers...something about the sequence...

<b><font color=blue>Brainy Sturgeon</b></font color=blue>

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

I did try assigning the drive letter. Nothing. I'm using 4.29 final release 4-in-1 drivers. I was thinking of getting a ATA100 controller card. It's 34 bucks. It's by Promise. I would disable the RAID controller and put the controller card on pci slot 5 as it wouldn't share with anything else. Have you heard anything good about using a ATA100 controller card?

 

[uncoando]

Funny thing. I have an MSI BXMaster w/ on-board Promise ATA/66 controller, and an Abit BXRAID133 (High Point 370 RAID - ATA/100 controller). The throughput times seem contingent on the hdd, the promise 66 is just as fast as a single drive on the HPT controller. DiamondMax 40 runs at about 25 mbps on both controllers.
I have 2 IBM 7200 rpm ata/100 drives in RAID 0 on the abit w/ times of 42 mbps, bursts of 60 mbps.
My experience w/ Promise pci cards is a failed conversion to a Fastrac IDE RAID contrlr, I have to reflash the BIOS and remove the 1k resistor to see if I can restore its intended function.
Do you like your Kenwood? My 52x drive vibrated badly.

<b><font color=blue>Brainy Sturgeon</b></font color=blue>

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

actually my 72x kenwood drive runs perfectly. Very very quiet and doesn't vibrate or anything. I never had a problem besides the one tme i bent the pin where the IDE cable goes lol! I got it replaced with out a problem. I love my 72x, thats why i still have it there.It's great and it's really fast! I can dupe at 12x. You can't dupe at 12x with a ordinary cd-rom. I have a 12x DVD and the max dupe was 8x!

So basicly you had zero luck with the controller cards?