RAID1 Suddenly Stopped working

[corte1]

Hello Everyone,

I'm hoping you can help me solve this mystery. I've had my Windows Vista computer running as a RAID1 array (two 500GB internal hard drives) for almost a year now. It is managed by the Intel Matrix Storage Manager software.

For some reason, my drives/controllers became uninstalled (the seems to have happened after I plugged in a USB device). At any rate, when I rebooted my computer, the 2 internal drives and associated controllers were immediately detected and windows started installing native drivers for them. The drivers that Vista installed were the following:

Intel 82801 BG/GR/GH(ICH7) Serial
ATA Storage Controller - 27CO
ATA Channel 0
ATA CHannel 1
ST3500630AS ATA Device
ST3500630AS ATA Device

When I then opened the Intel Matrix Storage Manager to get details on my RAID1 array, I got the following 2 messages:

1. The Raid Plug-in failed to load becasue the driver is not installed correctly.
2. The serial ATA plug-in failed to load beacuse the driver is not installed correctly.

My two internal drives seem to be acting now as independant drives - no longer connected as a RAID1 through the Intel Matrix Storage Manager.

Does anyone have any idea as to how I can get my RAID1 array back on track?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

Corte Swearingen
Chicago

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Sounds like the mode selection in the BIOS somehow got changed from RAID to AHCI. I'd recommend you remove one drive, go into the BIOS and change it back to RAID, boot back up (RAID will be degraded), and verify everything is working. Then shut down, insert 2nd drive, boot back up, and tell it to perform a rebuild.

I don't guarantee that this will work. Also, make sure you back up everything first.

 

[edwinEP]

Sounds like the mode selection in the BIOS somehow got changed from RAID to AHCI. I'd recommend you remove one drive, go into the BIOS and change it back to RAID, boot back up (RAID will be degraded), and verify everything is working. Then shut down, insert 2nd drive, boot back up, and tell it to perform a rebuild.

I don't guarantee that this will work. Also, make sure you back up everything first.

Great suggestion it worked for me.
Edwin

 

[d15]

Sounds like the mode selection in the BIOS somehow got changed from RAID to AHCI. I'd recommend you remove one drive, go into the BIOS and change it back to RAID, boot back up (RAID will be degraded), and verify everything is working. Then shut down, insert 2nd drive, boot back up, and tell it to perform a rebuild.

I don't guarantee that this will work. Also, make sure you back up everything first.

Thanks for the tip - worked perfectly!
Just a few pointers for those who land up in a similar situation:
1) I had to reset BIOS (for another reason) and after that noticed that my two RAID 1 drives were 'unjoined'.
2) Attempts to Configure SATA1 as RAID were frustrated by a looping POST and boot sequence. Had to set to IDE to be able to boot, and then only on one drive!
3) Opening the Intel Matrix Storage Manager elicited the two messages:
1. The Raid Plug-in failed to load becasue the driver is not installed correctly.
2. The serial ATA plug-in failed to load beacuse the driver is not installed correctly. as mentioned below.
4) This totally confused the issue, sending me on the path of possible driver updates, Intel Matrix Storage Manager upgrade etc.
5) Only after following the advice from SomeJoe7777, with one drive installed, was I then able to set the BIOS to Configure SATA1 as RAID and successfully reboot.
6) Shut down, plugged in second drive, boot up and a rebuild commenced automatically!
7) Interestingly, thereafter, Intel Matrix Storage Manager worked perfectly! I think the Intel error messages are misleading and require revision!!
Roy

 

[dasin88]

I'm very happy to have found this. I just ran in to this problem last night and tried everything I could think of to fix it to no avail. I will definitely do this when I get home in a few hours. Does anyone know why BIOS would suddenly decide to change its settings? I noticed a few other settings I had modified when I set up my computer were off too now that I think about the problem/s more thoroughly.

 

[dasin88]

It worked! Thanks guys!

 

[jjenkins79]

I'm running a RAID 5, any suggestions on what needs to happen differently, if anything, to solve this same issue?

 

[Guest]

Had the same problem on RAID 1, spent the better part of a day trying to reinstall drivers. Tried out SomeJoe7777's fix and it worked. Rebuilding now Thanks!

 

[Jost Schaper]

Thank you, some 6 years later, still perfect solution.