Vista Drive Fail Error

[Mikeinizer]

Hello All,

I've used this site previously for research and I generally default here, however, this is my first post so please forgive me if I've posted this thread in the wrong area.

Now to the point! I have a new Home Build (About 1 month now) and I would consider myself an advanced user. I built my own system and had it evaluated and passed by a professional system builder.
Bottom line, things have been fine until the other day when I started normally and received an error message during bootup on the initial BIOS screen when it was analyzing the RAID Array. I have an ASUS Maximus II Formula MoBo and have 2 250gb Seagate Barracuda's set to a 0 RAID configuration. The BIOS screen reports an error to one of my drives and when I boot into the OS it gives me an error message in the taskbar stating, "RAID VOLUME ERRORS: Some data requests to a hard drive in a RAID 0 volume failed but a back-up may be possible. Please try to back-up data immediately." When I x out of that message, I recieve an icon in the taskbar that states, "A drive in a RAID 0 volume is failing. Try to back up data immediately." The Intel Matrix Storage Console reports the error when it's double clicked on the taskbar and all information seems to point to the same drive as all numbers match.

I've contacted Seagate and downloaded and ran SeaTools with both drives and the suspect drive reported errors, however, according to the program, it repaired the errors, I re-ran the program and it then passed the drive, but I'm still getting the red lettered error message for the drive on the BIOS startup screen and the taskbar is still reporting the error. I've checked all of the corresponding entries in my Device Mngr and they all report no problems.

Seagate Tech Support tells me that it's possible my RAID controller is hexxed or my MoBo is bad which I don't believe to be the case. My computer appears to boot fine and the only issue appears to be the error message with the drive.

On a last note, my ASUS MoBo Bios reports that the working drive is hooked to Port 0, whereas, the failing drive is connected to Port 1, yet according to the MoBo layout map, I have each drive connected to Ports 1 and 2 simultaneously with the problem drive hooked to Port 1 and the good drive hooked to Port 2 according to ASUS's directions.

I'm thoroughly confused as to my problem and ANY advice would really be appreciated!

 

[Zecow]

might be a hardware failure which a software can't resolve. Anyway, what bios version you using?

 

[Mikeinizer]

Newest version from ASUS dated 11/2008....only one for that date on BIOS Updates

 

[GhislainG]

Does chkdsk detect issues?

 

[jitpublisher]

The software may be able to correct the errors on the drive, but that does not mean it can physically "fix" it. If is continuing to display errors, the best advice is back everything up immediately, and either return the drive, or buy a new one. Check to make sure your SATA cables are staying plugged in securely, I have had problems with some cables that kept coming loose.

Software such your BIOS, or even the OS normally will read drives or ports as the first Drive or Port being "0" (0,1,2,3 etc) Your motherboard manual is printed to be read by a person, thus they probably refer to the ports as 1,2,3,4.

It would not be the first time that a motherboard manual did not exactly match what the board actually does, believe me. The manuals are first written in China, Japan, Taiwan -wherever the board manufacturer is located, and are then translated. Much of the information can be "misinterperted" during translation to say the very least.

 

[Mikeinizer]

I've ensured positive cable connection and checked all other suggestions.

Previously I ran the checkdisk utility for Seatools and it reported errors on the drive in question, however, it also said that it repaired the errors and I was continuing to get the error message on my BIOS screen and the taskbar. Since my last post, I double clicked the taskbar error message and it launched the Intel Matrix Storage program subsequently showing that the drive on Port 1 had an error. I then right clicked the drive and was given the option "Mark as Normal." I selected that option and the drive returned to green, reports no errors, and now when I restart my system, my BIOS screen reports both drives in green lettering and it doesn't appear to reflect a problem now.

Is it possible that when I previously ran Seatools and repaired the errors on the drive that the drive did not reset on restart and that through manually resetting it in the Matrix Console that it's now returned to operational state or did the program now choose to ignore the previously reported error and my drive is in fact not repaired?

I've re-ran Seatools and it agin reports no errors. How do I ascertain if my drive is in working order or if the program is now ignoring any previously reported errors? I'm thoroughly stumped on this as I'm a RAID newby.