Update BIOS, load optimized settings - CAN'T BOOT RAID

[thephatp]

PLEASE HELP...

I just changed out my processor (E6750 to Q9550), and the BIOS was not recognizing the processor correct. I called Gigabyte (Mobo: GA-P35-DS3R) and they said I needed to flash the BIOS. So, I made a backup of my BIOS, and then flashed to the appropriate version. I booted up and everything was just fine. Windows recognized the info correctly...however, CPUID said it was only running @ 2.66GHz instead of 2.83.

I rebooted and sure enough BIOS said 2.66GHz, so I called Gigabyte back again. They said to:

(1) Load Default Settings
(2) Load Optimized Settings
(3) Reboot

I did so, and on reboot, the BIOS recognized the CPU correctly. HOWEVER, my PC will NO LONGER BOOT.

I'm running Level 0 + Level 1 (striped plus mirror)

At the status, the first partition (striped) says status FAILED, and the second partition (Mirrored) says "DEGRADED".

What can I do? I don't know how to fix this and I absolutely cannot lose the information on my mirrored drives. I wouldn't mind reinstalling windows, but I don't want to take a chance at messing up the second partition.

Is there any way to recover from where I'm at? I tried flashing back to the backed up BIOS, but that didn't work. It still doesn't boot.

HELP!

 

[vladtepes]

I suppose default mode sets the SATA MODE to IDE, change it to AHCI. If not you can boot from one off the mirror drives in IDE or AHCI

 

[thephatp]

BTW, I'm using Intel Matrix Storage Manager for the RAID.

Yeah, I set SATA MODE to RAID and it does what I mentioned above. Right after the post, it starts the SATA AHCI BIOS (Intel Matrix software), and then it shows the status of the drives as failed and degraded.

I tried setting the SATA MODE to AHCI and when I rebooted, it skipped the Intel Software BIOS stuff and then said "Disk Read Error". When I set the mode back to RAID, I got the SATA AHCI BIOS loading again.

At the status screen, I hit Ctrl-I to enter the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Utility. It gives the following 4 options:
1. Create RAID Volume
2. Delete RAID Volume
3. Reset Disks to Non-RAID
4. Exit


Under Disk/Volume Information, it shows this:

RAID Volumes:

ID -- Name ----- Level ------------ Stripe --- Size -------- Status -------- Bootable
0 --- OSDrive -- RAID0(Stripe) -- 128KB -- 300.0GB --- Failed --------- No
1 --- Storage -- RAID1(Mirror) --- N/A ----- 548.6GB --- Degraded ---- Yes


Physical Disks:

Port -- Drive Model ------ Serial # -- Size --------- Type/Status(Vol ID)
0 ----- <Model #> ------- <serial> -- 698.7GB --- Non-RAID Disk
1 ----- <Same Model> -- <serial> -- 698.7GB --- Member Disk(0,1)


Also, as you can probably tell by my volume names, I set this up in a RAID0+1 setup. The first partition was my OS install, and the second partition was my storage drive (all the info I really care about saving). I reimage a lot, and I wanted to keep my valuable information separated (and backed up) from the OS partition.

Any advice?

 

[vladtepes]

Hum doesnt look good at all, specially being a Raid 0+1 and not 1+0. Also all of your drives should be the same be the same model and capacity, looks like you mixed raid 0 or 1 with JBOD