Intel Matrix Storage -- Can't boot RAID 1 -- OPTIONS??

[ryeookin]

I've always been afraid of loosing my data so I have two disk mirrors (raid1 volumes) with 4 different Hard drives on my pc. Its worked like a charm for over a year.. however I just had not one but two drives fail (one for each volume thankfully not 2 on the same volume). My main os raid volumes status changed to "failed" and bootable "no" where as my extra storage volume became just "degraded" and bootable "yes" (though it can't boot as it has no os).

Now I got the replacement drives and I installed them in my pc but my main os RAID volume0 still has its status set in Intel Matrix Storage Manager (hit control +I at boot) to "bootable no" and "status failed" (Note: below I list exactly what I'm seeing in Intel Matrix Storage Manager v7.5.0.1017).

Now if I go into the bios and change the SATA config from RAID to IDE I can boot into the hard drive thats part of my os raid1 volume0 array just fine (ran check disk on it too and it checks out with no bad sectors). The problem is when I change it back to RAID in bios I can't get Intel Matrix Storage Manager to change it from Status "failed" and Bootable "no" to yes even though I've replaced the drive.

There is no option to change the volume to bootable or not.. The only options are as follows:

When I rebooted and entered the Intel Matrix Storage Manager, 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 -- RAID1(Mirror) --- N/A ----- 931.5GB ---- Failed -------- No
1 --- Storage -- RAID1(Mirror) --- N/A ----- 1397.3GB -- Degraded ---- Yes


Physical Disks:

Port -- Drive Model ------ Serial # -- Size --------- Type/Status(Vol ID)
0 ----- <SEGATE Barracuda> --- <serial> -- 931.5GB --- Member Disk(0)
1 ----- <SEGATE Barracuda> --- <serial> -- 931.5GB --- Non-RAID Disk
4 ----- <SAMSUNG HD154UI> -- <serial> -- 1397.3GB --- Member Disk(1)
5 ----- <SAMSUNG HD154UI> -- <serial> -- 1397.3GB --- Member Disk(1)

How the heck do I fix this? I need my main os drive's redundancy back.

Thanks for your time.

Side note, seems to be the exact same problem this guy had here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/248283-32-intel-matrix-storage-boot-raid0-options

 

[ryeookin]

I think where the Intel Matrix Storage Manager labels the "OSDrive" as "failed" its referring to the entire mirrored RAID1 volume. The thing is the drive works and boots (segate barracudea port 0 above runs/boots up fine when set as "ide" instead of "RAID" in sata config set in bios)!

I'm guessing perhaps the MBR got messed up?

Question is their a separate MBR for different sata configs (I.E. one for the RAID setting and one for IDE)?
If their is, how do I go about fixing it? (as I look at the drive now and its mbr shows its fine and boots when set to IDE)

 

[ryeookin]

After wrestling with this problem for the past several days I finally found fix (pia but it worked)!

Steps:
1) What I did was (with the bios booting to IDE not raid) first back up my working os drive using acronis true image 2009. I backed it up to my port4 1.5TB samsung drive.

2) After I backed that up I went back into the bios and set it so I boot to Raid now. Then I went into intel matrix storage manager and deleted the "OSDRIVE" volume. At this point I created a new volume called "OS" for my two 1TB Seagate drives.

3) Then I set my pc to boot via IDE again and restored the "osdrive" image (via acronis true image) from my 1.5TB drive to each of my seagate drives. Then I set my pc to boot via RAID once again but got the windows vista \boot\bcd error.

4) At this point I followed the steps listed here to fix the vista MBR:
http://www.lancelhoff.com/how-to-fix-vista-mbr-repair-broken-vista/

However #5 (in the list in the link above) showed no os listed. Regardless I followed those directions and ran the command prompt (as clicking on repair and restart would return errors at this point and do nothing).

5) After I rebooted I left my vista cd in there as I accessed the vista recovery environment once again. This time when I get to #5 above and I'm prompted to "repair and restart" when I click it it actually did what it says it'll do!

That's the cliff notes of what did the trick. Then when my pc restarted it booted into windows vista (read: all 4 drives utilizing 2 volumes with raid 1 with no more errors). Its actually working again!

 

[jakinger]

Thanks so much for posting this!

I had a similar problem with my Vista Home premium machine (Asus P5Q SE/R mb).

I was getting the following error on startup:

File: /boot/bcd
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data

I'm also using a RAID mirror.

I jumped to your step #4 (use Windows recovery disk to repair the MBR).
Then rebooted again with the recovery disk, and this time, it actually worked when I clicked "repair and restart"!

Matrix Console is now verifying and repairing my RAID mirror as I type this.

Thanks again! This saved me A LOT of time, since the guy at the repair shop told me I'd probably have to re-install windows.

 

[jmcglaug]

After wrestling with this problem for the past several days I finally found fix (pia but it worked)!

Steps:
1) What I did was (with the bios booting to IDE not raid) first back up my working os drive using acronis true image 2009. I backed it up to my port4 1.5TB samsung drive.

2) After I backed that up I went back into the bios and set it so I boot to Raid now. Then I went into intel matrix storage manager and deleted the "OSDRIVE" volume. At this point I created a new volume called "OS" for my two 1TB Seagate drives.

3) Then I set my pc to boot via IDE again and restored the "osdrive" image (via acronis true image) from my 1.5TB drive to each of my seagate drives. Then I set my pc to boot via RAID once again but got the windows vista \boot\bcd error.

4) At this point I followed the steps listed here to fix the vista MBR:
http://www.lancelhoff.com/how-to-fix-vista-mbr-repair-broken-vista/

However #5 (in the list in the link above) showed no os listed. Regardless I followed those directions and ran the command prompt (as clicking on repair and restart would return errors at this point and do nothing).

5) After I rebooted I left my vista cd in there as I accessed the vista recovery environment once again. This time when I get to #5 above and I'm prompted to "repair and restart" when I click it it actually did what it says it'll do!

That's the cliff notes of what did the trick. Then when my pc restarted it booted into windows vista (read: all 4 drives utilizing 2 volumes with raid 1 with no more errors). Its actually working again!

Allowing you to have the option to select this as the best answer to your situation so that you don't get hassled by the forum auto responder