Maximum PC

Ok so i have an interesting problem.

I have whs 2011 installed and i am using a am3+ bioware mobo. If you anyone wants more specs let me know.

The onboard raid sports 2 raid 1's. This is where whs is installed

i also have 2 pci raid controllers, both running raid 5. One array has 3x500gb seagate drives totaling 1tb, the other raid has 3x750 gb drives mixed between western digital and seagate totaling 1.5tb. None of the hd's are green and both pci raids are silicon image chipsets (4 port cards).

HERE is the issue, When transferring a large amount of data on WHS, the 1st pci raid controller (1 tb = 3 x 500gb) drops from windows. It only comes back after a reboot.

I have checked the raid during POST and the controller says nothing is wrong. No drives are rebuilding or failing....

I have a few ideas as to why this maybe happening, i'm posting here to see if anyone could give me there two cents. So what do you all think?

If everything is good in the Device Manager, go look in the Event Viewer for errors in the system and application logs. This is always a good place to start. You could also have a bad controller chip, when it gets hot it opens and disappears from windows. Does this happen when you transfer files from a different controller to the one that has issues? Just pokin' in the dark here, trying to get the juices flowing...

Nasty

Thanks for the reply!

It happens whenever there is a large file transfer. I'm migrating off whs 08 to whs 11. So when i'm coping my movies folder from a backup, like 300 gigs, the volume dissappears from windows at about 80% complete.

its completely gone from the system at this point. Doesnt show up at all in disk management. I would have to reboot, then it appears. I'm thinking its a heat problem too, i'm going to throw a fan in there when i get home, then start another file transfer.

Thanks for pointing this out.

So as it turns out, it is certainly a heat problem. Apparently the silicon raid controller over heats under load. I stuck a 120 mm fan on the side panel and copied over my backup data base (about 400 gigs). It copied without a hitch.

So in case anyone is googling trying to figure out why there raid card drops u ser heavy load but reports no issues, ita probably over heating. Thanks everyone for your help!!!

I think we need to build these pcs in refrigerators, they get so hot these days. When I run BF3 my room goes up 4 degrees F.

Nasty

Tell me about it, in the winter, i never have to turn the heat on, my computer and homeserver take care of that for me lol....

Yes i agree with you.

Looks like i'm not out of the woods yet....


So after thinking everything is peachy, i logged onto my server today and noticed that there was 1tb of space missing, yup, windows home server lost the raid 5 volume again... sigh...

Ok so the first thing one may assume is that the controller card i am using is bad and that i should replace it. That is a good assumption, however, this is the replacement controller card. The first raid controller card was giving me the same issue, so i went out to a different re-seller and purchased another card. Same problem, what are the chances of that happening? two different retailers having defective raid controllers?

so here is what i think my next steps are:

since i have two pci raid cards running two raid 5's, there maybe a problem with the pci IRQ; or a pci bandwidth issue...

One problem with this is that my MOBO does not let me adjust the IRQ settings for the pci slots, only the latency. So i could try lowering the latency, i doubt this would solve anything.

*** I also replaced the mobo thinking that was the original problem ***

I could purchase another raid controller, this time PCI-X... If it is a IRQ / pci bandwidth issue, going to pci-x may solve both...

I'm also thinking it may have to do with the silicon image chipset. Since i have two raids Both silicon images, maybe both there ROMs/BIOS could be conflicting... Its a stretch but i'm out of ideas here... In this case, going to a pci-x (non silicon raid) would help also...

If anyone is reading this please, let me know your opinion, i have poured too much money into this already and i desperately need help!

Does this happen always using the same pci socket...if so try a different socket which will be a different IRQ as well.

Another thought is what is your motherboard rated to support Gigabyte wise...you may be outside the spec.

Nasty

Hhhnmmmm... I didn't know there were limits as to how much gigs you have on a mobo.

There are only two PCI slots, both are occupied with the raid controllers. See the interesting part is that I had another (new) mobo I was using and I was experiencing the same use, that's what leads me to believe that it's a rom issue.

Without reading all the posts again... Did you go to the harddrive's you have in raid website and get the diagnostic software and check each drive. The bummer is you have to break the array to do this. You may have a bad cluster or sector even on one or more of the drives.

Nasty

Nasty,

You have been most helpful! I have not tried had diagnostics yet, I will most certainly do so... I'll keep you posted!

By any chance are you running a SSD as a primary drive with windows on it? If so, have you updated the firmware to the latest version? In many cases it fixes issues like this. This is why you should always list your pc components so we know what we are working with.

Nasty

Hey Nasty,
I probably would have saved a lot of time had I done this in the beginning, sorry about that!
Specs:

BIOSTAR TA970XE AM3+ AMD 970

AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz

G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333

ON-Board Raid:

Raid 1:

2 x seagate 250gb barracuda (WHS 2011 installed)

Raid 1:

2 x maxtor 80gb (this used to hold WHS v1, I plan I replacing this soon)

PCI Raid Controllers and Configuration:

1st pci slot:

SYBA SD-SATA-4P PCI SATA: Raid 5 (this is the problem controller) (Silicon image Chipset)

1 x seagate pipeline 500 gb (pulled from a nas box)
2 x seagate spinpoint 500gb

*The syba raid controller replaced a Rosewill RC-209-EX; which was giving me the same problem

2nd pci slot:

MASSCOOL PCI Card 4 port sata: Raid 5 (this works fine, no issues) (Silicon image Chipset)

1 x western digital black 750 gb

1 x western digital green 750 gb ( I know its green, I will be replacing it soon)

1 x samsung 750 gb

I know its not a top notch WHS system, but, I've started it out with minimal parts and kept building (through many years, started with a freenas box first). I went raid 5 so I can expand later when HDD prices come down again...

What size is the power supply and what brand?

Nasty

Ah yes, i forgot,

CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC

...Like pulling teeth... Onboard video or video card?

Nasty

nvidia 6600 gs...

The reason I asked for all this stuff is to see how much power is being asked for from the psu.

I guessed at a couple of items but it looks like the psu is to whimpy to run everything at once.

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I tried to post the result the app found, but it won't. I came up with around 647 watts needed to run what you have. Run the numbers again and see if you get the same result.

Nasty