Hello all,

I'm trying to figure out if this is a hard drive problem, a RAID controller problem, or otherwise.

First of all:
Dell Dimension 8400
Windows XP SP2
1GB RAM
Pentium 4 3.2 GHz Dual processor

Hard Drives:
- 160GB SATA Seagate - Contains OS and software files - NOT in RAID configuration, by itself
- x2 300GB SATA Maxtor Hard disks - RAID 0 Configuration, for storing large video files and other client files

Problem:
The other night, my completely operational RAID configuration started giving me some "write-failing" (or something along those lines) problems, then the drive suddenly became unreadable. After much rebooting, checking things, running diagnostics, I managed to get the files off without a problem. Then eventually, same thing - no access. My poorly-descriptive RAID controller told me "Error Occured (0)" on one of the RAID drives.

So I completely cleared the hard drives, reformatted them, removed them from the RAID config, and redid everything all over again. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it wouldn't. Sometime windows would boot, sometimes the windows startup screen would simply freeze and I'd have to disconnect/reconnect or deactivate/reactivate hard drives to get Windows to fully start up.

It is frustrating me to no end because there is NO CONSISTENCY to any of the actions.

Then I tried formatting them individually... worked fine in Windows. But I want them in a RAID config. As soon as I do that, Windows (or any other bootable formatting software) just gives me errors or freezes up.

I've done a plethora of other "scientific experiments" on this junk heap to try to get it to work, but I'll save you all the repetitive details - it simply didn't work.


So, my question is: Does anybody think this is a hard drive problem - the one drive is bad? Or could this be a RAID controller problem?

I want to know before I go blow money on a new hard drive. I just don't get it - nothing seems to be making sense here... and I have some pretty good knowledge on computer hardware, just not RAID configs.

I sincerely appreciate any help or suggestions. Thank you very much!

-Zach

wzartv

I just went to check on it... and after these four days of yelling and screaming at it... it magically shows a 600GB RAID NTFS storage space. That was done using a "quick format" with Seagate's Disk Wizard... which opens using a DOS boot.

So, as of right now, it seems to be working. But I fear as soon as I start putting files on the drive, it will give me errors once again. So, if you don't mind, I could still use some thoughts on this matter. Thanks!

animal01

I get the same problems.... locks up tight. I power it off, then reseat the SATA cables and it works fine. On mine, it seems to be the cables, even the new ones I put in.

Rick

wzartv

Thanks for the info... right now... in February, the same re-format is still working, so I guess that's all it was!

xphelper

Hello,
I have the same 8400 and I betcha one of those drives is flakey. Either run the Dell diagnostics (if you still have that partition) or download AIDA32 here: AIDA32 download and review - system information tool from SnapFiles and query the hard drives for a SMART data readout. For example, here's what a good drive should look like and take notice that the program evaluates each line so you don't have to be an expert to understand it:

[[ ST380013AS (5MR52GWC) ]

01 Raw Read Error Rate 6 57 48 207469371 OK: Value is normal
03 Spin Up Time 0 98 98 0 OK: Always passing
04 Start/Stop Count 20 99 99 1865 OK: Value is normal
05 Reallocated Sector Count 36 100 100 0 OK: Value is normal
07 Seek Error Rate 30 86 60 430032200 OK: Value is normal
09 Power-On Time Count 0 91 91 8594 OK: Always passing
0A Spin Retry Count 97 100 100 0 OK: Value is normal
0C Power Cycle Count 20 99 99 1865 OK: Value is normal
C2 Temperature 0 30 41 30 OK: Always passing
C3 Hardware ECC Recovered 0 57 48 207469371 OK: Always passing
C5 Current Pending Sector Count 0 100 100 0 OK: Always passing
C6 Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count 0 100 100 0 OK: Always passing
C7 Ultra ATA CRC Error Rate 0 200 200 0 OK: Always passing
C8 Write Error Rate 0 100 253 0 OK: Always passing
CA <vendor-specific> 0 100 253 0 OK: Always passing

One final comment: I originally had a RAID 0 configuration and changed it to a single drive because RAID 0 is not that much faster than a single drive (at least on a Dimension 8400 at SATA 150 speed) and the configuration is more prone to failures because the OS is split across 2 drives. Yes, there are probably some instances where RAID 0 is noticably faster but I havent found them yet.