Critical status on RAID 1 array

[jasonscc]

First post here, but thanks in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

I put together a new system for a gentlemen, specs are as follows:

Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3
Kingston 8GB DDR3-1600 Hyper-X
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition
2x 1TB Western Digital SATA (Black) - RAID 1
2x Asus EAH5770
Asus DVD-RW
Cooler Master 850W Silent Pro

Everything has been fine for a few weeks until yesterday, my customer stated that when he started his computer up he got RAID critical status alert during POST. Other than the message, the OS loads fine. I've attempted to reseat all the connections, I've also swapped SATA cables, and I tested both drives with WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics which came back clean.

Has anyone heard of or can provide any steps that can be taken to correct the issue? Is it possible that a drive is bad this soon and sneak by testing?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated because I'm kind of at a loss of what could be causing it.


Jason

 

[MindoverMaster]

Is this onboard RAID or from a controller card?

 

[jasonscc]

Yes, it is onboard.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Might be something with the BIOS. might want recreate the RAID or something. I've never come up with this error either, unless the drive was degrading.

 

[jasonscc]

Question regarding that. If I recreate the RAID will I lose the his data?

 

[MindoverMaster]

I'm not too sure on that. I think that is true. Not sure though. Could be just the BIOS giving false information for all we know.

 

[jasonscc]

Thanks for the input. I've installed the RaidXpert software and am currently rebuilding the array to see if it corrects the issue. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Slaymate]

In RAID 1 (mirroring without parity or striping), data is written identically to multiple disks (a "mirrored set"). Although many implementations create sets of 2 disks, sets may contain 3 or more disks. Array provides fault tolerance from disk errors or failures and continues to operate as long as at least one drive in the mirrored set is functioning. With appropriate operating system support, there can be increased read performance, and only a minimal write performance reduction.

One of the drives is creating errors or it's just having problems. The OS is working because the array can work with either drive or just one drive.

Remove the power connector from one of the drives and then test the remaining drive. If it passes then remove it's power connector, plug the other drive back in and test it.

The Raid Controller has it's own bios, when you enter the Raid bios it should tell you the status of each individual drive.

I would go ahead and buy another identical drive so that it's on hand as a spare.

 

[office politics]

I would look for firmware and driver updates first. Keep in mind mirrored sets can be "broken" and recreated.

 

[jasonscc]

Thank's for the help all. After rebuilding the array with RaidXpert the status is now functional and everything seems to be OK for the moment. It's certainly strange how it came to be critical but I'll just have to wait and see if it does it again or not. Again thanks for the help all!