Guys, I'm in deep trouble. PC blue screen, then boot failure, my business is halted, please help

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R

rc000e

Commendable
Sep 28, 2017
21
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1,520
This PC was built for me in 2011, and it's been on my radar to upgrade. This couldn't happen at a worse time though, as all documents related to my consulting business are now not accessible.

First I'll try to describe the system as clearly as possible, then I'll list what troubleshooting I've done using many, many searches on here first:

COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 Case

ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s mobo

Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W QuadCore

EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin (running 6 of these)

C: Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM
SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" (there are two and one backs up the other...I am pretty sure)

D:SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA
3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (there are 3 of these raided as one)

1050w PSU (replaced about a month ago)


Quick background leading up:

Approx 2 months ago, I'd been hearing noise in the lower rear. I suspected the PSU was going out on the pc. It's the second one I've had, as a storm in 2015 took out my original. This PSU was from an older computer I had, an 850w and was getting me by. About 2 months ago it started making noise, then about a week later I was getting random shutdowns. The shutdown seemed heat related, and the noise went away...I think the PSU fan failed...something, so I replaced it.

Put in new 1050w PSU, PC works fine. No shutdowns, no issues.

About 2wks ago, I got a blue screen and rebooted...didn't happen again. Feeling the pressure, I started restructuring all my storage. I'd had a lot of info on the C drive, that I then transferred over to the D drive for extra redundancy. The one thing I didn't was all my documents. I have about 1TB of video/data on the D drive and about 1.3tb of data on the C. I started noticing the C drive operating very slowly. GOing into "Library" then "Video" all the folders were loading slowly. The problem seemed intermittent though.

Yesterday, I work all day, as I have a consulting business and was prepping work for a client. 8hrs in, I am looking through an excel sheet...blue screen and off.

Computer starts to reboot but pauses at a black screen, "Reboot and select proper boot device".

Troubleshooting thus far

1. Went into BIOS, with intent to check boot priority, noticed some sata's weren't reporting their drives. The triple 500gb D drives were there, neither of the C drives were.

The C drives are plugged into 2 gray SATA ports on the MOBO, while the D's and DVD drives, etc are on regular blue ports.

2. Most recently changed was the PSU, so I move the power cables from the D drives, up to the C drives, reboot. No SATA detected anywhere

3. Change SATA cables from D drives to C, reboot...no sata detected.

4. Move C drives from the gray sata ports on the mobo to the blue, reboot and it detects those drives. Operating system is on those, so I attempt to move forward F10, but still goes to "Reboot and select proper boot device".

5. I begin searching on here and it hits me, there is no motherboard beep either, which it usually has.

6. I remove GPU, reboot...no beeps, no boot

7. I remove all the RAM in various configurations. I notice with just one stick of ram the DRAM LED stays lit, but with two it doesn't. (not sure what that means).

8. I strip it down to no HDD, no GPU, no RAM...still no beeps.


To the best of my ability (which is damn limited in this realm), it seems to me somehow the mobo has shat itself. Instinctively, I want to aim my sights somewhat at the PSU, because it's new...china...and china will happen.

So, here I am...PSU or MOBO...either way, I am in a damn bad spot. I can't boot, can't access anything...feel like I am in a huge bit of trouble. I'm tempted to buy a new MOBO/Processor/GPU and use this case/drive/psu but I don't feel I have the skillset to do it without reloading windows. I don't even have a boot disc, otherwise I'd have probably tried that to start with.

 
I have an older office PC, I'm wondering if I can simply install one of the C drive units into that pc and boot it up as a D drive? I just DESPERATELY need to access certain info to buy myself some time to sort this out. As long as I have no issue accessing these drives and accessing the RAID setup, I'll likely initiate a new build and be done with this.

I'm near atlanta if anyone is in the region and can help.
 


The C drive is a....RAID 1? RAID 0?
The D drive is a RAID 1? RAID 0?

Either way...unlikely that you can connect one or more of those to a different PC and access them as normal.

I hate to be 'that guy' that harps on backups....but I will be 'that guy'.
You really, really, really need to invent a time machine, and go back a few months and start a comprehensive backup plan.

It seems your D drive was a RAID 0, across 3 drives? A disaster waiting to happen without a strong backup of that data.
You C drive? A RAID 1? That is also not a backup.
 


Well, the issue is, I didn't build this, a friend did. I needed an editing capable PC at the time, with a lot of storage for HD video and to run Premiere Pro. I've found, over the years, that maybe he didn't understand some aspects of what he was doing.

I've researched the RAID setup over the past year, and I agree...the more I read, the more I felt like it's an accident waiting to happen. Seems like you increase your chances of loss.

I will say this much, and I am fairly certain this is the case.

The twin 2tb drives as well as the triple 500gb drives ALL have nearly the same info on them. Now, I am aware TODAY that you should run the operating system on one drive, with all the crap on another...something I didn't know then. As a result, I've migrated much of it from the twin 2tb drives over to the raided 500gb trio. ONLY thing missing is the my documents, which is on the twin 2tb's.

So, yes, I had that fear that because they are raided, they won't boot alone. My question is...wtf do I do now?

1. I thought of doing a mobo/processor replacement and then rebooting it all. I saw on youtube a guy do it, by using some type of software to install drivers, etc and not do a new reinstall of windows, but the raid deal...worrisome.

2. Do I try to seek an exact mobo like the one I have? Is that my best chance of getting away with a mobo failure?

3. The drives are being recognized when I move sata ports, so the drives seem to be alive, just in RAID I guess.

In summary though, the C drive presents as a 2tb drive, and there are twin 2tb's installed. The D drive presents as a 1.5tb drive and there are triple 500's, so yeah, C seems like RAID 1 and D Raid 0 seems like the best guess. (I'm just about beyond my expertise even writing that sentence, but I've researched the RAID a while back, seeing that it was a risk.)

Yeah...call me confused...


EDIT Update: Looks like OS drives are Raid 1 (mirrored) and the triple 500gb are in RAID 5. Determined by some old notes I have.
 
If they were RAID 0, you are 99.9999999% out of luck. Identical motherboard or whatever.

If one or more of those was RAID 1, maybe.

And ignore what some clown on utube did. Unless he has your exact hardware, drives, RAID controllers, etc....

For future reference, a RAID array should never be run without a strong, tested, automatic backup solution.
A PC used for business ($$) should never be run without a strong, tested, automatic backup solution.
 


See update above
 
OK...the RAID 5 will/should survive the death of one drive.
The RAID 1 should survive the loss of one drive.

With the original hardware, if it still worked.

Will they work with different hardware? Unknown.
 
So, the deal is, I unplugged one of the OS drives and was switching sata ports. Nothing is working to get it to boot.

MY question is, CAN i build another PC mobo/processor/gpu and attach these drives without having to reload windows? I'd like to keep all my software, because that's what's going to be hardest to replace.

OR

Do I seek out an identical MOBO, then try to get this working with the intent of putting this on the backburner asap and building another?

Just trying to figure out how to proceed here. It definitely seems like a SATA driver/port is shot somehow. No beep from the Mobo seems like another indicator it's also bad. I'm just trying to figure a way out.

For now, I brought home an older former office employee PC I have and am going to try to boot one of the OS drives so I can access my documents and work from this HP pos for a short while. I NEEEED a solution asap though.
 


I ordered an identical mobo I found on ebay. It felt like the path of least resistance and I'm assuming I can switch it out and aside from the bios being reset, will allow me to reboot eliminate a sata driver/port as the issue. There are no beeps from the mobo, plus I can't get the two 6gb/s sata ports to recognize anything. It felt like the only viable option to get out of this easy.

Is replacing the mobo with an identical mobo straightforward? I replace the processor, all components, etc, put it in its place and power on? Do I have to go into the bios and configure everything properly then, such as telling the bios the drives are in raid or?
 


IF the motherboard was the actual problem, it might work. Yes, you'd probably have to set up the BIOS just like the old one was.
And this will also run into activation issues. A different motherboard will be seen as a new 'system'.
If it works, it will work long enough to recover the data to some other drive.
Then you can rebuild as desired.
 
Well, here is where I am.

I got an old office PC, pulled on the of the OS drives in RAID 0 and pulled the case off of this old ass HP office PC. I plugged it up and started that pc. I went into disk management and saw there was 1.8tb unallocated, no drive assigned, etc. Did some searching for why no partitions, and there was a myriad of reasons.

Evidence so far of issues is:

MOBO no beeps
2 gray 6gbs serial ports don't work at all
One of the OS drives shows no partitions

I searched on here, found a tool that can find lost partitions. I paid for a 39.00 license and it was able to recover some of the partitions (no boot partitions) and I assigned the drive a letter and was able to access all my data.

SO...I have my data, thank GOD.

Now the problem is...wtf to do now. My business is in MEGA limbo and I've got problems, like NOW. I need adobe illustrator, several software and client management softwares on this former PC. Seems to me, I'm best to do a quick build of some sort, but f**k...I'm screwed. I need to get those RAID 5's to work AND somehow recover this software. I've seen some PC transfer programs that apparently migrate software but no idea on that.

What I need to do in the immediate time frame...I think, is build a budget pc with the quickness. Something I can edit HD with, do graphic design and some functions, then plan a mega build for Q1 2018.
 
So, I put this together....think I am going to do a baby build here to get rolling again. I'll have to figure out how to get all my RAID 5's back online. Going to get another full case, so I have a lot of drive slots and a big mobo with a lot of sata ports. Here is what I have...

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mcwWFd
 
That build looks like it will do the job. But, I believe the Ryzen CPU comes with a Wraith CPU cooler, so I don't know why you are going with an aftermarket one. Also, did you see the compatibility note near the bottom of the page regarding an adapter for the CPU cooler to fit on that motherboard.

Glad you recovered all of your data! I would back it up in a couple of places right now before proceeding. As for the programs, I think you will have to re-install them once you assemble your new build and install Windows. Even if you could recover them off of the Raid 5 drives, unless you are good with registry editing, I don't think they would work. I am not an expert on Raid, in fact I avoid it like the plague based on one experience we had at the office some years ago. A good and faithfully followed backup plan is the way to go.
 
Ha...yeah, the cooler is not a necessity, just more of a lookie lou. I did check the notes, there is a brace for the AM4 socket, so it seems I'd have to buy the specific AM4 compatible version which I found on ebay for 69.00 shipped.

Good to know on the wraith cooler, wasn't aware of that.

Yeah, data is safe, the RAID 5's only were storage for all my media, so no programs exist on there. The programs are all on the OS drives that were in RAID 0. I have researched and it seems pretty complex to transfer programs for those reasons you point out. I was hoping maybe an online tool exists, but quite frankly, I need some update versions of the adobe suite anyway.

I feel like that build can get me along for a bit, and plus I have a little more room for RAM. Really want to go SSD for the OS, but I really need to keep it on budget for now. I got the big case to put in all 3 of my raid 5's, plus the one 2tb OS drive I recovered here, so I got a lot of slots. I can see a powerhouse MID or even Micro build in the future though.

Biggest thing that worries me at this point is building the PC and getting the raid 5's to work again. I've never swam in those waters, my friend did all that. I moved across the country though. I need to really do some how to's on windows 10, because I've felt attached to Win7. Trying to do some reading and get straight the fastest I can.
 
You're looking at two different things.
The data, and recreating the broken RAID 5 with all of the data and applications, etc.

The first you've apparently overcome.
The second is a FAR tougher nut to crack after the bad things happen.

IF you had a full backup of the RAID 5 from before it went south, it would be relatively easy.
Build a new PC, build and apply a new RAID 5, and apply that data in the RAID 5.

But trying to use those existing drives in the old config, in a whole different system....problematic.

 
The RAID 5 trio, by all indications isn't harmed. I only say that due to the fact that when I attempted to boot up the pc, the trio would show up and appear as normal.

When I build another PC, is it as simple as pluggin in the trio then setting into the bios that they are raided? Going to have to research this for sure. I thought the raid was setup in windows.
 
Well, after some reading now it appears my RAID 5 trio may be fine, but given the fact I don't know the RAID parameters, offset, sequence and all other factors makes me screwed. Why the hell did this guy take 2, 2tb drives raid them, then take 3 500gb drives and RAID those damn things...what a nightmare! I can see if I was running some huge server that could never be down, but as a small business, I fail to see how this RAID arrangement did anything but create a ticking timebomb.
 


A lot of people in the computer world overcomplicate things, simply because they can.
They start with a little bit of knowledge, and run with it. Not thinking about the long term maintenance.
 
I think you will enjoy your new build. Develop a good backup plan. I use Acronis True Image Home to make disk images of my OS drives on all of my pcs. I do my backups manually about once per month, because not much changes on the OS drives in my case. As for my most important data (ProTools audio session files), I back up to an external HDD right after each day's work. I also back up across my network to the secondary drive on my main computer. So the data exists in 3 places. At our office (small energy trading shop), we would back up the server to a secondary server nightly. Then once per week, we would back up the server to an external drive and I would take it home with me for safekeeping, returning the previous week's external HDD to the office the next Monday.
 
^ This is exactly the path I am heading here.

So...update is, I built my first PC and I am up and running. Only things left to do are get adobe suite back onboard, then finish the data recover portion, then initiate my new data management/backup deal. Per prior posts, I recovered my Raid 1 C drive that lost it's partitions somehow. I have recovered all that data. I now have a 500gb trio in Raid 5 and have lost the sequence (and my friend who built it has no offset data, etc). I am using a program to hopefully recover that raid array.

On the new build I have a 250gb solid state for OS/Programs with a 2tb D drive for storage. I intend to wipe my twin 2tb drives and put them back in a Raid 1 mirror as an E drive. This will be the first step backup to the D and will be mirrored with Raid. Nothing will go on there except media files/documents. I am then going to backup to an external and keep it offsite.

For now, I built the following on a budget of less than 1500.00.

NXZT Phantom 530 Full case
AMD ryzen 5 1600 6 core 3.2
MSI 370x carbon pro mobo
GSkill Trident Z 3200mhz 8x2
Samsung Evo 960 250gb SSD
Asus GeForce GTX1060 6gb dual
DeepCool Captain 120ex AIO
Lots of fans and tweaks to make it what I wanted (first build)

Carry Over from old PC:
Optical drive
2 2TB harddrives (if they test out ok)
PSU 1050w, non modular, but I tucked it nice


So far, I managed to build it and it works...lol. Got Windows 10 Pro on it, tested everything (USB's, audio ports, etc) and I am all good so far. I have OC'd the CPU to 3.4 so far and it's stable so far...dont' want to really push it for longevity. I OC'd the GPU a little also.

Cinebench so far is:

OpenGL rates at 94fps-96fps consistently (though I was able to get over 105 on one test)
CPU rates at 1106

CPUZ tests at:

CPU Single thread - 1756
CPU Multi Thread - 12351


Kind of went into all this blind and without any real experience. It's been a learning curve and lots of reading but...at least I'm not at the mercy of a former "helper" and have somewhat command over the situation. I'm going to do more testing, tweaking and loading of things. I'll update when I get to the RAID 5 situation.
 
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