Intermittent RAID problem at BIOS level

[mven]

Setup:
EVGA 780i FTW
(2) WD Raptors 150gb (RAID1)

I'm experiencing an issue when I boot up my desktop, about 50% of the time, the BIOS will not detect my RAID setup. Once this occurs, the only way the BIOS will detect them again is if I unplug the SATA cable from the hard drive and plug it back in. After that, the BIOS detects the RAID again.

Also, there have been times where I'm in Windows playing a game or working and the computer will freeze/lockup. When I hard reset it, the BIOS tells me that the RAID can't be detected. My solution for this again is to unplug the SATA cable, plug it back in, then reboot.

Has anyone had this problem and perhaps a solution? I've reset the BIOS to defaults and I've upgraded my BIOS provided by EVGA's support page. I'm at a loss.

 

[Pinhedd]

I've had some similar problems with two of my own RaptorX 150s, they're old and keep falling out of RAID. I didn't have any problems with them when I ran them on the 780i SLI FTW (same board you have) but that was 5-6 years ago. Unfortunately the NVidia chipsets weren't well manufactured and are prone to component failure. Simiarly, those Raptors are getting old. If they're freezing up in Windows they could also be about to bite the dust.

The first thing you should do is get Crystal Disk Info so that you can read the drive health. Drive health will only report platter health, it won't report problems with the controllers themselves so even a 'good' or 'healthy' drive can fail imminently.

Second, Consider buying a new LGA775 motherboard if you can find a good one on the cheap. NVidia got out of the chipset business for a reason, they sucked at it. If you can find an Asus P5Q series motherboard for an affordable price you should be able to transfer all your components over. If you are running SLI you may be able to enable it via a hack.

 

[mven]

Good info. Yes, this box is somewhat old as it was a hand-me-down from a close friend. IIRC he was also describing the same problem I was having after I refreshed his memory about it. I'm wondering if I switch to just a single SSD, would I have the same problem...

 

[Pinhedd]

Good info. Yes, this box is somewhat old as it was a hand-me-down from a close friend. IIRC he was also describing the same problem I was having after I refreshed his memory about it. I'm wondering if I switch to just a single SSD, would I have the same problem...

You won't be able to use an SSD effectively on that motherboard due to the complete lack of AHCI support. It will work, but it will not be able to perform some of its maintenance or garbage collection duties and you will not be able to update the firmware or monitor certain aspects of the drive's health

 

[mven]

Best answer selected by mven.

 

[mven]

Well it might be that time to dust off the newegg link, build myself a new rig and gladly slide into debt

Thanks for the help.

 

[Pinhedd]

Well it might be that time to dust off the newegg link, build myself a new rig and gladly slide into debt

Thanks for the help.

sounds like a good plan. WIth a board that old you must've got some good use out of it. You know where to post if you need help!