Question on setting up RAID 0 on Sager NP9262

[cablsurfin]

I recently purchased a second Seagate Momentus 7200.1 200gb drive in order to set up a RAID 0 with the existing identical drive.

I will give some background and hopefully someone will have an answer for me.

1) Installed second drive in primary bay along with existing drive also in primary bay
2) Enabled RAID in BIOS
3) Pressed CTRL-I when prompted in order to enter RAID config
4) Both drives detected and shown.
5) Selected Create RAID Volume
6) Chose RAID0, 128K Stripe and then Create Volume
7) Upon completion the status was "FAILED".0
8) Had to delete RAID Volume and went back to step 5 numerous times hoping for better results.

I also tried the above by choosing RAID1 (Mirroring) and got same results. Additionally, I swapped the drives around so that the drive in Port 0 was moved to Port 1 and vice versa also with same results.

Be advised that steps 1-6 above are in accordance with pages 7-3 thru 7-6 of the user manual provided.

It wasn't until I moved one of the drives from the primary bay to the secondary bay (under battery) that I was able to succesfully create the RAID 0 volume and install OS without issue.

My question is this..... Is it normal to only be able to create a RAID 0 or 1 with the drives in separate bays in order to keep them on different channels or could this possibly be a hardware problem with RAID controller. I doubt that this is normal behavior, however If this is normal would I still be able to add a second drive in the primary bay (total of 3 drives) to the RAID 0 or perhaps use it in a RAID 5 for parity.

ATTN Moderator: Please don't tell me to call Tech Support. I've spoken to XoticPC Tech Support who then forwarded me on to Sager Tech Support and neither could provide an answer. By the way, I'm waiting almost 24 hours for a call-back from a "Senior" Technician from Sager who I was assured was calling me back in 15 minutes.

Regards,
Nick

[[email protected]]

Unfortunately, You will need to contact our technical support via phone as this is the best way for technical help with this sort of problem. If you have not received a phone call back please contact our 24/7 Support back and inform them you didnt receive a call back and they will ensure you get a return call on this issue immediately. You can reach them at 1-877-645-9312
If other forums user/customers have ever experienced a similar problem like this please leave your feedback/input to help cablsurfin out

[jameslee]

as i read a little more carefully no you shouldnt have to have them in diff bays. mine are both in the same bay and i have a 3rd drive in the other bay just for backing up my programs. if it will only work in the 3rd bay then my guess would be the hardware or more likely the cable in the main bay. friend of mine went through that problem. he had a bad cable, but it was only an isue when he messed with the raid. also unlike exotic sager has a hard time calling people back. hope this helps some

[cablsurfin]

Thanks for the reply. I absolutely agree that they shouldn't have to be in separate bays.

I'm fortunate to have a co-worker who allowed me to utilize his identically configured NP9262 (which he purchased on my recomendation) for troubleshooting.

These are the results of my testing:

On my NP9262:

Drives in PORT 0 and 1 = Failure
Drives in PORT 0 and 2 = Failure
Drives in PORT 1 and 2 = Success

On his identically configured NP9262:

Drives in PORT 0 and 1 = Success
Drives in PORT 0 and 2 = Success
Drives in PORT 1 and 2 = Success

I also tested both mine and his SATA cable in order to eliminate that as a suspect.

This leaves me convinced that the problem is with the PORT 0 RAID Controller.

Now it's just a matter of convincing Sager.

Regards,
Nick

[jameslee]

well now that you have it figured out. there is no need to convince them. call them up and tell them what you want. :twisted: evidently they dont relize that an isue like this cant be fixed over the phone. im sorry to say but there tech is subpar for figuring out whats wrong. i have had two diff techs from there tell me straight out they just replace the parts they are told to replace. in your case it will require a new mobo. if it helps at all i know how you feel. i went through hell with hypersonic-pc awhile back. i knew the mobo was bad but they couldnt figure that out after sending it to them 3 times and them haveing it for 1 full month the 2nd time. :evil: