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Showing posts with label RAID rebuild. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RAID rebuild. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

stop error 0xc000000e on RAID

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I got 3 drives on my PC, both connected to a Intel ICH9R. 2 are RAID-1 which is Vista C: system drive. 1 is a JBOD D: drive.
Strangely, when I unplug D: drive, system will fail to boot on winload fail, status 0xc00000e.
There is no page file on D: drive, but I can't remove it via Disk Manager.
However, from disk manager, D: drive is Disk 0: and C: drive is Disk 1:
I did a bcdedit to change all reference to C: disk, but no luck
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Note: Please ensure that the DVD-ROM is the first booting device.
1. Please insert the Windows Vista DVD and reboot the computer.
2. When we are prompted to press a key to boot from the DVD, please press Enter or the space bar.
3. Choose your language settings, and then click Next.
4. Click Repair your computer.
5. Select the operating system you want to repair, and then click Next.
6. On the System Recovery Options menu, click Startup Repair. Startup Repair might prompt you to make choices as it tries to fix the problem, and if necessary, it might restart your computer as it makes repairs.
En pos del eterno upgrade, parece que muchas veces se termina haciendo complejo lo que antes no lo era y funcionaba bien. Así como GRUB en  su última encarnación abandonó su simple configuración mediante un sencillo archivo de texto para pasar a ser un conjunto de complicados archivos con scripts, en el Windowverse atrás quedaron esas épocas en las que el menú de arranque se definía desde un minimalista archivo de texto llamado boot.ini. Desde Windows Vista en adelante toda la información de arranque se guarda en una carpeta llamada boot ubicada en la unidad del sistema, y la información de los sistemas a bootear, es decir, los datos que antes figuraban cargados en el boot.ini de Windows XP y anteriores,  ahora residen codificados en el archivo binario oculto bcd.log, al cual por ende no podemos modificar exitosamente con un simple editor de texto.
image
Pero lo que es peor de todo este nuevo esquema es lo caprichoso que es el nuevo Windows Boot Manager. Mientras que clonar un Windows pre-Vista era una tarea bastante directa y sin sobresaltos, cuando clonamos una unidad que contiene un Windows Vista, 2008 o 7 y luego deseamos arrancar desde tal casi seguro nos vamos a encontrar con el famoso error con status 0xc000000e, y en particular con uno de los mensajes correspondientes al mismo que aprendí a odiar: The Boot Selection failed because a required device is inaccesible (puede estar también en el idioma de nuestra instalación), el cual nos apunta confusamente a un problema de controladores, llegando incluso al descarado extremo de no encontrar nuestra instalación de Windows desde la sugerida opción de reparación del DVD de instalación.
Pero el problema es más simple de lo que el nuevo boot manager de Windows nos quiere hacer creer, y es que simplemente ya no sabe donde está la partición que debe bootear. Para repararlo debemos ingresar a la línea de comandos desde la mencionada opción de recuperación del DVD de Windows 7 o Vista, y utilizar la única herramienta autorizada a modificar la configuración de arranque, bcdedit. ¿Alguien dijo que es una forma más de MS para joder a los que tienen un Windows trucho? Puede ser, aunque ciertamente también jode a quien quiera hacer un upgrade de disco rígido en un equipo de marca de los que no traen el DVD original del SO sino una partición o DVD de recuperación.
Lo primero que debemos hacer, una vez que llegamos a la línea de comandos desde la opción de recuperación, es ingresar el comando bcdedit sin ningún parámetro y observar la salida. Una instalación de Windows 7 normal y sin problemas debería entregar una salida como la siguiente:
image
Dentro de esta serie de líneas, las que les debemos prestar especial atención en este caso son las que dicen device y osdevice. Como ven, en el caso del ejemplo existen tres ocurrencias en total de las mismas, y vemos como en el caso del Administrador de arranque de Windows apuntan a la partición identificada como C:, mientras que en el Cargador de arranque de Windows lo hace a la D:. Esta situación, en la que cuando entramos desde el Entorno de Recuperación de Windows (Windows RE) vemos dos particiones distintas mientras que cuando ingresamos desde el sistema operativo en sí vemos sólo una, es otra característica nueva que existe desde Windows Vista, pero que recién en Windows 7 se volvió el esquema de instalación por defecto en todo disco sin formatear. En las ediciones Bussines, Enterprise y Ultimate de estos sistemas es posible separar los archivos de arranque del sistema en una pequeña partición al inicio del disco, llamada justamente partición de arranque, separada de la principal donde se contiene al resto del SO, y que vista desde el administrador de unidades de Windows nos figurará comoreservada por el sistema. Este es un escenario que requiere el sistema de cifrado Bitlocker de Windows para funcionar, y que también es útil para incluir herramientas de recuperación como Windows RE y hacer un poco más difícil la infección del sistema por parte de ciertos tipos de malware que sólo están preparados para infectar la unidad del sistema principal. Además, este es el caso del ejemplo de la imagen; lo que hay que tener en cuenta es que para Windows 7 en particular a la partición de arranque no se le asigna una letra de unidad cuando el SO está en línea. Por lo que la partición D: que vemos desde el entorno de recuperación es en realidad nuestro disco C:, mientras que la de arranque figura como C: en este caso. Si no existe partición de arranque y todos los archivos del sistema residen en la misma partición principal, sólo deberíamos ver la letra correspondiente a la misma en todos los casos.
Ahora bien, ¿que es lo que pasa en esta configuración de arranque cuando obtenemos el status code 0xc000000e y nos dice que “el arranque falló porque un dispositivo requerido es inaccesible”? Normalmente veremos que en las variables device y osdevice habrá un valor identificado como unknown, lo que equivale a decir que el administrador de arranqué de Windows olvidó donde estaba la partición que debía arrancar. Para solucionarlo primero debemos saber cuáles son las letras asignadas a nuestras particiones de arranque y/o de sistema desde el entorno de recuperación, lo cual lo podemos hacer invocando al Bloc de Notas, para lo cual tecleamos notepad desde la línea de comandos de Windows RE y luego elegimos la opción Guardar; desde ahí podemos ver todas las unidades del sistema y cuáles son las letras que les fueron asignadas. Luego debemos tener en cuenta que en el Administrador de arranque de Windows deberá ir la letra de la partición de arranque, mientras que en el Cargador de arranque de Windows la del sistema, y en caso de existir sólo la última, por supuesto, la misma en todos los casos.
Estos valores debemos corregirlos ingresándolos a través de la herramienta bcdedit, de la siguiente forma:
bcdedit /set {identificador-del-SO} device partition=X:
En el ejemplo de la imagen vemos que el identificador de nuestro Windows 7 es bootmgr para la partición de arranque, y como ya sabemos que la misma está identificada como C: desde el entorno de recuperación, deberíamos ingresar:
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=C:
Siguiendo con el ejemplo, para luego corregir los valores del Cargador de arranque de Windows deberemos ingresar:
bcdedit /set {default} device partition=D:
bcdedit /set {default} osdevice partition=D:
Hecho esto sólo resta reiniciar y observar si el sistema levanta como corresponde.
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I have gone through replacing a System Reserved partition. This assumes a normal install and no other partition modifications have been madeIt will not work on a UEFI install......If you choose not to replace the System Reserved partition, which is probably the best choice, you can make the OS partition active and do the Startup Repair, and it may take several times (2 or 3) to make it work correctly, and running Startup Repair 3 times will repair the Recovery F8 options capability.

But if you want to replace the System Reserved Partition, you can only have 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions and one Extended partition in Windows 7. So, if you already have those, you will not be able to add another. Any questions, ask before you start.

In Diskpart, you can use the first 3 letters instead of typing out the entire word. For instance, par can be used instead of partition

A command window can be opened from the Select Language page of the Install/Repair. Hit Shift+F10 to open the window and type Diskpart.

With Diskpart open type the following:

list disk

select disk 0
 < this will depend on which disk is your boot disk from above.

lis par

Sel par 1
 < this will probably be your OS partition if you deleted the System Reserved partition, but make sure.

detail par

Now look at the results. If the partition is active, it will indicate it as such here. (Active: Yes)

If you do not want to recreate the System reserved partition, you can make the partition active by:

active <** See Info below

Then check it again to make sure.

exit
exit


to close the Command window and continue with the repair.

**If you want to replace the System Reserved partition, then do not set the other partition as active. Instead follow these instructions to replace the partition and set it to active, then continue with the repair, and it will take 2 or 3 repair attempts with reboots between.

Note: this procedure worked fine on my system, but replacing a partition might lead to the loss of the OS partition if it was mistakenly overwritten, this is why I do not give the new partition a size.

With Diskpart already open, and using the results from the partition listing above (number and type), enter the following.

create par primary offset=1024

If your drive had no space unallocated, except for the deleted System Reserved Partition, you would not need the Offset. But without the offset, the partition will be put in unallocated space behind the other partitions.

format fs=ntfs label="System Reserved" quick

Active


You can now check the partitions again if you like, but note the partition for the Reserved partition may not show as Partition 1, so don't worry.

When you are ready, type exit twice to leave the command prompt and continue with the repair.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

nVidia RAID 1 degraded

nvidia.com/object/feature_raid
Technical Brief: MediaShield Storage Technology
IONITX
http://www.nvidia.es/object/nforce_vista_win7_64bit_ion_15.51_es.html
Windows Vista/Win7 64-bit Versiones del controlador:
  • Controlador de Ethernet (v73.14+) "WHQL"
  • Herramientas de administración de red (v73.16) "Sedona"
  • Controlador de WinXP IDE SataIDE (v10.3.0.33) "WHQL"
  • Controlador de WinXP IDE SataRAID (v10.3.0.33) "WHQL"
  • Aplicación WinXP RAIDTOOL (v10.3.0.30)
  • SMU Driver (v1.71) "WHQL"
  • SMBus Driver (v4.74) "WHQL"
  • Programa de instalación (v7.57)
  • Controlador de Audio (v1.00.00.59)
es.download.nvidia.com/Windows/nForce/15.51/15.51_nforce_ion_winvista_win7_64bit_whql.exe
BACKUP YOUR DATA FIRST!
Source


The error you are describing means that your RAID array is broken. You probably have a failed hard drive or hard drive cable or hard drive controller. None of these things may have happened but the RAID array may have broken by itself. What you need to do is to rebuild the array. If it successfully rebuilds and you can run a scandisk without errors then you know that your hardware is fine. If not then you will have to replace the faulty component. ie hard drive, hard drive cable or hard drive controller. The hard drive controller in this case is built into the motherboard so if it is faulty you either replace the motherboard, get yourself another RAID adapter or dispense with RAID completely.
I suggest you follow my directions above on rebuilding your array through Windows as it automatically tells you which drive has failed. ie The one on the bottom of the Window.
The other way to rebuild the array is by entering the RAID boot utility, deleting the faulty array, adding it to the functioning array and then rebuilding the array. If you choose this option you have to be careful as you will not be stopped from deleting the good array. 
Before going ahead with either option you must ensure that you have backed up your data to external media such as DVD or CD. This way you protect yourself from everything going wrong. Be sure to test your backup.
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There are two ways to rebuild the nVidia raid; 
1) Using the nVidia raid utility before Windows boots by pressing F10 
2) Using the nVidia NVraid utility in Windows. 
I was using the nVidia raid utility before Windows boots up until recently as I was confident in its results. The NVraid utility didn't seem to work. Now I use the NVraid utility within Windows because I discovered how to make it work and it is easier! 
I have two metal removable drive bays in each server with a SATA 72GB Western Digital Raptor in each. SATA permits these drives to be hot pluggable while the Raptor drives are the fastest SATA drives around. 
Lets label them bay 0 and 1. Before I do an update I remove one of the drives. This has the same effect on the pc as though one of the drives have failed. I apply the update. If the update is successful I then remirror the removed drive by using the following steps. If not then I reboot to the drive that I removed. 
1) Slide the drive back into its bay. 
2) Open nVidia NVraid raid manager utility. 
3) The utility will show two hard drives, one above the other and with a heading 'Mirroring' above each. Left-click on the 'Mirroring' heading above the lower drive.
4) In the left pane under the 'System tasks' heading left-click on 'Delete Array'. 

5) In the wizard that opens click next and then finish. You have now deleted the array from the backup drive as it was at the time you removed it. 
6) You will now have to wait a minute or two while the utility frees up the lower drive. When it is done the heading above the lower disk will read 'Free disk' 
7) Now left-click on the 'Mirroring' heading above the upper disk. 
8) Click on the 'Rebuild array' option in the system tasks pane to the left. 
9) In the wizard that appears click next. 
10) Click on the drive shown so that the next button becomes available and then click on that next button. 
11) Click finish and now your mirrored array will begin rebuilding. To check on its progress simply click on the 'Mirroring' heading and you will be shown how much of the rebuilding has been completed. 
I've got an ASUS A8N-VM-CMS Micro ATX motherboard with RAID 1 activated on 2 Maxtor SATA2 160Go hard disks drives. 
After a brutal shutdown, my array goes degraded. 
- Going into the Nvidia RAID bios utility by pressing F10 doesn't allow me to rebuild the array typing the R key do nothing (like you)
- Going under Windows and launching the Nvidia MediaShield utility doesn't allow me to rebuild the array ()
Then
- Switch off the computer
- Open the computer
- Unplug the sata/ide cable from 1 of your 2 drives
- Reboot the computer
- Shutdown the computer and switch off
- Re-plug your sata/ide drive
- Press F10 on boot to go into the RAID bios utility and select R to rebuild, press F7 to confirm.
- Windows is now starting, and if you launch the Nvidia mediashield utility you will see that the rebuilding process is in progress.

PS : During this, i had to redefine the boot disk, bios config was lost, but don't know why.
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RAID degraded
http://www.zotacusa.com/forum/topic/3790-zotac-nvidia-raid-1-degraded/

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

RAID degraded

HDDs, Optical Drives and RAID
HDDs, Optical Drives and RAID
degraded RAID 1
Remember that a 2TB drive will give about 1.6TB of usable space after formatting.
This article explains how to setup a RAID 1.
Windows XP recovery console /p c:" 
For everything since, its "chkdsk /f  C:"
The problem can be two fold:
1. the meta data (sits in a hidden area on the drive) has been removed that identifies it as a member of that raid.
2. possibly some data has been erased off the drive.
In the first case, a raid recovery application will be able to recover the data, in the second case, its going to be a lot more work and you will likely have lost a lot of data.
You can look around for some software to do the recovery (like http://www.diskinternals.com/raid-recovery/ although I am sure there are others, thats the only one I have played with) or you could send it off to professionals to recover (like Seagate or http://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com/ not used the second one, but have heard some good stories about them) they are not cheap, but if you need your data and don't mind paying, they will get it. 

NVraid takes forever to rebuild, would be much faster to put in the 2 new drives, use something like acronis to duplicate the raid (don't resize it, better to do that in windows sevens drive manager).
To do the rebuild in the BIOS utility you'd probably have to delete the old array and redefine it - watch you don't use the "delete data" which will overwrite the MBR and render your disk empty; to recover from that BTW it's useful to have a floppy with BootitNG (www.bootitng.com) on it to undelete the MBR info. The nVidia BIOS utility is kinda dumb compared with, e.g. Promise' stuff, but if anything is wrong with an array's specs, i.e. it's "broken", you just have to start as if from scratch.
For the Windows software utility, it would surprise me if Gigabyte had deleted it from the nVidia driver pack - it is most definitely in there. At worst, you can DL the same driver set on the Gigabyte CD from nVidia's Archive site, unzip it manually with Winzip and look for the "raidtool" folder, under ...IDE\WinXP\ and copy it to your hard disk. I've seen no way to "install" the software - just run it from the folder; I think it's also necessary to run the .BAT file in the folder first to register the Wizard as a service... at least that worked for me. Then just run NvRaidMan.exe and you'll see how to proceed with a rebuild... which is BLOODY slow: about 12GB/hour and no tuning
Set the drive up without raid turned on, run the seagate Tools tests over it, if it gives you an error number write it down, if it finds bad sectors tell it to repair them (sometimes a lot of times), then if it passes test, its ok, if it still fails, check it for warranty 

Topic has attachmentsRecovering from degraded raid 1
Failed Motherboard with raid1. How move to new Motherboard?
RAID 1 problems
Rather than a 3 drive raid5 (slow under NV raid) why not have a 2 drive stripe (for the speed) and use the 3rd drive externally as a backup? (windows backup works great for this btw)
forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=177090
You probably forgot to break the RAID before you tried to install Win7 onto the single WD hdd.
Do the following:
  1. Boot into the RAID Utility (where you set the RAID array).
  2. Break the RAID into 2 single non-RAID hdd's.
  3. Enter the BIOS and set the SATA Controllers to "IDE Mode".
  4. Shut down the PC and remove the old hdd.
  5. Boot into the mainboard BIOS and make sure,
    1. that the DVD-ROM is the first and the HDD the secod bootable device and
    2. that the WD HDD is on top of the "HARD DISK BOOT PRIORITY" settings.
  6. After having done that, you can boot off the Win7 DVD and install the OS onto your WD HDD.