Question

XP Pro Software RAID5 stops working, disk is detached and unusable until reboot

Asked by: esbjorn_larsen

I move a software RAID5 from one XP Pro machine to another.  The mount went fine but after a couple of hours the volume disappears after a number of error messages as seen in the event viewer.  The same RAID5 worked great on a 5 times slower machine for over a year with great results.  My upgrade should work even better.  The only difference between old PC and new PC, is that the PC was not a clean install.  It's been installed on and uninstalled on for years.  Basically, there shouldn't be a problem with the HDs.  The RAID5 is a XP software raid with 3x750GB, so total storate of the dynamic disk is 1.34TB.

Every time I get the errors, the volume eventually disappears but is fine after a reboot.  Of course, after each major error, it needs to regenerate the volume, which also takes hours. This is my file server and I can't have it rebooting every 3 hours.

Here are some of the error messages from the "System" folder in the Event Viewer.  They are in chronological order.  See at the bottom for the most interesting error messages such as "delayed write", "FT Orphaning","detaching RAID-5 Raid1".

I have been trying to troubleshoot this for weeks and its killing me.  Please help.

==========================
Regeneration completed on volume Raid1 M:
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The device, \Device\Scsi\inic16201, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The device, \Device\Scsi\inic16201, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The device, \Device\Scsi\inic16201, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The device, \Device\Scsi\inic16202, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The device, \Device\Scsi\inic16201, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The device, \Device\Scsi\inic16202, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The device, \Device\Scsi\inic16201, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The device, \Device\Scsi\inic16202, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The device, \Device\Scsi\inic16201, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The device, \Device\Scsi\inic16202, did not respond within the timeout period.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
dmio: Harddisk2 read error at block 430879807: status 0xc0000185
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
dmio: Harddisk3 read error at block 430879871: status 0xc0000185
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
dmio: Harddisk4 read error at block 430879871: status 0xc0000185
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
dmio: Harddisk2 read error at block 3080255: status 0xc0000185
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
dmio: Harddisk4 read error at block 3080255: status 0xc0000185
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
dmio: detaching RAID-5 Raid1
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The system failed to flush data to the transaction log. Corruption may occur.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
dmio: Disk Harddisk4 block 3080255 (mountpoint M:): Uncorrectable write error
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The system failed to flush data to the transaction log. Corruption may occur.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
Application popup: Windows - FT Orphaning : A disk that is part of a fault-tolerant volume can no longer be accessed.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
{Delayed Write Failed} Windows was unable to save all the data for the file . The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
{Delayed Write Failed} Windows was unable to save all the data for the file . The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
Application popup: Windows - Delayed Write Failed : Windows was unable to save all the data for the file M:\$Mft. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
Application popup: Windows - Delayed Write Failed : Windows was unable to save all the data for the file M:\FILE_SHARING. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================
The system failed to flush data to the transaction log. Corruption may occur.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp
==========================
The Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service service entered the stopped state.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
==========================

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Asked On
2007-06-11 at 23:01:08ID22627665
Tags

xp

,

raid

,

windows

Topics

NFS File Server

,

Hard Drives & Storage

,

File Servers

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
9

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Answers

 

by: leewPosted on 2007-06-11 at 23:32:46ID: 19264009

Really don't know what you're talking about - XP does not support Software RAID 5.  It supports Software RAID 0 and Disk Spanning, but not RAID 5.  I know there are hacks that supposedly allow RAID 5, but this site does not support hacks and I would further question the importance of the data stored on a software RAID 5 under XP when XP doesn't natively support it (It is not wise to trust your data to a hack).

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/sag_diskconcepts_18.mspx?mfr=true

If you have data on the drives, I would suggest trying RAID Reconstructor to rebuild the RAID on another drive (hardware RAID, given the size).

 

by: esbjorn_larsenPosted on 2007-06-12 at 01:42:36ID: 19264418

Look at this article: http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/19/using_windowsxp_to_make_raid_5_happen/index.html

At any rate, I've had this working perfectly for over a year on another machine and XP does support dynamic disks so I was hoping for some answers regarding the error messages to help me troubleshoot.  MInd me, several of my clients are actually using XP Pro software raid too.

If this question is out of the ordinary so be it.  I'll just take my questions elsewhere.

 

by: leewPosted on 2007-06-12 at 06:06:58ID: 19265720

I'm aware of that - my point is, THIS IS A HACK. Why would you trust your data to a HACK and not just spend $50 on a RAID controller?  The problem your having may well be because it's a hack.

The MICROSOFT answer is:
RAID-5 volumes are not available on Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional and cannot be mirrored or extended.  See the last paragraph of the link I posted earlier.

 

by: ScottChaPosted on 2007-06-15 at 08:49:05ID: 19292892

I agree with Leew.  Get a RAID controller and do this right.

Another benefit is that the controller will hand the RAID and leave the other duties to your system thus giving you overall better performance.

I did a quick search and found one that isn't too expensive

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=132242

Dont' trust your data to a hack.

 

by: esbjorn_larsenPosted on 2008-09-03 at 10:46:29ID: 22379715

I wanted to update this thread with accurate information.  Despite what everyone says, XP Pro and Vista Ultimate DOES provide software RAID if you make a couple of registry hacks.  The OS natively supports RAID but Microsoft officially do not support it because the prefer the 2003 server have that support as the 2003 OS offers more features for server workstations.

I got software RAID to work without a hitch after some research and I could not be happier with it.  However, recently I ended up upgrading my RAID configuration, so I bought the Fastrak TX4310 RAID controller, connected 4x750GB HDs in a RAID-5 configuration, with one hot spare.  No doubt, using a designated PCI RAID controller card works the best because Fastrak provides the software to setup a "hot spare" that kicks in automatically, if one of the other drives chokes up.  This is the one feature that made me get a designated RAID controller card, instead of using the "software RAID" solution.

To summarize, software RAID works great if you just modify your registry and download the DLL needed.  A simple Google search gets you what you need for this.  However, as everyone suggests, a RAID controller card is much easier and provides the "hot spare" option.

Cheers

 

by: leewPosted on 2008-09-03 at 11:15:49ID: 22380126

Simply put, this is a hack.  And I believe it violates the license agreement.  Experts Exchange does not support illegal hacks.  So I stand by my first comment as the answer.  And I stand by my statement that it is UNWISE to use non-supported configurations period, but especially if the system is important.

 

by: esbjorn_larsenPosted on 2008-09-03 at 11:37:25ID: 22380396

The "believe" is the key word.  Unless it is a confirmed fact that the "hack" violates the license agreement, we should stay away from terms such as "illegal hacks".  At any rate, you are correct that it is recommended to use a hardware RAID controller.  I confirmed that in my previous reply.  I agree with your comment and have awarded the points.

 

by: leewPosted on 2008-09-03 at 11:57:29ID: 22380657

I believe - but I'm not a lawyer - that part 5 of the EULA as found below is the part that would apply to what you've done.

http://download.microsoft.com/documents/useterms/Windows%20XP_Professional_English_9e8a2f82-c320-4301-869f-839a853868a1.pdf

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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