System Start - Error Message, RAID 0 volume Error Occurred.

hey guys, I just reinstalled windows on my Alienware, now running two Samsung 840 SSD´s in Raid 0.
However when I boot up my system I get an error message RAID 0 volume 2 An Error occurred.
The Status for Volume 1 is however NORMAL.

Is this anything I should be concerned about?

Cheers


Chrusti

 

Well I don't know how this will work with the M18x and SSD, but when I got that error the first time in my M17 R1 it last around a month until an OS not found error appeared and one of my HDD died.

 

Its not the HDD/SSD, its the iterposer drive flex cable thats not 100% perfect, you just need a replacement of the cable, I have went trough 4 m18xR2's and 3 of 4 had this same issue, all brand new m18XR2's and just one happened to work perfect with exactly same SSD's in RAID0 so stop looking any further and give dell a ring!

 

It can actually be a few different things. The SATA interposer is definitely a possibility. Those have been known to have issues. They don't normally go bad over time, though. It is usually a new one that is defective and causing problems from the start. If it has been working great until now and you have done nothing to disturb it, that might not be the cause. A failing drive is absolutely a possibility, and so is messed up firmware. My OCZ Agility 3 RAID0 volume started giving me the same error message on one of the SSD and sometimes it would fail to boot. After a few attempts it would succeed and things would be normal for a day or so. This was happening frequently and I was sure the SSD was failing. OCZ Agility 3 does not have a great reliability track record. Out of curiosity, I checked for a firmware update and found a newer version available. I flashed my Agility 3 SSDs and the problem has never happened again. That was about 3 or 4 months ago. Multiple drive tests show the drives are healthy and error-free. The first time I experienced that problem my system shut down during benching because the AC adapter internal circuit breaker tripped. I am guessing that did something that triggered an issue that the firmware flash fixed. It is possible flashing the same firmware version might have straightened it out.

Did you reinstall Windows in an effort to fix this problem, or did you do it for other reasons? If the problem started immediately and coincidentally to the Windows reinstallation, that could also be a clue. Maybe there is an issue with RST or something unusual like that. Did you delete the existing RAID0 volume, create a new RAID0 membership and start off with a clean slate?

 

Hey Mr fox thanks for the answer. Well I have been using this Raid 0 system now for about two weeks and the error message is still there.
However the whole system is stable and crashes do usually not occur.
When I set up the Raid 0 I did a clean windows 7 installation.
One of the Samsung SSDs has a new firmware and the other one does have the factory firmware on it.
I can only assume that this might be the reason for the error message. I also don't think I got a faulty drive flex cable since ATTO runs fine on the system and gives me the following scores (see attached file).
All I can do right now is to hope that things will just keep working and this error message is merely some minor bios warning lol.

 

Make sure to flash both drives with the latest firmware (so that both have the same) and see if that helps any.

 

Yeah, that's the 1st thing to do... Can you expand the arrays on the Intel RAID OROM? To see which array it is referring to? Did you delete the array the 1st time you had it before doing the SSD's upgrade?

 

Hey guys thanks for the posts. Well unfortunately I can not update the firmware on the second SSD since the Samsung magician software does not recognize Raid 0 systems.
Also, I am not quite sure what you mean with extpanding the arrays on the intel raid orom, could you elaborate on this?

 

If you can use Magician in bootable DOS mode, change the BIOS to AHCI and boot Magician, flash the new firmware in DOS mode, then change the BIOS back to RAID. That should work flawlessly and it will not hurt your Windows installation. I did this with Crucial M4 SSD more than once.

Check the firmware release notes to confirm it is not a destructive flash. If it is a destructive flash (not very likely, but possible,) create a drive image and simply restore it after the flashing procedure and you'll be good to go.

 

Hi,
I hope you don't mind me asking this but how do I boot in DOS Mode?
I downloaded Usbdos but still I am not quite sure where I am supposed to put the magician software and how I will actually start it once I am in DOS?
I tried finding more information about how to update the firmware within DOS but it seems like most people just don't bother messing with it.

 

Samsung should provide instructions how to do that, if they provide that functionality. You will need to confirm they have a DOS version available. You may be able to use a USB flash memory (thumb drive) or bootable CD/DVD. USB is much easier. The firmware may even create the bootable media for you. It varies by manufacturer, and I have no experience with Samsung.

During POST you press F12 and select the USB device (or ODD) as the boot drive.

To set up a bootable DOS USB stick, I like using Unetbootin. [ Download]

This works great for GPU vBIOS flashing as well. Download Unetbootin to your desktop or alternate location (see link above).

Create a bootable USB thumb drive using Unetbootin as follows:

- Launch Unetbootin
- Choose the FreeDOS distribution from the top menu
- Select the USB flash drive from the bottom menu
- Click "OK" and when the process completes (less than a minute) the drive is bootable
- The USB drive is now ready to receive the files needed for the firmware update

 

You may need another SATA cable.

 

Yes, he may need one. But his SSD do not having matching firmware. He is trying to correct that situation.

 

So this wont work without another Sata Cable right? Well as I am in China right now I will have to ask my girlfriend if she can order me one on taobao.
As for the firmware update I certainly hope that I wont make things worse since I am gonna have to disable the raid to do the update.

 

If you don't make any changes other than set AHCI, flash the SSD firmware, then switch back to RAID, nothing should be harmed. Doing that doesn't alter data on the drives. I have done this more than once with Crucial M4 SSD. Just confirm from release notes that the firmware flash is not a destructive one (meaning it would wipe your drives).