sbrown02
08-23-2008, 11:41 AM
First off sorry for the long post. Something strange is going on with my PC. My specs are as follows:
- 2.4Ghz P4 with 1GB RAM
- Windows XP SP2 (version 2002)
- Asus P4P800 Deluxe MOBO with VIA v1.2 RAID driver
- System restore is currently turned OFF
The Problem/Odd behavior:
With XP system restore turned off, when I disconnect an external HD that I use to backup my PC, XP seems to load at a restore point a couple of days ago. I know this to be the case because a couple of days ago I had logged in under my wife's Username and cleaned up a lot of stuff she had on her desktop which included installing a bunch of fonts that she uses for her work. After I backed up the PC, I unplugged the drive but the next time we logged in under her username, the PC went back in time (like a day) before I made all these changes. When I plug the HD back in and reboot, everything goes back to normal (after I made the changes). I have System Restore turned off so I'm baffled as to what's going on. Below is the exact sequence of events that led up to the behavior as well as a couple of other questions. I appreciate any assistance that can be provided.
Sequence of events:
- Previous to the problem occurring I had two HD's setup in a Raid 1 (mirrored) array and I also had XP System restore turned ON. I was experiencing boot errors leading me to believe one or both of the HD's was failing so I purchased the SpinRite software recommended by GLC (thank you!). I had to tear down the Raid 1 setup in order to do a pass on the two HD's, which I did. SpinRite did its thing, found lots countless errors but appeared to fix them.
- At this point I went back into the the VIA Raid setup utility (accessed during the boot sequence just before loading XP) to reestablish the Raid 1 setup, but it said if I proceeded it was going to erase both HD's. So I decided a backup of my boot drive was in order before I recreated the Raid 1 setup.
- Before doing the backup my wife asked me to clean-up her PC and install a large number of font files. I took care of all this, then plugged the external HD (which the last time I did a backup was a couple of months ago) in and proceeded to do a backup. Again, XP system restore was ON during all of this, but the Raid 1 setup was not functioning.
- After the backup I unplugged the external drive and my wife used the PC the rest of the day no problem.
- But the next day with the external HD disconnected, we booted XP and logged into my wife's userID but the PC went back to the state it was in before I made all the changes. I rebooted a couple of times but still the same thing. So I plugged the external HD back in and viola, the PC booted with all the post backup changes in tact. At this point I thought maybe XP system restore had gone haywire so I turned it off. I rebooted with the drive plugged in, then unplugged the drive and let my wife use the PC all day. I just assumed turning off XP system restore would fix the problem but it didn't. The next day with the external HD unplugged it booted again to the old setup.
- Just as I write this I'm now wondering if the 2nd drive that was in the Raid 1 array is somehow booting as the C drive when my external HD is disconnected, but when the external HD is connected the 1st drive in my Raid 1 array is booting and it has all my updates on it.
QUESTIONS:
1) Does that sound plausible and if so, any suggestion on resolving the conflict?
2) One last question, as I said earlier my mobo came with RAID v1.2 driver that when I boot the MOBO I can go into the setup utility to create the Raid 1 array. In this utility it tells me that creating the Raid 1 array will erase both drives,which I'd rather not do unless I absolutely have to. However, when I boot XP, I have see a VIA RAID tool v2.10 that loads in windows and appears as an icon down in the bottom right area of the screen. When I go into that tool and tell it to create a Raid 1 array, it acts like it will create the Raid 1 array using a drive that I specify as the primary and therefore won't erase both drives. My question is, what's the difference between these two VIA raid tools (one in the MOBO bios and the other loaded in XP) and does it matter which one I use?
Thanks
Steven
- 2.4Ghz P4 with 1GB RAM
- Windows XP SP2 (version 2002)
- Asus P4P800 Deluxe MOBO with VIA v1.2 RAID driver
- System restore is currently turned OFF
The Problem/Odd behavior:
With XP system restore turned off, when I disconnect an external HD that I use to backup my PC, XP seems to load at a restore point a couple of days ago. I know this to be the case because a couple of days ago I had logged in under my wife's Username and cleaned up a lot of stuff she had on her desktop which included installing a bunch of fonts that she uses for her work. After I backed up the PC, I unplugged the drive but the next time we logged in under her username, the PC went back in time (like a day) before I made all these changes. When I plug the HD back in and reboot, everything goes back to normal (after I made the changes). I have System Restore turned off so I'm baffled as to what's going on. Below is the exact sequence of events that led up to the behavior as well as a couple of other questions. I appreciate any assistance that can be provided.
Sequence of events:
- Previous to the problem occurring I had two HD's setup in a Raid 1 (mirrored) array and I also had XP System restore turned ON. I was experiencing boot errors leading me to believe one or both of the HD's was failing so I purchased the SpinRite software recommended by GLC (thank you!). I had to tear down the Raid 1 setup in order to do a pass on the two HD's, which I did. SpinRite did its thing, found lots countless errors but appeared to fix them.
- At this point I went back into the the VIA Raid setup utility (accessed during the boot sequence just before loading XP) to reestablish the Raid 1 setup, but it said if I proceeded it was going to erase both HD's. So I decided a backup of my boot drive was in order before I recreated the Raid 1 setup.
- Before doing the backup my wife asked me to clean-up her PC and install a large number of font files. I took care of all this, then plugged the external HD (which the last time I did a backup was a couple of months ago) in and proceeded to do a backup. Again, XP system restore was ON during all of this, but the Raid 1 setup was not functioning.
- After the backup I unplugged the external drive and my wife used the PC the rest of the day no problem.
- But the next day with the external HD disconnected, we booted XP and logged into my wife's userID but the PC went back to the state it was in before I made all the changes. I rebooted a couple of times but still the same thing. So I plugged the external HD back in and viola, the PC booted with all the post backup changes in tact. At this point I thought maybe XP system restore had gone haywire so I turned it off. I rebooted with the drive plugged in, then unplugged the drive and let my wife use the PC all day. I just assumed turning off XP system restore would fix the problem but it didn't. The next day with the external HD unplugged it booted again to the old setup.
- Just as I write this I'm now wondering if the 2nd drive that was in the Raid 1 array is somehow booting as the C drive when my external HD is disconnected, but when the external HD is connected the 1st drive in my Raid 1 array is booting and it has all my updates on it.
QUESTIONS:
1) Does that sound plausible and if so, any suggestion on resolving the conflict?
2) One last question, as I said earlier my mobo came with RAID v1.2 driver that when I boot the MOBO I can go into the setup utility to create the Raid 1 array. In this utility it tells me that creating the Raid 1 array will erase both drives,which I'd rather not do unless I absolutely have to. However, when I boot XP, I have see a VIA RAID tool v2.10 that loads in windows and appears as an icon down in the bottom right area of the screen. When I go into that tool and tell it to create a Raid 1 array, it acts like it will create the Raid 1 array using a drive that I specify as the primary and therefore won't erase both drives. My question is, what's the difference between these two VIA raid tools (one in the MOBO bios and the other loaded in XP) and does it matter which one I use?
Thanks
Steven