XP pro on RAID 0 raptors failure??

[lostplanet]

I have XP pro on 2X WD raptor 74's in RAID 0.
for some strange reason the pc locked up today and now i cannot get it to boot past the Nvidia Raid console. black screen and nothing
safe mode freezes.
i have cooled down the overclock so its running standard.

i am testing the drives with WD Lifeguard diagnostics now and have tried a repair install via XP but the option doesn't appear where it normally does.

also tried command prompt chkdsk /f but that wont execute. chkdsk says unrecoverable errors or sectors.

apart from the results from WDLGD is there anything else i can try to get My PC to boot to windows or repair the windows install?

thanks

[Cricket]

What did the WD diagnostic say about the drives? Any bad sectors?

If there are any bad sectors/clusters the only thing you can do is RMA the bad drive/s.

Cricket

[lostplanet]

1st drive extended test came back with no errors...testing other drive now

[lostplanet]

second drive will not execute the tests.. so im assuming this is a dead drive..anything else i can try?

the nvidia raid config shows a healthy array and both drives are there. when i go thru the XP setup it sounds like both drives are active...

[lostplanet]

i should mention that to day i was messing with my DVD drive(firmware upgrade) and without thinking i disconnected the drive(IDE) with the PC still running..it then locked up and i had no choice but to power off. im wondering if this has corrupted some data and it may not be a HDD dieing.. im not too worried about the lost data but the drive is expensive to replace seeing as it is OEM i dont think ill be able to RMA.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by lostplanet second drive will not execute the tests.. so im assuming this is a dead drive..anything else i can try?

You could try installing it in another computer just to see if that computer "sees" the drive. Maybe you could try zero-filling it and then see if you can partition and format it for use. If you can't do any of that, it's a goner.

Originally Posted by lostplanet the nvidia raid config shows a healthy array and both drives are there.

I think it's just detecting 2 hard drives connected properly to the correct RAID ports. It won't know if one drive has bad clusters or whatever.

Originally Posted by lostplanet when i go thru the XP setup it sounds like both drives are active...

The drives will spins even if there are bad clusters on the platters. The WD diagnostic will really tell you if something is wrong...and since it won't even run on that one Raptor, it's a goner. Contact Western Digital, tell them what happened and they'll give you a RMA number so you can return it to them for a replacement.

Cricket

[lostplanet]

OK thanks cricket, i have checked the warranty and both drives are valid for an RMA. so only my game data lost which isnt so bad.