Intel Matrix Storage Controller RAID5 randomly marks drives as failed

[idata]

I currently have 2 arrays, one is a RAID5 with 4 WD Green 2TB drives configured in a RAID5. The other array is a RAID0 with 2 WD 160GB raptors which holds the OS. The RAID5 keeps randomly marking anyone of the 4 drives as failed. I mark it as normal, then the RAID rebuilds, which takes forever. All works ok, then after one day or once it took 2 days, it happens again, and one of the drives gets tagged as failed, I mark it normal and the process repeats. This has happened to all 4 of the drives and it is driving me crazy. This is a brand new build, Windows 7 64bit, all drivers and updates are current. ver 8.9.0.1023 Looking for solutions.Thanks

[idata]

I fogot one thing, I also get the following error in the system event viewer,

Event 9, iaStor. The device, \Device\Ide\iaStor0, did not respond within the timeout period.

[idata · Accepted solution]

Hello there yes Intel can't work out (or say) what the problem is and so here's what you need to do...install Matrix Storage Manager version 8.8 which works fine in Windows 7 32/64 bit but not supported by Intel.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProductID=2101&DwnldID=17412

/thread/5036?start=0&tstart=0 http://communities.intel.com/thread/5036?start=0&tstart=0

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-030818.htm http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-030818.htm

[idata]

Hi PeterUK and thank you for your reply. I when through the thread you posted and it appears you had the exact problem I'm now experiencing and many others. I'm surprised the thread did not so when I did a search on this forum. I have downloaded the older 8.8 driver but I have a question. The RAID5 array is still rebuilding, I'm guessing I should wait until the rebuild is complete before I install and roll back to 8.8? Or can I go ahead and run the 8.8 installer and roll it back? Thank you for help.

[idata]

You don't have to wait and in the many times I went from 8.9 to 8.8 (both driver and manager) and back trying to work out what the problem was I did as it was rebuilding and rarely a BSOD happens but it didn't cause any problems when it did. The best thing to do after is to run a verification and repair.

[idata]

PeterUK you are the man! I have been wrestling with this fileserver for days and it is driving me nuts. Exact same problems except RAID 10. I will give this a try and see what happens. This has caused all kinds of issues and made this and last week a living hell. It has set back my work and caused me to order a 3 new hard drives that weren't needed.

Alternatively you could schedule a restart nightly. That allowed me to limp along for about a month. Kept the drives from failing and computer from freezing after iastor timeouts.

@Intel: This was a really bad experience. I'd love it if I could find this information before I plan a build, not after. I planned this build assuming the Intel RAID would work. I don't have $500 for a RAID card right now. I undertand MSM is free and all - I expected lower performance/reliability from MSM, but not at this level.

[idata]

Hi PeterUK,

I rolled back to the 8.8.0.1009 with no problem so far. Now I'm just waiting for the array to rebuild it says 241hrs, then hopefully no more problems.

Thanks again.

[idata]

Hello and thank you. I had the same problem this last summer, under vistax64. It was really painfull, and made me buy an other 2To hard drive to use a raid 10 solution, with a much more faster rebuild time, but the same issue.

At last, Windows Sevenx64 WITHOUT intels drivers solved my problems for months.

Last week, i tried to migrate my 4*2To Raid 10 to a 4*2To Raid5, so, i installed the 8.9 driver. During the two days migration, i had a error on a drive. I put the midration to the end, and after, run the rebuild procedure.

there's about 60 hours left for rebuildind, should'I change my driver first? Is it a good idea to wait the end of the reconstruction, and the to remove the intel driver after?

At last, even after a reboot, my raid disk is still recognised as a 4To one. I was hoping for a 6To one. Of course i looked in the "hard disk administration"'s window. (I'm not sure for this translation of the french "gestion des disques"). I hope that after the rebuild operation, there will have 6To avaible, so i wait.

I ask you, please, please, please, to answer my questions. I hope my "solution" : "no intel driver at all" will help someone. If you don't undestand my english, please, be kind and ask me to reformulate.

Best regards, Horzab.

[idata]

Thanks to you, PeterUK, i tried a new intel software, the 9.5 version. Rebuilding took 5 hours, instead à 83, and gave me a good hope in future.

Unfortunatly, two problems remain :

1- My 4*2To-Raid10 to 4*2To-Raid5 migration show me , as expected a 2To free space is show in the intel raid manager. I tried to expand the first raid drive to a 6To one, and get an error message. I have 4Go of free memory, and i log in with an administrator account, so, all the help solutions don't help. I reboot, same error. i create a new volume of 2To : It works. It works, but i don't want of it.

2- i had my first audio sluttering with my PC. ((on since 9 month), It's a troubleshooting know in this forum with the 9.5 version.

I'll try to change the version of intel matrix storage, if it work, I'll put the solution on this board.

If someone has a solution, i take it.

Thank you for your reading.

Horzab.

[idata]

once again, i'm back.

I tried 8.8,

once again, i'm back.

I tried 8.8, 9.4, with no result => impossible to extend my 4To disk to a 6To one. It's not the first subject of this post, so, I'm about to make a new subject. If you read this post, and have an idea, you still can answer

Thank you, hypothetical reader.

Best regards,

Horzab

9.4, with no result => impossible to extend my 4To disk to a 6To one. It's not the first subject of this post, so, I'm about to make a new subject. If you read this post, and have an idea, you still can answer

Thank you, hypothetical reader.

Best regards,

Horzab

[idata]

Yo,

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=15251&lang=fra http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=15251&lang=fra

Have a nice day

[idata]

Horzab: the audio stuttering is probably DPC Latency spikes, measurable with the free utility "dpclat". I had stuttering after installing 9.5.6, so I've dropped down to 9.5.4. Sadly, now I'm getting the "iastor0 did not respond within the timeout period" one-minute freezes a couple times a day. I am not happy, Intel! I am telling people bad things about MSM and RST, and I work in high tech!

[idata]

Hi,

I also got this random fail drive problem with Intel® Matrix Storage Manager version 8.9.

I read the article in this forum as well as this official note from Intel: http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-030818.htm http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-030818.htm, and it mentioned that I can either try 8.8 or Intel® Rapid Storage Technology version 9.5. However i cannot find any link in intel website that can download 9.5!

Some people suggestion to goggle it, but I would prefer to get it from the official site. It is amazing that the document from Intel mention about a software that doesn't exist on its own website.

Any one manage find a link from Intel? I am using Win7 64bit.

thanks!

Derek

[idata]

Not sure where you might find some official documentation on this but the "green" drives are generally not supported within RAID systems. The error correction that they employ can cause them to "hang" for long periods (30 sec?) and most RAID systems will mark this as a failed drive. I think you will find info on the drive maker's sites (Samsung, Seagate, WD). Not really an Intel issue.

[idata]

andleer,

It is an Intel issue, I rolled back to the older driver just like PeterUK suggested and bingo no more problems. I also received a reply from an email I sent to Intel support recommending that I also rollback the driver because it is a know issue. Also Intel has posted it in their knowledge base see the linkthat PeterUK put in his original reply to me. Roll back the driver, problem solved.

[idata]

Glad you were able to solve your issue.

[idata]

See below from Intel support:

Hello XXXX,

Thank you for contacting Intel Technical Support.

We have been receiving some reports about RAID failures when using Intel® Matrix Storage Manager version 8.9. Intel is currently working on trying to determine if this is hardware or software related problem.

Intel recommends using Intel® Matrix Storage Manager version 8.8, this software is available here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101 http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101

Please visit the following URL for additional product information http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-030818.htm http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-030818.htm

For your convenience, the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager offers Top Technical Issues and FAQs at this link:

http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/ http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/

Which includes the latest technical articles, FAQs, and support information for this product.

Sincerely,

Allan J.

Intel Technical Support

[idata]

Hi,

I have fixed my issue with downgrading my driver to 8.8. Reason I don't want to use 9.5 because it was 'for Intel Desktop Boards'.... And i saw some post in this forum mentioning they have other issues with it. So it sound like 8.8 is safer to go, even though it's not officially support yet.

thanks,

Derek

[idata]

I built my new PC 1/21 using a DX58SO, i7-920, 4GB RAM, Win7 Ultimate 32, and two 1TB WD Black drives. I started with newest BIOS, Chipset drivers, and 9.5 RAID drivers and set up up a RAID1 array. What a mess but after a month I am now stable. How my data survived is a miracle. I was plagued with with with the array constantly corrupting, rebuilding, and verifying with the drives constantly burning, churning, clicking, and clacking.

My issue was the drives. WD unwisely turned off TLER (time limited error recovery) support on newer Blacks, Blues, Greens and expected the end-user to know that only WD RE drives are suitable now in a RAID install. They are also nearly double in price and not a retail product.

I ditched the Blacks and dropped $320 for a pair of RE's. I also rolled back to a year-old BIOS and did a clean Win7 install and stayed with the Win7 in-box RAID driver. It appears Win7 will handle RAID on this board without the downloadable Intel F6 Floppy drivers or the downloadable Intel Win7 drivers. I loaded no current Intel Win7 BIOS, drivers, or utilities. I was finally stable.

Over the past two weeks I have slowly updated to latest BIOS, chipset drivers, and lastly, the 9.5 RAID drivers. Things appear to remain stable although I disabled the Intel RAID monitoring UI as it seemed to cause a lot of unnecessary drive activity.

In summary, my issues were WD TLER disabled drives and not the Intel 9.5 drivers. As my system was spiraling downhill it was more stable using the 8.8 drivers than the 9.5's but that was before the expensive WD RE's were installed.

I was pretty irked at WD but I wrote their CEO and they have been apologetic, sympathetic, generous, and quite helpful. They have renewed my shaken faith in them.

[idata]

All,

Question. I had the misfortune of installing the 8.9 drivers and experiencing the problems. NOW, I tried to install back to 8.8 and have a huge problem. The system will not POST past the ROM screen for the Matrix Raid Manager. It just sits at the display of the ROM headder information and never comes up with a list of drives or the screen.

I fear my hardware is hosed? I have gone back to previous BIOS revisions from the manuf, but no avail...

This is an enthusiast level board from ASUS (Rampage II Ext). The raid volume was a quartet of WD Raptors.

Anyone else ever experience the inability to get past POST? For the record, yes, I have cleared BIOS setups, down rev'd etc... Argh.

-R

[idata]

Hello rramondo ,

i'fear your in trouble. One apon a time, i updated the bios, and lose the "pseudo bios" raid configuration. I never achieve to get my data back... 😞

The strange part is that it occured first when you changed the driver. I did it 7 times, with no problems.

At last, I use the 9.5 version since 3 weeks, and is works perfectly. I didn't have this driver version when i flashed my bios, perhaps you should try it before building an new array?

Good luck

Horzab.