MSI P4m900m3l Manual

							A-3 VIA VT8237 SATA RAID IntroductionImportantBIOS Configuration
When the system powers on during the POST (Power-On Self Test) process, press
 key to enter the BIOS configuration.
The Serial ATA RAID volume may be configured using the VIA Tech. RAID BIOS. Always
use the arrow keys to navigate the main menu, use up and down arrow key to select
the each item and press  to call out the list of creation steps. The main interface
of BIOS configuration utility is as below:The BIOS Configuration pictures shown below is for your reference only,
and may vary from actual ones.Appendix VT8237RAID.p65  2006/9/15, 下午 02:143 
						

							MS-7255 Mainboard
A-4Important Create Disk Array
Use the up and down arrow keys to select the Create Array command and press
.
Select Array Mode  and press , a list of array modes will appear.  Highlight the
target array mode that you want to create, and press  to confirm the selection.
If RAID 1 is selected, an option list will popup and enable the users to select Create
and duplicate which allows BIOS copy the data from the source to the mirroring drive.The “Channel”, “Drive  Name”, “Mode” and “Size (GB)” in the following
example might be different from your system.Appendix VT8237RAID.p65  2006/9/15, 下午 02:144 
						

							A-5 VIA VT8237 SATA RAID Introduction
If user selects a RAID 0 array in step 2, the block size of the array can also be selected.
Use the arrow key to highlight Block Size and press , then select a block size
from the popup menu.  The block size can be 4KB to 64KB. After array mode is selected, there are two methods to create a disk array.  One
method is “Auto Setup” and the other one is “Select Disk Drives”.   Auto Setup
allows BIOS to select the disk drives and create arrays automatically, but it does  not
duplicate the mirroring drives even if the user selected Create and duplicate for
RAID 1.  It is recommended all disk drives are new ones when wanting to create an
array.  Select Disk Drives lets the user select the array drives by their requirements.
When using  Select Disk Drives, the channel column will be activated.   Highlight the
target drives that you want to  use and press  to select them.  After all drives
have been selected, press  to go back to the creation steps menu.Appendix VT8237RAID.p65  2006/9/15, 下午 02:145 
						

							MS-7255 Mainboard
A-6Important
Delete Disk Array
A RAID can be deleted after it has been created.  To delete a RAID, use the following
steps:
1.Select Delete Array in the main menu and press .  The channel column
will be activated.
2.Select the member of an array that is to be deleted and press .  A warning
message will show up, press Y to delete or press N to cancel.
Deleting a disk array will destroy all the data on the disk array except RAID 1
arrays.  When a RAID is deleted, the data on these two hard disk drives will be
reserved and become two normal disk drives.Even though 64KB is the recommended setting for most users, you
should choose the block size value which is best suited to your specific
RAID usage model.
4KB: For specialized usage models requiring 4KB blocks
8KB: For specialized usage models requiring 8KB blocks
16KB: Best for sequential transfers
32KB: Good for sequential transfers
64KB: Optimal setting
Use the arrow key to highlight Start Create Process and press .  A warning
message will appear, Press Y to finish the creation, or press N to cancel the creation.
Important note: All existing content in the hard drive will be destroyed after array
creation.Appendix VT8237RAID.p65  2006/9/15, 下午 02:146 
						

							A-7 VIA VT8237 SATA RAID Introduction
Create and Delete Spare Hard Drive
If a RAID 1 array is created and there are drives that do not belong to other arrays, the
one that has a capacity which is equal to or greater than the array capacity can  be
selected  as a spare drive  for the RAID 1 array.  Select Create/Delete Spare  and
press , the channel column will then be activated.  Select the drive that you
want to use as a spare drive and press , the selected drive will be marked as
Spare.  The spare drive cannot be accessed in an OS.
To delete a spare drive, highlight Create/Delete Spare and press .  The spare
drive will be highlighted, press  to delete the spare drive.View Serial Number of Hard Drive
Highlight Serial Number View and press .  Use arrow key to select a drive,
the selected drive’s serial number can be viewed in the last column.  The serial number
is assigned by the disk drive manufacturer.
Press the F1 key to show the array status on the lower screen.  If there are no disk
arrays then nothing will be displayed on the screen.Appendix VT8237RAID.p65  2006/9/15, 下午 02:147 
						

							MS-7255 Mainboard
A-8 Rebuild Broken RAID 1 Array
When booting up the system, BIOS will detect if any member disk drives of RAID has
failed or is absent.  If BIOS detects any disk drive failures or missing disk drives, the
status of the array will be marked as broken.
If BIOS detects a broken RAID 1 array but there is a spare hard drive available for
rebuilding the broken array, the spare hard drive will automatically become the mirroring
drive.  BIOS will show a main interface just like a duplicated RAID 1.  Selecting Continue
to boot enables the user to duplicate the array after booting into operating system.
If BIOS  detects a broken RAID  1 array but there is  no  spare  hard  drive available  for
rebuilding the array, BIOS will provide several operations to solve such problem.Duplicate Critical RAID 1 Array
When booting up the system, BIOS will detect if the RAID 1 array has any inconsisten-
cies between user data and backup data.  If BIOS detects any inconsistencies, the
status of the disk array will be marked as critical, and BIOS will prompt the user to
duplicate the RAID 1 in order to ensure the backup data consistency with the user data.
If user selects Continue to boot, it will enable duplicating the array after booting into
OS.Appendix VT8237RAID.p65  2006/9/15, 下午 02:148 
						

							A-9 VIA VT8237 SATA RAID Introduction
1.Power off and Check the Failed Drive:
This item turns off the computer and replaces the failed hard drive with a good one.
If your computer does not support APM, you must turn off your computer manually.
After replacing the hard drive, boot into BIOS and select Choose replacement
drive and rebuild to rebuild the broken array.
2.Destroy the Mirroring Relationship:
This item cancels the data mirroring relationship of the broken array.  For broken
RAID 1 arrays, the data on the surviving disk will remain after the destroy operation.
However, Destroy the Mirroring Relationship is not recommend because the
data on the remaining disk will be lost when the hard drive is used to create another
RAID 1 array.
3.Choose Replacement Drive and Rebuild:
This item enables users to select an already-connected hard drive to rebuild the
broken array.  After choosing a hard drive, the channel column will be activated.
Highlight the target hard drive and press , a warning message will appear.
Press Y to use that hard drive to rebuild, or press N to cancel.  Please note selecting
option Y will destroy all the data on the selected hard drive.
4.Continue to boot:
This item enables BIOS to skip the problem and continue booting into OS.Appendix VT8237RAID.p65  2006/9/15, 下午 02:149 
						

							MS-7255 Mainboard
A-10Install Driver in Windows OS
†New Windows OS (2000/XP/NT4) Installation
The following details the installation of the drivers while installing Windows  XP.
1.Start the installation:
-If your driver disk is damaged or  lost, make a new driver disk by copying
all the necessary files from the provided MSI CD: [ \IDE\VIA\Floppy ]
-Boot from the CD-ROM. Press F6 when the message Press F6 if  you need
to install third party SCSI or RAID driver appears.
2.When the Windows Setup window is generated, press S to specify an
Additional Device(s).
3.Insert the driver diskette VIA VT6420/VT8237 Disk Driver into drive A: and
press .
4.Depending on your operating system, choose VIA RAID Controller(Windows
XP), VIA RAID Controller(Windows 2000) or VIA RAID Controller
(Windows NT4) from the list that appears on the Setup screen, press the
 key.
5.Press  to continue with installation or if you need to specify any additional
devices to be installed, do so at this time.   Once all devices are specified, press
 to continue with installation.
6.From the Setup screen, press the  key. Setup will now load all device
files and then continue the Windows XP installation.  During the GUI portion of
the install you might be prompted to click Yes to install the RAID driver. Click Yes
as many times as needed in order to finish the installation. This will not be an
issue with a signed driver.
†Existing Windows XP Driver Installation
1.Insert the MSI CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2.The CD will auto-run and the setup screen will appear.
3.Under the Driver tab, click on VIA SATA RAID Drivers.
4.The drivers and VIA RAID Tool will be automatically installed.
†Confirming Windows XP Driver Installation
1.From Windows XP, open the Control Panel from My Computer followed by
the System icon.
2.Choose the Hardware tab, then click the Device Manager tab.
3.Click the + in front of the SCSI and RAID Controllers hardware type. The
driver VIA SATA RAID Controller should appear. Installing Operating System & DriversAppendix VT8237RAID.p65  2006/9/15, 下午 02:1410 
						

							A-11 VIA VT8237 SATA RAID Introduction
Once the installation is complete, go to Start ---> Programs --->VIA ---> RAID --->
raid_tool.exe to enable VIA RAID Tool.After the software is finished installation, it will automatically
start whenever Windows is initiated. You may double-click
on the          icon shown in the system tray of the tool bar to
launch the VIA RAID Tool utility.The main interface is divided into two windows and the toolbar above contain the main
functions. Click on these toolbar buttons to execute their specific functions.  The left
windowpane displays the controller and disk drives and the right windowpane displays
the details of the controller or disk drives.  The available features are as following:View by Controller
View Event log View by DevicesHelp TopicsUsing VIA RAID ToolAppendix VT8237RAID.p65  2006/9/15, 下午 02:1411 
						

							MS-7255 Mainboard
A-12Click on the plus (+) symbol next to Array 0---RAID 0 to see the details of each disk.Click on  or  button to determine the viewing type of left window pane. There are
two viewing types: By controllers and by device.  Click on the object in the left window
pane to display the status of the object in the right windowpane. The following screen
shows the status of Array 0---RAID 0. It means that VT8237 SATA RAID only has the feature of monitoring the status of RAID
0 or RAID 1.Appendix VT8237RAID.p65  2006/9/15, 下午 02:1412