The funny thing is that it works perfectly until I load iTunes. Still works fine but very now and then a tool tip pops up in the system tray saying that there is an Array fault. It’s a complete lie just iTunes doing something daft.

Why they haven’t worked out how to write a decent bit of software by now I’ll never know !

i have one of those sony hd-video-machines (viao rm1n) with vista32 and raid0.

itunes crashed, quicktime crashed, sony vegas didn’t start at all (on a sony computer!!)

after days i found this website, did the update to the current intel matrix storage manager 7.8xx and enabled the “volume write-back cache”

… and now everything is working..:)

even with quicktime.

thanks!!!

Cheers for the added notes and glad we helped out.

After 6 months of seeing the error message, “A RAID volume is failing…” pop up when I started my Vista 32-bit HP system, which resulted from attempts to play downloaded TV show files in iTunes, my problem is fixed! I’m able to play video in iTunes. It’s kindof a miracle, or feels like one, to be honest.

I was close to either doing a system restore back to factory settings or having to replace my hard drives, and now I don’t have to do any of that garbage!

Chris, your blog rules, and Wolfarelli, your suggestion to download the latest Intel Matrix Storage Manager was just the ticket. I didn’t have to deal with the Quicktime Alternative Lite solution, however; regular old Quicktime seems to be working fine.

Three things, however.

1. I updated to the very most recent Intel Matrix Storage Manager, v.7.6.0.1011.

2. After updating, I enabled the volume write-back cache in the Intel Matrix Storage Console, based on this advice from another blog post:
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/004446.html :
“After countless hours of updating drivers, trying, rebooting and failing, I stumbled upon a “fix.” With the newest Intel Matrix Storage Console installed (v. 7.6.0.1011 and no, that upgrade didn’t solve anything) I went into the console and enabled the “volume write-back cache” on the RAID 0 drive and voila! .mov files play flawlessly.

The help documentation says that the ENABLE mode is only for RAID 5, but it somehow makes a difference in RAID 0 with Quicktime.”

3. Before doing all of this (and before even learning about it at all), I had a fellow at HP tech support take me into the Intel Matrix Storage Console and right click on each of the 2 “failing” RAID volume ports. I clicked “Mark as Normal” — this ended the annoying popup about the failing RAID volume as well as the “error (0) occurred” thinger that had also showed on the black pre-startup screen for the last 6 months. I don’t know if this would have resolved itself upon updating the Intel Matrix Storage Manager/Console, but I’d assume it would.

Thanks again!!

Only think I miss since going back to 32bit is the full 4Gb of RAM on the PC. But it sees 3.2Gb which is more than enough really.

In answer to your question that Intel RAID Matrix thing and fix are only good for 32bit .

However, I have a slight problem. When I try to install the Intel Matrix Storage Console you have linked, I get an error message saying it’s not a valid win32 application.

So, I skipped that part from the instructions from Wolfarelli. And now, itunes still seems to have the same raid issues.

Besides itunes, I’ve had a hella more problems with Vista x64 on my machine. If you have a similar configuration as I do, you will know what I mean.

My configuration:
- Vista Ultimate x64
- Intel Core 2 Duo 6600
- Asus P5B-Deluxe WIFI (P965/IC8)
- 4GB DDR2
- Geforce 7950GX2 1GB (SLI on single PCI-E slot)
- 2 Raptor 150GB on RAID 0
- 4 Segate 320GB on RAID 0
- 2 WD 500GB on ESATA RAID 0 for backup

Problems I had:
- Vista installation: Fixed with MB bios update
- 4GB RAM + SLI: Whenever I enable SLI mode, Vista boots up with no screen. Fixed with Nforce beta driver (160.03)
- SyncToy (PowerToy) doesn’t work on Vista x64: Fixed with workaround
- iTunes Vista on RAID: Still having issues
- No custom screen resolution above the monitor’s native res: Switched to Dell 2407WFP from Asus 2032W
- Network sharing with MACs: By default, Vista can’t connect to a MAC on the same local network if both of them are not in the same workgroup. Fixed by moving both machines to the same workgroup. To do this you have to change the MAC’s default workgroup which isn’t so simple.

And numerous other problems that I can’t think of now. Most of them were fixed, but it gave me such a headache.