Urgent: My MOBO is dead

[janicekoh]

I am running on

OS: Windows XP Pro service Pack 2
SATA RAID 0: 2 X 80GB (Seagate)
on board RAID controller: Sil3112 (Silicon Image)

Motherboard (mobo) GA-8KNXP
Socket 478
Intel 875P chipset

My motherboard (mobo) is dead.

Problems
1. I could not find the same mobo replacement in my country.

2. I have important data in the harddisks (NTFS), I can't afford to loose it.

3. When I take out the SATA cables, I forgot to label which is the first one. Would it cause data corruption if I put in wrong order into the RAID controller?


Question

1. Must I get the same chipset in order to boot up my OS?

2. Can I get a newer Sil3112 controller to boot up my RAID 0?

3. Can I get a different make (e.g. ASUS, Abit) of MOBO with the same chipset and Silicon Image 3112 controller?


Your help is appreciated. Thank you.

[krazefinn]

Raid -ugh-. Gonna be a problem any way you slice it.

People,if its critical data, KEEP a BACKUP!!
Esp with raid, twice as likely data loss if hdd problem. MOBO problem may also make it hard to rebuild array and save anything.

Good luck, wish the news were better.

[Sterling_Aug]

Moving a software RAID array from one system to another will result in almost 100% data loss. Only a hardware RAID5 solution will allow moving the array from one PC to another with 0% data loss.

RAID0 is for performance only, it is NOT a backup solution.

Your data is toast. Live and learn.

[willg99]

that really sucks...
what country are you in because...

here's one on ebay. only got a few hours left but it's worth a shot. because I highly doubt the raid config will work on a different mobo
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=80160&item=6746501703&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

[fizur2002]

if you get the same exact mobo as you have now, there is a good chance that you wont lose anything, just make sure that all your settings in the new bios match exactly what you were running on the old one, that is if you get the exact same thing. If not, then more than likely you will lose information.

[BipolarBill]

Back up to step 1:

1. How do you know that the motherboad is dead? Maybe your power supply died. Maybe your CPU fan dies and won't allow your system to fire up.

2. Are there any bulging capacitors on the motherboard?

http://home.earthlink.net/~doniteli/index27.htm

www.badcaps.net

They can be repaired.

It's true - even if you get this motherboard repaired, you have to connect the drives in order or you will destroy the existing array. You need to know which cable goes where.

[janicekoh]

Thank you for the suggestion, guys.

I am able to get the same exact board.

I am lucky to be able to restore the RAID 0, because Sil3112, has metadeta in my two SATA drives. So, it does not matter in which order I connect them. They will still work.

I will go get another SATA drive for as backup.

Thank you so much.

[fizur2002]

your welcome and good luck