Computer works fine, but will not reboot when requested

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Specs:
- PC Chips A15G mother board, BIOS just flashed with the 2008/08/12 update
- 2x Western Digital WD10EADS 1TB hard drives set up as a RAID 1
- Fresh install of Windows XP using the F6 function to install the RAID drivers, updated to Service Pack 3
(I can provide more system information if it will help)

I just upgraded my home-built desktop from a single 80G IDE hard drive to a RAID 1 with dual 1TB SATA drives with a fresh install of XP using the F6 option and installing the required RAID drivers. The system runs great but it would not power down after shutting XP down. After flashing the BIOS with the 2008/08/12 update, things get weirder.

The machine still doesn't power down when I shut down XP, but will shut down if I hold the power button for 3 seconds or so. However, if I press the Reset button on the front of the case the machine shuts down instantly, but does not reboot. When I select "Restart" from the shut down menu, the machine shuts down instead of rebooting. Even further, if I go into the BIOS menu then exit, the machine shuts down instead of rebooting.

The XP install is new this weekend so if I need to do something major it isn't a big deal. Is there some sort of BIOS setting that I have wrong or is something corrupt? The machine ran completely normally with the 80G IDE drive.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Jimal
 
This appears to be a RAID issue, try disabling RAID and pulling one of your hard drives see if that changes anything.
 
If it is not RAID, it is the peculiarities of the PCChips motherboard. If it is a motherboard problem, as typical, you will not be able to effect decent repairs... until you get something other than a PCChips or TriGem board.
 
This appears to be a RAID issue, try disabling RAID and pulling one of your hard drives see if that changes anything.

BINGO! It appears to be RAID related. I disconnected one of the drives, disabled the RAID and things worked as normal. What about the RAID (or its drivers) would cause this?
 
How important is RAID functionality to you, as raybay stated if it is a hardware issue than it may not be possible to just upgrade drivers to solve the problem. I will say I'm not all that familiar with the operations of RAID. I can suggest perhaps getting a standalone PCI-E RAID controller and trying to configure it that way, this also gives you the advantage of having the card itself take care of all the RAID work, but try to find something PCI-E if you have an available slot that way you don't have the issue of limited bandwidth due to PCI limitation. Let me know if this helps.
 
Thanks for the information, all. The extend of the importance of the RAID in my case is partially data security and partially academic; I just want to see if I can do it. The mobo has RAID capabilities and the RAID itself is working. There is just some quirkiness I am trying to figure out.

Speaking of quirkiness. I submitted a support request through PCChips. The first thing they asked me to do is to check whether I have the problem shutting down in Safe Mode. I've tried several times now and I cannot get the computer to boot in Safe Mode. Runs fine when I start it normally, but an F8 Safe Mode start up causes it to either freeze or shut down.

The whole thing is just weird.
 
If it boots in regular mode, it should boot in <SAFE MODE>
Sometimes you have to be familiar with SAFE MODE. Have you been able to boot another machine in SAFE MODE?
 
If it boots in regular mode, it should boot in <SAFE MODE>
Sometimes you have to be familiar with SAFE MODE. Have you been able to boot another machine in SAFE MODE?

I've rebooted several computers in SAFE MODE before without issue. This machine freezes in SAFE MODE. Yesterday I got as far as trying to restart from SAFE MODE and the system froze while I was moving the pointer from the Start menu to the Shut Down menu. Its the darndest thing I've experienced while working on computers.

More information on the original issue.

1. The machine now powers down when I select "Turn Off" from the Turn Off menu. No idea why this is now working; I've been traveling and haven't messed with this problem in a few weeks.

2. When I originally installed the mobo in this case, I didn't connect the Power LED (the connector wasn't configured correctly). This morning I decided to tinker with the connector (I had to move a wire) and plugged it in. Doing this I discovered that while the computer now fully powers down as it should when selecting "Turn Off", it is not powering down when selecting "Restart" or when exiting the BIOS menu as I thought it was.

My gut tells me that this is a motherboard/BIOS/hardware issue and not an operating system issue.
 
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