[SLE] how to create > 2 TB volume

PRODUCT: SUSE Linux i386 9.2 Professional I think the 'subject' says it all. I have four 1.6 terabyte 'drives' which I need to combine into one logical volume. I know how to use both software RAID & LVM 2 , but neither of them are working here. I assume something needs to be done to the kernel? Using software RAID to combine these partitions, whenever I try to format (mkfs), it goes out to lunch. With LVM, the format appears to work OK. When copying files to it, after ~5 GB , the partition becomes read-only !?! I have tried both Reiser & EXT3 filesystems. Thanks.