How do I revive a software RAID array?

I am NOT linux savvy. We have one linux server no longer supported by the original consultant which is built with 3 scsi drives running software raid. The server failed with repeated i/o errors, then failed to reboot normally. I have run disk verification on the drives, but still cannot get a successful reboot. I get past the LILO prompt, but it fails while mounting the raid array with the root fs. I have no idea where to go from here. As it turns out, the backup tapes have been bad for over a year, and no one noticed. This server was scheduled for retirement anyway, but we’d like to archive the data if at all possible.