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Win7 Won't boot after RAID creation

jojo69

jojo69

[H]F Junkie
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Sep 13, 2009
Messages
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I have Win7 installed on a SSD

data drive is a WD black 1 TB

mobo is ASUS rampage III formula, X58

I recently got an identical WD 1TB with the intention of making a RAID1 array

Backed up the data drive, I know it gets paved in the RAID creation process.

Installed the drive, switched to RAID mode in BIOS, ctrl i and set up the RAID.

Now windows gets to its blue splash screen and fails, will not recover in system restore.

WTF?
 
Either different drivers for RAID vs AHCI and RAID drivers not available, or SSD not set up as bootable JBOD (not likely as you are getting as far as splash screen).

How to fix exactly I don't have off the top of my head, I generally set drives/RAID up then install OS.
 
Yeah, couldn't afford both drives when I built the system...sure wishing the BIOS defaulted to the RAID drivers about now.
 
The good news, I guess, is that if I turn off RAID in BIOS I get to my desktop

there has to be a way to do this
 
Sounds like you didn't create the array correctly?

Did you leave the SSD out of the array?

After you made the array did you go back into the BIOS and set the boot drive?
 
On that board you have 8 SATA ports, 2 are red connectors which are serviced by the Marvell controller and 6 are grey which are serviced by the X58 chipset (you also have 2 more serviced by a JMicron controller.) What ports are the SSD and the 2 HDDs connected to? Did the BIOS originally have the controller set to ACHI and then you changed it to RAID. Chances are that you originally had the ACHI driver installed and then you changed it to RAID. If this is the case, what you need to do is switch back to ACHI, boot the systm, and then install the RAID driver (which one you need depends on which ports the HDDS are on). If they are on the red ports, you need to install the MARVELL RAID drivers, if the grey you need to install the Intel RAID drivers. If you have them on the red ones, I would suggest switching them to the grey ones, and use the intel RAID BIOS to set them up.
 
Chances are that you originally had the ACHI driver installed and then you changed it to RAID.
Click to expand...
His explanation is a little confusing but if he got to the "ctrl i and set up the RAID" part I thought the Intel RAID/AHCI drivers must be loaded to get that screen.
 
Old Hippie said:
His explanation is a little confusing but if he got to the "ctrl i and set up the RAID" part I thought the Intel RAID/AHCI drivers must be loaded to get that screen.
Click to expand...

That is going to be the RAID card bios, and will be before any OS tries to boot.
 
Thanks for the responses guys

tldr I ended up reinstalling windows, though I will elaborate somewhat to help anyone that lands this thread in a search

@ Old Hippie all drives are on the IHC10R as the Marvell implementation on this generation of boards are known junk

I was a victim of at least 3 levels of fail;

First and foremost, my own failure to research sufficiently, both when I originally built up the system and when i went to implement the RAID, I want to own that.

2nd, there being no easy way to switch disk control drivers in windows. I read a lot last night and it appears that it can be done...with a fair amount of registry and F6 hacking. I understand that windows is a dammedly complex beast but you would think there would be a simple tool to do this. Hello? Microsoft? how about a "RAID wizard" for clueless end users. Consumers deciding to upgrade existing systems to RAID is not that uncommon. How hard would it be to have the drivers on just in case?

3rd, and the one that really pisses me off after searching the threads more, ASUS BIOS default to IDE mode. I have been running a SSD in IDE mode for 9 months because I did not know better, one would think they could at least default to AHCI, if not RAID against the eventuality that the user might want to implement an array at some point in the future.

In the end I determined it would be less painful to pave the OS than try to save my less than optimal IDE build.

IF YOU EVER EVER PLAN OR HOPE TO SWITCH TO RAID SELECT THE RAID DRIVERS IN BIOS BEFORE INSTALLING WINDOWS

yeah, I know, nobody ever told me that either
 
IDE has the advantage of compatibility.

Also, there is a way to solve your problem without hacking, using another controller, for example the marvell in your case. If it's enabled in the bios, then the drivers for it are installed and working, so you can put your OS drive (SSD) on it, it will boot. You can then put the Intel controller in RAID, windows will install the RAID drivers at next boot. Now you can put your OS drive back on the Intel controller.
 
Old Hippie said:
His explanation is a little confusing but if he got to the "ctrl i and set up the RAID" part I thought the Intel RAID/AHCI drivers must be loaded to get that screen.
Click to expand...

No, that screen has nothing to do with the drivers, that has to do with the BIOS setting, which has to be set to RAID. If set to AHCI, you usually don't get the Option Rom screen. And, even if the Intel RAID was chosen, he could have the drives connected to the red ports in which he would have had to enabled the Marvell RAID setting and controller in the bios, which is on yet another option rom screen.
 
Last edited:
jojo69 said:
3rd, and the one that really pisses me off after searching the threads more, ASUS BIOS default to IDE mode. I have been running a SSD in IDE mode for 9 months because I did not know better, one would think they could at least default to AHCI, if not RAID against the eventuality that the user might want to implement an array at some point in the future.
Click to expand...

Even worse, some of the BIOS's call IDE mode compatibility mode, and I can't tell you how many systems I have been called to work on where people installed SSDs and chose compatibility mode "so it would be compatible". Don't feel bad, more people do it than you know.
 
 
he could have the drives connected to the red ports in which he would have had to enabled the Marvell RAID setting and controller in the bios, which is on yet another option rom screen.
Click to expand...

Old Hippie all drives are on the IHC10R as the Marvell implementation on this generation of boards are known junk
Click to expand...

Obviously not connected to the Marvell ports.
 
ASUS BIOS default to IDE mode. I have been running a SSD in IDE mode for 9 months because I did not know better, one would think they could at least default to AHCI, if not RAID against the eventuality that the user might want to implement an array at some point in the future.
Click to expand...
AFAIK they all do.

Like you said "First and foremost, my own failure to research sufficiently". :)

You never bothered to set your BIOS and that's an Asus problem? LOL!

Pretty bad when you blame your tools. :)
 
Old Hippie said:
Yes, I'm very aware of this.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding but why wouldn't this work for you....



Or is this the "fair amount of registry hacking" you're referring to?
Click to expand...

I tried that and it did not change the system behavior

the other workarounds I found online were quite a bit more involved

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...-How-to-switch-to-RAID-0-without-reinstalling!

was one of the ones I read...but the linky for the drivers was stale, a google search for "latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers" led to a number of files and it was not entirely clear what exactly I needed. This all led me to learn more than I ever wanted to know about F6 at which point my head started to hurt...lol
 
Old Hippie said:
AFAIK they all do.

Like you said "First and foremost, my own failure to research sufficiently". :)

You never bothered to set your BIOS and that's an Asus problem? LOL!

Pretty bad when you blame your tools. :)
Click to expand...


It never occurred to me in the excitement of first setting up the system that they had laid a trap for me
 
jojo69 said:
I tried that and it did not change the system behavior

the other workarounds I found online were quite a bit more involved

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...-How-to-switch-to-RAID-0-without-reinstalling!

was one of the ones I read...but the linky for the drivers was stale, a google search for "latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers" led to a number of files and it was not entirely clear what exactly I needed. This all led me to learn more than I ever wanted to know about F6 at which point my head started to hurt...lol
Click to expand...
You don't even have the Intel drivers loaded?

The drivers are here (pick the first one) and run it.

Then go to your device manager, under Storage controllers, and make sure you're using the Intel controller.

I would also suggest running the Update utility while you're at it.

Then try the array building again.
 
Thanks for the advise

but I ended up paving the SSD and reinstalling the OS in RAID mode

PITA but now I have a nice clean install running good, got my data off the backup onto the 2@caviar black 1 TB in RAID 1. Had to mess around in the registry because the RAID came up as F: and the old data drive was D:, D: was not available in disk management so I had to delete some phantom drive in the registry and change the RAID to D: there and reboot so all my existing programs and shortcuts would work. I think I have it pretty well squared away now.
 
IF YOU EVER EVER PLAN OR HOPE TO SWITCH TO RAID SELECT THE RAID DRIVERS IN BIOS BEFORE INSTALLING WINDOWS
Click to expand...

That is what I learned from experience. In order to avoid all sorts of stupid problems, just create your RAID array...then install windows. I know one would hope to keep his current install but it is just not recommended to create a RAID array after windows installation.

Imaging software like acronis true image can help in speeding up the process of windows installation.

My 2 cents.
 
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