Paging parsec RE: RAID 0 issue

[psych0tic]

Hi there,
I did some googling around and your responses in threads came up as the most relevant and knowledgeable towards the problem I'm having, I was hoping for some assistance if possible?

I've listed my complete specs on my profile, but the issue I'm having is; I'm trying to install Win 7 64bit Ultimate on my Raid 0 configuration of 2xSamsung PRO 128Gb SSDs on the 0/1 SATA 3 Ports on my Asrock X79 Extreme 9. The 64 bit drivers I've attempted to use simply don't work, if I use the 32bit drivers, the installation locks up on the reboot and can't complete. If I use the 32bit drivers with a 32bit installation that works fine, but that's hardly a proper solution. I've tried the 64 bit Marvell and RST and RSTe drivers, I've been working at this for a few hours now and it's absolutely doing my head in. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
psych0tic

Oh, well thanks. Yes, I hate the Windows installation problems with RAID that can happen, drives anyone crazy. X79 boards can be more or a pain too. Starting over and covering everything ...

Definitely clear the CMOS/BIOS and reset settings. In Storage Configuration, set Intel SATA mode to RAID (sorry...) and don't enable Marvell, disable it. If you have the "Aggressive SATA Link Power Management" setting, Disable that and NEVER use it, it is evil and worthless! You can select each '840 in that screen and set them to SSD, and disable Hot Plug.

First, stick to the RSTe drivers for the Win 7 64bit installation. It sounds like you did the following but just to be sure, during the installation you need the Intel SATA Floppy Image (RSTe) ver: 3.5.0.1101 driver package for use during the Load Driver phase of the installation. Unzip that file, and use the files in the RSTe_f6_iaStorA_64 folder, all seven files copied to the USB flash drive. The term floppy is just a hold over from the XP days when you had to use a floppy, ignore that but use those drivers during the installation on a USB flash drive.

Windows should see that driver when you click Load driver, have the USB drive in a USB 2.0 port on the boards I/O panel. Select it, etc, and continue with the installation but do NOT remove that USB drive until Windows reboots, then just pull it out when your screen is blank. A major detail barely documented. If using a Win 7 disk, if you see a prompt "press and key to boot..." don't touch any key, or it will start to install over again, great huh?!

Before you start again, delete and recreate your RAID 0 volume, it needs to be fresh, no left over junk from the earlier attempts. Also, only have the two Samsung SSDs connected to the Intel SATA III ports (SO important!) and no other drives, at least none powered up. If you're using a Win 7 disk, have the DVD drive on an Intel SATA II port. Forget the Marvell ports and drivers, don't bother with that. I assume you create your RAID 0 volume with the Intel RAID Option ROM UI that is available during POST. After you create it, go into the BIOS, and save and exit for a fresh start. Then go into the BIOS and set boot order for your Win 7 installation media.

Run your CPU, etc, at stock during the installation, no OC for now.

Just in case ASRock has bad RSTe download files, these are from Intel's downloads:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=22502&ProdId=3449&lang=eng&OSVersion=Windows%207%20%20*&DownloadType=

Frankly, I only use the Intel SATA driver downloads from Intel, and they've worked fine for me.

Good luck, let me know how it goes.

Your PM inbox was full so I guess we'll have to do it like this
With the exception of "Aggresive SATA link power management" That's more or less what I did yesterday, but here is an album from my attempt following your instructions today. More or less stonewalled at the exact same point, Windows hates the drivers. I'm installing Windows from the same USB I have the drivers on. As you can see, I tried some of the other drivers I had from yesterday too to the same effect RAID - Imgur

[parsec]

Re: Paging parsec RE: RAID 0 issue

Your PM inbox was full so I guess we'll have to do it like this
With the exception of "Aggresive SATA link power management" That's more or less what I did yesterday, but here is an album from my attempt following your instructions today. More or less stonewalled at the exact same point, Windows hates the drivers. I'm installing Windows from the same USB I have the drivers on. As you can see, I tried some of the other drivers I had from yesterday too to the same effect RAID - Imgur

And there is your problem, the F6 driver that you load cannot be on the same USB flash drive as the OS. You should not be seeing an endless list of drivers, only one, but that is due to Windows finding every driver that exists on the installation media you are using, plus the one correct driver buried in that list. Windows 7 does not have an RSTe RAID driver, which is why you are loading it. It also must be completely confused by selecting a driver from that endless list. It does look like the last driver listed on the last page of drivers is right, but I can't be certain.

What a mess that list is, the same driver listed over and over apparently. The point if loading that driver is to use one that Windows does not have, plus we have no idea what version of these drivers Windows has. You simply must have the F6 driver files on its own USB flash drive.

So you need another USB flash drive just for the F6 RSTe driver. I've always done it that way, with Windows on one USB flash drive, and the F6 driver on the other. I suppose it might be possible to have the F6 driver on the same USB flash drive, but that has failed for you how many times? No use getting into details, just don't do that, I don't know if that is even possible.

The F6 drivers are all of ~640KB, so even a 1GB flash drive would do. What F6 driver file are you using, from ASRock or Intel? The ASRock F6 download has four different versions of the F6 driver on it, I told you in the PM you just want the seven files in the RSTe_f6_iaStorA_64 folder only, it looks like you just copied all of them to the USB drive. You sure don't want the Windows 8 version if you're using Windows 7.

EDIT: Cleaned up my PMs, should work now.

[psych0tic]

Re: Paging parsec RE: RAID 0 issue

I tried installing it from the disc instead and it's worked a charm with the stock ASrock drivers. Thanks a lot. Never considered the possibility of the USB being a conflict

[parsec]

Re: Paging parsec RE: RAID 0 issue

Good. The USB drive was not really a conflict, just that the driver you needed to load was not being loaded, and... you know the rest.

[psych0tic]

Re: Paging parsec RE: RAID 0 issue

Good. The USB drive was not really a conflict, just that the driver you needed to load was not being loaded, and... you know the rest.

Thing was, the 32bit installation worked fine with the 32bit drivers doing it the same way, I have no idea why the 64bit refuses to work in a similar fashion.