Extreme11 win7 raid installation problems

[hubbabubba71]

Re: Extreme11 win7 raid installation problems

On one hand, you would think it would be ridiculous to only be able to use one disk I/O interface at a time...

However there are quite a number of the SAS2 ports on this mobo. What I noticed was, when you enable the LSI MPT boot rom all other buses seem to shut down.

I wonder if your issue with getting a Win 7 LSI driver to load is related to the LSI driver included with Win 7. That normally would not be a problem, use the default driver or load your own.

Where is that driver buried? I may be able to access the cab file from USB installer, delete the drivers and possible overcome this conflict. Whatever the case the driver problem is specific to the x64 domain. As I sated before the x86 drivers will at least reveal the drives.

Side note, I just noticed this on the X79 Extreme 11's Win 7 64bit download page: Marvell SATA3 driver ver:1.2.0.1032 and Marvell MSU Utility ver:4.1.0.2013.

It's mentioned in the bios under the eSata selection half way down the boot menu.

The Oddest thing of all is still the fact that Ubuntu 12.04 has no problem what-so-ever seeing the drives and installing on them. I really have no idea what's going on here. I might try a generic Windows 7 ISO to install from...speaking of which has anyone that you know of produced a custom win 7 installer?

[parsec]

Re: Extreme11 win7 raid installation problems

The guide lists these files for the Win 7 LSI "F6" driver installation:

lsi_sas2.inf
lsi_sas2.sys
svlhx86.cat (for x86) or
svlhia64.cat (for IA64) or
svlhx64.cat (for x64)

So which "svlh...cat" file should be used? If you used svlhx64.cat (for x64) that seems to make sense. But did you try the svlhia64.cat (for IA64) file?

The IA64 identifier is an Intel definition: .

You said you had issues with the driver signing when you tried to install them, correct? I'm sure you saw this in the guide:

Note: Windows drivers must be either Release signed (by LSI) or WHQL logo
signed (by Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Labs) to be installed on
Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2. Any modifications to any of the above files
will invalidate the digital signature of the package and the OS will
not install the driver.

So what seems to have happened to the LSI files on the ASRock page for your board? At least that is one possibility.

It seems like the driver signing is the problem you have, correct? Have you tried the installation without using the F6 driver, and try the LSI driver included with Win 7?

[hubbabubba71]

Re: Extreme11 win7 raid installation problems

Yes the problem occurs with all of the drivers, including those from the Asrock website. I mentioned before that I had a driver signing issue, thought I think that's just a generic response. All the error says is something to the effect that unsigned drivers cannot be installed through the Load Driver function after which nothing happens. Loading the drivers never reveals them so long as I use the x64 versions.

It seems like the driver signing is the problem you have, correct? Have you tried the installation without using the F6 driver, and try the LSI driver included with Win 7?

how would I go about doing that? Where is the driver located? If it is auto-loaded then it's not doing anything to make the SAS2 hard drives visible.

[parsec]

Re: Extreme11 win7 raid installation problems

An auto-loaded driver would allow you to skip the Load Driver phase of the Windows installation, but that apparently failed for you too. The reason for that is at the end of this post...

While checking where the LSI driver in Windows might be, I came across something related to this that might be of help to you. NOTE that my description here is of a Windows 8 installation, but I doubt it will be much if any different on a Win 7 installation. Bear with me on this, a potential source for LSI SAS F6 drivers.

First a review to be sure I am right, the LSI Adapter (chip) on your board is the SAS2 2308 Mustang, correct?

I scanned through the folder, C:\Windows\Inf, on a working Win 8 installation, and found inf files lsi_sas, lsi_sas2, lsi_sas3, and lsi_sss.

The lsi_sas2 file (opens with notepad) contains, among other things, these entries:

;Localizable Strings needed for HBA naming in Windows UI
LSI = "LSI"
DELL = "Dell"
INTEL = "Intel"
DevDesc1 = "LSI Adapter, SAS2 2116 Meteor ROC(E)"
DevDesc2 = "LSI Adapter, SAS2 2116 Meteor ROC"
DevDesc3 = "LSI Adapter, SAS2 2004 Spitfire"
DevDesc4 = "LSI Adapter, SAS2 2008 Falcon"
DevDesc5 = "LSI Adapter, SAS2 2108 Liberator"
DevDesc6 = "LSI Adapter, SAS2 2108 Liberator ROC(E)"
DevDesc7 = "LSI Adapter, SAS2 2108 Liberator ROC"
DevDesc8 = "LSI Adapter, SAS2 2208 Thunderbolt ROC"
DevDesc9 = "LSI Adapter, SAS2 2308 Mustang"
DevDescSMC1 = "Supermicro SMC2008"
DevDescD1 = "Dell 6Gbps SAS HBA"
DevDescD2 = "Dell PERC H200 Adapter"
DevDescD3 = "Dell PERC H200 Integrated"
DevDescD4 = "Dell PERC H200 Modular"
DevDescD5 = "Dell PERC H200 Embedded"
DevDescD6 = "Dell PERC H200"
DevDescD7 = "Dell 6Gbps SAS"
DevDescI1 = "Intel Integrated RAID Module RMS2LL080"
DevDescI2 = "Intel Integrated RAID Module RMS2LL040"
DevDescI3 = "Intel(R) RAID Controller RS25GB008"
DevDescI4 = "Intel(R) SSD 910 Series"
DevDescI5 = "Intel(R) Integrated RAID Module RMS25JB080"
DevDescI6 = "Intel(R) Integrated RAID Module RMS25JB040"
DevDescI7 = "Intel(R) Integrated RAID Module RMS25KB080"
DevDescI8 = "Intel(R) Integrated RAID Module RMS25KB040"
DevDescI9 = "Intel(R) RAID Controller RS25FB044"
DevDescI10 = "Intel(R) Integrated RAID Module RMS25LB040"
DevDescI11 = "Intel(R) Integrated RAID Module RMS25LB080"

With the list of LSI Adapters, we see devices that use these adapters, including Dell and Intel. The Intel RAID Controller RS25GB008 uses the LSI 2308 adapter:

Here's the product page itself:

Last but not least, the controllers driver download page: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...ller+RS25GB008

This link seems to be to a driver package for multiple Intel products using LSI adapters, but what caught my eye was the file name contains "Windows_signed_DRV":

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...VB080&lang=eng

I suggest downloading this one first.

From here you're on your own to determine if this is worth anything to you...

Finally remembered to ask, did you try the ASR "Easy driver installer" option in the BIOS? You probably did.

Side note: After looking at a bunch of Inf files, for pre and post install Windows environments, my question is where is an entry for your board? It's not there, which is why you must install the LSI SAS driver manually.

[hubbabubba71]

Re: Extreme11 win7 raid installation problems

i'll try these drivers asap. As for the ASR easy install, yes with the same results. Now to be certain if I install the os on a SATA raid it will boot and anyone of these drivers will be able to be installed and will function from within an existing Win7 os. Never however during the install phase.

[parsec]

Re: Extreme11 win7 raid installation problems

i'll try these drivers asap. As for the ASR easy install, yes with the same results. Now to be certain if I install the os on a SATA raid it will boot and anyone of these drivers will be able to be installed and will function from within an existing Win7 os. Never however during the install phase.

If I understand you, the F6 driver is used during the OS installation, the other Windows driver installation program is used after the OS installation, to state the obvious. The F6 driver can be manually installed after an OS installation, but that won't let you install to a RAID array of course.

I thought you were trying the LSI SAS RAID, not SATA???

[hubbabubba71]

Re: Extreme11 win7 raid installation problems

I am trying the LSI I was just noting that while the OS complains during installation about the LSI drivers, it doesn't seem to have any problem with them after the OS is installed. I just find that odd.