Problem with installing Smart Response

[Nubcake]

Hi, I recently built my own computer. Everything was going smoothly as I installed the new drivers for my computer, until I installed and enabled smart response. When I enable acceleration in smart response and restarted my computer, it no longer goes into windows. The screen gets stuck at:

"Loading operation system...
Press any key to use XpressRecovery2...."

When I do use XpressRecovery2, it says something about unable to find Windows OS partition in HDD.
I tried using EZ Smart Response by Gigabyte, but that didn't work either.

I am pretty confident downloaded the correct version (64-bit) of Smart Response and followed the correct instuctions.

I'm using:
Windows 7 64-bit
Gigabyte GA-Z68-UD3-B3
Crucial SSD 64 GB
Samsung Spinpoint 1TB 7200 RPM


I was hoping someone can tell me how to get smart response to work properly.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Intel SRT requires that the SATA controller be set to RAID mode via the system BIOS. Here is a link to the instructions published by Intel:

http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/dz68db/sb/intel_smart_response_technology_user_guide.pdf

Here is a link to Intel support for SRT:

http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/highlights/chpsts/imsm

Here is a link explaining SRT and how to set it up:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Intel-Smart-Response-Technology-Explained/1292

 

[Nubcake]

I followed the instructions, and it still didn't work. I don't know where I could have messed up.

 

[bishoplord]

I just attempted to install a 64Gb Samsung SSD on my GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 and had nothing but problems as well. I enabled AHCI and tried installing it as a stand alone as attempts to install it as SRT failed (xtreme enabled in Bios, etc.). I would get a message to install system disk after POST. When installed for SRT, I would get all the way to the Windows loading screen, then bam, blue screen crash. Other attempts resulting in weird white lines all over the screen like a UPS bar code (when I had the HDMI connected to the discrete card, but not when connected to the Z68 motherboard). I had same problem when using IDE as well. nothing worked. Drive was not recognized as installed in Bios, but was visible when selected boot priority.

I'm RMA'ing the SSD for a refund and cut my loss on the restocking fee and shipping. I should have known better.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Nubcake - You have a Gigabyte Z68 based motherboard and a Crucial ssd

bishoplord - You have a Gigabyte Z68 based motherboard and a Samsung ssd.

Both ssd's have a good record so I did a little checking. There are mutiple problems with the new Gigabyte Z68 based motherboards.

Both of you might want to go to the Gigabyte web site and check for fixes and updates.

 

[bishoplord]

Both of you might want to go to the Gigabyte web site and check for fixes and updates.

Good call. I downloaded the updated firmware on the Samsung site, but the instruction for this firmware patch is inaccessible. I'm Leary on trying to update the firmware when I have no instructions.

There is an updated bios for Gigabyte released on 06/23/11 for Smart Response. I can say with no hesitation that my board doesn't have this as I bought it on May 28th.

I'll try this when I get home. Got my fingers crossed. I haven't gotten the RMA # from Superbiiz.com for the return yet.

 

[bishoplord]

I updated the BIOS so that AHCI could be enabled and re-installed Windows 7. Man, this was a hassle. It wasn't simply attach an SSD and run the Rapid Storage Technology software, no. I came to the conclusion that I had to disconnect the SSD during the Windows install, otherwise I would get a BSOD dump. However, once I got Windows up and running on the SATA only, I went to open the Smart Response Technology program and noticed there was NO ACCELERATION button to activate SRT. I even downloaded the so-called latest file from Intel but the installer kept installing the previous version.

See, no Acceleration:

Latest Version:10.6.0.1022

What got installed (Did it twice. Used Revo Uninstaller to do a clean remove before 2nd attempt)

Anyhow, I gave up and just installed Windows on the SSD. It works fine for now. It's fast and the install only took about 15 minutes, but now I have to reinstall the updates and all my other software. But for now, I'm off to bed.

Edit -

This guy had the same problem:

Re: Z68 Smart Response Issue: Windows no longer boots if I enable Intel Smart Response (SSD Smart Caching) technology.
I just realized that the RAID controller version 10.6.0.1022 installs an older version 10.6.0.1002. It looks like Intel did not build this update correctly.

When I run the install for 1022, the installer clearly states that it is installing 1002. When I re run the Intel Driver Update Utility http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect/?wapkw=(intel+driver+update) then it states that I do not have the latest driver. I have tried to re-install this driver 5 times with no success.

Even the release notes of 1022 refers to version 1002. (http://downloadmirror.intel.com/20215/eng/ReleaseNotes_10.6.0.1022.pdf) The release notes lists a number of known issues, including Rapid Recovery Technology issues with disks larger than 1.3125 TB.

I wonder if I should create two 1 TB partitions instead of one 2 TB partition and see if this helps.

I wish that someone from Intel would respond to this thread.

Thanks,
Niels

http://communities.intel.com/thread/22529?start=60&tstart=0

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Major bummer! This morning I visited the Gigabyte and Intel forums. Looks like lots of compatability issues including Intel RST with the new z68 motherboards. I also took a look at user comments over at newegg. Way too many user complaints.

 

[bishoplord]

Major bummer! This morning I visited the Gigabyte and Intel forums. Looks like lots of compatability issues including Intel RST with the new z68 motherboards. I also took a look at user comments over at newegg. Way too many user complaints.

I found one thread over at the overclockers.net forums where someone stated they were missing the accelerate button also, but then he found the fix by downloading an older version, but the number he referenced was not on the Intel site. He said, 10.5.xxxxx, whereas there was no "5" listed, going back...

Crap, I just took a look at the site and this 10.6.0.1022 isn't even supported for Z68:

This download is valid for the product(s) listed below
Intel® 3 Series Chipsets
Intel® 4 Series Chipset
Intel® 5 Series Chipset
Intel® 5000P Chipset
Intel® 5000V Chipset
Intel® 5000X Chipset
Intel® 6 Series Chipset
Intel® 945 Express Chipset Family
Intel® 955X Express Chipset
Intel® 965 Express Chipset Family
Intel® 975X Express Chipset
Intel® E7230 Chipset
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology
Intel® X58 Express Chipset
Mobile Intel® 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Mobile Intel® 5 Series Chipset
Mobile Intel® 6 Series Chipset
Mobile Intel® 910GML Express Chipset
Mobile Intel® 915 Express Chipset Family
Mobile Intel® 945 Express Chipset Family
Mobile Intel® 965 Express Chipset Family

But what was weird is that the version I downloaded was from Gigabyte's site for my motherboard. I'll wait a little while longer to see if they come up with a z68 version, as I only have 22Gb left on the SSD after Windows install and a few benchmark apps, and a screen grabber. So far, it's fast, but not extremely fast as what people were talking about and if SSD. My SATA 6 wasn't that bad. It just got slower after I installed more programs, games, etc. If SRT will make the SATA 6 partially as fast as SSD, then I'll wipe that SSD and start fresh again. Thankfully the Windows install doesn't take 2 hours like it did when using the Z68 video port. That was ass! I don't know what the difference is between using the discrete video port and the motherboard port, but Windows install was deadly slow with the motherboard port.

 

[bishoplord]

I think I found the solution. I did pretty much everything this person did below, except for installing that 10.5.0.1027 driver. I'm going to search for that now

Re: Z68 Smart Response Issue: Windows no longer boots if I enable Intel Smart Response (SSD Smart Caching) technology.
Seems like it is working now! This is what I did:

1) Make sure I had the latest BIOS.
2) Downloaded all the latest drivers from INTEL.
3) Connected *only* the HDD to the SATA2 port on the DZ68DB MoBo. This is a SATA II (3Gb/s) port.
4) Ran Windows 7 x64 installation. During the HDD setup I loaded the latest Rapid Storage drivers from a USB thumbdrive (not 100% sure this step is needed with Windows 7!
5) Completed installation of Windows 7 x64
6) Installed the Chipset drivers and rebooted...
7) Installed the Management Engine and rebooted...
8) Installed Rapid Storage Technology v10.5.0.1027 and rebooted...
9) Checked that everything was installed correctly... shut down...
10) Added the SSD to the SATA0 port on the MoBo. This is a SATA III (6Gb/s) port.
11) Booted and activated Smart Response (SSD Caching).

Note that on reboot I noticed the RAID option ROM was still indicating that the cache was *not* bootable. But it booted fine. I am now installing all the other drivers and everything seems good!

Found the 10.5.0.1027 driver. It's located here: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=20023

Yep, you have to update the bios, use just 1 SATA HDD and run windows setup, and then load the motherboard driver for AHCI support, install windows, install the chipset drivers, shutdown. Install the SSD and then you're good to go (as long as the Smart Response Technology program has the accelerate button, but I think I'll be good to go with v10.5.0.1027). I'll try this out tonight when I get home from work.

Edit -

Actually, I should be all set. When I re-installed Windows 7 on my SATA in preparation for SSD, I just set that HDD to the side and then used the SSD to install Windows 7 when I couldn't get SRT working. In theory I should just be able to re-connect the SATA drive, and boot from that drive (and reformat the SSD to wipe out that Windows install).

 

[bishoplord]

Hi, I recently built my own computer. Everything was going smoothly as I installed the new drivers for my computer, until I installed and enabled smart response. When I enable acceleration in smart response and restarted my computer, it no longer goes into windows. The screen gets stuck at:

"Loading operation system...
Press any key to use XpressRecovery2...."

Don't press any key when you see the "XpressRecovery2 message", just let it go away after a couple seconds.

 

[Nubcake]

Don't press any key when you see the "XpressRecovery2 message", just let it go away after a couple seconds.

When I wait for it to go away, it just makes an another line that says the same thing, under the first XpressRecovery2 message.

 

[Nubcake]

So would this be right?

1. Update BIOS
2. Set BIOS to RAID
3. Re-install Windows on HDD with SSD unplugged
4. Install Chipset drivers (Does this mean the normal drivers that I install when i install Windows? If not, where can I find these drivers?)
5. Install IRST v10.5.0.1027
6. Shut down and plug-in SSD
7. Accelerate

 

[bishoplord]

If you're going to attempt to do SRT, then do the following (you're almost correct):

Download the following (If you haven't already) from Gigabyte's website (for your motherboard)

Latest BIOS - has support for AHCI RAID

SATA RAID Pre-install driver 10.6.0.1002

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (you might want to try this older driver instead of the newest one, as the newest one doesn't display a "accelerate button": 10.5.0.1027. I found it from http://downloadcenter.intel.com -- then in the search box enter 10.5.0.1027)

Copy these files to a thumb drive, then shutdown.

Disconnect all hard drives (remember not to disconnect the DVD/Blu-ray Rom!)

1) Turn on computer, hold down DEL key and go to BIOS. Select Q-Flash option to Update BIOS. Very simple, follow on-screen instruction to locate the updated BIOS on the thumb drive. If you haven't already, change the boot sequence to CD-ROM first, and under SATA/RAID - enable AHCI (not IDE or anything else). Place Windows install disc in DVD drive and shut down computer. Re-connect just the HDD you want to install Windows. Keep thumb drive in USB port.

2) Turn on computer, let Windows installer go to the welcome screen and after you pass the section for "upgrade" or "custom install" they'll be a screen where you will select the drive to install Windows. Before you do that, look at the bottom of this section and they'll be a link to Load Driver (Click here for example). Click this link and follow instructions to locate the file you downloaded from Gigabyte onto your thumb drive. This is the SATA pre-install driver.

3) After this step, select the drive above to install Windows. If there is a message stating you can't install Windows to this device, press the Next button anyway. That's what I did and was able to bypass this message.

4) After Windows 7 is installed, install all the chipset drivers from either the DVD or if you had already downloaded them from Gigabyte. Reboot.

5) Install Rapid Storage Technology 10.5.0.1027 and then shutdown.

6) Connect SSD and turn on Computer.

7) Open the Intel Rapid Storage Technology software and if you have the "accelerate" button, select it and follow the steps of how you want the SSD to be cached.

Now, I couldn't do this because the accelerate button was missing. I haven't tried 10.5.0.1027 yet as I read other people have tried this and still didn't get it to work. Prior to me finding this info, I gave up and installed Windows on the SSD! LOL. Works great, but now I'm running out of space because there is this windows side-by-side (winsxs) folder that is using up 9Gb of valuable space. I think I'm down to 20Gb left on the SSD. I should be fine for a while as I install other programs on my extra SATA drives.

BTW, here's a guy that had the same problem and his instructions were pretty much the same as what I did:

Re: Z68 Smart Response Issue: Windows no longer boots if I enable Intel Smart Response (SSD Smart Caching) technology.
Seems like it is working now! This is what I did:

1) Make sure I had the latest BIOS.
2) Downloaded all the latest drivers from INTEL.
3) Connected *only* the HDD to the SATA2 port on the DZ68DB MoBo. This is a SATA II (3Gb/s) port.
4) Ran Windows 7 x64 installation. During the HDD setup I loaded the latest Rapid Storage drivers from a USB thumbdrive (not 100% sure this step is needed with Windows 7!
5) Completed installation of Windows 7 x64
6) Installed the Chipset drivers and rebooted...
7) Installed the Management Engine and rebooted...
8) Installed Rapid Storage Technology v10.5.0.1027 and rebooted...
9) Checked that everything was installed correctly... shut down...
10) Added the SSD to the SATA0 port on the MoBo. This is a SATA III (6Gb/s) port.
11) Booted and activated Smart Response (SSD Caching).

http://communities.intel.com/message/134393

Good luck man. If it doesn't work (ie no accelerate button) install Windows directly to the SSD. You won't be disappointed.


Edit -

I forgot. If you go the SSD route, you won't need to "load driver" when you install Windows. Just install directly to the SSD and also leave AHCI enabled. You could switch it to IDE but I read it makes the SSD slower.

 

[inchikiboze]

Hello, everybody. I'm having a very similar problem--I hope this is the right place to ask about it. I'm building a new system with a Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Black as a primary using an Intel 320 series 120 GB SSD for caching, and everything goes smoothly until I turn on SRT.

After configuring the BIOS for RAID, I install Windows 7 to the WD drive, update the motherboard driver (Asus P8Z68-V Pro), update the RAID driver, install Intel Rapid Storage Technology, and turn on acceleration using 64 GB of the Intel SSD. Then, when I restart, I get

Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

At this point, I can't get back into Windows. The first time this happened, I was using maximized mode for the acceleration, and I thought this might have been the problem. I remember Anand mentioning something about his bootloader disappearing after configuring SRT in maximized mode here.

So, not being able to get back into Windows or even reinstall Windows (in setup, I kept getting an error message about not being able to find a partition, even after formatting/deleting in setup), I wiped both drives with a quick erase in DBAN and started over. This time, same steps, except at the end I chose enhanced mode for the acceleration. I restart and I get the same "Reboot and Select..." error message.

I was thinking that, because there is that leftover unused 50 GB or so on the SSD, maybe the system is looking there, not finding a bootable volume, and throwing up the message without looking at the WD drive.

I just got off the phone with Asus, who told me to call back on Tuesday when the "Level 2" staff are in the office.

If anybody has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate your help.

 

[peejay1981]

Hi Everyone,

Same problem here - IRST won't enable. It did work when I first got this computer because I just copied the HDD from my old setup which was using BIOS mode booting. Today I reinstalled Win7 SP1 and it set itself up using UEFI mode, now IRST doesn't work. Same hardware and everything. Hopefully a new driver comes out soon because I don't want to reinstall my reinstall!

 

[kundzia]

Hello everyone!

I was dealing with the Smart Response problem for exactly one week. Finally I managed to solve it.

I have a motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD with 20GB space and a hard drive Seagate Barracuda Green with 2TB.
What I wanted to do is to be able to have multiboot (three OS: Windows 7, MacOS Lion and Ubuntu 11) and working smart response. From many made experiences, I figured that was the biggest problem for Smart Response.
The other major problem for it was when the whole hdd was divided into partitions. It was necessary to leave there some unallocated space to make it all works.

The finally working set was accomplished by taking following steps:
1. I changed in bios the sata configuration for AHCI.
1. Using gparted live cd/usb :
a. I formatted both disks- ssd and hdd
b. I created partitions on the hdd which I wanted in future to be used: three primary for OS, one extended, and IMPORTANT I left 200mb unallocated (I tested and that was the smallest possible value to make my smart response works)
2. I changed in bios the sata configuration to RAID.
3. I installed Windows OS on one of the primary partitions. Avoid creating partitions in windows default disk manager. It creates extra primary partition for system, which is completely unnecessary, and because of that I could not further install all of the OS on the primary partitions (due to the limit of 4 partitions) and they got all confused.

If you do not want to have more OS, go to the point 7.

4. I changed back in bios to AHCI.
5. I installed the rest of the OS and configured properly grub.
6. I changed back to RAID.
7. I went to windows and:
a. installed all of the necessary drivers for Smart Response
b. opened the intel smart response utility and accelerated drives.

And everything finally works exactly how it supposed to do. Of course if you don't have many OS it is simpler to make it works. You just need then leave some of the space on hdd unallocated and everything should work just fine.

What also took me too much of my time was Fedora linux. I have no idea why but during the installation it messed with the partition table and completely blocked the RAID working. Maybe someday I will also find what was wrong with that.

 

[Nubcake]

Well, I recently tried bishoplord's steps, and they didn't work for me. So for the time being, I'm going to start using my SSD as a boot drive. I might try kundzia's instructions once I am not so low on morale, haha! By the way, what is a gparted live cd/usb? And they partitioning part is a little confusing to me, is it necessary?

 

[kundzia]

GParted is a free partition editor. The live cd/usb is just a bootable linux distribution. It is very usefull especially when some system messed with your partition table and you cannot boot or install anything else.
About the partition part- nothing else didn't work for me and since I made it that way, I am using my PC happily and without any problems till today. Of course my solution is used for three different operating systems and three primary partition. If you do not want/need as many, you can always try creating just the ones you need and check if it works for you. I checked myself if that worked on my PC for just Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10, but it didn't. For some unknown reasons it needed that unallocated space and it couldn't be less than 200mb.

 

[a4mula]

Well, add another one to the list.

Disk Boot Failure after enabling SRT via RST. Gigabyte Z68A-D3H-B3

Very first power-up the motherboard recognized the SSD and offered to set it to RAID for SRT. I agreed, installed windows on the HDD went through a few reboots. After I initialized SRT that was that.

At this point I had the HDD on the SATA 3Gb/s controller while the SSD was on the Intel 6Gb/s. I figured this was the issue so I put them both on the the 6Gb/s controller and tried again. Same thing.

I'll give it a shot later this evening. If anyone has any updates in the past few months it'd appreciate the heads up.

 

[a4mula]

Just an update...

I disconnected the SSD while I reinstalled Win7. Once the OS was up and running I manually downloaded and installed the latest Intel RST software. I turned the pc off, reconnected the SSD booted up and enabled SRT. It worked.

Quite honestly from looking over quite a few different reports of this problem I believe the cause is Win7 trying to install some system files during its install onto the SSD itself ala RAID0 Striping.

1) Ensure you're using RAID mode in Bios
2) Do NOT connect your SSD
3) Install OS, download latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers
4) Reboot, reconnect SSD
5) Configure SRT on reboot

This worked for me as well as others who suffered this same issue.

 

[TribbleOutcast]

Just an update...

I disconnected the SSD while I reinstalled Win7. Once the OS was up and running I manually downloaded and installed the latest Intel RST software. I turned the pc off, reconnected the SSD booted up and enabled SRT. It worked.

Quite honestly from looking over quite a few different reports of this problem I believe the cause is Win7 trying to install some system files during its install onto the SSD itself ala RAID0 Striping.

1) Ensure you're using RAID mode in Bios
2) Do NOT connect your SSD
3) Install OS, download latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers
4) Reboot, reconnect SSD
5) Configure SRT on reboot

This worked for me as well as others who suffered this same issue.

Thanks a4mula, that worked! It looks like I won't be RMAing the SSD afterall.

 

[clawlor]

The EZ Smart Response utility should handle all of this for you:
http://www.gigabyte.com/MicroSite/282/ez-smart-response.html

 

[rozz]

Just an FYI, ran into the same problem with my Asus board. After about 4x window's reinstalled.. figured out the IRST 10.3 was the issue. Downloaded the newest version, (i believe it was 10.5) and it works fine.

 

[bejagee]

My MB (Asus) install guide failed to mention that you need to change your SATA mode in BIOS to RAID before you install your OS. I didn't have an SSD and installed W7 on my HDD which by default was set to AHCI. When I got the SSD I changed the SATA mode to RAID but then the computer kept restarting. I did some searching and found a way to get the Intel SRT working without having to reinstall my OS following these instructions:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1587/4/

Note: The second registry key is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\iastorV . On the website it looks like an "L" but is in fact an "i"

Note 2: First I had to go back into the BIOS and set the SATA mode back to AHCI so I could get back into Windows (I also unplugged the SSD).

I then modified the registry, uninstalled SRT, shut down, plugged the SSD back in, went into the BIOS and changed the SATA mode to RAID once again then restarted. Worked like a charm! Got the BIOS screen and then Windows loaded. Installed SRT and got the Accelerate tab and I was off and running.