Converting to AHCI, installation issue?

snaynay

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Mar 20, 2013
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10,510
Hi

I've been running two SSD's in RAID0 for some time now, but Windows 8 is plaguing me with occassional freezes and finally given up hope today. I'm not sure if this is hardware, software/driver problems or just crap on my PC.

Anyway, reading up on things today, people report that making sure your SATA drives are running in AHCI fixes some of the W8 freezing issues. So, due to the fact I can't set up RAID and AHCI on my mobo, I feel I may as well sacrifice the RAID setup and just run in AHCI mode...

Here is the problem. In the BIOS, if I configure AHCI and then check the sata ports, both 60gb drives show up. If I go to the Windows installer, only one appears...

Am I missing something, or is this due to them being previously configured as a RAID?

Saying this, I've remembered both drives are plugged into my onboard RAID controller, so putting them back into normal SATA slots may fix this...


However, if there is something I'm really not understanding, please let me know! :D

PS. All OS installers have always been really, really slow to load on my machine. Any idea why?
 

snaynay

Honorable
Mar 20, 2013
9
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10,510


So are you recommending that I just connect my DVD drive, one of the SSD's, install windows, then reconnect the other drives once installed?
 

snaynay

Honorable
Mar 20, 2013
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10,510
Right, after waiting for the 10 mins it takes to get to the HDD selection of the install, it appears that my drive isn't visible to windows, although it is there in the BIOS...

I'll try the other SSD now. Any ideas? Surely it hasn't failed if it's visible in the BIOS?
 

snaynay

Honorable
Mar 20, 2013
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10,510
Right. Windows installed on the second SSD fine. For some reason the first SSD I tried just didn't show up in the installer.

If I plug in the other SSD now, I fail to boot into Windows, it says it is missing an operating system. Yet if I remove the drive again, it boots up fine.

I'm about to try my media HDD, and hope that works, but I have no idea why windows won't boot if two SDDs are plugged in? Is there something to do with AHCI that I could be missing?

Cheers.
 
Becasue the 1st SSD (broken or has the OS) is something wrong, or the 1st SSD connects to the SATAIII_0, the other one (good one) is in SATAIII_1. When you connect them, the PC can't pass the POST (Power-On Self-Test) then the PC will not boot.
 

snaynay

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Mar 20, 2013
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10,510
It passes the POST. It gets to the boot selection, then complains.

For some reason, a restart got my HDD working alongside them. I'll have to test whether this was a fluke or if it will remain working.

As for the other SSD, your probably right in the regards to it trying to RAID itself. For some reason I cannot enter the Intel RAID setup (pressing Ctrl+I during POST on my mobo) at all to try remedy this...

Any plans on how I can nuke it clean?
 

snaynay

Honorable
Mar 20, 2013
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10,510


Genius...

I may be a software developer, but I'm bloody useless at the hardware level...

Right, can I enable RAID, reboot into the RAID configuration, see if I can fix this rubbish, reboot into the bios and switch back to AHCI and the just load into this fresh windows... or will it all break on me and I have to do it again?
 
I try that on win8, and I still can't find the way to work out how to yet. You have to use either raid mode or ahci mode, otherwise the PC will be BSOD, but for win7 you can switch raid and ahci mode.