ASUS P9X79 LE Cannot install to Raid....

jsterrett

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Mar 24, 2013
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I am trying to install Windows 7 64-bit to an ASUS P9X79 LE motherboard. I have two 500gb sata hard drives in a Raid0. I am able to load into the windows installer, but it does not see the raid array. BIOS is set to SATA>RAID, and i can see individual drives (if connected) once I load the IRST driver.

I have tried multiple pairs of drives with no success.

Have also tried SATA ports 1&2, 3&4, and 5&6 with no changes.

Install media is a 8gb USB flash drive with Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64 bit and Intel RSTe drivers (latest from Intel).

BIOS has been updated to 3501.

I have tried jaquith's instructions posted here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/303873-30-wont-resume-sleep-booted-raid#t2068879

Hardware:
ASUS P9X79 LE motherboard.
i7-3930K Processor
24gb (6x4gb) GSkill Ripjaws 12800 DDR3
NVidia 9800GTX 512MB PCIe
Antec 650w PSU (can't see model without pulling the PSU)
2x WD5000AAKS in RAID0

Any help in solving this issue would be greatly appreciated.
 
After setting SATA to RAID, then Ctrl+I to configure the RAID array. HDDs connected to the gray or blue SATA ports.
Then start installing Windows and load the SATA driver when asked where to install Windows.
 

jsterrett

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Mar 24, 2013
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Yeah, building the array is not my problem...

The problem is no matter what drives I use or how I build the array (mirror, stripe), the windows installer does not see the array, even after the driver is loaded.

Pretty sure I am using the correct driver. If I hook up a single drive with SATA set to RAID, the installer doesn't see that either until I load the necessary driver.
 

jsterrett

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Mar 24, 2013
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iaStorA, found in IRST drivers from ASUS website, and RSTe drivers from Intel's website. Both are Version 3.0.6.1093

 

jsterrett

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Mar 24, 2013
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Those drivers did not work either, but I think I may know what the problem is now. It appears that for some reason my windows installer is not seeing the drivers as signed by microsoft, and not allowing them to load. I am going to try slipstreaming the drivers into my installation media using RT 7 Lite, which has the option to "Force Unsigned Driver Integration".

I will post again if it works.
 

jsterrett

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Mar 24, 2013
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RT 7 Lite didn't work. Also tried tried disabling device driver signature enforcement prior to booting the installer, still no dice.

Below are pictures of the 2 drivers I am trying to install, as well as the error message that pops up after attempting to load the driver.

2013-04-02_00-39-50_406_zps4710fd1b.jpg


2013-04-02_00-39-59_914_zps5c2d85a9.jpg


2013-04-02_00-40-19_550_zps258648a3.jpg
 

jsterrett

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Mar 24, 2013
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So, made a bit of progress in figuring this out.

I think my main issue was my install disk. It is a combo installer containing all 32 and 64 bit versions of windows. I think this is why I could not get it to accept a 64-bit driver. I made a new USB key with only 64-bit Home Premium (what I am installing) and it recognized a solitary sata drive right away. Still wont see the raid drives however. I am going to go back through all the drivers I have tried however and see if one works.

As a fallback, I think I could probably get away with installing to a single disk (using the raid drivers and BIOS set to raid), installing all updated drivers, and then copying the whole thing over to the raid drives.
 

jsterrett

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Mar 24, 2013
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Damn, still won't see the raid array. Installing to a single disk now (with BIOS set to RAID and RAID Drivers), and will try ghosting over to the array once install is complete.
 

boomhowar

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Jun 10, 2008
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Hey jsterrett, thought I would post what I've found so far. I have the same board and have been wracking my brain trying to figure out why my raid won't work. I'm coming from an old build with a raid 0 array already installed. I've mirrored to a single HD and then mirrored back to my raid 0 as I was using a gigabyte controller previously.

What I've discovered - the 32 bit driver works...you can install 32 bit OS and raid works as expected. The problem seems to be in the iastora 64 bit version where it will not load in the installation, nor will it load while booting into windows. Since I already had a working partition, when I mirrored the array it would bsod while in Raid mode in the bios...I'd switch back to achi and my single HD would boot.

I then was able to get my Raid 0 recognized in windows when booting with my single HD (my raid 0 array that I created when bios was set to Raid would show up)...for clarification, when booting with single HD into windows the bios was set to achi and Intel Rapid Storage Manager some how recognized my Raid 0 array. I'm guessing this was more of a software raid at this point because each of the drives are seen independent while booting. This part is getting long, but the reason why I'm explaining this is I realized that when my Raid 0 was recognized in windows it was using the iastorf driver...which I'm guessing is the achi driver...this is also why I believe it was more of a software raid at this point.

I've now given up on getting my raid 0 to work. My conclusion is that there is something wrong with intel's 64 bit iastora driver for the x79 chipset. I've search many other forums with people recommending slip-streaming an installation disk but encountering the same problem.

Please update if you find a way to get your Raid 0 working. Good luck.
 

jsterrett

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Mar 24, 2013
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Well, as it turns out I had 2 separate problems.

First, the install disc/usb I had created was using the 32-bit install.wim file, which was causing the 64-bit driver not to load. Using a 64-bit ONLY install disc allowed me to load the driver.

The second problem was that somehow during my original installation attempts, the 2 drives I was trying to use had their metadata corrupted, at least as far as this board was concerned. The drives worked perfectly fine in several other boards, both as single drives and in RAID arrays. This leads me to believe that the onboard drive controller maintains it's own data about connected drives, but about that I am not sure.

So, what finally worked for me:
A) Two fresh SATA drives,
B) 64-bit installation media (64-bit install.wim file)
 
Apr 26, 2014
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From Newegg Review - Be sure to set raid in bios but do not install more than one HD unti windows is fully installed. Be sure to use driver " Version 3.5.0.1092&3.5.0.109 " from asus website. 3.6 version has known issue (per asus tech rep)
When windows shows no hard drive to install to, click "load driver" and point to 3.5 driver you copied to your thumb drive.
(if installing 64bit OS, 64 bits raid driver may not show drive and you may have to use 32bit) After choosing 64bit driver, wait a few seconds and see if hard drive appears, it does not show up instantly after completing load driver. If it doesn't show after 15 seconds then use 32bit driver again wait 15 seconds HD should appear)

After windows installs, install additional hard drives and setup raid in bios (ctrl+i). Should be good to go from there.

Don't forget to format all your drives, especially SSD's before trying to install windows.