onboard RAID on DFI DARK DK790FX

[ZL1Killa]

this is on: LANPARTY DK 790FX-M2RS

well guys, trying to setup a friends pc with just the onboard RAID setup and controller.

I turn the thing on and it is reading everything, and it brings up the "press f3" to configure SATA on the screen ... well I thought it was always f4, but I pressed f3 repeatedly and it continued to boot.

this was with just the 2 drives (74gb raptors WD) that I'm trying to run with 2 cd drives.

I then restart it and try hitting f4 as thats what it always was, still continued to boot to cdrom.


I looked in the BIOS under the SATA stuff, and everything is ON.

the book says :
1. power on pc, press del to go to bios,
2. under integrated peripherals submenu - onchip IDE device
3. configure serial ATA in the appropriate fields
4. escape out and save settings and exit.
5. reboot.

So what configuring is it talking about? All I can see is setting different modes... it doesn't elaborate on this at all.

AND it doesn't help that DFIs account on their club forums has been suspended....LOL

[kazgirl]

well guys, trying to setup a friends pc with just the onboard RAID setup and controller.

I turn the thing on and it is reading everything, and it brings up the "press f3" to configure SATA on the screen ... well I thought it was always f4, but I pressed f3 repeatedly and it continued to boot.

this was with just the 2 drives (74gb raptors WD) that I'm trying to run with 2 cd drives.

I then restart it and try hitting f4 as thats what it always was, still continued to boot to cdrom.


I looked in the BIOS under the SATA stuff, and everything is ON.

the book says :
1. power on pc, press del to go to bios,
2. under integrated peripherals submenu - onchip IDE device
3. configure serial ATA in the appropriate fields
4. escape out and save settings and exit.
5. reboot.

So what configuring is it talking about? All I can see is setting different modes... it doesn't elaborate on this at all.

On the ASUS 790FX there are options for SATA configuration in the BIOS, under storage configuration.

Firstly set "Onchip SATA Channel" to ENABLE

Then there's the "Onchips SATA Type" setting, which has 3 settings avaialable:

1. IDE - For IDE devices
2. AHCI - For AHCI interface with single HDD configsurations
3. RAID - for RAID configurations

Obviously you'll need to ensure that you have the SATA channmel - ENBABLED and the SATA Type set to RAID.

Then when re-starting with the ASUS 790FX you press Ctrl + F to enter the RAID configuration utility for the SB600 controller... and then you specify the RAID settings, once this is done you then proceed to install the OS booting via the CD/DVD and then adding the RAID drivers when prompted to do so during OS installation by using a floppy or USB with the RAID drivers saved to it, its best to download the latest RAID drivers from the mobo manufacturers website....

once this step is completed then OS installation can proceed as normal as it will now detect the RAID array allowing you to set it as the HDD for isntallation of the OS...

Also make sure that you set the boot sequence in the BIOS accordingly... i.e. CD-Rom/HDD/Removable etc..etc

Another known issue you may find is if you are using SATA optical drives, there is a known issue with RAID/AHCI and SATA Optical Drives which causes problems when using SB600.... so its best to use an IDE Optical Drive when running RAID on a SB600 mobo....

[ZL1Killa]

On the ASUS 790FX there are options for SATA configuration in the BIOS, under storage configuration.

Firstly set "Onchip SATA Channel" to ENABLE

Then there's the "Onchips SATA Type" setting, which has 3 settings avaialable:

1. IDE - For IDE devices
2. AHCI - For AHCI interface with single HDD configsurations
3. RAID - for RAID configurations

Obviously you'll need to ensure that you have the SATA channmel - ENBABLED and the SATA Type set to RAID.

Then when re-starting with the ASUS 790FX you press Ctrl + F to enter the RAID configuration utility for the SB600 controller... and then you specify the RAID settings, once this is done you then proceed to install the OS booting via the CD/DVD and then adding the RAID drivers when prompted to do so during OS installation by using a floppy or USB with the RAID drivers saved to it, its best to download the latest RAID drivers from the mobo manufacturers website....

once this step is completed then OS installation can proceed as normal as it will now detect the RAID array allowing you to set it as the HDD for isntallation of the OS...

Also make sure that you set the boot sequence in the BIOS accordingly... i.e. CD-Rom/HDD/Removable etc..etc

Another known issue you may find is if you are using SATA optical drives, there is a known issue with RAID/AHCI and SATA Optical Drives which causes problems when using SB600.... so its best to use an IDE Optical Drive when running RAID on a SB600 mobo....

Nope. Not on this board. I have these mode settings for the SATA drives. Modes 0-4. I have no idea what that does. Thanks for the help/advice though, probably will come in handy later.

pressing ctrl+f does nothing, ctrl+f4 nothing, ctrl+f3 nothing. f3 does nothing f4 does nothing.


what happend to simply hitting keys and going through options and installing things??? Nothing is simple anymore. I mean this thing booted up and it said press "f3" to configure... and just to say it, YES my keyboard works. LOL. I can get to all the other options and such, including quiting the windows installation by hitting f3 , so I know my f3 key works.

[crazydiamond]

Another known issue you may find is if you are using SATA optical drives, there is a known issue with RAID/AHCI and SATA Optical Drives which causes problems when using SB600.... so its best to use an IDE Optical Drive when running RAID on a SB600 mobo....

thats what i thought too, but i ran a raid on the asus m3a with 2 sata hd's and also an sata optical - dont know why it worked but it did just fine...

[Oese]

set usb keyboard to enabled just to be sure...

there are no SIL sata ports on the m2rs, right? putting the optical drives there solved problems in another thread...

[Oese]

btw, the dfi forum is down every 4 weeks i think

[merkk1]

Ok hope i can help i ran raid on that board and i'am trying rember what i did . Frist you have to go into the bios set the sata to raid i think there were 3 things you can pick from 2 ide and one for raid the raid must be trun on . Reboot when it starts it should say something like control + f to go to the raid set-up screen .Make sure you have the newes bios for that board and the floppy
driverers that are link in the in the down load screen for the bios. If you use the new bois and the floppy drivers from the link it will run good .If you try with the old bios the OS will died in about a week and half . Mite boot with a single drive flash the bios than start again using the raid set up .Hope this helps.

[kazgirl]

Hi Ok after reading the manual at the DFI website, I an see what you mean, wow I had no idea the manual documentation was so poor with DFI, most people seem to rave about DFI support, but if the manual is anything to go by, it can't be all that good..

Anyway, looking at the limited stuff in the manual, I imagine they are assuming that users will be familiar with the SATA settings to use, as it doesn't list any of the available settings even the ASUS manuals are more comprehensive than DFI's.

Right... to get RAID to run you should enter the BIOS by pressing DEL, and then as the manual says find the Integrated Peripherals Menu and the Onchip IDE Device setting, and change it from IDE to SATA, and in any subsequent menu make sure that you set the SATA options to RAID.

Save the BIOS settings which will then re-start the PC and now at POST you need to hit the f4 key to enter the RAID COnfiguration menu to configure the RAID array to how you want it, Stripe, Mirror etc....

About the modes 0-4 for the drives I also have no idea what that is about TBH.... its possible that they are related to the SATA type to be used (IDE/AHCI/RAID), however with no concrete info in the manual (Again Very Poor of DFI) I cannot say....

OK scrap all the above...... just found a more complete manual for your mobo....

The info in the original manual is all wrong...

Fist of all the menu you need to go into in the BIOS is not the Onchip IDE Device menu....

You need to go into the Onchip PCI Device in this menu you should find a new menus for "Onchip SATA Controller" and "Onchip SATA Type"

First you need to set the Onchip SATA controller to "ENABLED" which it should be by default anyway...

And then make sure that you set the Onchip SATA Type to "RAID"

Once this is done save and exit the BIOS and upon re-start hit the F4 key to enter the RAID BIOS configuration utility, where you can then configure the RAID array accordingly....

Once you've completed the steps necessary in the RAID Config Utility, re-start, making sure you have the RAID drivers available on floppy or USB key ready to install the OS, and you should be good to go....

BEst wishes..

ps. the link for the full manual for your mobo is here: http://us.dfi.com.tw/Upload/Manual/d...nglish%201.pdf

[ZL1Killa]

will try that sometime tonite. thanks for that post. yeh man this manual doesn't tell you jack crap.

[kazgirl]

No probs....let us know if it works out for you....

[ZL1Killa]

ok, LOL. that did work. Set it to RAID instead of the Native or Legacy options and it let me do CTRL F

now... i gotta figure out how to make the raid set.... as i get options 1-4.

god this is hilarious. Option 2 is mess with LD set... what in the world is LD..... I mean this is seriously making me laugh with all the funky things you have to do nowadays to get RAID setup. Maybe i've just been missing the boat here tho

[ZL1Killa]

ok, figured this beast out. man I tell ya, that RAID configurator SUCKS. you have no indication of what to do.

it sees both hard drives (2x74gb WD raptors) and then you hit 3 and you have to delete the LD, then go to configure key 2 LD (define) and then it sees it and allows you to configure RAID....

jeesh. i'm going to bed now. hahahahhahha

[ZL1Killa]

ok.... now when I get to the windows installation screen and hit enter to install, it then tells me that there are no hard drives? the raid controller posted and said they were there..???

do I have to go back into the bios and set them back to native ide or something?

[yaska]

put your diskete from your mainboard, on windows installation press F6

[Brother Esau]

This is the reason why I say that you need a dedicated Hardware Raid Controller to really utilize this board

[kazgirl]

ok.... now when I get to the windows installation screen and hit enter to install, it then tells me that there are no hard drives? the raid controller posted and said they were there..???

do I have to go back into the bios and set them back to native ide or something?

HI as already said above...

This is where the RAID drivers from the mobo manufacturers website come in... download them and save them to a floppy disk, or USB key...

Then when Windows gets to the point where it says there are no HDD's, there should be (In Vista) a link to click on "Load Drivers", at the bottom left of the screen (I think...!!) anyway somewhere there it'll have Load Drivers that you can click on... .....otherwise as mentioned above hit F6 when prompted to install Drivers ( For XP)

THis will open a browse window to browse to the floppy disk/USB key that you have the RAID drivers saved to... so just navigate to the them and then just install the available drivers one at a time, you'll sometimes get a SATA Controller driver and also a AHCI.sys driver....

Once these have been installed the OS should then be able to detect the new RAID array.

Best wishes

[merkk1]

First off did you up-date that board bios ? there a bois update just for raid on that dfi board the floppy drivers you need that will work with that new board bois is posted right in the down link for the bois .I can tell you frist hand you dont do that bios update and use the floppy drivers that are in that link that you will be lucky if the OS last for more than 2 weeks before going belly up .