Getting RAID to work on the ASUS Maximus SE

[Wolf2000me]

Brilliant, another dillema solved, and you did it all by yourself... SATA 1 & 2 may have been the secret for raid, but yeah, you may want to back down your OC if there's more probs. And if your still waiting on a Case, i would recomend the Antec 900, but that's full of air, you want to go water.

Don't forget, you can run External E-SATA straight off the SATA on board, if you want to keep some airflow thro from the front fans, 4 HD is enough there, i got the E-Sata connected to 5 & 6 Ports, working very stable.

Guess i'm being carefull at only 3GHz CPU, temps at load 55 C -NB and 45 C -CPU, so there's room for temps, i will push it up this later as i get organised and things prove to be alright.

Also Wolfy, Wouldn't mind to know your final OC changes when you get things set up with suitable RAM and yo water slushing thro.... cool.

Not so brilliant after all...
It did happen again when I ran a standard 30 min OCCT test. This time the RAID BIOS reported an error on one of the drives, again the same drive. So maybe that drive is about to go to the eternal disk lands. I just ordered 2 raptors which I'm going to pick up after work. I'll know at least of one variable out of the equasion.
The case I ordered was lost in transit so that's why I still don't have it, along with my watercooling gear. It's going to arrive today, or someone is going to get a very annoyed me on the line.
I ordered a Thermalright Mozart case. Plenty of room to store the dual rad along with all the rest.

Cheers

edit: Of course I will post my oc results. At this point I'm at 388x9. I set 1.33v vcore in the bios but my monitoring tools report 1.24v. I'm also still at bios version 0505.

[magica]

Alot of drives cant handle raid O and soon fail. Talking from experience. Thats why i dont use anything else but RAID EDITION WD drives in Raid O anymore. Very stable ,built better with a 5 year warranty. Raid o needs defraged more too.

[Wolf2000me]

I got rid of my RAID problems, and as a nice bonus this also cured the audio feedback I got from the board during I/O.
I got 2 74Gb Raptors, set them up with XP Pro2 with updated RAID controller drivers. The old ones are going to be up for testing individually.
I did a quick bench with HD-Tach, which looks good enough to me. I also ran OCCT for 2 hours without a problem. I will of course play with it a bit more. I'm at the bios settings I was when I experienced most of my previous problems.
I guess I'm up for level 2 now

[Talonman]

I need help, and have never messed with a BIOS, or built a system from scratch before so I know there are large holes in my game.

I am installing fresh Vista64 Ultimate on 2 raptors that have only been initialized on another system, but never used.

I successfully flashed to BIOS 907.

When my system boots I hit the F8 key to enter the BIOS setup.

It displayes:
SATA1 :[WDC WD1500ADFD-00N]
SATA2 :[WDC WD1500ADFD-00N]
SATA3 :[WDC WD7500AAKS-00R]
SATA4 :[SAMSUNG SP2504C]
SATA5 :[HL-DT-STDVDRRW GSA]
SATA6 :[Not Detected]

I have my SATA Configuration set to RAID

I want SATA1 and SATA2 in RAID0 for OS and games.
SATA3 and 4 are general storage, not to be RAIDed up.
SATA 5 is my CD ROM, and 6 is open.

If I boot with my Vista in the CD ROM, it tells me that no drives are available on the system to install Vista....

How can I get the drives available to the system from the BIOS?

When will it askme how I want my RAID configured?

[Talonman]

Another odd thing that is going on....

I have to re-boot many times to get the system to post.
Sometimes the LCD poster sits at CPU INIT, or DET DRAM. I usually have turn the system off for 5 minutes to get passed that.

When my system does post, and I hit the 'delete' key to enter the BIOS, if I let it set too long, the BOIS freezes and becomes non responsive. When it does lock up, the LCD POST just reads 'EN SETUP'.

Under SATA Configuration, should I select RAID or AHCI?

I never have seen this screen yet:

Hit (Ctrl + I) after post and entered the Intel Matreix Manager and set my Raptors as a RAID set:

[RickCain]

Select RAID for the SATA..... I also disabled the Micron RAID controller.

It took several reboots after getting everything right before I could choose my RAID0 drive as something that is bootable.

[Talonman]

Thanks!!! RAID it is...

I still dont know how to select my RAID drives that I want.

I will hunt for the Micron RAID controller to disable it too.

[Talonman]

In the BIOS, under Advanced, I found J-Micron PATA/SATA Controller.
It was set to enabled by default.
I manually changed it to Disabled, then f10 to save and exit.
Should I be hitting the button next to reset, or the button on the back of the PC when I make changes to the BIOS?

[Raver]

Talonman plug only the drives you want your OS to be on for now, i'll make things easier.

Make sure you get the drivers from the Intel website
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...ProductID=2101
There are 2 downloads you need.
1. RAID/AHCI Software - Intel® Matrix Storage Manager (5615KB) 7.8.0.1012 11/9/2007
2. 64-bit Floppy Configuration Utility for Intel® Matrix Storage Manager (322KB)

Create a floppy with the #2 driver, you will need this when installing Vista64, you will see an option for this on the bottom at the point when it asks you on what drive you want to install Vista.

Set RAID in the BIOS save settings, reboot, make sure also you are not overclocked as this can add to install issues.

When the system is rebooting you should then see the Intel RAID setup screen, enter it by hitting CTRL-I, setup your RAID partitions.

I'll be back in a couple of hours, I'll help you if youre still stuck.
I saw you call for help in the overclocking part2 thread

[Talonman]

Thanks buddy!! I made the floppy.

I wish windows would start to install withought telling me I have no drives attached to the system.

I will unplug the other 2 general storage drives...

[~aoe~]

@Talonman:

Firstly, I think you need to resolve your system stability issues before trying to load the OS. I've been following your thread on water cooling this board, so know where you're up to with the build (congrats on finally receiving the EK bits ).

Have you checked your temps in BIOS yet? I'd suggest going into the hardware monitor as soon as you get into BIOS and let it sit there for a few mins to see how hot your CPU gets. Are you running stock at this time or have you already tried to overclock? If not stock, I suggest setting at stock for the OS load.

If your CPU temps are ok, I'd then run memtest86+ to check the memory is stable.

If the system is still not stable (BIOS should not freeze), then I'd look to disconnect all unnecessary components in an attempt to isolate the problem.

Once everything is stable, then you need to set your SATA to RAID as already suggested. Then you need to go into the matrix RAID configuration (the screen you haven't managed to get into yet). Once there, the 2 disks that you said were previously set up as RAID will most likely show as RAID disks, and this RAID will need to be deleted before creating the new RAID (I've had this problem myself when switching RAID disks to another system).

Once the RAID is set up, then Vista should have all the drivers available on the installation CD to recognise your RAID. At least, that was the case with my Vista Ultimate 64 edition.

Hope this helps.

[Talonman]

The system hangs the most consistantly trying to post at DET DRAM, on the LCD poster.

I am only runing stock speed on the CPU, Idont know how to OC yet. The drives were only initialized using Vista32 as a regular old format drive. No RAID. I then used a program called Wipedrive I baught, to make my install go smoother...

I had heard Raptors do better on a fresh install if they were pre-initialized, and 0's written on them using Wipedrive.

I have not seen the hardware monitor section in the BIOS yet. The next lucky boot when my system allowes me access to the BIOS, I will look.

I will run memtest as soon as I figure out how to get it over to the system, and be able to see it in a directory.

Mabey I should take some ram back out? This waiting 10 of 15 minutes with the system off, to get the BIOS to work is driving me batty.

[~aoe~]

The memtest86+ site provides a number of downloads to create bootable CD/USB key/floppy. I personally use a CD. You then just need to put in the CD and boot up. I'd check the temps first though to eliminate that as a problem.

From your symptoms (BIOS freezing and then working again after left for 15mins) it sounds like temp problems - although this is just a guess. I'd recheck the mounting on the CPU and NB (also suggested by Jedda in your other thread).

Edit: removing some of the RAM wouldn't be a bad idea. Will help to isolate/eliminate that as a problem.

[Talonman]

OK..
My ram is rated at 1.8 volts. Will the Maximus'es overvolt .1 hurt it? I dont know how to change that yet

I did take some ram back out.
Just the 2 Raptors are hooked up now as far as Drives go.
system posted.
Found hardware monitor:
CPU - 11C
MB - 22C
NB - 19.5C
SB - 23C

System reads CD ROM and tries to install Vista64.
I get the bar - Windows is loading files.
It is starting to install!!
I hope I figure out when RAID comes in!

[Renegade5399]

Talonman plug only the drives you want your OS to be on for now, i'll make things easier.

Make sure you get the drivers from the Intel website
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...ProductID=2101
There are 2 downloads you need.
1. RAID/AHCI Software - Intel® Matrix Storage Manager (5615KB) 7.8.0.1012 11/9/2007
2. 64-bit Floppy Configuration Utility for Intel® Matrix Storage Manager (322KB)

Create a floppy with the #2 driver, you will need this when installing Vista64, you will see an option for this on the bottom at the point when it asks you on what drive you want to install Vista.

Set RAID in the BIOS save settings, reboot, make sure also you are not overclocked as this can add to install issues.

When the system is rebooting you should then see the Intel RAID setup screen, enter it by hitting CTRL-I, setup your RAID partitions.

I'll be back in a couple of hours, I'll help you if youre still stuck.
I saw you call for help in the overclocking part2 thread

You should attach all the drives you're going to be running before you do your OS install. Adding drive after the fact can cause the RAID array to not boot. One should ALWAYS have ALL drives connected before running your OS install.

The system hangs the most consistantly trying to post at DET DRAM, on the LCD poster.

I am only runing stock speed on the CPU, Idont know how to OC yet. The drives were only initialized using Vista32 as a regular old format drive. No RAID. I then used a program called Wipedrive I baught, to make my install go smoother...

I had heard Raptors do better on a fresh install if they were pre-initialized, and 0's written on them using Wipedrive.

I have not seen the hardware monitor section in the BIOS yet. The next lucky boot when my system allowes me access to the BIOS, I will look.

I will run memtest as soon as I figure out how to get it over to the system, and be able to see it in a directory.

Mabey I should take some ram back out? This waiting 10 of 15 minutes with the system off, to get the BIOS to work is driving me batty.

I was also having this booting issue. I had to bump my RAM volts to 2.0-2.1 and bump the NB volts up a little. The issue went away after that.

[Talonman]

If anything, I wanted to lower my memory down to 1.7V in the bios, so they will get the required 1.8v they were designed to use. I hadent even considered raising the voltage. I guess the .1 overvolt isn't putting me too much at risk

I am at the 'Where do you want to install windows screen'.

It shows the only 2 drives I intend to RAID. (Both Raptors)

It has a load Driver option. This is where the Matrix floppy comes in correct?

I selected load driver, and pointed it to the floppy.
Intel(r) ICH8R/ICH9R SATA RAID Controller (A:\iastor.inf) was the only option.
I selected Next.
It came back to the 'Where do you want to install windows screen' it has:
Disk 0 Partition 1 RaptorA150GB total size-139.7 Free space - 139.6 type-Primary
Disk 1 Partition 1 RaptorB150GB total size-139.7 Free space - 139.6 type-Primary
is this correct?

I want to use both of the intire disks for OS and games.

My options are Next, Load driver, and Drive options (advanced)

[Talonman]

I just selected Next, and files are copying...

Should I have my cable modem plugged into my new system now?
Will it try to update Windows during the install?

Currently 0% complete on the copy.
CD is spinning though....
Copy completed... Expanding files now.

[~aoe~]

Sounds like the drives haven't been set up as RAID. When you define RAID, the Vista installation should only see 1 drive (the RAID).

You need to configure the RAID first. A previous poster said that you need to press <CTRL> + I to enter the RAID configuration. There should be a message for this just after POST. If not, just keep hitting <CTRL> + I and hope for the best.

Note: this option is probably only available if you have correctly defined the SATA drive option in BIOS to RAID.

[WFO]

I selected load driver, and pointed it to the floppy.
Intel(r) ICH8R/ICH9R SATA RAID Controller (A:\iastor.inf) was the only option.
I selected Next.
It came back to the 'Where do you want to install windows screen' it has:
Disk 0 Partition 1 RaptorA150GB total size-139.7 Free space - 139.6 type-Primary
Disk 1 Partition 1 RaptorB150GB total size-139.7 Free space - 139.6 type-Primary
is this correct?



My options are Next, Load driver, and Drive options (advanced)

Hi Talonman:

Based on the above you never went into the raid bios to setup the raid array. With all the frustration, you were probably happy to get that far. You will have to set up the array and reinstall. As 2 others have pointed out, after post, you need to hit Ctrl+I after post to go into the raid bios. It is there you will see the screen shots you posted. While loading Windows both disks should be listed as one. and labeled disk 0. Step by step instructions start on page 5-35 of the manual. Good luck!!!

[magica]

QUOTED : You should attach all the drives you're going to be running before you do your OS install. Adding drive after the fact can cause the RAID array to not boot. One should ALWAYS have ALL drives connected before running your OS install. QUOTED~

not true. The cause of not rebooting is simply because the boot order did not get adjusted. One should absolutley load, format and partition raid drives with out others hanging off system causing confusion. Once raid is setup , shut down add drives and windows will find them and load drivers for them then you reboot, double check boot order. Its that simple.

The bottom line is if you dont know how to go into the bios and resetup your boot order then you shouldnt be putting a computer together.

[Talonman]

OK, Thanks guys...

Memtest is rinning on my 2GB.

I have to go off the grid for a while, but will return shortly and try the Control I and see if it comes up this time...

Another odd thing is my new system wont access the internet even after windows installed. Do I need a 64bit SB4200 driver for road runner to kick in?

Be back soon.

Thanks for all the help too.

[Giuliano]

FWIW, I just installed Vista 64 on a 2-disk RAID-0 array on my Maximus Extreme, and it recognized the array just fine without having to load drivers at install.

1.5 TB C: drive, FTW!

[dude_500]

No, you don't need a disk for this raid system on vista (you do on xp). Just turn on RAID in bios rather than ACPI or whatever the other one is. Then at boot it'll say 'press ctrl+I to enter raid set' for a second and press it then which takes you to the setup menu. Hit create new RAID volume, set it to RAID0(Stripe), set the strip size (I personally use 64KB... they say lower is for server and higher is for general computer usage.) Select the two drives that you want in the RAID and leave out the ones you don't want. Hit create volume and it's done. Windows now sees those two drives as one.

[Raver]

If you are not seeing the CTRL-I Intel RAID setup screen you need to check in you BIOS if you did in fact select RAID.

Boot into BIOS
MAIN TAB, Sata Configuration.
Sata Configuration [Enhanced]
Configure SATA as [RAID] <-----
Save and exit.

Go back into BIOS and recheck this setting, maybe your BIOS is buggy and doesnt keep the setting, CLR CMOS will fix this if needed.

If setting stayed at Configure SATA as [RAID] then you should see the Intel RAID setup screen.

You then configure your RAID array...

Upon rebooting go back into BIOS and make sure that in the BOOT TAB you select your RAID array as the 2nd drive, your first drive should be your DVD or CDROM containing your Vista disk.

"I wish windows would start to install withought telling me I have no drives attached to the system."

This message will appear usually if your RAID array is not 1st or 2nd drive in the BOOT order in BIOS BOOT TAB.

Also if you install an OS with other drives already containing an OS, Windows might change your NTLoader file and then you will see a message when booting asking what OS you want to boot in, I avoid this situation by unplugging other drives that have an OS installed on them before I install another OS on a diffrent drive.

The reason for this is if one OS gets corrupted and you need to reinstall you will loose the NTLoader file and you wont be able to boot into your other OS's you had running on the other drives, forcing you to reinstall all of the OS's.

By installing 1 OS on a RAID array or single drive while other drives are disconnected prevents the NTLoader file situation.

I then select in the BIOS what drive I want to boot off of, this keeps all of my OS's independant of each other.

You can add your drives later but your BOOT order will change you then need to check what drive you want to boot off of first in the bios.

When you add your other drives later Windows will initialise the drive by asking you how to configure it.

If it doesnt just go into Administartion Tools, Computer Management, Disk Management and add it there.

[Talonman]

Wow, thanks for all the info guys! I'm back after it! I did get into the Control-I screen. The option was there to create new Raid, but when selected, nothing happened. I hit enter quite a few times but nothing. The Esc key did let me confirm my exit, but when the Y was selected, nothing happened. I was expecting a re-boot? Had to use the power button.

I am re checking my BIOS settings one more time before going after the Control-I screen again to see if it responds any differently.

My SATA Configuration is still remembering my RAID selection.

One thing that bothers me. Section 5.4.3 in the book, step 5 reads:
Select the item Onboard Serial-ATA BOOTROM, press enter, then select Enabled from the options.
I currently don't see what I am supossed to select here, nor understand it's meaning.

My boot device priority is currently set to:
1st Floppy drive (I have one just in the the install)
2nd RAID:WDC WD1500ADF
3rd CDROM.

Under Hard Disk Drives:
1st RAID:WDC WD1500ADF
2nd RAID:WDC WD1500ADF
3rd USB

Feeling good... Going for another Control-I, to see what's, what.

It's working!!

Raid Vol
ID --
0 --Speedy Raid0(Stripe) Strip-128K Size279.5GB status-Normal Bootable-YES

Physical Disks:
Port -------- Drive model ---------- Serial# --------- Size ----Type/status(vol ID)
0 ----- WDC WD1500ADFD-0 WD-WMAP41799594 -- 139.7GB -- Member Disk(0)
1 ------WDC WD1500ADFD-0 WD-WMAP41796208 -- 139.7GB -- Member Disk(0)

Installing Windows again!

So should I manually load the latest drivers I downloaded to my floppy, or just let Vista load one for me?