ASUS X99 won't allow bootable RAID

[Earwax]

I used the ez-mode tool in the BIOS to create a RAID 0 array of a pair of Samsung EVO 840 500GB SSDs. These drives are connected to the top two SATA ports on the mobo.

The utility creates the RAID array without problems, however there is no way for me to select it as a bootable drive. I am able to install the intel RTS drivers during windows installation and the windows setup can even see the drive fine, however it won't let me install windows to the drive because it says it is not bootable.

Any ideas on how I can configure my BIOS to allow the RAID 0 array to be a bootable drive?

 

[ochadd]

Are they 100% plugged into the Intel SATA ports according to the manual? If there is a 3rd party SATA controller on the board.

 

[Earwax]

Yes, they're both plugged into channels 1 and 2 which are intel RTS capable. There is an m.2 expansion card I installed into a PCI slot but I don't think either of my drives are m.2 compliant. I'm going to post screens soon if I can't get it figured out.

I'll try different SATA ports just to see if it changes anything but I'm pretty certain ports 1-5 are all intel RTS capable. I did read that RAID mode may not be supported on channels 6-9

 

[Earwax]

Here are screens from the BIOS, still no luck getting it to show the RAID array as a bootable drive.

http://imgur.com/a/my4xh

 

[Earwax]

Anyone else that is having this issue, this workaround appears to be working for me:

I disabled Fast Boot, went into the CSM and Enabled CSM and set every field in it to Legacy Only. Somehow this allowed the Intel RAID manager to run ahead of the UEFI BIOS, and I erased and recreated the boot array inside the Intel program after I hit CTRL+I. Now when I boot into the UEFI BIOS the drive is showing up as Intel: BOOT. (I named the drive boot). It is now listed as bootable. I'm going to attempt the install, hope all goes well

 

[AdamK47]

Enabling CSM is the key. You won't get the Intel RAID BIOS otherwise.

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

I used the ez-mode tool in the BIOS to create a RAID 0 array of a pair of Samsung EVO 840 500GB SSDs. These drives are connected to the top two SATA ports on the mobo.

The utility creates the RAID array without problems, however there is no way for me to select it as a bootable drive. I am able to install the intel RTS drivers during windows installation and the windows setup can even see the drive fine, however it won't let me install windows to the drive because it says it is not bootable.

Any ideas on how I can configure my BIOS to allow the RAID 0 array to be a bootable drive?

Because in order to install everything, you need to do so in ICH wat not(in the Sata settings), then after drivers installed and Windows installed you swich it back to RAID on the sata settings....................

 

[Darksinnder]

Are they 100% plugged into the Intel SATA ports according to the manual? If there is a 3rd party SATA controller on the board.

x99 is all intel chipset. no 3rd party controllers for sata on any board that i've seen. which is great.

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

With the raid connected>boot>bois> set sata to AICH mode> reboot from windows disk>install Intel raid drivers>after completely installing windows go back in to the BIOS> set sata to Raid.

 

[dongua]

Did you ever get this to work? I'm in the same boat, Windows 7 Ultimate doesn't see the RAID0 SSD drive as bootable.

 

[Diogenes2]

I don't think you are going to get the RAID to boot, without installing Windows with the BIOS set to RAID.

 

[Z15CAM]

After setting up your MB BIOS Intel SATA Channel Raid array to include Members and None Members AHCI individual Drives,use the Win7 Boot DVD and choose CMD Diskpart to partition your RAID-0 SSD array. Particularly with one 100Mb to 32GB Primary DOS Partition Set Active and format it Fat 32 - Don't forget to use the Diskpart Partitioning alignment command, iif you're using SSD Media.

You can Partition the Array any you want with Diskpart but that 1st Partition has to be DOS FAT32 Set "ACTIVE" in order for the MB BIOS to recognized it as the OS Boot Partition. The Win7 and up Installations will automatically install the Boot Files there.

Extended DOS with the 1st Logical Volume say 64GB for your Win NTFS and a series of logical Drives after that - Whatever you want through RAM Loaded CMD or after the OS has Booted.

Remember that Fat32 is limited to a 32GB Volume. BEST Media for GHOST Sys-Prep BackUp's as Long as it not bigger then 32GB's.

The Win7 SetUp should automatically load the Intel Raid SATA Driver but if you have issues just place the driver on a thumb and include it to load during the Setup run. You should have no problems dumping a Sys-Prep Win7 image onto a RAID array either as the OS will load the Intel SATA RAID Driver upon a ReBoot _ That's why you should run Sys-Prep before Imaging so the Image will scan and load the correct Driver onto your NEW Hardware. The latest Intel RST driver can be download and installed later - This is irreverent to the Basic MS Win7 SATA Raid Mode Driver.

You require your BIOS SATA Channels Set as RAID - None array Media Members are AHCI.

Prepare your RAID Media first using Diskpart with that important Primary DOS FAT32 Partition set "ACTIVE" and ALIGN IT when using SSD's so that your MB and Win 7 SetUp will see it.

Personally I keep Win7 32 and 64-Bit System Prep DOS GHOST Images spanned at 700MB's OnHand stored on DOS Boot-able Fat32 32GB Volume USB Thumbs - Never know if you have to use a DOS boot-able Sys-Prep Win7 CD Image or load DOS into RAM with a Floppy ;o )

Be aware there is a WAR regarding MB PS-2 and USB BIOS DOS supported Keyboards.

In all truthfulness - I don't why the OP wants to load the OS in SSD RAID-0, when a single SSD will do the job. An Expendable Playground Yes but NOT the OS unless He or She is a Backup Wizard and knows their Hardware inside out and with a lot of PC background info - Like Me.

Due to my designed Backup's, the Hardware and OS is Expendable, My Personal Info is IMPORTANT.

Learn how to run or HACK MS Win Sys-Prep DOS Images - That's if your using MS, Linux or BSD and learn how to keep you personal info separate on preservable drives. I don't give a crap about anyone hacking my system because there's nothing there but the system.

I'm so dyslexic and half blind - Please excuse me.

One thing MS has Sys-Prep - Make sure it's working before you DOS Image - You only got 3 attempts but you can RESET a Single Mode ;o)

And once you figured that out you had better shut down all E-Mail accounts and buy into a new ISP - LOL.

 

[Diogenes2]

That sounds very complex..

With my Asrock X99 Extreme 4 all I had to do was:

• Set the SATA controller mode to RAID
• Reboot and press Ctrl+I to invoke the RAID BIOS
• Configure the RAID ( Assign drives, etc.. )
• Reboot with the Windows Install disk, and have the Intel SATA drivers available on a USB drive.
• Proceed with Windows install after using the " Install Drivers " option.

 

[Z15CAM]

That sounds very complex..

With my Asrock X99 Extreme 4 all I had to do was:

• Set the SATA controller mode to RAID
• Reboot and press Ctrl+I to invoke the RAID BIOS
• Configure the RAID ( Assign drives, etc.. )
• Reboot with the Windows Install disk, and have the Intel SATA drivers available on a USB drive.
• Proceed with Windows install after using the " Install Drivers " option.

You are correct but I'm leaving room to Partition and design your RAID-0 media before hand so that you can organize your personal files yet have DOS FAT32 32GB volumes for BackUp Images which can Over-Write the OS in under 10 minutes. Granted I certainly would not place DOS BackUp Images on a RAID Array ;o)

I see no use to Boot into a Raid-0 array when you can use the RAID-O media as a FAST Work Station or play Games on.

I also place all my Window slough files and App caching into a RAMDisk Partition which automatically clears with a ReBoot - Saves excessive writes to the OS Boot SSD.

 

[Diogenes2]

I run my OS and all apps from SSD RAID 0. Very responsive..

I have a spare SSD that I can clone my RAID to in about 6 minutes.. I do it almost daily, and always after a significant change, like installing an application.

The clone would allow me to recover in the time it takes me to reboot, with no need to fuss with restoring a backup image or files..

I have several TB of HDD's for storage & backup of all personal files..

But yes, there are different ways of doing things, that work better or worse depending on what suits your work-style..

 

[Z15CAM]

You can open the Win7 Installation ISO with WinISO and add the Intel SATA RAID Driver: However, I suspect the Win7 SP1 ISO Installation already has the driver which saves you from having to browse for the driver when running the Win7 SetUp.

Adding the driver to the Basic Win7 SetUp ISO and Editing the SetUp BAT file is probably more then the average user is willing to put up with.

Hence Browse for the Intel Sata Raid Driver on a separate USB Thumb when running the Win7 SetUp..

 

[Synymata]

Anyone else that is having this issue, this workaround appears to be working for me:

I disabled Fast Boot, went into the CSM and Enabled CSM and set every field in it to Legacy Only. Somehow this allowed the Intel RAID manager to run ahead of the UEFI BIOS, and I erased and recreated the boot array inside the Intel program after I hit CTRL+I. Now when I boot into the UEFI BIOS the drive is showing up as Intel: BOOT. (I named the drive boot). It is now listed as bootable. I'm going to attempt the install, hope all goes well

Made an account just to say this is exactly what made my Windows 10 install kick in on a ASRock x99 Extreme4 Mobo. Whoever stumbles in here - try this!

 

[Michael McCorkle]

Made an account just to say this is exactly what made my Windows 10 install kick in on a ASRock x99 Extreme4 Mobo. Whoever stumbles in here - try this!

Glad you wrote that cause I was setting up my asus x99 deluxe ii and first I didnt see that I could use the bottom 4 6G ports due to chipset issues and had to use the top 4. Then after that I went into the bios and instead of the easyz wizard or whatever its called I just used Advanced Mode\Advanced\ (Just drill down till you find the Raid settings in one of the tabs up top) and setup the raid 5 using the top for sata ports (Id advise setting up manually cause in the bios options you can see all the setting and your drives plus to delete the array you would have to go back in there to remove anyway. Now I could boot to the jump drive and see the drive but it said I couldnt load anything (it made it sound like it wasnt a bootable partition).... till I read this, but all I did was go into the CSM and change the UEFI to legacy only and saved (which makes those setting Enabled\uefi and legacy oprom\legacy\legacy\legacy) and reboot then when I booted back into the Win10 Jump drive even though it was still yellow It let me delete the partition (which took the yellow BS off the drive) and click next!!!!
I have 4 160GB velociraptor drives in raid 5 in stalled on windows 10 pro and everything looks good so far.
Thanks so much

 

[Gatos De La Muerte]

Thanks to the ones saying to switch from UEFI to legacy
it did feel strange that I couldn't even see it in the boot options

 

[BonzaiDuck]

A Footnote to Z15CAM and Diogenes2 --

[Z-man -- you must have gone into hibernation. I was beginning to worry that you had punched out and into the next life . . . ]

The last time I used RAID before a 2-year flirtation with IRST caching in which it was simply a required Storage Mode, it was for a 4x HDD RAID5 array on a 3Ware hardware controller. I initially built the system with a single boot-system disk configured under RAID mode. I think it was then possible to add disks, enter the 3Ware BIOS, and it would simply build a RAID5 array by converting the original disk with its files. If that wasn't the way I remember it, then I simply created an array in the BIOS, and then cloned the original disk to it -- but it would certainly have been pre-installed with the drive in RAID mode.

But I'd also done it with onboard Intel controllers. The easiest way to do this (so I would THINK) is as Diogenes suggests. You simply create the array first by configuring the motherboard BIOS, then by entering the controller BIOS and setting it up. After that, install Windows with the SATA RAID drivers ready on a thumb drive.

Setting it up is a "one-time-trouble" investment of time. Maintenance was never too much an imposition when it was necessary. But with the options now available, I set everything up in AHCI mode now, and use a virtual-disk drive-pool as an alternative to some various RAID features. I think one of the reasons I used in justification was that I can simply pull any AHCI disk from one system and read it from another in some . . . emergency.