MSI Z77A-G45 RAID Issues

[Darklighter]

Greetings...

Just got a new MSI MoBo and wanted to RAID 1 my two WD Caviar Black HDDs. However, everytime I enable RAID and reboot it goes to a black screen with two "Z"s randomly placed in the middle. I have tried everything I can think of, but always get the same results. I have successfully installed Windows 7 on one of the drives with AHCI mode enabled, and have also had IDE mode work fine... but as soon as I enable RAID - black screen.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, once I get to the "black screen", it will only boot to that afterwards and needs a CMOS reset to fix.

Everything else on the board seems to be fine. Anyone have any ideas?

SYSTEM:
MSI Z77A-G45 mobo
Intel i5-3570 CPU
Coolermaster Hyper 212+ EVO
8GB Crucial DDR3-1600
EVGA 560Ti 448 Core Classified (Primary)
XFX 260GTX XXX Ed. (Physx)
2 x WD Caviar Black Dual-Proc HDDs
LG DVD Super-Multi Burner
Silverstone Decathalon 850W PSU
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

 

[lopri]

Are you sure you're plugging the drives in correct ports? SATA ports work in pairs for RAID operation.

 

[Darklighter]

Are you sure you're plugging the drives in correct ports? SATA ports work in pairs for RAID operation.

They are plugged into Ports 3 & 4 respectively, yes. However, shouldn't the RAID utility load up regardless?

NOTE: Forgot to mention, once I get to the "black screen", it will only boot to that afterwards and needs a CMOS reset to fix.

Thanks...

 

[Darklighter]

FIXED - Ended up reflashing the BIOS, which restored the RAID utility. BTW, my G15 keyboard would not register the CTRL-I to get into the utility... I had to use a PS/2 keyboard, which required a CMOS reset in order to recognize. Just posting this in case anyone else runs into this.

 

[lopri]

Glad that you've fixed the issue. Yeah, those fancy USB keyboards (esp. wireless ones) could be a trouble-maker sometimes.