Raid Help on MSi GD70

[HolyCow02]

So I have two new WD Caviar Black 500GB HDD that I want to RAID. I installed the RAID controller that came with the mobo drivers. In the BIOS, i set the necessary ( I think) setting from IDE to RAID. When I saved and exited, I got a screen that popped up and said RAID Controller blah blah blah, press CTRL F to enter. So I go in and set up an new array in RAID 1 with Fast INIT off, and picked the two WD's for the array. Saved. Restarted.

Everything was fine, until once it hit the Microsoft loading screen, with the green progress bar, I get a brief flash of BSOD, and then the system reboots. Everything is the same, I say boot windows normally, same thing happens.

Did I do something wrong? I will attempt to get the exact BIOS feature I changed, as I cannot remember it as I am writing this. Thanks

 

[btarunr]

Does the OS know that you have changed the mode for the storage controller? Have you installed the drivers?

 

[HolyCow02]

Does the OS know that you have changed the mode for the storage controller? Have you installed the drivers?

Yes... like i said first line, I installed the JMicron RAID controller from the Drivers disk

 

[btarunr]

As a last but one resort, run "repair" for the Windows installation with the "F6_install" drivers for the OS loaded (specified) during the setup.

 

[HolyCow02]

As a last but one resort, run "repair" for the Windows installation with the "F6_install" drivers for the OS loaded (specified) during the setup.

Would I need to do that even if the OS isn't on these drives? I have Vista on a 64GB SSD

 

[btarunr]

Uninstall the RAID array (so you could start Windows normally), and try this. Simply set the controller from RAID to IDE (and back once you're done).

Although that's a fix for something else, it toggles AHCI, if your OS isn't seeing it despite drivers being in place.

 

[HolyCow02]

Alright I will do that as a last case scenario.

I just went back to the BIOS and here are the changed that I had made (not now, before)

Under Integrated Peripherals, under On-Chip ATA Devices, I changed RAID MODE from IDE to RAID.
Once I did this, I got the RAID setup utility after the Mobo logo.
Also under Integrated Peripherals, there is a Drive Booster (HW RAID) option, that when I go in has Current Mode: Normal Mode. Not sure what that does as it is not in the manual.

I also, before I had the drive in RAID, formatted them. Once I got the computer back up again (undoing the RAID) the drives are unpartitioned. Is that normal?

Thanks

 

[btarunr]

It doesn't matter if the drives are unpartitioned. Make sure you're changing modes of the right controller. The "on-chip ATA..." refers to the southbridge controller (not the JMicron one).

 

[HolyCow02]

Alright so I just reinstalled the RAID drivers. I also went back to the BIOS and saw two other options under Integrated Peripherals. They are:
E-SATA/HW RAID Controller which is ENABLED. Underneath that there is:
E-SATA Controller Mode which is set to IDE but has an option of AHCI. Is this what I should change?

I'm sorry, I'm so confused. I thought this would be easy

 

[btarunr]

From what I understand, your SSD is connected to the southbridge (one of the six black, angled SATA ports), and you have the two Caviars connected to the two blue ports (port numbers 7, 8), and set the southbridge controller instead to RAID mode.

You probably did this:

and set the "mode" there to RAID, and tried to set up an array from the AMD Fastbuild utility,

When you should have accessed this option...:

...set it to AHCI/RAID mode, and entered the "Drive Booster" page to set up your array:

...by pressing enter on the "update to RAID 1" option.

Do this, and set the southbridge controller (on-chip ATA) back to its native IDE mode.

 

[HolyCow02]

If this work you are my complete and utter hero!
Going to try it now. Thanks!

EDIT: WHOOO That fixed it! Thanks a lot!

 

[btarunr]

Keep in mind that flashing BIOS (updating it) may set the Drive Booster option back to its default. Set it back to RAID mode each time you update the BIOS. This happens because the JMicron controller isn't having a BIOS configuration utility of its own (like the southbridge is using FastBuild, which usually retains its settings even after a BIOS update).