Installing Windows 7 in UEFI Issues

[Flava0ne]

I have an ASUS ROG RAIDR Express PCIE SSD which I have it in UEFI mode where I was able to install Windows 7 successfully on it with my motherboard BIOS set to UEFI mode and CSM to UFEI as well. But now when I connect my storage HDD's and my 2 Corsair Neutron GTX SSD's which I set up in a RAID0 array in Legacy mode along with my Blu-ray RW optical drive, they're not recognized in Windows at all. How can I get Windows to recognize my drives in UEFI if even possible at all? I've tried switching the CSM back to Legacy to see if that'll work, but my system gets stuck in boot loop after the Intel RAID setup screen.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Intel RST updated? Is the chip the HDDs are plugged in to set to RAID0 and verified the array shows in its config? If UEFI can't see the array, Windows certainly won't.

I noticed that older Intel RAID can't have RAID drives and non-RAID drives plugged into the same chip. On systems with that flaw, I have to plug non-RAID devices into a secondary controller (like JMicron).

 

[Flava0ne]

The HDD's are not in RAID0, my 2 Corsair Neutron GTX SSD's are. All drives show up in the BIOS in UEFI.

But all my installations for drivers and programs are on my 2TB HDD which I can't even access in Windows.

 

[jboydgolfer]

i know its basic...but did you go into storage manager and assign drive letters? so that windows can see/use the drives? worth a shot to mention i figured

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I think you may be experiencing the bug in my second paragraph. Do you have any alternative SATA controllers on that motherboard?

 

[Flava0ne]

No, only the onboard X99 PCH.

i know its basic...but did you go into storage manager and assign drive letters? so that windows can see/use the drives? worth a shot to mention i figured

They don't show up at all in Disk Management where I would be able to assign the drive letters.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

X99 shouldn't have an issue with that...

Can you enumerate the HDDs/SSDs and the boot sector (MBR/GPT) each use? Port # would be helpful too.

 

[Flava0ne]

Screenshots of my BIOS:

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Try moving the HDDs and Asus optical drive to ports 6-9? If ports 6-9 are SATA III, it might be better to move the SSDs to them and flip flop ACHI/RAID. Looking into this...

Edit: http://www.evga.com/support/manuals/files/151-HE-E999_Part1_v2.pdf Page 5.
SATA0-5 are RAID or AHCI.
SATA6-9 are AHCI only.
All are SATA 6 Gb/s

I recommend:
SATA0: Corsair RAID0
SATA1: Corsair RAID0
SATA6: WDC AHCI
SATA7: WDC AHCI
SATA9: Asus AHCI

Disable hotplug on all ports. If you have a front panel eSATA, plug it into SATA8 and enable hotplug for SATA8.

Edit: Going from top to bottom, the top three are RAID/AHCI and the last two are AHCI only. I can't figure out from EVGA's documentation (pretty sad IMO) which are even and which are odd on each stack. It doesn't really matter though as long as you plug them into the correct stacks. If you do a hotplug, it will be the one that is empty in the 6-9 range.


Your boot list, for Windows, should say UEFI: Windows Boot Manager. I don't see that option so I suspect the Windows install isn't UEFI. USB Key: UEFI: Corsair is your only UEFI option there and seeing how it is prefaced with USB Key, I suspect that's removable (do not want for OS). Edit: Fixing your hot plugs might fix this issue.

 

[Flava0ne]

Try moving the HDDs and Asus optical drive to ports 6-9? If ports 6-9 are SATA III, it might be better to move the SSDs to them and flip flop ACHI/RAID. Looking into this...

Edit: http://www.evga.com/support/manuals/files/151-HE-E999_Part1_v2.pdf Page 5.
SATA0-5 are RAID or AHCI. Hot plug supported.
SATA6-9 are AHCI only.
All are SATA 6 Gb/s

I recommend (disable hot plug on everything):
SATA0: Corsair RAID0
SATA1: Corsair RAID0
SATA6: WDC AHCI
SATA7: WDC AHCI
SATA9: Asus AHCI


Your boot list, for Windows, should say UEFI: Windows Boot Manager. I don't see that option so I suspect the Windows install isn't UEFI. USB Key: UEFI: Corsair is your only UEFI option there and seeing how it is prefaced with USB Key, I suspect that's removable (do not want for OS).

At the moment my Windows installation isn't in UEFI. I reinstalled in Legacy for the moment to see if I could get help first why my drives weren't being recognized at all other than my ROG RAIDR when installed with UEFI. I'll give that I try tomorrow and post back. I just want to be able to use the internet for the rest of my evening.

 

[cadaveca]

I think you may be experiencing the bug in my second paragraph. Do you have any alternative SATA controllers on that motherboard?

Doesn't work that way on X99, or I wouldn't be typing this right now. I have RAID SSDs + 1 SSD solo + 2 mechanicals each solo on the same X99 controller, no problems at all.

At the moment my Windows installation isn't in UEFI. I reinstalled in Legacy for the moment to see if I could get help first why my drives weren't being recognized at all other than my ROG RAIDR when installed with UEFI. I'll give that I try tomorrow and post back. I just want to be able to use the internet for the rest of my evening.

Ford's suggestion may get you going, but what is likely required here to properly "fix" things is a BIOS update. I suggest touching base with EVGA support.

 

[Flava0ne]

Doesn't work that way on X99, or I wouldn't be typing this right now. I have RAID SSDs + 1 SSD solo + 2 mechanicals each solo on the same X99 controller, no problems at all.



Ford's suggestion may get you going, but what is likely required here to properly "fix" things is a BIOS update. I suggest touching base with EVGA support.

I already have the latest BIOS installed. I had to purchase a cheap DDR4 memory module to even boot up my system for the first time so that I could flash the latest BIOS which added support for 16GB memory modules.

EDIT: If I switch my HDD's and Blu-ray drive to the mentioned ports, why wasn't my 2 SSD's in RAID0 being recognized though?

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I made a lot of edits. I think doing what I said, you could get everything working. After you verify everything is working as expected, you could try plugging a non-RAID device into SATA0-5 to see if it still boots to Windows. If it doesn't, those ports are going to be a lost cause until RAID is turned off, unfortunately.

 

[cadaveca]

I already have the latest BIOS installed. I had to purchase a cheap DDR4 memory module to even boot up my system for the first time so that I could flash the latest BIOS which added support for 16GB memory modules.

This isn't the sort of issue that they will fix unless notified. Submit a ticket to them, and they are very likely to get it fixed. If you do not, you are simply banking on someone else having the same config you do reporting the problem. The drive you have is made by a competitor, and they have no reason to support it unless their customers ask them to do so.



Until then, just do as ford suggested ,and plug your other drives into the 6,7,8 ports.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Having hotplug enabled could be the crux of the problem... with RAID enabled, it could forbid it causing everything not in RAID and hot plugged to be ejected.

 

[Aquinus]

But now when I connect my storage HDD's and my 2 Corsair Neutron GTX SSD's which I set up in a RAID0 array in Legacy mode along with my Blu-ray RW optical drive, they're not recognized in Windows at all.

Do you have the latest RST drivers installed? If none of them are detected, it sounds like the driver for the PCH SATA RAID controller isn't installed. You would still be able to boot Windows because you're booting off that PCI-E SSD which is not impacted by that driver.

You can download it here:
https://downloadmirror.intel.com/25165/eng/SetupRST.exe

If it doesn't let you install (as it doesn't with my X79 and RSTe,) you may have to manually install with these instead:
https://downloadmirror.intel.com/25165/eng/f6flpy-x64.zip

Edit: Oh snap! Intel released some RSTe drivers behind my back about 2 weeks ago. These might fit the bill. I'm going to give them a try myself.
https://downloadmirror.intel.com/25393/eng/RSTe_and_AHCI_Drivers_GUI_CLI_CIM_4.3.0.1223.zip

Edit 2: New RSTe drivers work good for me, maybe you should give those a try if the RST drivers don't work if X99 supports RSTe which I have doubts that it does.

 

[Flava0ne]

So I just swapped my drives around and disabled Hot Plug on all SATA ports. I'll install my USB Win 7 UEFI tomorrow and post back my results.

Do you have the latest RST drivers installed? If none of them are detected, it sounds like the driver for the PCH SATA RAID controller isn't installed. You would still be able to boot Windows because you're booting off that PCI-E SSD which is not impacted by that driver.

You can download it here:
https://downloadmirror.intel.com/25165/eng/SetupRST.exe

If it doesn't let you install (as it doesn't with my X79 and RSTe,) you may have to manually install with these instead:
https://downloadmirror.intel.com/25165/eng/f6flpy-x64.zip

Edit: Oh snap! Intel released some RSTe drivers behind my back about 2 weeks ago. These might fit the bill. I'm going to give them a try myself.
https://downloadmirror.intel.com/25393/eng/RSTe_and_AHCI_Drivers_GUI_CLI_CIM_4.3.0.1223.zip

Edit 2: New RSTe drivers work good for me, maybe you should give those a try if the RST drivers don't work if X99 supports RSTe which I have doubts that it does.

View attachment 68432

I already have v14.6.0.1029 installed but as of right now it's on a Legacy installation of Win 7.

 

[Flava0ne]

I was able to install Win 7 in UEFI and my drives are now detected in the system. My 2 SSD's in RAID0 weren't detectable until I installed RST, thanks!

 

[Flava0ne]

I made a lot of edits. I think doing what I said, you could get everything working. After you verify everything is working as expected, you could try plugging a non-RAID device into SATA0-5 to see if it still boots to Windows. If it doesn't, those ports are going to be a lost cause until RAID is turned off, unfortunately.

I just swapped my drives to their original ports on the RAID controller and they're all still detected in Windows with Hot Plug disabled.

 

[hat]

I have to ask... what are you doing with 128GB RAM? o_0

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Taking over the world, of course! >:D

 

[Shou Miko]

I have to ask... what are you doing with 128GB RAM? o_0

He needs it to run all the traffic of pornhub, whatelse?

 

[Flava0ne]

I have to ask... what are you doing with 128GB RAM? o_0

He needs it to run all the traffic of pornhub, whatelse?

Hahaha, no I just wanted to max out the boards memory. I've been doing this since the nForce 680i days. I know 128GB of RAM is pretty ridiculous but I would never have been content if I didn't.

EDIT: My reason for doing this is because I only build new systems when new memory platforms are introduced. I will not be upgrading my platform until DDR5 memory comes out. This is my basis when building a new rig and why I max out the board's memory. The only thing that gets upgraded in my current rig is my video cards and I only do it every second gen that gets released.

 

[Flava0ne]

Update: I just upgraded to Windows 10 (installed with UEFI USB) and I had to enable Hot Plug on the ports that my drives are connected to for Windows to recognize them.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

That's...not...right. Finicky motherboard, I guess?