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Trouble installing windows 7 on RAID in UEFI

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mystiksinner

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Apr 27, 2009
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System Specs
System Name Hal
Processor AMD A8 6600K
Motherboard Asus A88x-Pro
Cooling Custom water
Memory 16GB Gskill Trident-x @2400MHz
Video Card(s) 2x EVGA GTX 790 SCC
Storage Samsung Evo 840 M-Sata
Case Corsair 900D
Power Supply Corsair AX1200i
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As the title says, I'm trying to install Windows on a RAID array in uefi on my Maximus V Formula. When using legacy ROM I can install just fine but I go into CSM and change settings to UEFI only, I can build the array in the UEFI Raid driver (IRST tab in "BIOS") but the array does not show up in the boot menu and when I try to install windows (boot from UEFI DVD drive), The drive does not show up in the Windows install. The next thing I tried was to enable UEFI and legacy oprom in CSM, boot from UEFI DVD drive and install to the RAID array (probably detected by legacy oprom) and it will install. After first reboot, Windows Boot manager will show up as an option in the BIOS boot menu so I set that as first boot device and reboot. I will get to the starting windows screen and then BSOD (too quick to get codes) The last thing I tried was Changing to legacy mode and installing windows to a different drive. once installed, I initialized the Raid array as GPT and rebooted, changed csm back to UEFI only but they RAID array still doesn't show in the boot device list so I repeated the earlier process hoping that It might work because I had initialized as GPT but it still BSODs on starting windows screen. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated
 
mystiksinner said:
As the title says, I'm trying to install Windows on a RAID array in uefi on my Maximus V Formula. When using legacy ROM I can install just fine but I go into CSM and change settings to UEFI only, I can build the array in the UEFI Raid driver (IRST tab in "BIOS") but the array does not show up in the boot menu and when I try to install windows (boot from UEFI DVD drive), The drive does not show up in the Windows install. The next thing I tried was to enable UEFI and legacy oprom in CSM, boot from UEFI DVD drive and install to the RAID array (probably detected by legacy oprom) and it will install. After first reboot, Windows Boot manager will show up as an option in the BIOS boot menu so I set that as first boot device and reboot. I will get to the starting windows screen and then BSOD (too quick to get codes) The last thing I tried was Changing to legacy mode and installing windows to a different drive. once installed, I initialized the Raid array as GPT and rebooted, changed csm back to UEFI only but they RAID array still doesn't show in the boot device list so I repeated the earlier process hoping that It might work because I had initialized as GPT but it still BSODs on starting windows screen. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Click to expand...

I think you were on track with your first try. Windows installer probably needs the RAID driver in order to detect it on install.
th_install7_3.jpg
 
yup, tried that using the drivers from asus and from intel. still didn't detect the drive. Is it possible that there are different drivers for uefi vs legacy raid?
 
mystiksinner said:
yup, tried that using the drivers from asus and from intel. still didn't detect the drive. Is it possible that there are different drivers for uefi vs legacy raid?
Click to expand...

Absolutely not. Running RAID on X79 worked exactly as it did on the nForce 4 when I had a Phenom II. There is only one driver, but you need to make sure to grab the right one. Most RAID devices have a special bare-bone RAID driver you can use for Windows installations.

I'm assuming you're using the Z87 PCH to handle RAID?

Edit: I'm assuming you're using the PCH. You should be able to download the RAID drivers here: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/De...=2101&DwnldID=23060&keyword=RST+RAID&lang=eng

Keep in mind that you want "f6flpy-x64.zip" which contains the installation RAID driver for Windows. You should be able to load that up to a flash drive and be good to go.

Edit 2: I'm also assuming you're using 64-bit Windows. :)
 
I use "raid driver disk" files I downloaded from the asus website. extracted to a thumb drive. When I try to install in legacy mode, windows will see the array without even having to load the drivers but when I boot in uefi mode, nothing, even after loading the drivers.
 
just saw your edit. I have tried those drivers and the ones from the asus site (I believe they are the same thing) with no luck. And yes, I am installing 64bit windows 7.
 
Read the manual. It will tell you which driver to load.
 
freaksavior said:
Read the manual. It will tell you which driver to load.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, this is not helpful, and actually, it doesn't. in fact, I pretty positive it's not a driver issue at all. I believe it is an issue with raid in uefi.
 
mystiksinner said:
With all due respect, this is not helpful, and actually, it doesn't. in fact, I pretty positive it's not a driver issue at all. I believe it is an issue with raid in uefi.
Click to expand...

I wasn't trying to be a jerk or anything, I had this issue with mine and i simply checked the manual for installation, it told me which drivers to load up. :ohwell:
 
freaksavior said:
I wasn't trying to be a jerk or anything, I had this issue with mine and i simply checked the manual for installation, it told me which drivers to load up. :ohwell:
Click to expand...

Sorry, wasn't sure. I do appreciate the help. I've been trying to track down answers to this issue for a couple weeks now and I am coming up with nothing. it's very frustrating.
 
Need UEFI Boot Device

You normally cannot install UEFI from a DVD/CD-ROM drive or with the Windows DVD. If you Google around you will find how to make a special Windows UEFI install USB thumb drive. Set your BIOS to only UEFI. Unless you see a boot device with name starting "UEFI" you are screwed and will only be able to install using BIOS and not UEFI.
You will need two USB thumb drives. One for Windows and one for the Intel RST drivers. If your drives are over 2 TB you will need to format to GPT. If you search Youtube for this you will find a video by me with instructions.
 
I point you here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167245

As far as I know, Windows can only be installed on GPT via UEFI if Windows is booted by a USB device (thumb stick, USB DVD drive, etc.). SATA DVD drives did not work for me. Windows setup is not obvious about if it is running on UEFI or BIOS. The only way to be sure is that, under BIOS, Windows will refuse to install on GPT.
 
in my boot menu, the dvd shows up twice. Once as normal, and once with the UEFI before it. I have tried installing from the uefi cd drive but it still doesnt see the array. I will try the thumb drive idea. The array is 2 120GB ssd's (240GB). do you know if i still need to format GPT for drives under 2TB?
 
The advantage of UEFI and GPT is faster boot times. You don't need to use GPT, no. You don't even need to use UEFI.
 
FordGT90Concept said:
The advantage of UEFI and GPT is faster boot times. You don't need to use GPT, no. You don't even need to use UEFI.
Click to expand...

True. Based on what I've seen, boot times are much faster, especially when using raid. Boot time is one of the reasons why I want this to work. The other is, I just don't like being defeated by my pc. I'm currently ripping my windows disk to an iso to set up the thumb drive. I'll update with how things go.
 
Set up the thumb drive, changed CSM options to UEFI only and booted to windows setup from the thumb drive. Setup didn't see the raid array so I loaded the RAID drivers (I tried the drivers from asus and the ones from intel) and still no luck. Any other suggestions?
 
mystiksinner said:
Set up the thumb drive, changed CSM options to UEFI only and booted to windows setup from the thumb drive. Setup didn't see the raid array so I loaded the RAID drivers (I tried the drivers from asus and the ones from intel) and still no luck. Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...
Did you follow the guide I linked you to? If the volume doesn't show up after doing the list disk command, then you have a problem (drivers don't support GPT, RAID array improperly configured, booted via BIOS instead of UEFI, etc.). If it does, you're good to go. I remember when I did it (it was RAID0), I didn't trust the setup user interface at all until I finished working with diskpart and refreshed. Once I refreshed, the setup user interface caught up to speed (even so, it only showed 2 out of the 3 required partitions for GPT).

It not working the way you expect it to may actually mean it is working the way it should under EFI/GPT.


Edit: Someone else had a similar problem as you are and found no solution. I suspect there might be a lot of poser motherboards out there that pretend to support GPT from UEFI but fail at it. I did my GPT install on an MSI board. MSI was the among the first manufacturers to fully adapt UEFI so they've had ample time to work out the bugs before I tried it (even then, there's quite a few).
 
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