Board restarts endlessly ( q-code is b2 )

[White_Wind]

Hello guys. Here is my issue. I have build my rig a few weeks ago, and all was running perfectly well untill now. From the begining, a Raid 0 of two SSDs was set and Windows 8.1 Pro installed on it. I also made a partition on my HDD and installed Ubuntu MATE on it, from which I was running VMs. UEFI ROM up to date.

To have both OSes within my system, I disabled hibernation mode in Windows, I disabled fast boot in the UEFI, disabled CSM too, and set the OPROM options to what it should be (according to a tutorial) but I can't remember what I actually set.
Well, all was great and running to the tee.
I should add, whenever I wanted to go into the other OS, what I was doing is reboot, go into UEFI, and select the OS in the list Boot Overdrive. Maybe that was a mistake? I don't know if that's related, but the list of my bootable drives kept increasing, with many repetitions, while I have only two bootable drives.

So now, what's going wrong..
I was under Ubuntu, I was just fiddling with the rules of my firewall, and I also installed some updates for the system and for VirtualBox. Then I restarted, and there I was stuck to the ROG logo screen with the Q-Code b2 on the board. Keyboard input did nothing and I had no mean to go into the UEFI.
I tried to search a bit, reset a few times, same situation always. I disconnected my modem, a USB drive, my headphones, even my mouse, and still stuck. Aways I get ROG logo screen, Intel Rapid Storage screen (still recognizing my Raid 0 array) and then the unresponsive ROG logo screen.
So then what I did is just plug my mouse, but not into the front USB 2 of the case as before, but into a rear USB 3 port of the board. And now I don't even get stuck, but the PC get to the ROG screen, Intel RST screen, ROG screen and restarts, and go on like this endlessly, always restarting by itself, and I have no control at all.

I would really appreciate if you could help me with that.

Here are my specs :
- i5 4670K
-M VII Hero, latest UEFI ROM
-2x8GB of G.Skill RipJawsX 2400, but the XMP was never enabled, so still running at 1333.
-2x240GB Sandisk Extreme Pro SSDs in Raid 0
-a 128GB Sandisk SSD
-a 1TB Seagate HDD
-1300W Super Flower Leadex PSU
-iGPU of the CPU (and stock Intel cooler)

[Norcus]

B2 is listed as Legacy Option ROM Initialization. Seems to be something with the RAID controller settings. A quick search on the interwebs links this error code to several completely different causes.

Try to unplug everything except CPU, RAM and keyboard, and try to boot (might be a smart idea to make a note of where the raid drives are plugged in). Do you get into the BIOS then?

I just recently posted some general advice about RAID in another thread. These are based on hard earned experience 🙂

• Never trust onboard RAID. Really! If you are going to use RAID, use a dedicated controller if possible.
  
• Never run OS from RAID
  
• Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever store valuable data on a RAID0 with no backup
  
• Always have a backup
  

[White_Wind]

Update
: when the HDD is detached from the board, I can boot into Windows. I then replugged its data sata cable into the board, and now all is fine.
In the UEFI the number of selectable boot devices has now returned back to two, as normal. I'd like to ask you, was the problem me selecting the OS to boot into in the Boot Overdrive list ? And was that the cause of the increasing number of selectable boot devices ?

Edit: hey thanks Norcus, it appears to be that your troubleshoot method was right good for my case, I've been lucky to find that out by myself.. and thanks too for your advices about Raids

[Norcus]

White Wind wrote:
Update: when the HDD is detached from the board, I can boot into Windows. I then replugged its data sata cable into the board, and now all is fine.
In the UEFI the number of selectable boot devices has now returned back to two, as normal. I'd like to ask you, was the problem me selecting the OS to boot into in the Boot Overdrive list ? And was that the cause of the increasing number of selectable boot devices ?

I don't know, but as I mentioned, using onboard RAID controllers and especially running OS from RAID is asking for problems. Make sure you always have a fresh system image. That being said, I think it would be a good idea to - at least - make sure the HDD and the 128GB SSD are plugged into a different controller than the RAID. If you are using the Intel controller for RAID, plug the other two into the ASMedia controller (or the other way around as the case might be).

Thats just general good advice. The weird behaviour you experienced is unfamiliar to me.

[White_Wind]

Yes I do a Windows image regularly.
Okay I will connect my other drives to the Asmedia ports, thanks !
and by the way, it's not the Boot Overdrive, but the Boot Override, the section under the boot device order under the boot tab, just to clarify.
Thanks again Norcus