Formula V Windows 10 Installation on USB 3.0 After Raid 0

[BrendanC]

!!!

I'm very frustrated right now.

A week ago after finding out that a PCIe 3.0 Card will work in a 2.0 slot I went to upgrade only to find out that the card was not compatible with my VIsta system.

Went to Newegg and bought Windows 10 and used Daemon Tools Ultra to make a bootable USB. At the same time I wanted to utilize my two 128 GB SSD drives in a RAID 0 array.
To do this I was following the tutorial here: https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?13866-Asus-Crosshair-V-Raid-quot-0-quot-HowTo

I did as instructed to assign the RAID LD drives with the BIOS.

When I did that I then booted with the USB on a 3.0 slot and began to install windows. I canceled it to sleep first and when I tried to boot back into the drive it failed.

No matter what slot, 3.0, 2.0 it won't recognize it as a bootable device. It makes me so angry that it worked the first time and now it won't.

I've tried using ISO to USB instead with no luck. ANy ideas?

THank you for your time.

[Dr__Zchivago]

I hope we can come to the solution - I've been there, too.

In your BIOS setup, what is the order of both the hard disk drives and the boot priority? If you have any disks other than the two SSDs in RAID, then disconnect them for the time being so they won't be in the way. Set the RAID array and the bootable USB so that the USB is the primary boot device, and the RAID array is just below it.

See if that helps. There may also be a "Force Boot" area in your BIOS setup menu, where you would just select the USB and BIOS setup immediately closes for machine boot. Please let us know more.

Also, in the beginning of your post, you write "PCIe 3.0" v. 2.0. Later you write "USB 3.0" v. 2.0. Are you dealing with both PCIe hard disks? or maybe a USB card?

Z

[BrendanC]

Boot Option 1 is the Blu-RY Drive which is connected to sata 6 and set to IDE
Boot Option 2 is Logical Drive 1 which is the RAID I formed with my two identical SSD's on Sata 1 & 2 set to RAID

The new video card I am using is a PCIe 3.0 card being used in the 2.0 x16 Slot.

The USB Drive containuing Windows is a 3.0 USB that I have tried booting in 3.0 and 2.0 slots with no luck except the very first time I tried it.

The USB Drive is not showing in the boot order now like it did the first time. If I go to "Advanced" then to "USB COnfiguration" it does list the USB Drive under "Mass Storage Devices" as a "PNY USB 3.0 FD 1100" I should also mention it is a 64GB Drive.

Thank you again for your help. It's so irritating that it worked the first time and now it won't. I've tried using NTFS and exFAT formats with no luck and I forget what it was on when I first did it.

[Dr__Zchivago]

BrendanC wrote:
The USB Drive is not showing in the boot order now like it did the first time.

Is it also not showing in the list of connected storage devices? Does your BIOS setup allow you to force boot to a specific drive? This option is usually at the bottom of the BOOT tab.

I ask these questions, because I am currently trying to re-create your issue - I only use USB for installation, as I have no DVD drive on the test machine. But, I can only boot from USB (and, subsequently, see the USB in the drive list) when it is plugged into a 2.0 port, and I used one of the ports next to the ethernet port.

Also, I assume that you have already re-imaged the USB drive with Daemon Tools to return to a state where the boot worked the first time, since it is possible to have a good .ISO but a bad boot disk created from that image.

Z

[BrendanC]

Yes it shows it under Mass storage devices. Under Boot Priority and Force Boot the USB is not listed.

I am reformatting the USB drive to NTFS to clear it again and re-try. If that fails I will try loading a Kali Linux ISO onto it and see if that works. I've tried Daemon Tools and ISO to USB. Rufus is my next shot.

I really do appreciate you taking the time to help me figure this out. If this all fails I will post images.

[BrendanC]

Riddle me this.

For fun I tried to Force Boot the Logical Drive 1 option. To my surprise the Windows logo came up and it opened the Windows Install screen. My first thought was that my old Vista boot was in repair mode due to the formation of the Logical Drive 1. But then I saw the copyright date of 2015. I shutdown the computer, removed the flash drive and again did a Force Boot for LD1 and it went to the black screen telling me to put in a bootable media and hit enter.

I plugged the Flash Drive in again and am now installing Windows 10.

Weird.

Again, the first time I tried it clearly showed the PNY flash drive in the boot options. Now it won't but appears to still boot from it when I try to boot from the Logical Drive.

[Dr__Zchivago]

I'm glad to hear you got it working enough to install.

The physicist in me really wants to find out why you had this issue, but the gamer in me would keep the installation rolling - haha.

Z