Crosshair X670E Hero Raid Issue

[Otto69]

I'm currently struggling using my newly built PC.
The main issue concerns the hardware raid (setup through BIOS).

Here are some specs of the PC:
- Crosshair X670E Hero
- AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
- 4 HDDs for two RAID 1
- 2 M.2 SSDs (not in the raid)
- 1 SSD (not in the raid)
- 1 HDD (not in the raid)
- Windows 11 Pro

I'm not listing the other components as I doubt it is affecting the build If required i can post more.

Explaining the issue might be a bit strange and it took me quite a while to "identify" what seems to be wrong / not working.

According to the motherboard layout in the manual I think the issue only concerns SATA6G_3 and SATA6G_4.
SATA6G_1 and SATA6G_2 are working fine. SATA6G_E1 and SATA6G_E2 also seem to work fine (not appearing in any raid configuration and not select-able, but that's fine).
At the beginning the ports SATA6G_3 and SATA6G_4 did seem to work fine. After a bit of working, i received I/O errors. The Raid was unresponsive and after a while a pop up appeared telling me that there is an I/O issue. (The raid on SATA6G_1/2 was always running fine and had no issues)
The event log shows a 153 "The IO operation at logical block address 0x22 for Disk ... (PDO name: ...) was retried.".
That's when I've started doing quite a lot of different things:
- Replacing HDDs (did not work - or only a very limited time)
- Changing SATA cables (did not work)
- Using the same HDDs on other SATA ports (did work - HDDs not broken, but all SATA ports are required)
- Recreating the Raids (did not work)
- Adding a HDD on these ports 3 and 4 without configuring a raid (did not work - note that the SATA controller was still set to RAID)

As I tried different combinations and even configured another Crosshair X670E Hero board, i suspect that there is a software / driver issue here.
Drivers:
- I have installed the drivers from the Asus site initially for the raid (AMD-RAID Bottom Device and AMD-RAID Controller (storport)). Furthermore, I see "Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller" and "Standard NVM Express Controller".
- In a later step i replaced the AMD-RAID drivers with the drivers from the AMD site (they are newer there). Anyway, that did not help.
- After that, I've adjusted some power saving settings (AHCI Link Power Management HIPM/DIPM -> Active, Turn off hard disk after: 20min, AHCI Link Power Management - Adaptive: 0ms), which didn't help either. (had to try that as it was suggested at another location in regards to RAID issues).
- Installed the AMD RAIDXpert2 software to verify the Raid state.

While verifying the Raid state with the AMD software (no errors and everything seems fine), I've noticed that my raid was "working" again respectively accessible again.
I first thought that I had magically fixed the issue.... However, later that day, I tried to access that raid again and it didn't work - IO errors all over again (note that the other raid was working properly).
While trying to reproduce what I previously did i figured out that something is really strange here, at least for me.
When the AMD RaidXpert2 software is open (manually starting that program) the second raid works perfectly, no event logs, no I/O errors. All good.
But as soon as I start the software again, the raid is not accessible anymore and errors pop up.
When the raid is not accessible and the explorer is hanging and waiting for access to the raid, starting the AMD RaidXpert2 software, will instantly solve the issue and make the raid accessible.

So this was quite a bit of a WTF moment. I've never experienced something so weird. One raid working and the other doesn't. As soon as i start a software, both are working.

Can anyone here explain what is going on and how I can properly fix this? (i do not consider running AMD RaidXpert2 all the time as proper solution 😉 ).

[Jiaszzz_ROG]

Hello, Otto69.

May I ask what your current BIOS version is? Please clear the CMOS before proceeding with any further problem diagnosis.Â*
Please list the name and model of the hard drive and SSD you are using, as well as the port codes they are attached to,
as these components may have an impact on the mainboard's compatibility.

Thank you.

[Otto69]

Jiaszzz@ROG wrote:
Hello, Otto69.

May I ask what your current BIOS version is?

I'm using the most recent version 0922. Yet, with the previous version (0805 if I remember correctly) the same issue was present.

Jiaszzz@ROG wrote:

Please clear the CMOS before proceeding with any further problem diagnosis.

Well, if required i could do that. Yet, that would "reset" the raid configuration and the same testing would not be possible anymore .

Jiaszzz@ROG wrote:

Please list the name and model of the hard drive and SSD you are using, as well as the port codes they are attached to,
as these components may have an impact on the mainboard's compatibility.

Thank you.

The HDDs on ports 1 to 4 are all of the same model:
- Western Digital Black 10TB (note that only one of the two raids, based on the SATA ports are having an issue...)

Furthermore, there is a HDD and SSD on either 3E or 4E (would have to open the PC if relevant, but i doubt that is necessary as the issue was there without using these SATA ports respectively no HDDs / SSDs attached to them.):
- Western Digital Blue 2TB SSD
- Western Digital Black 2TB HDD

Onboard:
- There are two M.2 (NVM?) SSDs. Both Western Digital Black. One with 0.5 TB and one with 2.0 TB

In regards to "port codes" what exactly do you mean and where should i retrieve that information from?


Edit:
A bit more detailed information for the WD Black 10TB:
-> WDC WD101FZBX-00ATAA0

Furthermore, I've tried other HDDs (Seagate Ironwolf 10TB) and I have experienced the same issues with these HDDs.

Edit2: Messed up the post a bit by editing. Hopefully it is fine now...

[Jiaszzz_ROG]

Hello, Otto69.

The four WDC WD101FZBX-00ATAA0 driver versions currently make up two RAIDs, and they are respectively connected to the SATA6G_1-4 interface through SATA, right?
Please provide the error message for I/O errors, showing a 153 "The IO operation at logical block address 0x22 for Disk... (PDO name:...) was retried." Screenshot.

Meanwhile, please share the requested information below as well for us to better understand you scenario.
- the BOS version and content of the setting in BIOS
- image of BIOS>Advanced>RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility and Array Management
- the brand and model name of the CPU, DRAM, GPU, and PSU currently installed
- OS build and the AMD RaidXpert 2 version

Thank you.

[Otto69]

Jiaszzz@ROG wrote:
Hello, Otto69.

The four WDC WD101FZBX-00ATAA0 driver versions currently make up two RAIDs, and they are respectively connected to the SATA6G_1-4 interface through SATA, right?

SATA6G_1 and SATA6G_2 are used for the first raid (RAID 1).
SATA6G_3 and SATA6G_4 are used for the second raid (RAID 1). The issue only occurs here on this raid (respectively HDDs (only tested HDDs) even when configured as NON-RAID).

Jiaszzz@ROG wrote:

Please provide the error message for I/O errors, showing a 153 "The IO operation at logical block address 0x22 for Disk... (PDO name:...) was retried." Screenshot.

When using the file explorer, the following screen appears after the explorer freezes for a while:


Furthermore, the windows event log will be full of warnings in regards of a disk (and NTFS) issue:


Disk warning:


NTFS warning:

Jiaszzz@ROG wrote:

Meanwhile, please share the requested information below as well for us to better understand you scenario.
- the BOS version and content of the setting in BIOS

BIOS version 0922 (the issue was present in version 0805 as well).


CSM Settings (Disabled):


SATA Settings (Raid):

Jiaszzz@ROG wrote:

- image of BIOS>Advanced>RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility and Array Management

Physical Disks:


Raid 1 (SATA 1&2):



Raid 2 (SATA 3&4):



In addition a screenshot of the AMD RaidXpert2 software:


Also please note that i was wrong on the M.2 SSDs. They aren't WD Black... They are Corsair MP600 Pro NH M.2 2280 NVMe 500GB / 2000GB. (but i think that does not really matter).

Jiaszzz@ROG wrote:

- the brand and model name of the CPU, DRAM, GPU, and PSU currently installed

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16-Core
DRAM: DDR5 Fury Beast RGB 5200MHz 2x 32GB ( KF552C40BBAK2-64 )
GPU: Asus TUF Gaming RTX 3060 TI 8 GB ( 90YV0IL1-M0NA00 ) - Note that I've tested the HDDs with and without GPU. It did not matter if the graphic card was present or not.
PSU: Corsair HX1200 1200 W ( CP-9020140-EU )

Jiaszzz@ROG wrote:

- OS build and the AMD RaidXpert 2 version

Thank you.

OS / Build: Windows11 - Version 22H2 (OS Build 22621.1413)
AMD RaidXpert2: 9.3.2-00130
rcraid.sys: 9.3.2-00158
rccfg.sys: 9.3.2-00130
rcbottom.sys: 9.3.2-00158

Initially, I've installed the drivers from the Asus page . There's why 00130 is present. As I had these issues with that version, i did update the drivers with the drivers available at the AMD site (00158). As i was unable to find the AMD RaidXpert2 software there, the version 00130 is still present there.

Edit: No idea how to properly embed pictures...

[Otto69]

Furthermore, here are two pictures of the device manager.

[Cocomocho]

hello mate, I have the same problem as you, but in my case it is with RAID0 in S-ATA with 4 hard drives in 2 volumes. And everything that you have told, it happens to me the same as to me, but adding something, from time to time, when the computer starts, when windows starts to load, a blue screen of windows error appears that the rcraid.sys file has failed. I have contacted ASUS and they are investigating the problem. From what they say that with BIOS 1004 it was already going well, but I have it installed with the same results.

[Otto69]

Thank you for the reply and reporting the issue.

The issue is still driving me crazy, but the last time I've checked, there weren't any driver updates. Might have to check that again.

In case of blue screens: none occurred so far, luckily. I think I've seen one or two times something in the event log with rcraid.sys too... Would have to look that up.

[Cocomocho]

The last drivers that are published are from November 2022, I think I remember, and possibly that it is some driver problem due to some incompatibility or Bug in the chipset or RAID controller of the board. I am sending all the tests that ASUS is asking me to see if they can locate where the problem really is. Best Regards

[Cocomocho]

Hello friend, today I have received a response from ASUS and they tell me that, in the laboratory they have set up a raid with a configuration similar to mine and they do not have any kind of problem, that it is a problem with my hard drives. But that is not true because I mount my hard drives in my previous computer with a Crosshair VIII with a 5800X and they work fine apart from that I have had them running for almost 3 years on that board without errors of any kind. They have asked me to change them to see if the problems are resolved and to notify them... but it is clear that I am not going to change the hard drives because they work fine and there must be some incompatibility problem with the RAID controller of the board either firmware or software. Best Regards