HELP with RAID 0 as boot drive

[excalibure]

I recently built a new system using the following hardware:

ASUS Strix x399 motherboard (BIOS 601)
AMD TR 1950x
32G G.Skill TridentZ RGB DD4
2 X Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256G
1 X WD 4T HDD 7200RPM

First, let me say that everything works perfectly, if I set the SATA drive as AHCI, enable CSM etc…. But I’m having issues trying to install Windows 10 Pro when setting the SSD as RAID 0.

Problems arise when I try to load the RAID drivers during the install of Windows 10 when the SSD are configured as RAID 0.

To configure the drives, I do the following steps:
BIOS
Advanced Menu
- SATA Configuration set to Raid
- CSM Disable
Reboot

Advanced Menu
- RAID Xpert2 Configuration
- Array management
- Create array
- Select the 2 SSD
- Create
Reboot

Windows 10 install starts up to where you select the install drive. At that point there’s no drive in the list. I select load drivers. I tried to load the RAID drivers found on the ASUS CD that came with the motherboard. First, the RAID bottom driver (appears to load), then the RAID Driver (rcraid). The second one tries to load, but the green bar keeps restarting forever. The only way to regain the computer is to power down.

I also tried the SATA drivers (v8.2.0.29) from the ASUS website (http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/05SATA/AMD_RAIDXpert2_Win10_V82029_20170809.zip) Same thing happened.
I then tried the AMD driver _V9.2.0.70) on the AMD website (https://www2.ati.com/drivers/amd-nvme-raid-chipset-drivers_9.2.0.70.exe) Same thing again.

No matter what driver I try, it seems to lock when loading the rcraid driver.

Am I missing something? Please HELP!

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Maybe have a look through this thread and the links given through it...:)

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?100242-ASUS-ROG-Zenith-EXTREME-NVME-Raid-0

[excalibure]

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
Maybe have a look through this thread and the links given through it...:)

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?100242-ASUS-ROG-Zenith-EXTREME-NVME-Raid-0

Thanks for the info.
I followed the instructions up to loading the rcbottom.inf & rcraid.inf drivers. It appears that rcbottom driver loads, however when I try to load the rcraid.inf driver, the green bar at the bottom just keeps re-starting over and over.

This is really frustrating...

[squawker]

excalibure wrote:
This is really frustrating...

Hi excalibure,

Sorry you have problems with Raid SATA installation, my setup is with NVMe Raid (2xSamsung 960PRO) and i did not have any problems in installing W10 (following the instructions on the AMD Ryzen Threadripper NVMe Raid Quick Start Guide).

I tried to give some sugestions to your problem, but not sure about them, i disabled the NVMe Raid array and tested to mount a SATA Raid with the very same drives you have (i have 2 840 PRO 256 GB "sleeping" in a shelf next to my table), with no results, it is missing a driver!

It's the first time i have an AMD Threadripper setup and i thought W10 had the needed drivers for SATA raid, like it is for Intel setups.

I will try to find the correct way to do this and will post if succeed. If you discover it, please post because i'm curious about it.

Regards

[excalibure]

squawker wrote:
Hi excalibure,

Sorry you have problems with Raid SATA installation, my setup is with NVMe Raid (2xSamsung 960PRO) and i did not have any problems in installing W10 (following the instructions on the AMD Ryzen Threadripper NVMe Raid Quick Start Guide).

I tried to give some sugestions to your problem, but not sure about them, i disabled the NVMe Raid array and tested to mount a SATA Raid with the very same drives you have (i have 2 840 PRO 256 GB "sleeping" in a shelf next to my table), with no results, it is missing a driver!

It's the first time i have an AMD Threadripper setup and i thought W10 had the needed drivers for SATA raid, like it is for Intel setups.

I will try to find the correct way to do this and will post if succeed. If you discover it, please post because i'm curious about it.

Regards

thanks for following up. Pretty sure it is a driver issue and I havent been able to find the right one to make it work.

PS nice to have 2 of those sitting on the shelf......

[squawker]

Hi excalibure,

Got it!!

After all, i’m used to install raid0 drives in Intel platforms since the old Seagate hdd’s times......

Sorry if I’m very detailed, but Threadripper is a new thing to me… so, let’s go

In bios:

1. Preparing

a. Advanced > AMD PBS > NVMe Raid mode > disabled (we are installing SATA and not NVMe Raid!)
b. Secure Boot > Windows UEFI mode
c. CSM > disabled
Save and restart bios configs.

d. SATA Mode: AHCI > RAID
Save and restart bios config.
After enabling SATA RAID Mode, RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility appears in Advanced bios tab.

2. Assembling the Raid array

e. RAIDXpert2 > Array Management > Delete Array (all data, if any, is deleted)
f. RAIDXpert2 > PhysicalDisk Management > Select Physical Disk Operations > Initialize Disks (both 840 PRO)
g. RAIDXpert2 > Array Management > Create Array:
Select RAID Level = RAID 0
Select Media Type = SSD, or both
Select Physical Disks = both 840 PRO

Array Size: 510.812 GB (value for the 2 x 840 PRO 256 GB)
Select Cache Tag Size = 128 kB (or 64)
Read Cache Policy = No Cache
Write Cache Policy = Write Back Cache

3. Checking if raid array is OK

Going back to Array Management > Manage Array Properties > Select Array: Array1, RAID 0, 510.8 GB, Normal!!!
Save and restart bios config.

4. Installing Windows 10

Obs: When installing W10 the WD 4T HDD should be disconnected from any SATA input, to avoid Windows installing parts of it in the HDD.

h. prepare an USB flash drive with the following driver:

https://support.amd.com/en-us/download/chipset?os=Windows%2010%20-%2064

AMD RAID Driver (SATA RAID Only)

717 KB

9.2.0.70

6/7/2018

i. Bios > Check if the installation media with W10 (another USB flash drive or a DVD disk) is the first UEFI boot drive

j. Normal installation until: A driver is necessary

Choose the First driver from h item: rcbottom.inf > click OK (even if apparently nothing happens, go to the second driver!), choose and install it:

Second driver: rcraid.inf > click OK

Obs: on my installation it was not necessary install the Third driver (rccfg.inf) to finish W10 installation.

I installed it after W10 was installed and the X399 Chipset driver (AMD Chipset Drivers, 65.3 MB, 18.10.0601, 6/7/2018) was also installed.


k. Proceed with normal installation in Unit 1: Space not allocated = 475.7 GB > New > Apply > OK > Disk with 4 Partitions > advance in installation

5. Conclusion

After the complete W10 and the Chipset driver installations, in the Device Manager it was left a device without driver and I installed manually the rccfg.inf driver, and all was OK.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but threadripper SATA RAID installation is new for me, and it is very different from Intel (which I am accustomed to).

Hope this helps and regards,

P.S. some pics:





[]'s

[excalibure]

Thanx for the full instruction. *I’m away for the weekend, but will check it out when I’m back and will advise. *I know I didn’t do step “F”, but I’m pretty sure the rest is the same.

Your help is very much appreciated.*

[dboris]

Problem solved using W10 18 03, and last AMD Drivers 9.2.0.87, Rufus using GPT UEFI mode, making sure each reboot that the array doesn't show anything strange, or redoing it, unplug all sata drives beforehand.

Unless what have been said on other forum, last windows's version works.