cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Threadripper NVMe RAID - Is a BIOS update required?

RaskTreve
Level 7
AMD recently released windows drivers to support MVMe RAID arrays on Threadripper. They state that a motherboard bios update may be required first. So I have been watching for an ASUS download but nothing has been posted to date since mid August for the ROG Zenith Extreme.

Some threads appear to indicate that the RAID settings will magically appear if you set the right combination of UEFI boot settings. Can someone confirm if that is the case, or if we are waiting for a bios update from ASUS?
224 Views
15 REPLIES 15

Does anyone know if there is an ETA for NMVe RAID Support on the Strix? I'm currently running the latest official BIOS 0402 and have no drives showing up in RAIDXpert.

RaskTreve wrote:
I booted windows from another drive, and ran Samsung Magician. It was able to see the "invisible" NVMe drive, made the drive visible to Disk Manager, and allowed me to remove a "non-windows" volume. After this I was able to rebuild the array and everything seems stable. I really appreciate vsimone67's tips along the way. I hope to write a guide for others trying to do this, but for now here are a few of my lessons learned:

Preparation: Prepare a windows boot media USB drive, and a USB for drivers. Put AMD's NVMe RAID drivers on the USB for drivers. It will also help if you unplug any other hard drives from sata ports so you don't have to filter through them at each step.

1. At the time of writing, you need bios version 0801.
2. Know that just as windows needs to be rebooted after changing certain settings, so does your BIOS.
3. In the boot tab:

  • Launch CSM: Enabled
  • Boot Device Control: UEFI Only
  • Boot from Network Devices: UEFI Driver First*
  • Boot from Storage Devices: UEFI Driver First*
  • Boot from PCI-E Expansion Devices: UEFI Driver First*

4. Reboot
5. In the advanced tab do NOT set SATA to RAID. Leave it ACHI
6. In the advanced tab find the AMD PBS setting and change it to RAID
7. Reboot
8. In the advanced tab you should see the RAIDXpert Raid Configuration option now. I can't give you exact steps for this, but you may need to delete any arrays, and maybe initialize physical disks before you can create the array. Once you have created your array, move to the next step.
9. Reboot
10. Boot from windows USB and begin installation.
11. On the installation screen where you choose your boot drive, you won't see the array yet. Click on Load Drivers and navigate to your drivers USB. You will have to load 3 drivers individually one after the other. rcbottom.inf, rcraid.inf, and rcnfg.inf (spelling?)
12. Now you should see the raid array. Install windows on the array.
13. Once you have windows up and running, I would be cautious about installing any other chipset or raid drivers if you don't have to, until such time as ASUS formally releases and certifies these all work together.

I hope this helps anyone finding this thread, I almost gave up but am very happy with this crazy fast drive!

Good Luck!


Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to write up the steps you took in getting your setup to work. I am also working with the same setup. I have the Zenith Extreme board with 3 samsung 960 NVME drives. I have update my board to 0804 the latest beta version and followed your steps. When going to AMD PBS, I do not have the option to enable NVME raid. Any thoughts on what I am missing.

Thanks in advance for any help.

I also cannot seem to find the BIOS command to Enable NVMe RAID in Advanced -> AMD PBS in BIOS 0804.
*

rich345 wrote:
I also cannot seem to find the BIOS command to Enable NVMe RAID in Advanced -> AMD PBS in BIOS 0804.
*


Have you spoken with Asus about this? I have called them several times and it appears they have no idea what I was talking about.

rich345 wrote:
I also cannot seem to find the BIOS command to Enable NVMe RAID in Advanced -> AMD PBS in BIOS 0804.
*


The NVME option is not available in 0804. You will need to go back to 0801, after install follow vsimone67's steps and it will work.

jstewart wrote:
The NVME option is not available in 0804. You will need to go back to 0801, after install follow vsimone67's steps and it will work.


FYI if your planning on using your nvme raid array as your boot drive you have to use Windows 10 Version 1703, any newer versions will not work IE the creators update.

Extremely annoying too as Microsoft has been trying to get me to install the latest update while running 1703 as well. Paranoid I might wake up to a dead boot drive here soon.