Crosshair V + Raid 0 + Win 7 = Stuff of Nightmares

[IvanLV]

I have lost all hope... next is my will to live.

I have used my current SSD's, both in raid 0 with my old processor and board, so I know the SSD's are good. I have completely wiped the drives on a different machine so I know they are clean. I have set up the sata ports 1-4 to serve as my raid and yes... both drives are plugged into ports 1 and 2 (i checked). I have set up the LD whatchamajig and created the raid 0.

I have only been able to get window's to load once on the raid in 3 days of installing. It was horribly unstable. Guessing I had figured out the process to FINALLY get win7 to install, based on my friends advise, I opt'd to reinstall thinking it may be more stable. I have yet to get it to reinstall and am in serious need of Nerd Support.

I am using an optical drive to install win7. I'll look into using a pen drive (how big does it need to be?).

What friggin drivers do I need to get it to finally install and be stable?????!?!!!

1. Once I load the 'AMD AHCI Driver ...' win7 will finally see the raid and I can partision and install. This was the ONLY way I was able to get win7 to install. If i loaded any other driver win would give me some bs error, or hang up during install. Even with more up-to-date drivers from asus website it would still crash.

Do i need the more 'current' driver or should i use the one on the mobo disk?

Do I need to install other drivers. once AHCI driver is installed i can see 'AMD RAID Driver...' and also 'Asmedia 106x SATA Controller Driver', Do I need to install these aswell.

Again, I will use a USB drive to install win7. What I desperately need is clear and exact instructions to finally install win7, what drivers I need and in what order (if any) to install them.

Please dear god show me the way and thank you in advance for any support you can offer.

[Myk SilentShadow]

Though I do not know much of setting up RAID, from what I have read in the Forums and elsewhere you should follow some steps like these. If I have missed anything, i'm sure someone will correct me.

1. Secure erase your SSD's - make sure the 100MB partition is wiped too.
2. Go into BIOS and double check your SATA Ports are set to RAID.
3. Run Win7 install from either your DVD or USB drive. There is a tool on Microsoft's site that puts all the files from your DVD onto a USB stick. An 8Gb one should be big enough.
4. Watch the screen as it copies the basic files, you need to make sure you hit the right key to install your RAID drivers(F6, F5 I am not sure...I do not pay attention at this part as I don't use RAID). Make sure you have the latest RAID drivers from your SSD manufacturer.
5. Install RAID Drivers and set up RAID 0
6. Install Win7


Though can I ask for a list of the hardware you are using, that will make things a little easier to help troubleshoot

[HiVizMan]

Though I do not know much of setting up RAID, from what I have read in the Forums and elsewhere you should follow some steps like these. If I have missed anything, i'm sure someone will correct me.

1. Secure erase your SSD's - make sure the 100MB partition is wiped too.
2. Go into BIOS and double check your SATA Ports are set to RAID.
3. Run Win7 install from either your DVD or USB drive. There is a tool on Microsoft's site that puts all the files from your DVD onto a USB stick. An 8Gb one should be big enough.
4. Watch the screen as it copies the basic files, you need to make sure you hit the right key to install your RAID drivers(F6, F5 I am not sure...I do not pay attention at this part as I don't use RAID). Make sure you have the latest RAID drivers from your SSD manufacturer.
5. Install RAID Drivers and set up RAID 0
6. Install Win7


Though can I ask for a list of the hardware you are using, that will make things a little easier to help troubleshoot

Nice and clear mate. Only thing I always wonder at is why any kind of raid drivers need to be installed. I just let Win7 do its thing. And I never have any problems what so ever. And I install easy 4 - 6 RAID arrays a week on the same kit that the guys are using here.

Thanks for posting your steps my friend.


OP please keep us informed how it panned out.

[n0tiert]

i have to make a note on that:

"Make sure you have the latest RAID drivers from your SSD manufacturer."

there is "NO" special SSD Raid driver by SSD manufacturer usually , you should use drivers by Chipset manufacturer or 3rd party Raid Controller Card!

either AMD or Intel ..........

in this case you should extract latest AMD Raid Drivers first before you start, from latest pkg:

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...d_windows.aspx

AMD Raid Drivers

download -> http://www2.ati.com/drivers/12-4_vis...32-64_raid.exe

run exe (extract to given dir), do not go through install process......
now check install dir for

"C:\AMD\SUPPORT\12-4_vista_win7_32-64_raid\Packages\Drivers\SBDrv\xxxxx\RAID"

where "xxxxx" is the subdir of your need (chipset), copy folder on USB device or any other media.....
on windows install hit "F6" to set Raid driver and point to choosen media.....
"ahcix64.sys" (win7 64bit)
Win7 install Process should run fine......

you can also use "UltraIso" and integrate it into your Windows Install DVD (backup)





If you want to update Raid Driver later, just redo upper process (extract ....) and go into system -> choose AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller -> Driver and point to extracted dir .....

that´s it


there is another Thread here where they discuss perf. between "ahci" from MS and AMD

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread...untry=&status=

[DaemonCantor]

If you want to make a Windows 7 USB Thumb Drive you'll need a 4gig USB Stick and then go to this site: http://kmwoley.com/blog/?p=345. That's the easiest explanation I've ever found to do this plus there's enough room left over on it that you can put the BIOS file for fast recovery or updating for the Dozer CPU and a couple repair tools as well like Ccleaner and such.

[Myk SilentShadow]

Nice and clear mate. Only thing I always wonder at is why any kind of raid drivers need to be installed. I just let Win7 do its thing. And I never have any problems what so ever. And I install easy 4 - 6 RAID arrays a week on the same kit that the guys are using here.

Thanks for posting your steps my friend.


OP please keep us informed how it panned out.

No problemo mate As I said in my previous post, i've never messed with RAID(yet) but I had figured since Windows Installers go on about RAID drivers during startup, that they were required. Ahhh love to learn new things every day

i have to make a note on that:

"Make sure you have the latest RAID drivers from your SSD manufacturer."

there is "NO" special SSD Raid driver by SSD manufacturer usually , you should use drivers by Chipset manufacturer or 3rd party Raid Controller Card!

either AMD or Intel ..........

in this case you should extract latest AMD Raid Drivers first before you start, from latest pkg:

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...d_windows.aspx

AMD Raid Drivers

download -> http://www2.ati.com/drivers/12-4_vis...32-64_raid.exe

run exe (extract to given dir), do not go through install process......
now check install dir for

"C:\AMD\SUPPORT\12-4_vista_win7_32-64_raid\Packages\Drivers\SBDrv\xxxxx\RAID"

where "xxxxx" is the subdir of your need (chipset), copy folder on USB device or any other media.....
on windows install hit "F6" to set Raid driver and point to choosen media.....
"ahcix64.sys" (win7 64bit)
Win7 install Process should run fine......

you can also use "UltraIso" and integrate it into your Windows Install DVD (backup)





If you want to update Raid Driver later, just redo upper process (extract ....) and go into system -> choose AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller -> Driver and point to extracted dir .....

that´s it


there is another Thread here where they discuss perf. between "ahci" from MS and AMD

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread...untry=&status=

Thanks for the Info, as i've never used or even set up any form of RAID, I was unsure...figured it was HDD/SDD manufacturer's who took care of that stuff. Very much appreciated cheers

[IvanLV]

Gonna give it a shot. Just picked up a 16gb usb to do it. My system specs are as follows

Processor: FX-8150
MoBo: Crosshair V
Ram: Corsair Vengence 8gb x 2
GPU: EVGA GTX 680
Optical Drive: LG BRD somthing or other (ill disconnect while installing)
Primary Storage: Kingston Hyper X 120gb SSD x 2 (raid 0 hopefully)
Secondary Storage: WD 1TB raptor
Power Supply: Corsair AT 1200

Thanks for all the help guys. I never had a problem setting up the raid 0 on my other rig.

[Chris Manico]

The only issue i had with my raid was having to install both 32 bit and 64 bit drivers when windows asked for them.

[IvanLV]

That's kinda my question. Exactly what drivers should I need?

When I first load the AHCI drivers - those are the only ones win7 will 'see'. After I load AHCI drivers, then I can go back and ALSO load (and see) a 'raid controller' and 'x106' driver. Do I need those?

[IvanLV]

The link you gave me is excellent. Everything went smoothly until...

Step 2
3.Use bootsect to set the USB as a bootable NTFS drive prepared for a Vista/7 image. I’m assuming that your USB flash drive has been labeled disk G:\ by the computer:
bootsect /nt60 g:

My usb was assigned drive F so I entered

bootsect /nt60 f:

the responce I recieved was,
"Target volumes will be updated with BOOTMGR compatible bootcode.

Could not map drive partitions to the associated volume device objects= Access is denied."

I didn't set up any passwords or anything. Dont know what to do =[