Asrock x399 Taichi M.2 NVMe SSD RAID?

lemarcus wrote: Hey Hello I am struggling on getting Raid expert2 tool on a AsrockX399 taichi MB to work, trying to get 3 Samsung 960 evo in raid mode. Problem is i can't see AMD-RAID Configuration SCSI Processor Device or AMD Raid Config device in device manager to update the driver. like in this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csiqG_rkSWI&list=PLPvZiTQPZ-XVK909uKyRQquSRWgxeiBDv&t=233s&index=1 I installed Win10 first on a seperate Samsung Evo 850. now i want to get the 3 960 M2 evo in Raid mode under windows. In UEFI the sata mode is AHCI , AMD PBS / NVMe Raid mode is enabled. When i switch Sata mode in Uefi to Raid mode, i cant boot anymore from the system disk Evo 850. And i cant see the 850 anymore if i wanted to reinstall windows. What am i doing wrong? Or do i have to change something else in UEFI? I only want to get raidexpert2 to work, meaning i can login and put the 960 to raid from inside Windows. Thanks for any help Marcus

The failure of the Windows 10 installation on the 850 EVO to boot (with the SATA mode set to AHCI during the installation on the 850 EVO), after changing to RAID mode, is a classic Windows issue that has never been fixed, or cannot be fixed.

The booting problem is caused by Windows not being able to load the AMD RAID driver when it tries to start. Installing Windows in AHCI mode results in an AHCI driver being installed, of course. Changing to RAID mode in the UEFI/BIOS causes the AMD RAID storage Option ROM (part of the UEFI) to be used, which expects to work with a compatible AMD RAID driver.

But Windows does not know it needs to load the AMD RAID driver, nothing was done to signal that to Windows. Plus the Windows 10 installation does not have the new AMD NVMe RAID driver built into it, the only one that is compatible with the AMD NVMe RAID Option ROM in the 1.70 and newer UEFI versions for the X399 boards. So no RAID driver to start by Windows, booting fails.

Intel's RAID (just SATA RAID too) has the same issue, you cannot simply change to RAID mode in the UEFI when Windows was installed in AHCI, or any other non-RAID mode. The trick to work around this is a registry edit that signals Windows that the RAID driver must be installed. But that won't work in this situation, since the Windows installation does not have a compatible AMD NVMe RAID driver built into it. That is, if you knew what the registry entry to modify for AMD's RAID is, I don't and I don't know if the same fix for Intel's RAID will work for AMD's RAID.

The person in the tutorial must have installed Windows on a SATA drive with all the storage modes set to RAID. That is the only way you would have any Device Manager entries for AMD's RAID.

A pure guess is he possibly started Windows in Safe Mode after changing to RAID mode (IF that is what he did!), and somehow loaded the AMD NVMe RAID drivers. I am skeptical that is possible.

You need to install Windows 10 (build 1703) on the 850 EVO with both the SATA and NVMe modes set to RAID. You may need to install the two NVMe RAID drivers at that time, unless build 1703 has a basic, compatible RAID driver that will at least provide the two Device Manager entries you are looking for. Only then can you install the two RAID drivers via Device Manager.

To start over, you need to clear the UEFI/BIOS, reset everything as needed, including of course the RAID modes, Save and Exit the UEFI to apply those changes, and then see if the 850 EVO is seen by the Windows installer. The 850 must be the ONLY drive in the PC during the installation, no others at all!

The Windows installation media you are using must be booted from the correct entry in the boot order. That is the entry with this format: "UEFI: <device name>". That entry may be the first by default, but you should check.

You need to select a Custom installation within the Window installer, delete all existing partitions on the Custom screen, and then click New to allow Windows to format the 850 EVO. You might need to clean up the 850 EVO before attempting to install Windows on it again, if it refuses to be seen in the installer, which I assume is what you are saying.

I'm glad you are trying to build a RAID 0 array first on an existing Windows 10 installation as a test, before attempting to use a RAID 0 array as the OS drive with zero experience with AMD's NVMe RAID. When Intel first released their NVMe RAID, we found some bugs in it even though it basically worked Ok. Intel had new options for the NVMe RAID in the UEFI that required configuration, which was barely documented.

AMD's RAID is much more difficult to work with than Intel's, and if you've never worked with RAID before, you have a steep learning curve to deal with. Be prepared for multiple RAID 0 installation failures, and if you get one to work, be prepared for it to become corrupted if you are not careful.

MisterJ wrote: lemarcus, not totally sure what is wrong here, but to install drivers you can try this: http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=6498&KW=raid+driver&PID=38882&title=some-information-on-raidxpert2-x399-w10#38882 To install the drivers, open the file containing them, one at a time right click each .inf file and select Install.  Each should respond Success or Installed Successfully. Not sure but I think this: When i switch Sata mode in Uefi to Raid mode, i cant boot anymore from the system disk Evo 850. means that your 850 is not GPT.  Please open an Administrator Command Prompt and type Diskpart.  When the prompt comes up, type List Disk.  A list will be show all physical disks and on the right an * for each GPT disk.  Then type Exit.  Please don't mess with Diskpart unless you are familiar with it. There is a RAIDXpert2 in the BIOS-Advanced, but I agree to use the Windows version.  If the login window shows RAID Level 0, it probably means the drivers are not available and you will not be able to login. This may or may not work and you may need to fix the problem preventing boot with SATA mode set to RAID. Please post your specifications in you signature as I have and include your BIOS and OS versions and power supply.  Thanks and enjoy, John.

If the entry in the boot order for the Windows 10 installation media is "UEFI: <device name>" (which will be the default for USB flash drives), and the Windows installer is allowed to format the drive, it will be partitioned as GPT.

I realize the thought of the Windows installation program formatting the OS drive is not considered optimal by some people, but in my experience MSoft got the formatting right for UEFI booting installations in Windows 8.1 and 10.

Well, parsec, you may need to loan me your crow shaver.  Now my system will not boot from my normal SSD as before.  My hedge is something has changed (for sure 1.70 to 1.80).  I had been testing RAID drivers with the Windows version of RAIDXpert2 (RX2) by setting various modes in the BIOS then booting into W10, opening RX2 and hoping to see both my SATA and NVMe drivers.  If I could open RX2, I could always see the SATA drive but never the NVMe.  Now I can no longer boot, so I will look forward to a meal of cold crow.  Enjoy, John.

Thanks for the kind words, parsec.  The only thing I think I know is that we are not to the end of discussion.  The funny thing about my boot failure is there is no message and it goes into the circle dots mode and never exits.  The RS2 (1703) requirement is AMD and I hope RS3 is OK because I am running 1709.  The ASRock version of the AMD RAID drivers are injected into my WinPE and my W10 images.  I would have a hard time knowing for sure when I started including the RAID drivers.  Maybe that is what is causing the boot failures now.  I did not inject the RAID drivers earlier.  Always lots of questions - makes recreation almost impossible and I certainly will not try now.  Thanks and enjoy, John.