Extreme6/TB4 issues (SSD detection, ultra fast boot)

[Elix]

Hi. I've just assembled my new PC with Extreme6/Tb4 at its heart. However I can't be glad 100% because I have some issues.

1) My OCZ Vertex4 drives (RAID) are failed to be recognized on the cold boot. Thus when I first power on the PC I always get the message "No OS found... Press ctrl+alt+delete...". I always have to enter bios after soft reset and there I can see that SSDs are recognized. I have to change the boot priority to my RAID SSD drive and OS loads correctly.
2) Ultra Fast Boot just doesn't work. After I set this option, save changes and restart it restarts and goes back to UEFI.

My configuration is in my profile. Please, help me avoid buyers' remorse!

[parsec]

The first question is why is your boot priority setting changed when you cold start. Could be a bad battery on the mother board. Are other UEFI settings lost besides the boot order? Is the SATA mode still RAID?

UltraFast boot skips some of the POST functions, including the ability to enter the BIOS. Do you have the Restart to UEFI ver:1.0.1 utility installed? That is needed when using UltraFast boot. UltraFast may not work with an OS on a RAID volume. UltraFast needs the CSM option set a certain way, I think, have you done that?

[Elix]

1) My boot priority setting get changed because motherboard fails to detect SSD drives. I am sure of it because one time after I reset to UEFI and went to system manager I saw two empty SATA0/SATA1 slots (where SSDs are). After a couple of restarts UEFI was able to see them again. I triple-checked connections, they are good. The battery is good, I've had no setting resets. SATA mode is still RAID.

2) I've installed the utility and got a message about UEFI GOP not supported. I presume I should put PCIe slot into legacy mode. However I wasn't able to find CSM settings, where should I look?

[parsec]

It should be in Advanced -> ACPI Configuration, at the bottom, strange place, I know.

You may not be able to get Ultra Fast boot working, as this note is in the description for UEFI 1.70:

Note: "Ultra Fast" is only supported by below conditions.
1. OS Windows 8 is installed on GPT format.
2. Graphics supports UEFI GOP.

[Elix]

It should be in Advanced -> ACPI Configuration, at the bottom, strange place, I know.

You may not be able to get Ultra Fast boot working, as this note is in the description for UEFI 1.70:

Note: "Ultra Fast" is only supported by below conditions.
1. OS Windows 8 is installed on GPT format.
2. Graphics supports UEFI GOP.

Ok, thanks for valuable info. Second issue aside, the problem of disappearing SSDs is much worse.

[parsec]

Thanks, and another quick search or two taught me that a video card's BIOS (not driver) must support GOP (Graphics Output Protocol), the UEFI's interface between it and a graphics system.

Next, trying to discover what video cards BIOS support GOP, we hit another wall. For example, NVIDIA's chips used in the 500 series cards do not support GOP. Apparently the new 600 series cards can support GOP, if the card manufacture includes a BIOS with that capability, but at least some have not done that. I did not check any further, but you would need to check with your ATI/AMD card's manufacture about its BIOS supporting GOP.

Back to SSDs. If your connections are good, data and power, and the SSDs are on the Intel 6Gb/s SATA ports (NOT the ASMedia SATA ports!), then before anything else, clear the CMOS/BIOS. I suggest doing that with the boards CMOS clear jumper, and then when you start the PC afterwards, press and hold the Clear CMOS button for a second, and the PC will shut off. Release the button and it will start again.

You must go into the BIOS/UEFI after that, and you should be asked to by the system. Check that the SSDs are seen in the UEFI, and reset the SATA mode to RAID, disable "Aggressive SATA Link Power Management", and set the SSDs to "SSD" with the option for each drive, which are only available on the two Intel SATA 6Gb/s ports. Disable Hot Plugging for both SSDs. I would also disable (worthless) options like Intel Rapid Start, Smart Connect, and even the ASMedia SATA ports at this point. Set Fast Boot to Disabled, I use SSDs in RAID 0 and I think having Fast Boot enabled causes problems with fast SSDs in RAID 0, and causes a double POST. At least disable it for this check. Save and exit.

On this restart, you should see the Intel RAID Option ROM displayed during POST. Press Ctrl and i to keep it displayed. That should also show your SSDs, and if your RAID 0 volume is recognized. If you still have problems, we'll try something else.

I've used Vertex 4's in RAID 0 without problems, so unless you have bad drives, they should work. What version of the Intel IRST RAID driver are you using?

[Elix]

Thanks! I will check everything this evening and post back.
Only HD7000 series and GTX600 series will have support of UEFI GOP...

[Elix]

Ok. No change. :( I did everything step-by-step. The SATA drives are still not recognized upon first boot (they aren't displayed during POST screen).
As for IRST RAID driver. Is this it? Intel(R) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller version 11.6.0.1030.

[parsec]

Yes that is the Intel RAID driver. You should install that driver.

When you installed Windows 8, did you install any driver during the part of the installation that allows that to be done? That is not supposed to be required, at least with Windows 7, and it seems to have worked with Windows 8, just asking.

[Elix]

I already had that driver installed.