EP45-UD3R v.1.1 need help with 64bit and RAID

[shredz]

hey guys,new here...
I AM PULLING MY HAIR OUT!
I have 3x 1.5TB sata seagates, want to set as RAID5, and boot from it.
My CD is IDE.
I cannot get a 64bit OS installed, tried server 2008 and win 7.
Server 2008 cant see RAID, keeps saying 64bit driver not signed, wont go farther.
Win 7 sees drives but wont install cuz it says drives not bootable, PLUS, for some reason, it wont let me have a drive over 2TB, acts like its not 64bit.
I think bios started at F6...then went to F11, same problem (BIOS now says RAID/HDX or similar).
Any help out there? I want to use this as a file server for home.

[Acebmxer]

Are you supplying the OS install the driver for it on a floppy or a usb disk by pressing F6 during install? I think Lsd posted on another thread that there is a correct folder path that needs to be made for windows install to see driver correctly but I could be wrong on this. Also just double check you are using the 64 bit driver and not the 32 bit version.

[shredz]

server 2008 lets u use a cd so was using what came with motherboard.
win7 saw the drives ok but said it couldnt install there cuz of boot issue.
Thanks for the reply and again, all help is appreciated...
one more thing, how do u get the raid to say its bootable?

[Ickk]

I can only go by my motherboard (x58 ud4p) settings but i'm hoping they will be similar.

On the motherboard use the sata connectors on the southbridge (intel ones) for your hard disks , not the 2 gigabyte sata connectors.
Put your cd/dvd on the gigabyte sata connector or the ide connecor if its not sata
In the bios i assume you have set to Raid not IDE (top of page) ,the setting at the end of page is for the Gigabyte sata (2x sata connectors) set that one to IDE.

Save and exit ..you should now see the intel raid setup page (press CTRL + i) ... set up raid for raid 5.
Disks should now be ready to install windows.

[Lsdmeasap]

You need to use a driver, via USB or floppy. Do not use the CD that came with the board for a few reasons, one being those are all old drivers and two most importantly in this case the drivers you are trying to use must be extracted from the CD as they are in a compressed file as outlined in your manual.

You are creating a RAID Array in the RAID BIOS right? You have to do that first using Control + I at the IRQ Screen

You should connect your 3 drives to the first three yellow ports (SATA2_0-2), then connect your CD/DVD Drive on the last Yellow Port SATA2_5

Then these should be your BIOS settings >>>

Integrated Peripherals

Intel Controller (Yellow Ports)
SATA RAID/AHCI Mode (Intel ICH10R Southbridge) ............. RAID
SATA Port0-3 Native Mode ................................... Enabled (or Disabled, both will work)

Gigabyte/J.Micron Controller (Purple Ports) (If you are not using Purple Ports or a actual IDE Ribbon cable device these can be disabled)
Onboard SATA/IDE Device (GIGABYTE SATA2 Chip) ............. Enabled
Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode (GIGABYTE SATA2 Chip) ........... IDE

Then go into the RAID BIOS and create your array, save and reboot BACK to the BIOS. Then go into the advanced BIOS page and then into the Hard Disk Boot Priority Section and move your array by name to the top.

Here is the latest x64 pre-install drivers you will need, place them on a USB. Folder Structure is only important for XP/Floppy method and does not matter for Vista/Windows 7/Server 08 >>
Software License Agreement

Please be sure when you load the driver, that you choose the RAID one (Iastor.sys) and you choose RAID not AHCI in the named/labeled driver choice screen

Here is your manual, which explains the RAID Creation process starting on page 83
GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - Manual - GA-EP45-UD3R (rev. 1.0)

Once you have done all that begin your install and when vista/server shows you the disk screen window choose advanced options, or load driver if you see it already and then load the driver linked above. Then you should see your array. You may not need to load the driver, but I do suggest it so you are using the latest Intel driver and not the OS Default old one

Let us know if you need further help

[shredz]

heres my update:

You need to use a driver, via USB or floppy. Do not use the CD that came with the board for a few reasons, one being those are all old drivers and two most importantly in this case the drivers you are trying to use must be extracted from the CD as they are in a compressed file as outlined in your manual.

- ok, I copied the intel files u linked to on a usb drive, tried server 2008, same problem...says im trying to install with an unsigned driver??

You are creating a RAID Array in the RAID BIOS right? You have to do that first using Control + I at the IRQ Screen.

- yes, ctrl-I, 3 drives show up, its created but under boot it says NO.

You should connect your 3 drives to the first three yellow ports (SATA2_0-2), then connect your CD/DVD Drive on the last Yellow Port SATA2_5

- 3 drives same as u...my cd is IDE so using 40 pin conn

Then these should be your BIOS settings >>>

Integrated Peripherals

Intel Controller (Yellow Ports)
SATA RAID/AHCI Mode (Intel ICH10R Southbridge) ............. RAID
SATA Port0-3 Native Mode ................................... Enabled (or Disabled, both will work)

- last one is enabled...so far so good!

Gigabyte/J.Micron Controller (Purple Ports) (If you are not using Purple Ports or a actual IDE Ribbon cable device these can be disabled)
Onboard SATA/IDE Device (GIGABYTE SATA2 Chip) ............. Enabled
Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode (GIGABYTE SATA2 Chip) ........... IDE

- same

Then go into the RAID BIOS and create your array, save and reboot BACK to the BIOS. Then go into the advanced BIOS page and then into the Hard Disk Boot Priority Section and move your array by name to the top.

- the array doesnt show up here

Here is the latest x64 pre-install drivers you will need, place them on a USB. Folder Structure is only important for XP/Floppy method and does not matter for Vista/Windows 7/Server 08 >>
Software License Agreement

Please be sure when you load the driver, that you choose the RAID one (Iastor.sys) and you choose RAID not AHCI in the named/labeled driver choice screen

- I did

Here is your manual, which explains the RAID Creation process starting on page 83
GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - Manual - GA-EP45-UD3R (rev. 1.0)

- yes read that already.

Once you have done all that begin your install and when vista/server shows you the disk screen window choose advanced options, or load driver if you see it already and then load the driver linked above. Then you should see your array. You may not need to load the driver, but I do suggest it so you are using the latest Intel driver and not the OS Default old one

Let us know if you need further help

- stilll at a loss...your turn :)
havent tried win 7 again but dont understand the 2TB barrier in 64bit, acts like 32...these files were d/l from microsoft.

[shredz]

wanted to add...tried win 7 again...same message

"your computers hardware may not support booting from this disk. Make sure your controller is enabled in BIOS"

????

[Chike]

What about disk order? Is the RAID set to be the first boot device?

[shredz]

raid isnt listed...just has 'add-in cards' or something like that.

[Acebmxer]

If you did indeed setup the raid volume correctly in the raid bios under boot order you should see the SCSI0 for your raid drives. If I remember correctly when I installed vista 64 the last time I had the raid drivers on a usb drive and got to the point of selecting my drive both my no raid drive and raided drives were listed but if i chose to select a driver it said the same thing about being a 32 bit driver not a 64 bit driver . I said to me self well im not installing my os on the raid drives any way so i went along with the install knowing I had the Full windows install raid driver on the usb drive in-case windows did not see them. But after the install completed the drive was there after I partitioned it and formatted. I dont know of a limitation on hard drive size in vista 64 but my 2 1tb drives in raid0 show up at 1.83tb. Raid bios shows each drive as 938gb or something like that. All this info is if you are using the intel sata ports the yellow ones not the 2 purple gigaybte/jmicron controller.