Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

[dubber]

Greetings ALL,

I'm coming over from an x58 mobo which I knew in and out to this new 2011 socket beast. Visually it's decent, seems powerful, just ONE problem: I'm trying to do a RAID 0 array (using the Intel chipset) with my (2) Corsair Force GT 240 SSD drives. I'm able to set up the array in the BIOS no problem, I've also hit CTL-I and set it up there, Windows 7 install is looking for a driver prior to completing the installation. The driver Windows is looking for is NOT on the Gigabyte mobo install CD. I've tried ALL of these drivers as well but to NO avail. What am I doing wrong? WHERE can I find the driver I need to finish my install? I'm not exactly a newb, BUT I would love feedback and HELP getting my new rig going !! Please help !!

I've tried all these drivers, plus all the drivers from Gigabyte's website, from what I understand I need an RSTe driver?:

[Conners]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

Might have a look at this page to see if it helps you...

Also have you install the Intel MEI drivers? May or may not be needed... As far as a driver during Install not sure on that....

[dubber]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

Appreciate the reply Conners, I just went back and looked at the mobo manual again and followed it to a 'T', it's absurd the Intel drivers will not load, I swapped SATA ports on the mobo to the Marvell 6 GB/s and the Marvell drivers have pre-loaded, right now I'm waiting for a reboot to see if it blue screens

[Conners]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

One thing you might try if you haven't already is to reset the CMOS... I haven't done raid in a while but with XP (I am using Win 7 now) I never had to load ne raid drivers during OS install. One other thing to try if you can get into Windows (which I doubt) is build the raid array in IRST program... Just thoughts.

[dubber]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

Ugh, I give up, this mobo will not load a simple RAID driver, I'm calling Gigabyte in the morning to see if they have a solution, if not I'm RMAing

[boondocks]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

I don't have any experience with the X79 boards, but I've had no problems setting up RAID on a UD5H or a UP4 TH.

What you might do is install Windows on one drive, then go back to bios, set up RAID, then reboot and set up your RAID discs and see if that works. Maybe that will solve the missing driver problem, IDK.

[dubber]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

Thanks boondocks for the reply. My buddy has the UP4 TH and I helped him set the RAID up on that with a pair of Samsung 830's. it was so seamless that's what convinced me to buy a Gigabyte mobo to begin with. This 2011 socket is nice the CPU is HUGE, but everything I've read (after my purchase of course) is that the x79 chipset is a bit wonky. I tried doing as you said and installing windows on 1 drive, which works fine by the way, and using the IRST software once I reach windows but it ultimately hoses my Windows install and puts the machine in a loop, with blue screen, the Windows screen asking to reboot normally or the F8 option. Gigabyte support opens on the West Coast at 830 PST which of course is 1130 EST our time. So I gotta wait a few more hours for a resolution.

[Vinster]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

What I have done in the past;

- enable the RAID controller and install windows on just 1 disk.
- - this gets windows going with the RAID drivers installed
- Then perform a complete Windows backup using the windows backup utility to an external drive or a separate storage drive on your PC.
- Then re-boot and configure your RAID with both your SSD's
- At this step disconnect any extra drives in your system except for your SSD's, Storage disk with the backup and your DVD drive...
- Then use your Windows installation DVD like you would a fresh install, but before you click install click on "Repair your computer" on the bottom left.
- Then find your backup and chose to restore the installation on your new RAID.

I've done this mostly when upgrading people from a single SSD to dual for more space and speed. this has also worked for when upgrading from an OS on a Platter drive.

Vin

EDIT: actually on the last system I did this on was a Gigabyte 790FXTA-UD5 with an AMD Raid controller, when I loaded the RAID drivers I had an error that the driver could not be loaded. all I did was click back and then next from the window I was in and the driver did end up loading... that was a first for me... majority of the time the controller I was using already had the driver in the Win7 repository.

[dubber]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

Thanks Vinster for the reply.

Well, actually there IS a happy ending in this. I had a setting in the BIOS set wrong. I had my RAID array set up to do RSTe, and I needed to change it to iRST. I had sworn I read that I needed RSTe for the x79 chipset, looks like I misunderstood.

I also called Gigabyte, I'm going to give them props here because I've heard a lot of bad, but the gentleman I spoke to was very helpful, I had all my ducks in a row and asked all the pertinent questions, he told me to remove 2 of my RAM sticks and to plug my optical drive into a GSATA3 port instead of where I had it plugged in, and to make sure I wasn't undervolting my RAM, it IS 1.5V RAM and that was where it was set in the BIOS so no issue there.

Once I reset the BIOS RAID array to iRST and plugged the DVD-RW optical drive into GSATA3 on the mobo, Windows cruised on through without a hitch ! Like I said I was coming from an x58 chipset, and this 2011 socket and new BIOS was all new to me, BUT I DID LEARN SOMETHING, lol !! I hope what I experienced here will help someone else out that buys this mobo and chipset !!

Props to all you cats here on Tweaktown as well for offering help and support, many thanks !!!

[Conners]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

Well there you go and glad you got it lined out. Having come from a P45 to a Z77 board I missed all of the in between lol. A bois setting I never heard of lol good find!

[Vinster]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

Glad you got it sorted out.

Vin

[no cigar]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

Hi guys I am also having some issues with RAID setup on the UP4.

I'm currently trying to set up a raid0 array across 4 120G Kingston SSDs and can only see 2 drives when I get to the setup screen. Both sets of slots are set to raid in the BIOS and the motherboard is seeing all 4 drives. Is it possible to have a 4 disk raid0 array on this motherboard?

Do I have to set up 2 arrays of 2 and then combine them? Thanks!

There is one caveat. These are 4 kingston 3k hyper x ssd in 120gb. However they are a few model numbers apart because 2 of them I bought back in 2012 and recently wanted to add 2 more. The 2 older ones are SH100 and the new ones are SH103. This wouldn't make a difference would it?

[Vinster]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

the drives being mildly different shouldn't make a difference, but you need to make sure that all four drives are plugged in to the same coloured SATA ports. Are they?

Vin

EDIT:

Chipset:

2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0/1) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2 2~5) supporting up to 4 SATA 3Gb/s devices
Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
* When a RAID set is built across the SATA 6Gb/s and SATA 3Gb/s channels, the system performance of the RAID set may vary depending on the devices being connected.

3 x Marvell 88SE9172 chips:

4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 6~9) supporting up to 4 SATA 6Gb/s devices
2 x eSATA 6Gb/s connectors on the back panel supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
Support for RAID 0 and RAID 1

[no cigar]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

Yes,

I have all 4 SSDs plugged into the grey slots 6-9 of the Marvell controller. When the system boots up it's almost as if it initializes each controller separately, ie 2 setup screens.

[Vinster]

Re: Gigabyte-X79-UP4 help with RAID please !!!!!!

according to the specs there is only 2 controllers. the intel 3/6GB and the Marvel 6GB. Why do you want to use the marvel? you will lose between 1/3rd to 1/2 of the performance using the marvel vs. the intel.

Vin

EDIT: in your manual go to Chapter 5, there is a good description on configuring the RAID array.