GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

[tbrand68]

Ok, here's the data...
GA-P55-USB3 mother board
Intel i7-860 2.8Ghz processor
4 GB DDR 3 memory
4 HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.C 1 Terrabyte hard drives.
1 Liteon Sata DVD drive.

All I want to do is create a raid 5 array from the 4 HD's. I've followed the directions in the manual that came with the mb (page 82 says enable PCH SATA Control to RAID(XHD))

I've left everything else as default (except the full screen logo...that's disabled)

When I reboot, the machine starts to post...give a brief look at the summary post screen, then goes black with a blinking cursor in the top left of the screen. I've left it there for several hours... just to make sure I wasn't being impatient :)

I have to reset CMOS to defaults via jumper, or upon reboot I can't get into bios...(if I press DEL, says entering bios, then goes to the black screen with blinky cursor.)

Any ideas? I've not flashed the newest bios yet... but thinking I might have to.

Anything would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Tim

[wazza300]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

try flashing to the latest official bios first and see if it still does it,only flash using q-flash,read the guide on the main page

[tbrand68]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

Ok, updated to latest bios (F6) using Q-Flash. Went well, but didn't fix the issue.

Same black screen with the blinking cursor...

I've tried removing all but 2 drives to see if that was the cause...nope..same thing. Whenever RAID is enabled on the bios, it won't get past the point above.

Anyone have any other ideas?

I might try installing win 7 and seeing if hardware raid can be enabled from there...but that isn't going to fix my real intent of creating on raid5 array and installing win 7 on that...

I'll keep updating as I learn more :)

Tim

[wazza300]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

did you set it to ahci/raid in the bios before you installed the os? if so then win7 should install any raid drivers automatically for you,dont switch from ahci/raid back to ahci or ide after as it will install the drivers for those sata modes and ruin the raid

[tbrand68]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

The only way I can get the board to get past the "cursor page", is to leave everything set to IDE... IF I set anything to ACHI or RAID it hangs during what I believe is the detection phase...

I've swapped out the Hitachi drives with Western digital and it works fine when set to IDE. Set to anythinge else, it doesn't finish the post.

I can't believe it is a bad board...but perhaps...

Tim

[wazza300]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

it will because the raid drivers arnt installed,you probably need to do a fresh install but set it to raid before you install win7

[tbrand68]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

I appreciate the help, but I don't think you're getting what I'm saying.

I should be able to create a RAID 5 volume BEFORE I install an OS... that way I can install the OS on the RAID 5 array. That's my ultimate goal.

As a test of the Motherboard, I did leave BIOS set to IDE and Win7 installed fine... however, this won't let me convert the 4 drives to RAID 5... it'll let me do 3...but not the one the OS is on.

I did this test just because I wanted to make sure the MB works... and it seems to.

So, again, if I change bios to anything other than IDE, it won't even POST completely. That's the rub.

Thanks again for giving me suggestions...

Tim

[wazza300]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

i dont know how raid works so im trying to advise the best i can untill someone who knows more posts comments,i think you have to install the os in raid mode set in the bios,then you can create a raid 5 array,it wont let you because youve installed in ide mode but i could be wrong

you have to set to raid in the bios then save and exit,upon reboot look for a msg that says "press ctrl-I to enter configuration utility" then you can set up the raid array in raid 0-5

[tbrand68]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

No worries. I appreciate all feedback, sometimes a new set of eyes leads to different ideas for a fix.

Tim

[tbrand68]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

Ok,

Here's the latest...and resolution!!!

Apparently the P55 chip needs something plugged into one of the PCIe 16 slots in able to set up data paths to the rest of the chipset. As soon as I plugged in a PCIe Graphics card, the RAID controller and ACHI functions came to life.

I had been using a standard PCI vga graphics card for burn in... NEVER had this issue before on any other motherboards...so I'm not sure if it is unique to the P55 or if it is a BIOS bug/feature...

So...thanks for everyones help... and I hope this stays around a while in case someone else runs across this issue.

Tim

(Oh, created the RAID 5 array and installed win7 without a hitch... just remember, wondows doesn't like to install on volumes greater than 2 TB, so I did have to partition off a small chunk of my 3TB array for the OS .)

[wazza300]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

ahhh yes i forgot that on those boards it borrows bandwidth from the pci-e slots when you have usb3 and sata3 enabled,maybe thats why you were having problems,and if you use crossfire say in 16x and 16x slots it will reduce on to 8x i think if you use usb/sata3

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

Nice to see you got that sorted out!

And thanks for posting for others, I didn't know that so I'll keep it in mind in case I see anyone else later on with a similar issue using PCI card.

[ryanwilliams]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

Windows 7 will not install to a RAID array greater then 2TB in size.

When i put my 3 750GB drives in RAID0 i had to create two actual RAID arrays
60GB for windows and the rest for data.

My understanding is that physical disks (in this case a RAID0 array) greater then 2TB require a GPT partition table apposed to the old school MBR.

The BIOS built into the RAID controller will not flag a GPT partitioned drive as bootable.
Therefore the >2TB array will not show in the bios as a choice on the boot menu.
Also if you look in the RAID bios it will say Bootable=No

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-P55-USB3 RAID / BIOS problem / Possible Stupid Question

It applies to partitions, not disks, so what you are seeing is normal.