ga-f2a85xm-d3h raid driver not working

[add1ct3dd]

Hey,

So I decided to buy a new SSD for this machine, as at current the OS is on a laptop 5400rpm drive, so slow as you can imagine.

I can't for the life of me get the SSD to show though. It shows up in the BIOS OK, and shows up in GParted ok, but I cannot install to either my current HDD (which shows on the drive list when installing windows), or on the SSD (which doesn't show up at all). When I'm in the list of drives to install to on the Windows menu, I can't actually install to my current HDD either as it says there's a driver missing, but it does show both the boot and the main partition, so it is actually appearing (the HDD not the SSD) - but still indicates a lack of driver.

Most drivers I load only appear if I untick "show drivers only suitable for this hardware", there was one driver - Win7 x86 - that shows as AMD AHCI Compatible Controller (I think) - that loads ok and is clearly meant to (shows when not ticked), however the drives still do not appear.

Both drives appear in the BIOS, BIOS is set to RAID mode as I have a RAID 5 setup on ports 4-8, so I have to have 0-3 in RAID mode also.

I've tried all of the drivers on the site in both  x86 and x64 flavours, and none will seem to get this SSD showing!?!?

I've also tried formatting the SSD in Gparted to make sure it has a MBR style partition list, as some people reported that it was coming with the GPT version, which Windows does not like as you know.

Anyone got any ideas? I cant currently find the disc that came with the motherboard, so I'm stuck to trying the drivers that I can get online.

I've tried both Windows 7 Professional and Windows 8.1, neither will show the drive at all, and I've tried loading both the AHCI and the RAID drivers.

Any help much appreciated, it's driving me insane.


note: motherboard is revision 1.0 and the ssd in question is a Samsung 850 EVO 120gb.

The only other thing I can think of - I don't need to set up anything for single drives in the RAID bootrom do I? There's the menu for ctrl+f to access the RAID software, but that shows my RAID fine, and the other single drives OK too. At the moment I'm testing with the RAID setup unplugged, as I don't want to accidentally lose anything, but I have also tried stuff with it plugged in and it makes no difference.

[add1ct3dd]

Just to add, I think the main issue is because I'm in RAID Mode right? But then I always have been for my RAID setup and HDD to work, I think it will work if I set to AHCI mode, but then I lose my RAID setup?

Argh...

I also saw that people were having problems installing over USB - so I have Win8.1 on a disc, and Win7 on a USB (also tried Win8.1 on a USB too, no difference).

[shadowsports]

Help us out here. 

You have RAID5 set up on ports 4-8 (your words)
There is no port 8, so does this mean you have 3 disks on port 4-6 with a hot spare on 7 or do you just have 3 disks?

If you have any of the RAID disks conected to ports 0-3, you have a problem.  The chipset on this MB does not allow you to comingle RAID and AHCI modes between the two sets of connectors.

SATA3_0-3
and
SATA3_4-7

For OS install:
Win7 - use the AHCI driver, operate mode for controller must be AHCI
Win8 - Same or you may not need a driver at all

**See my notes below for setting the correct operate mode for each group of ports   

Start with this:

Decide which group of connectors you will use for RAID and which set you will use for non-RAID disks.  Now shut down and transfer your disks to the correct conectors (group)

**Important - do not comingle RAID disks between the two sets of connectors, you will lose your parity drive and break your array.

BIOS > Peripherals

OnChip SATA Channel > Enabled

To enable RAID for the SATA3 0/1/2/3 connectors, set OnChip SATA
Type to RAID.  Set to AHCI if you want to use single drives to install your OS to.

To enable RAID for the SATA3 4/5/6/7 connectors, set OnChip SATA Type to RAID and set
OnChip SATA Port4-7 Type to As SATA Type

Closing thoughts:

If I were you, I would ensure I had a back up of any important data.  Leave my RAID array disconnected until my OS was properly installed.  Use ports 4-7 for my RAID and use ports 0-3 for my CD/DVD ROM and single non-RAID disks.  You want this group of ports to operate as AHCI.  Once the OS is installed (single disk), you should still see a RAID controller in Device Manager.  You can load drivers for it there (including the RAID eXpert utility).  After you reconnect your RAID Disks, ensure you boot into your RAID Config utility CTRL+F and confirm RAID member disks in LD View  or Define Menus.  Don't change anything, just be sure all member disks are marked.  Save and boot into your OS.