GA-A75M-UD2H RAID 1

[susquekayaker]

I'm trying to do something that I've done on other Gigabyte boards, and would think is pretty basic, but am running into some problems. I have the following components.

1 - Kingston SSD 64GB
1 - LiteOn DVD
2 - Seagate 500 HDs

I have the Kingston plugged into SATA port 4 as my boot drive
I have the Seagates plugged into SATA ports 0/1 configured as RAID 1
I have the LiteOn DVD plugged into SATA port 2 (I've also tried 3)

The problem is my DVD is not recognized in Windows or the BIOS as a Master or Slave, but I see it in the RAID menu, under 'view drive assignments' as detected devices.

What am I doing wrong..? Is ports 2 or 3 not able to be isolated fromt the RAID ports?

Thanks ahead of time.

Russ

Afterthought.. I'm running F4 BIOS.

[autotech]

Put your SSD in sata 1 Then put your raid in Sata 2 and 3 then lastly your dvd drive whenever you use a SSD it is strongly advised to always use Sata port 1  then your raid would be in the next 2 like mine are then my dvd drive is in port 4 and i dont have any problems at all my computer sees them all the way they are.

[susquekayaker]

Autotech,

What you're saying makes sense. And that's what I've done on other boards. This is just not working on this board.

Let me start by saying the only reason I was using port 4 for my boot drive is because in the manual it says "To enable RAID for the SATA3_0/1/2/3 connectors, set the On-Chip SATA Type to RAID. To enable RAID for the SATA3_4/eSATA connectors, set the On-Chip SATA Type to RAID and set the On-Chip SATA Port 4/5 Type to As SATA Type". So in other words, ports 4/5 are the only ports that are not part of the RAID ports, unless otherwise enabled. When I had my boot drive in any other ports, with RAID enabled it does not boot.

The other thing that is driving me nuts is during post with RAID DISABLED I will see six positions identified (Master 0, Slave 0, Master 1, Slave 1, Master 2, Slave 2). With RAID enabled, I only see whats plugged into ports 4/eSATA (Master 2, Slave 2). It's only when I see the RAID detection part during post (where it says RAID 1 Functional) that I see the SSD listed in addition to the RAID.

Any info is appreciated.

Russ

[absic]

Hi there,

autotech is right in that you should put your SSD on SATA3_0. Although this will be controlled by the RAID ROM it will actually run in AHCI Mode. You can then build your RAID Array in the usual way.

The naming conventions used on Gigabyte Motherboards is a little bizarre and can be quite confusing. For some reason known only to Gigabyte they still use the IDE Method for identifying SATA Ports but there are no Master/Slave drives in reality when using SATA Drives.

[susquekayaker]

Absic,

I understand what you're saying, and I totally agree with you. It should just work. But it's not.

I've never had this much problem with a any RAID configuration. I have tried the SSD in SATA3_0. I've tried different BIOS versions. I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with this board. I even tried cloning the SSD to an old Seagate 160GB and put that in port 0 (or 1, what ever you prefer to call it). As soon as I enable RAID, it will not boot from it. The only way I can enable RAID and boot from the drive is to put it in port 4, which is excluded from the RAID ports.

I was wondering if I'm missing something in the drive assignments under the RAID menu, but I don't see how or where I could. I see all three drives. I enable the two Seagates 500GB and build the array. I exit out, reboot, and that's it.

The other weird thing I've noticed is when it starts to boot, I see the Windows 7 '4 little dots' start to rotate, then the screen goes blank.. beep and computer reboots. If I break the array then reboot it comes up and tells me it wants to run a system check. I arrow down and start windows normally and it boots fine.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Russ

[susquekayaker]

OK, so after RMA'ing the old board, simply because I ran out of ideas and was thinking maybe there was a problem with the board (btw, Newegg rocks), I receive the new board and it's doing the exact same thing. I really am looking for any suggestions on what the heck I'm missing or not doing.

It's pretty straight forward. I have one Seagate 160GB in port 0 (that I have the OS installed on). The other two Seagate 500GB drives in ports 1 and 2. I go into the BIOS, enable RAID. I reboot, hit CTRL+F to get into the RAID BIOS. I hit option 2, Define LD. I see all three drives. I assign the 2 - 500GB drives to RAID 1. I name it Mirror. I exit out and save. I reboot and go into the BIOS to Hard Disk Boot Priority and make sure I have the 160GB listed first. I see the MIRROR in postion 2. I exit and save. The computer reboots and the Windows 7 (4 little dots) start to rotate, then the screen goes blank and reboots.

I've even thought about reinstalling the OS, wondering if there's an issue there. When I boot to CD and try to install Windows it tells me it's unable to find a drive.

Keep in mind, when I remove the RAID as an option and reboot, Windows wants to check the file system. I arrow down and proceed with normal boot. How does it know that Windows didn't load properly if it doesn't know the OS drive is there?

I can't believe Gigabyte / AMD is making something this difficult. I've read all about RAIDXpert but this doesn't seem to apply to me, simply because I'm unable to get that far.

Any help is appreciated.

[susquekayaker]

Got it. This is what I did.

I plugged the 160GB into port 4 (the one that's not part of the RAID ports, and the way I started out in this mess). I made it my priority boot drive. Booted up, installed the RAID drivers. It found the DVD, which was plugged into port 3, and it found the Mirror. I formatted that in disk management. I installed RAIDXpert and there it is. I also see the DVD in RAIDXpert.

Just an FYI, the Seagate 160GB was my test bed before I put the SSD back in (didn't want to risk loosing anything). Did the same with that and it's the same deal.

Glad it's working, just seems Mickey Mouse to me. Hope everythings holds up.

Thanks for listening.. :>)