P35C-DS3R + OCZ Vertex 2 - RAID problem

[sam0t]

Hello,

Just received my OCZ Vertex 2 drive and to my dissapointment, when RAID mode is enabled for the Intel HDD controller, the SSD drive does not show up in the F12 boot menu with my Gigabyte P35C-DS3R motherboard. After initial POST the drive does show up in the Intel RAID config but there is no way to boot from the Drive, as the drive does not appear in F12 boot menu! Updating the BIOS to the latest F12 did not help.

My Windows 7 64bit OS was installed in RAID mode and naturally when I tried transferring the OS image to the new SSD drive, I could not boot from it as the SSD drive does not show up in the Boot menu. The workaround was rather cumbersome since multiple reboots and couple imaging reruns were necessary. I had to enable the Jmicron controller, set the Intel controller from RAID to AHCI mode, reimage the OS and transfer the OS back to the SSD. Now in AHCI mode the Vertex 2 shows up in the F12 boot menu with Intel controller. My only gripe currently is that on the boot the Intel storage controller complains about Vertex 2 failing on SMART check. This however does not seems to cause any serious problems.

Found a similar topic here http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?topic=2672.0

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?76177-do-you-own-a-Gigabyte-motherboard-and-have-the-SMART-error-with-FW1.11...look-inside

^ Seems like the issue is known at least on some level. Gigabyte has provided OCZ with beta BIOS to fix the SMART error.


My question now is, is Gigabyte going to fix this RAID issue with a BIOS update or is the problem in OCZ Vertex 2 drive? Does not help me, but maybe other people are having similar issue.  

My setup:

Gigabyte P35C-DS3R rev.2.1 with F12 BIOS
OCZ-VERTEX2 60GB ,  Firmware : 1.11
Win7 64bit

[Lsdmeasap]

On the Intel ports, were you moving the array by name to the top of the "Hard Disk Boot Priority" list in the Advanced BIOS page?   Not the 1, 2, 3, boot order, be sure you go into the section I mentioned.

Also, be sure you are using Intel SATAII_0 and SATAI_1 ports.   I know a clean install would likely be the only way you could test these changes, unless you were sure you have everything as I mentioned, but thought I'd drop you my thoughts anyway in case you were up for trying again.

Latest BIOS is F13a, you may want to try that as well and do it all over again.
http://www.station-drivers.com/telechargement/gigabyte/beta-bios/P35CDS3R.F13a.zip

Be sure you flash with Qflash, and Disable "Keep DMI Data" before you flash.  Then load Optimized Defaults and save/apply F10 and reboot BACK to the BIOS, then set your SATA/Disk/RAID settings again.  Then I'd go ahead and shut down, move the disks to the Intel controller ports mentioned above and try this all again.

[Lsdmeasap]

Correction to above post, that BIOS is faulty due to ID Check.

Please use corrected BIOS F14b
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?9tl0kyraw0ztbvg

* I think I maybe helping you over at OCN with this?  If not another user here with same board and issue*
http://www.overclock.net/ssd/826520-gigabyte-p35-ds3r-raid-doesnt-see-3.html

[Lsdmeasap]

So I see the thread I asked about is not you.

So can you please send in a report, with this URL and the one I linked above.  That way they will at least be aware and can get going on a fix, if you don't report it they may not know for a while since these are older boards with not as many people using them.

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/technical-support.aspx

[sam0t]

Hello,

Thanks for looking into the problem and the overclock.net user is different from me. At least we now know this problem is real and not just faulty hardware. And also to your question, I am using SATA port 0 and also tried 1. No raid configured, I just had it on to enable hot swap, but that works well in AHCI mode as well so all is well.

I will be sending gigabyte an error ticket on this, thanks for the tip.

[Lsdmeasap]

Thanks, let us know what they tell you as I don't think the user at Overclock.net is going to send in a report.

[sam0t]

Thanks, let us know what they tell you as I don't think the user at Overclock.net is going to send in a report.

No problem, actually received a reply for my question today, but their suggestion was just to update to the latest BIOS. There was some mixup with the error report, my fault totally as I typod the model name P35 instead P35C  . Will reply to the Gigabyte ticket and post here if I receive further info from them.

[sam0t]

Received F13B beta BIOS from Gigabyte tech support for this issue, unfortunately it did not help.

OCZ Vertex 2 showed up in BIOS boot selection once, but after it, it was a goner. Also with RAID mode ON, the boot menu simply started to freeze and could not do anything in there. AHCI mode works still fine, although with the "SMART command failed" message is still around during boot. Gigabyte technical support promised to let their BIOS team know about it.

[Dark Mantis]

Are you runing the latest firmware on your SSD? I know OCZ has issued updates for it not so long ago.
Here is a quote from Soarwitheagles from his thread on the forum:

Here are what some of the reviews are saying about some of the issues:


Shipped with Firmware1.11 had to roll it back to 1.10 to clear a S.M.A.R.T. conflict with Gigabyte BIOS.

Firmware problem with Gigabyte boards. SSD has 1.11 firmware preinstalled. BIOS reports "SMART Command Failed" during POST. Same problem reported by other Gigabyte users on OCZ support forum.

[sam0t]

FW 1.11 installed on Vertex 2 from factory. This is the newest I could find on OCZ webpage.

I see reverting to older FW would fix the SMART failed issue, but as it just error and does not seem to affect performance, I will stick with 1.11.

[Dark Mantis]

Well at least you know what is causing it now. Hopefully the next Gigabyte BIOS update will address this problem.

[sam0t]

Gigabyte sent me the 13c beta BIOS and happy to report that I no longer get the "SMART command failed" error during start up.

SSD drive still does not show up in boot menu or BIOS when RAID is enabled, but all works well now with AHCI mode.

[Dark Mantis]

Thanks for the update and at least you are a bit nearer getting it all correct. A couple more BIOS updates or so and everything should work perfectly

[sam0t]

Finally Sigar so to speak, Gigabyte support provided me Beta BIOS 13d which fixed all of my issues. The OCZ Vertex 2 drive now correctly shows up in BIOS and Boot menu when Intel RAID is enabled and there are no SMART errors with AHCI mode.

Gigabyte just received one loyal customer 

[Dark Mantis]

Oh well that's good news all round. I was only a bit out when I said a couple of BIOS updates!