ASRock Z87 Extreme 4 second RAID Windows freeze

[kleinerpogo]

Hey there, getting freezes with 2 RAIDS at the same time after creating second Array.

Detailed Information:

System/Setup:

ASRock z87 extreme 4
i7-4770k
Windforce GTX780
4*2GB RAM (some older, 1333 or 1600, not sure)
2*128GB SSD Agility3 (RAID 0, System)
2*2TB WD Green (RAID 0, Storage)
Windows 7 Pro

MoBo, Processor and Graphiccard are brand new, HDDs not that old and RAM a bit older (looking forward to get some new RAM).

Installation:

First, I configured a RAID 0 between the two SSDs (legacy, not UEFI), and everything worked fine; no issues. Yesterday, I backed up my (WD)-HDD-Data from both discs to my SSD-Array and installed the Intel Rapid Storage Driver at the same time. Then I restarted and created a second RAID over the 2 WD-HDDs - also RAID 0 (again legacy with ctrl+I, and yeah, I know, would be better to restart first for IRST, then restart again for creating the RAID.. ).

Everything seemed to work fine, both Arrays are recognized by both the BIOS (as "Intel System" and "Intel Programms" as I named them) and later Windows; configured boot priority. and Windows (7) seemed to boot up fine. Seemed..

Problem:

I was able to login and tried to format the Storage-Array when my Windows started to work slower and then just freezed. No error-message, just freezing of every window and the taskbar, but moveable mouse all the time. After reboot I went into Windows secure mode and managed to format my Storage-Array, but shortly after that - when i tried to deinstall IRST - the secure mode also freezed. I did some restarts in secure and also normal mode, and it seemed, that the time until Windows freezes became shorter and shorter to the point, when it freezes in the login-screen.

All in all, the changes I did on my working system before Problems started were installing IRST in Windows and creating the second RAID 0 via legacy ctrl+I method; so for me, it would be logical, that one of these steps causes problems. Sadly cause of the short time until windows freezes, I wasnt able to deinstall IRST for now, will try that again in a few days.

Do you guys maybe have any answers to this problem? While researching, I found it seems that not only me is having problems with this MoBo and RAID. Important for me would be to not reinstall Windows, cause I backed up my Storage to my SSD-Array.
Would be awesome, if someone would be able to help me out

Best regards,
Jan

 

[cin19]

Maybe the drive has problem. I got a win7 freezing since I set up the SSD raid0 ( M4/Vertex 450 ) for about 6 months ago, I did check my ssd. They are fine because I can't find any error, and I used cloning method that work for me at least.
What I did, because I made the copy of the raid into other small HDD, so I boot into that HDD, make a cloning back to the SSD raid, then it works fine now, So you can try this to. Take one small drive, if you don't have take one of the 2TB, clonie the ssd raid into it, using the " Acronis True Image WD Edition Software " http://support.wd.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en after that, recloning back to the ssd raid.

When you use the raid even not the raid you are better to made the backup of the raid0.

 

[kleinerpogo]

Hey there, thanks for your answer! But I think, that my SSD RAID is not the one making problems, because when I created the SSD-RAID and installed Windows on it, everything worked properly for hours and days, but after creating the storage-RAID and installing IRST the problems started.

Most solutions to similar problems included the installation of IRST, but in my case, after installing it, the problems began. So one question:
with "installing IRST", did they mean the in-Windows-Installation, or some MB-drivers? Cause when i look for IRST drivers, the only ones I find are the Windows-Installations. That was one thing I wondered, if i should install any RAID-drivers in Windows or in the Bios; the Bios itself gave me the option to set the hdd status to raid, and after rebooting, with the mb-integrated irst i was able to create my RAIDs, and the SSD-RAID worked perfect.

 

[cin19]

When you set up the raid you have two methods, check the link #1 or #3. http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-032715.htm In your case you use the #3 "Setting up RAID when the operating system is already installed", so when you install the intel RST you do install the raid driver. https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=2101&DwnldID=23496&ProductFamily=Software+Products&ProductLine=Chipset+Software&ProductProduct=Intel%C2%AE+Rapid+Storage+Technology+%28Intel%C2%AE+RST%29&lang=eng
After setup the raid, if you have problem then most likely the hard drive has the problem, not the software has problem. If your SSD has problem you can try the cloing method at least work for me, if the HDD raid has problem, the problem is from the WD green HDD because that does not design for the raid.

I forget ask which SATA port you connect the SSD raid and HDD raid.

 

[kleinerpogo]

The HDDs should work fine, cause like one month ago I used them on my microserver with a Hardware-RAID-Controller. Not sure about the ports at the moment, have to have a look when Im at home tonight, but I think, it shouldnt make a difference, because all Ports on my MB are SATA3-Ports; or does it maybe make a difference?