Question Flashed BIOS on Sabertooth X99 not realizing that 2 SSDs were in RAID

[N. E. Naimuish]

Now, the PC will only boot into BIOS (I'm guessing it is waiting for me to re-select RAID instead of AHCI?).

Several months ago, I purchased this TUF full tower PC off Craigslist.

System specs:

ASUS Sabertooth X99

i7 5960x

2x GTX 1080 SLI

4x 16GB (64GB) G Skill Ripjaws 2133 (2400.xmp) (I'll update these after I get this sorted)

2x 500GB Samsung SSDs

I reinstalled Windows on the system when I got it to get rid of all the 3D animation software and reset primary user profile.

I assumed there was one SSD since I only saw a solitary C drive in file explorer, but now I see that there are two physical drives, so I'm guessing the previous owner had them set up in a RAID config.

I reinstalled drivers and updated the BIOS because I was experiencing sub-par performance compared to the 1060 (old PC that I'm currently back on). I reinstalled the nVidia experience and latest game ready driver. SLI was still properly configured afterwards. I then downloaded the latest .CAP file from ASUS support (v. 4101. was v. 3009 prior) onto a USB drive and flashed the BIOS to v4101. I did not change the file name to X99ST.CAP though I read later in the manual that doing so is recommended. The .CAP file was named whatever the v4101 file was off the ASUS website. After the flash, there was a message stating that the flash had been successful.

When the PC restarted, there was briefly a message with instructions regarding RAID configurations which - tho I only gave it a cursory glance because I wasn't aware that there were 2 physical SSDs in the PC - said something to the effect of "if the PC is set up with a RAID configuration, you must set something something blahblahblah (change ACHI to RAID in Sata config?.. no idea..)...".

Now, the PC will only boot into the BIOS, and I'm pretty sure that the issue is that the two 500GB SSDs were set up in RAID. Unfortunately, not having looked at the drive config before the flash, I have no idea what kind of RAID was used. Since the previous owner was a 3D animator, it could have been either.

My Questions:

Do I just need to change the Sata port_1 from AHCI to RAID to get the PC to boot into windows? Do I need to know if the previous RAID config was 0 or 1 before I change it from AHCI? Or will it simply resume with the volume info associated with both SSDs?

If the BIOS is going to ask me to select 0 or 1, and I choose the wrong one, will the system simply fail to boot into windows? Or will it screw things up by overwriting prior info on the drive/s? If it fails to boot into RAID 0, can I just change it to RAID 1 and see if it works again? Or am I in a situation where I have one shot to select the right RAID config or start from scratch and lose everything not backed up on the disks?

Since there's no harm in clicking on the Sata config to see if changing it from AHCI to RAID would work because I could just exit without saving if I wasn't sure about something.. so I did that. When I chose save changes and exit, the PC rebooted, but this time, not into the BIOS. A message came on screen to press Ctrl + I to enter RAID setup. When I didn't press the combo fast enough, it tried to launch windows and had a fatal error. It also said something about "High CPU temperature!". I disconnected the PC again and made sure that no cables had been shifted when I'd opened it earlier, but everything was fine. I reconnected it and now it won't boot into BIOS, only the RAID setup, and the dialog isn't clear what option I should choose, if any. Options #4 & 5 are grayed out (Recovery volume options and acceleration options).

Sorry this post is so long and scatter-brained. I'm mentally exhausted from dealing with this.

TYVMIA for any assistance.

 

[thestryker]

Changing the BIOS setting was the only thing you needed to do RST is already recognizing the volume. You may need to reinstall windows.

 

[USAFRet]

If you're going to reinstall the OS (after all that messing around, likely), do it without the RAID.
No RAID at all.

1 physical drive connected, RAID unselected in the BIOS.

 

[N. E. Naimuish]

If you're going to reinstall the OS (after all that messing around, likely), do it without the RAID.
No RAID at all.

1 physical drive connected, RAID unselected in the BIOS.

Yes, it's def my intention since I don't need it.. but for now, I'm trying to see if it's at all possible to salvage some word documents and pictures that were on it (like a knucklehead, I didn't backup my data before the flash). With no one stating otherwise at this point, it looks like that stuff is more trouble than it's worth to try to salvage. Thanks for your response.

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, it's def my intention since I don't need it.. but for now, I'm trying to see if it's at all possible to salvage some word documents and pictures that were on it (like a knucklehead, I didn't backup my data before the flash). With no one stating otherwise at this point, it looks like that stuff is more trouble than it's worth to try to salvage. Thanks for your response.

Ah, data recovery.
From a RAID 0....problematic.

Possibly, and I cannot stress "possibly" enough...this might work:

RAID Recovery Software - the only FREE tool

Need to recover a failed RAID? Do not rush to send it to a lab, try our read-only free RAID recovery software which recovers most common RAID types.

www.freeraidrecovery.com

But of course, this leads into the discussion of backup backup backup.
With a RAID 0, add another 3 or 4 mentions of "backup".

 

[N. E. Naimuish]

Changing the BIOS setting was the only thing you needed to do RST is already recognizing the volume. You may need to reinstall windows.

Do you think that pulling CMOS batt might allow the OS to load up? Or, was something damaged (mbr, etc.) in the process and getting Windows to load again is futile? If it was set up to mirror, and I take one of the drives out (they should be identical / nearly identical(?), might there be a way to change it to non-RAID and have a single drive load into Windows? Or am I just wasting time trying to get back in? Thanks for your reply.

 

[USAFRet]

Do you think that pulling CMOS batt might allow the OS to load up? Or, was something damaged (mbr, etc.) in the process and getting Windows to load again is futile? If it was set up to mirror, and I take one of the drives out (they should be identical / nearly identical(?), might there be a way to change it to non-RAID and have a single drive load into Windows? Or am I just wasting time trying to get back in? Thanks for your reply.

This is a RAID 0.
2x 500GB drives, striped to present as a single 1TB volume.

There is no RAID 1, no duplicate, no mirror, no safe harbor for your data.

 

[N. E. Naimuish]

Ah, data recovery.
From a RAID 0....problematic.

Possibly, and I cannot stress "possibly" enough...this might work:

RAID Recovery Software - the only FREE tool

Need to recover a failed RAID? Do not rush to send it to a lab, try our read-only free RAID recovery software which recovers most common RAID types.

www.freeraidrecovery.com

But of course, this leads into the discussion of backup backup backup.
With a RAID 0, add another 3 or 4 mentions of "backup".

Thanks! I'll probably try that recovery link you posted since I don't have anything to lose that isn't lost already. Nothing really important was on there, I was just trying to see if I could save it. No big deal if I have to reinstall the OS on a non-RAID drive. And thanks.. backup backup backup are my top three priorities from here on, especially when doing anything "dangerous"!

 

[Corwin65]

Thanks! I'll probably try that recovery link you posted since I don't have anything to lose that isn't lost already. Nothing really important was on there, I was just trying to see if I could save it. No big deal if I have to reinstall the OS on a non-RAID drive. And thanks.. backup backup backup are my top three priorities from here on, especially when doing anything "dangerous"!

It should be backup backup backup at all times. Not just when doing dangerous things.

 

[USAFRet]

And thanks.. backup backup backup are my top three priorities from here on, especially when doing anything "dangerous"!

I don't turn my systems on without a known good backup.
My main house systems are backed up nightly or weekly.

Anything weird gets a full drive backup minutes before I start.

 

[N. E. Naimuish]

This is a RAID 0.
2x 500GB drives, striped to present as a single 1TB volume.

There is no RAID 1, no duplicate, no mirror, no safe harbor for your data.

Oh... well, I guess that settles that! Thanks for your help.

 

[thestryker]

Do you think that pulling CMOS batt might allow the OS to load up? Or, was something damaged (mbr, etc.) in the process and getting Windows to load again is futile? If it was set up to mirror, and I take one of the drives out (they should be identical / nearly identical(?), might there be a way to change it to non-RAID and have a single drive load into Windows? Or am I just wasting time trying to get back in? Thanks for your reply.

You could try booting into a windows safe mode, but it's just impossible to tell where a fault may lie. You may also be able to just do a repair of windows to get it booted so you can recover your data. Do not change the RAID settings or structure in any way if you want the existing data to have any chance of being usable. If you have another drive you could temporarily use to install windows to that may be another option.

 

[N. E. Naimuish]

It should be backup backup backup at all times. Not just when doing dangerous things.

Understood. tyvm

 

[N. E. Naimuish]

You could try booting into a windows safe mode, but it's just impossible to tell where a fault may lie. You may also be able to just do a repair of windows to get it booted so you can recover your data. Do not change the RAID settings or structure in any way if you want the existing data to have any chance of being usable. If you have another drive you could temporarily use to install windows to that may be another option.

I'll probably give those a shot (I'm busy prepping ferments all day today, so that's for tomorrow). Thanks again for the advice.