RAID1 changed to AHCI after BIOS update

[dididothat]

Hi,

I have an ASUS P4P800 Deluxe mother board whose BIOS I recently updated. Unfortunately the BIOS reset some settings to default (STUPID!) and managed to change my OS Raid-1 mirror SATA Configuration to AHCI.

I didn't notice this until about a week after the fact when I saw the second mirrored disk 'Offline' in Windows disk management. Upon starting up Intel Storage Matrix mgr, I got an error saying drivers were missing or something to that effect.

So I went into the BIOS and because it was late and I was anxious, I changed the AHCI config to RAID and tried to boot. Nada. Changed it to IDE and tried to boot. Still nada. If I change it back to RAID, it seems to want to put all of my connected SATA disks into RAID mode. Though during the bootup, the Intel Storage shows two members in a valid state and the other non-member disks. A good sign?

The problem is, even if I change it back to AHCI now, I don't get any of the SATA disks in my Boot Devices Priority list in the BIOS, no matter what configuration I choose.

I found a different post related to getting a RAID 1 from an AHCI bootable Windows configuration without reinstalling Windows, so if I have to go that route I will, but as of right now I can't even boot.

 

[popatim]

put it in raid and if shwe wont boot then boot of the windows installation disk and run startup repair I think you need to reinstall the raid driver is all.

 

[dididothat]

put it in raid and if shwe wont boot then boot of the windows installation disk and run startup repair I think you need to reinstall the raid driver is all.

thanks for the tip. one of the concerns is that if I put it into RAID, it shows ALL of my SATA disks in the Hard Drives list in BIOS as [RAID:<disk>] , rather than just the 2 mirrored OS disks.

but no matter if I set the SATA config to IDE, AHCI, or RAID, none of the SATA disks or any RAID show up in my Bootable Devices list. I only get my USB drives and CDROM there.

so I'm wondering if I need to disconnect ALL of the sata drives except 1, then run the repair so I can at least boot into that and get the raid driver reinstalled, then reconnect the 2nd sata drive, set it to rebuild the mirror, and then perhaps reconnect the rest?

 

[ja1nsa]

I just upgraded my Bios and same thing happened. I had raid 10 installed, bios upgrade set SATA to ACHI ... I have lost a pile of data ... I estimate $500,000 damage .... I am so screwed right now ... HELP someone!

Z87-Pro

 

[popatim]

$500k and no backups? <shakes head sadly>

When you set a raid controller to raid mode then, yes, all drives on that controller will show up as raid drives. This is pretty normal behavior as is a bios update resetting the bios to defaults.

ja1 - return the bios to raid mode and the controller usually picks up the array configuration off the drives themselves. You may have to run startup repair and possibly reload the raid drivers. Lastly, please remember that raid is not a backup, its meant to keep your system running in the event of a drive failure (or two).

 

[comprev]

Assuming it was working to begin with and you have Intel's Rapid Storage Technology utility loaded, I was able to fix this in Windows 8.1 fairly easily. I previously had a RAID 1 array. Let Windows boot in AHCI mode. Press Windows Key+R to open the Run dialog and type in msconfig then click OK. Go to the Boot tab, check the "Safe boot" box, and click OK. Reboot. As the computer reboots, go into the BIOS setup and change ACPI to RAID, save changes, and reboot. Windows will now load in Safe Mode and will load the RAID driver. You should see it listed in Device Manager. Reopen msconfig, uncheck the ''Safe boot" box, go to the General tab and click "Normal Startup", assuming you hadn't previously configured things in msconfig, and click Ok. Restart the computer and it should now boot into normal mode with the RAID driver loaded. Open the Intel Rapid Storage Technology applet. (It may take a couple of minutes before this applet is ready for use. Make sure the computer has loaded all the startup items before you open this.) On the Status tab (I may be remembering the wrong tab) it should give you the option to create a "Custom array". Select this option. You will now have the option to create a RAID 1 array. It will ask you which drive you want to save the information on and it will warn you that the other drive will be erased. If the drives you're configuring are your boot drives, then the drive you're currently booted on will be the only drive you can select as the source (save data on) drive. Follow the wizard and the 2nd drive will be reincorporated into the RAID 1 array. It may take SEVERAL hours to image the current drive onto the second drive. When this was done and I rebooted, I went into the BIOS setup to make sure it showed the array as the boot device, and it did. I didn't have to change anything at this point. I rebooted into Windows and everything is working properly.

 

[Parrish-sa]

Assuming it was working to begin with and you have Intel's Rapid Storage Technology utility loaded, I was able to fix this in Windows 8.1 fairly easily. I previously had a RAID 1 array. Let Windows boot in AHCI mode. Press Windows Key+R to open the Run dialog and type in msconfig then click OK. Go to the Boot tab, check the "Safe boot" box, and click OK. Reboot. As the computer reboots, go into the BIOS setup and change ACPI to RAID, save changes, and reboot. Windows will now load in Safe Mode and will load the RAID driver. You should see it listed in Device Manager. Reopen msconfig, uncheck the ''Safe boot" box, go to the General tab and click "Normal Startup", assuming you hadn't previously configured things in msconfig, and click Ok. Restart the computer and it should now boot into normal mode with the RAID driver loaded. Open the Intel Rapid Storage Technology applet. (It may take a couple of minutes before this applet is ready for use. Make sure the computer has loaded all the startup items before you open this.) On the Status tab (I may be remembering the wrong tab) it should give you the option to create a "Custom array". Select this option. You will now have the option to create a RAID 1 array. It will ask you which drive you want to save the information on and it will warn you that the other drive will be erased. If the drives you're configuring are your boot drives, then the drive you're currently booted on will be the only drive you can select as the source (save data on) drive. Follow the wizard and the 2nd drive will be reincorporated into the RAID 1 array. It may take SEVERAL hours to image the current drive onto the second drive. When this was done and I rebooted, I went into the BIOS setup to make sure it showed the array as the boot device, and it did. I didn't have to change anything at this point. I rebooted into Windows and everything is working properly.

What app are you exactly refering to?

Rapid Storage Technology applet the one in windoes? once it has booted? Or the one in the bios contol+i

 

[comprev]

Assuming it was working to begin with and you have Intel's Rapid Storage Technology utility loaded, I was able to fix this in Windows 8.1 fairly easily. I previously had a RAID 1 array. Let Windows boot in AHCI mode. Press Windows Key+R to open the Run dialog and type in msconfig then click OK. Go to the Boot tab, check the "Safe boot" box, and click OK. Reboot. As the computer reboots, go into the BIOS setup and change ACPI to RAID, save changes, and reboot. Windows will now load in Safe Mode and will load the RAID driver. You should see it listed in Device Manager. Reopen msconfig, uncheck the ''Safe boot" box, go to the General tab and click "Normal Startup", assuming you hadn't previously configured things in msconfig, and click Ok. Restart the computer and it should now boot into normal mode with the RAID driver loaded. Open the Intel Rapid Storage Technology applet. (It may take a couple of minutes before this applet is ready for use. Make sure the computer has loaded all the startup items before you open this.) On the Status tab (I may be remembering the wrong tab) it should give you the option to create a "Custom array". Select this option. You will now have the option to create a RAID 1 array. It will ask you which drive you want to save the information on and it will warn you that the other drive will be erased. If the drives you're configuring are your boot drives, then the drive you're currently booted on will be the only drive you can select as the source (save data on) drive. Follow the wizard and the 2nd drive will be reincorporated into the RAID 1 array. It may take SEVERAL hours to image the current drive onto the second drive. When this was done and I rebooted, I went into the BIOS setup to make sure it showed the array as the boot device, and it did. I didn't have to change anything at this point. I rebooted into Windows and everything is working properly.

What app are you exactly refering to?

Rapid Storage Technology applet the one in windoes? once it has booted? Or the one in the bios contol+i

The "Rapid Storage Technology" applet is the one in Windows, NOT the BIOS. The one in the BIOS won't fix this.

 

[xyzhangj]

Thanks for the discussions. I was able to successfully update my BIOS without completely losing the RAID1 config. The procedures are listed here for future reference.

Update BIOS on ASUS Hero VIII motherboard without completely losing RAID1 config:
1. These procedures require the “Intel Rapid Storage Technology” software installed in Windows 10
2. With PC running, unplug 2nd RAID disk of each mirror pair—this is to be sure to have a backup disk in case something goes wrong
3. Download the BIOS file to a local disk on PC, extract it to the *.CAP file
4. Reboot PC and go to the BIOS Setup
5. Navigate to Tool> EZ Flash> Local File update > browse to the *.CAP file
6. Follow the on-screen instructions, the PC will reboot once during the flashing process
7. PC will pause at POST screen with statement “If RAID was built, go to the BIOS Setup and config Controller to RAID. Press F1 to enter Setup.”
8. Press F1, and Navigate to Advanced> On Board Device Config> SATA Config> Change from AHCI to RAID
9. Save Configurations in BIOS and reboot
10. PC will boot into Windows 10
11. Open “Intel Rapid Storage Technology” software, and the 2nd disks are shown missing
12. Plug the 2nd disks back to original SATA ports
13. Reboot PC into Windows 10
14. Open “Intel Rapid Storage Technology” software, the RAID arrays will show “Rebuilding”
15. Should be fine from there
Thoughts:
• If the SATA ports were configed as “Hot plug” Enabled, the 2nd disks should show up as soon as they are plugged back to the PC, which can save another reboot

 

[DucatiWiz]

Just so you know, this is a common problem with ANY Intel chipset RAID when flashing the bios>

When you update the BIOS, the RAID software is flashed and is rarely compatible with the old version. If you've fallen into this trap, the best solution is as follows:

1. Flash the bios back to the version you used when creating the RAID
2. Enter the bios and set the disk type from ACHD back to RAID.
3. You'll now be able to boot again and access your data. Do a full disk image of the drive using the built in Windows image backup, then re-update the bios, create a new RAID and restore the image (plenty of other step by step guides for doing that on the net).