Windows 10 boot problems on new ASUS Prime Z270-A with RAID0 array

[televe]

I've just put together a new system with following:

ASUS Prime 7270-A motherboard
Samsung 960 EVO 250GB SSD installed in the M.2_1 position with PCIE mode set in the BIOS
2 x 2TB Seagate hard drives (unformatted)

1) With the hard drives NOT connected I installed Windows 10 onto the SSD from the supplied USB stick.
2) The BIOS was set to boot from the SSD and Windows started normally, with no hard drives being detected, of course.
3) I shut down the system, connected the hard drives to SATA ports 3 and 4, and created a RAID0 array in the BIOS; Intel Rapid Storage Technology is "ON". The SSD was set up as the only boot option in the BIOS. The new BIOS configuration was saved and I attempted to boot the system. Windows would not boot.
4) I rebooted into the BIOS and deleted the RAID0 array (Intel Rapid Storage Technology is now "OFF"). Windows now started successfully, and the two hard drives show up as separate drives (as expected). I formatted the hard drives at this point.
5) Using Windows disk manager, I set up the two hard drives as a RAID0 array, and this appears to work, the two drives appearing (in Windows) as one large, striped drive.

However, on rebooting into the BIOS, I notice that Intel Rapid Storage Technology is still "OFF".

So,

1) What is the actual state of the the two hard drives? Do I have a fully functioning RAID0 or not?
2) Why doesn't creating a RAID0 array in the BIOS (as in step 3), above work?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

 

[Calvin7]

The background here is NVME SSDs do not appear within the BIOS until Windows creates the system partition with the EFI Boot Sector. Your M.2 SSD contains UEFI driver information within the firmware. By disabling the CSM module Windows will read and utilize the M.2-specific UEFI driver.

Since you can have single drives with SATA configuration in RAID, you would set that to RAID.

1- The M.2 drive has to be the only drive installed.

2 - Go into the bios, under the boot tab there is an option for CSM, make sure it is disabled.

3 - Click on secure boot option below and make sure it is set to other OS, not windows UEFI.

4 - Click on key management and clear secure boot keys.

5 - Insert a USB memory stick with a bootable UEFI USB drive with Windows 10 Setup on it, USB3 is quicker but USB2 works also. A Windows DVD won’t work unless you’ve created your own UEFI Bootable DVD.

6 - Press F10 to save, exit and reboot.

7 - Windows 10 will now start installing to your NVME drive as it has its own NVME driver built in.

8 - When the PC reboots hit F2 to go back into the BIOS, you will see under boot priority that windows boot manager now lists your NVME drive.

9 - Click on secure boot again but now set it to WIndows UEFI mode. (see #3 above)

10 - Click on key management and install default secure boot keys

11 - Press F10 to save and exit and windows will finish the install. Once you have Windows up and running, shutdown the PC and reconnect your other SATA drives.

I would also recommend installing the Samsung NVME driver at this point to replace the Windows one. (optional)

# How to create a bootable UEFI USB drive with Windows 10 Setup
https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-create-a-bootable-uefi-usb-drive-with-windows-10-setup/

 

[televe]

Calvin,

Thanks for the detailed response.

Your solution may be the one that I arrived at by accident. I'm still not clear about exactly when I should create the RAID0 array. I somehow managed to do it from within Windows, but the ASUS motherboard installation manual says create it in the BIOS. Which is the correct way?

Many thanks.

 

[Calvin7]

After installing Windows 10 on the M.2, you can install the main Intel Rapid Storage Tech Program.
SetupRST.exe
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26865/Intel-Rapid-Storage-Technology-Intel-RST-?product=55005

You can run the IRST program in Windows 10 to make a RAID array.
The Release Notes
Read Me (txt)
can be downloaded from that page. There are two components of the IRST, a driver which you may add to the Windows installation and a Windows program which you can run after installing the OS.