Windows 10 Pro Intel RST RAID 5 borked

[M4GHOST45]

Not sure if this is posted in the proper forum, so mods feel free to move if needed.

Here's the problem. I've run a 4-drive RAID 5 array w/ four 3-tb Seagate Barracudas without issue for over a year. Then out of the blue, Windows decides its going to install an update and upon rebooting, the system would hang at the Windows logo for several minutes before crashing with the BSOD (bad header pool).

At first, I thought this was the result of corrupted RAM, however after swapping in fresh RAM from a working PC, the problem persisted. After further troubleshooting, including reinstalling Windows, swapping the motherboard, resetting the bios, etc, I finally narrowed it down to the Intel RST software & drivers. After the last install, everything appeared to working properly until I installed the RST software and rebooted. Then BANG--it hangs again and crashes. I verified by unplugging the RAID drives from the motherboard's SATA ports and Windows boots fine.

Finally after two days of fighting this demon, I set the bios back to non-RAID ACHI mode and used a recovery tool to get my data off the now-broken array. It is a shame really, because I really like the thought of the redundancy of using on-board RAID as it worked flawlessly for SO long, but it appears that the latest iteration of Intel's RST and drivers for Win10 are borked.

Does anyone have any solutions or other ideas about to manage an array of this size? I'd prefer not to have to purchase a RAID controller card, but if I have to I will..

-ghost

 

[t53186]

Couple of questions, when you have bios set to raid do you see a prompt during POST for managing the onboard raid controller? typically it will appear prior to boot and will list all the drives connected to the MB and some instruction on how to enter the config (like press cntl + I to enter)?

 

[M4GHOST45]

Yes, and it listed the volume as "Rebuild", which I let it run until it was finished once I was booted into Windows.

 

[t53186]

Confirms the board/controller is functioning. I've had various issues with RST drivers over the years and once I get one that works I keep it. I also have a system right now with a flaky sata port causing a rebuild every 3 or 4 boots. Can you let me know what MB you are using. I'll do some digging and see what drivers "should" work and we can compare.

 

[M4GHOST45]

Thanks for the help, friend. I've found that 2 heads are better than one with situations like this. Here's the rig rundown:

MSI Gaming 5 Z97 w/ I7-4790k
16g Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 1833 RAM
Samsung EVO 840 250gb (OS)
Samsung EVO 850 500gb (Programs)
(4) Seagate 3tb Barracuda 7200's (Storage)
EVGA GTX-970SC GPU

 

[t53186]

Very interesting reading from our intel friends. The latest version of RST = 15.2.0.1020 release notes indicate:

The RAID OROM & UEFI version for this release is 15.2.0.2754, the
driver and user interface version is 15.2.0.1020. For RAID
configurations, it is recommended that both the pre-OS and RST OS
driver components are updated. Please contact your CE for further
details.

Meaning the rom (onboard controller that comes up with POST message) needs to be updated along with the software component running in windows.

Any chance you could try the original RST software that was shipped with the board? it can be downloaded here:

https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z97-GAMING-5.html#down-driver&Win10 64

Or, next time you power up try to catch the ROM version for the onboard raid controller and I can find our what version RST should be running with the current ROM version you have loaded.

 

[M4GHOST45]

Thats the version that WAS working for the longest time. Problem was when Windows decided to update the driver, which borked the software. It certainly stands to reason that the old OPT-ROM wouldn't work with the newest version of RST, however, one would think that the manufacturer would make that tid-bit more clear.

The problem now is that I've already installed Windows in ACHI mode, which means, switch to RAID mode is problematic and almost ALWAYS results in the "inaccessible boot device" BSOD. I'm a little reluctant to try to switch back.. lol

 

[t53186]

Yep going back raid will hose your OS install, been there and it blows. As far as intel and the drivers are concerned, using hardware raid is an advanced feature and as such intel believes it's more of an enthusiast enhancement and assumes people will always thoroughly research those features. Part of the problem is Windows pushing the update not knowing there is a hardware update required when using raid, again considered and advanced feature.

I'm sure you know most people don't even know what raid is or would attempt to use it. But, like you I'm guessing it's nice to enable everything and use the full potential of products we buy. Also helps if you got some geek in ya and like to mess around with this stuff.

Sorry for your pain, i'm all our of silver bullets.

 

[M4GHOST45]

I agree, it is certainly an "enthusiast" feature, but it's a real shame that it isn't supported any better. I know I can't be the only one feeling the pain from this right now. It sure would be nice to know if anyone else is / has experienced this with the update. All I can say is thank GOD it was a RAID 5 array and my ReclaiMe software was able to rebuild the array virtually so I could pull my data off.. +1 for RAID. -1 for Intel. 🙁

Thanks anyway, friend. Perhaps its time to go back to AMD.....? 😛