Integrating Intel RAID drivers into a Windows Home Server 2011 DVD

Important Drivers Specific: Intel AHCI/RAID Drivers
1

Hi Fernando et al,

I’m in the midst of a server build based on an ASRock Rack E3C226D2I board that I want to set up with a Samsung EVO 850 SSD for a Windows Home Server 2011 host OS and three 3TB Western Digital Red drives in RAID5 for data storage. I’m hitting a tremendous roadblock when it comes to dealing with the Intel C226 drivers necessary to run the drives in RAID mode. I can get the installer to start (running it from an external optical drive and connecting a thumb drive to load the drivers so that the installer will recognize them), but the installation requires several reboots and immediately after the first one, I get a Windows Boot Manager error (iaStorA.sys, 0xc0000359) that I just can’t get around. The installer runs to completion just fine if I put the BIOS back to AHCI mode, but I don’t want to run the array that way because of the performance hit it will entail.

I’ve read the stickied integration guide for integrating drivers for an XP/2003 disc using nLite above, but how much of this can I lift verbatim to try with a OS that’s based on Server 2008 R2? I’ve already made a very basic attempt at slipstreaming using nLite’s successor NTLite and the RAID drivers available on the website for my board’s manufacturer, but ended up going nowhere with it. Some direction from people with a bit more knowledge than me about what I can try from here would be greatly appreciated!

2

@ tkelly:
Welcomeat Win-RAID Forum!

According to my knowledge it should be possible to get Windows Home Server 2011 installed onto your Intel C220 Series Chipset system without the need of inserting/loading any special Intel RAID driver.
In case of any problem with the OS in-box Intel RAID driver, I recommend to remove it and insert a better suitable Intel RAID driver according >this< guide.

Good luck!
Dieter (alias Fernando)

3

Thanks for pointing me towards a better guide! I can see that when I made my initial attempt that I neglected to customize the BOOT.WIM (only did the INSTALL.WIM), so that’s probably why it didn’t work.

If for some reason the drivers from the board manufacturer still prove problematic, which one of the RST(e) drivers from the pages linked in the guide should I slipstream in its place? Is there something in the BIOS that might tell me which version would be the best match?

4

According to my own experience the Intel RST driver v11.2.0.1006 is by far the best Intel RAID driver, but this will only work, if you remove the in-box Intel RAID driver.
Alternatively you may integrate any Intel RST(e) driver of the v13 series (either v13.1.0.1058 WHQL or v13.2.4.1000 WHQL).

Yes, you should check the version of the BIOS modules Intel RAID ROM/EFI “RaidDriver”, which will be loaded at each boot done in RAID mode. You can see the version, if you hit CTRL+I while booting (in LEGACY mode) or enter the “Intel Rapid Storage Technology” tab within the UEFI BIOS (if booting in UEFI mode).

5

I decided to look at the components of the INSTALL.WIM before doing any modification and it turns out that the generic Intel RAID driver (iaStorAV.inf) you reference in the guide is not on my WHS2011 install disc (which I think makes sense, because the release of WHS2011 preceded that of Windows 8). The only Intel RAID driver included is iaStorV.inf version 8.6.2.1015. Does this explain my issue?

Also, when I hit Ctrl-I for the RAID menu on startup, I see this along the top:

Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology enterprise - SATA Option ROM - 4.1.0.1020

I can’t find any other version information in the BIOS/UEFI and this version number doesn’t match anything you had listed on the driver guide, so I’m stumped about what to do should slipstreaming the driver from the manufacturer fail.

6

Turns out the latter part of my last post was irrelevant… install was successful once I slipstreamed the disc correctly with the driver from the mobo manufacturer.

Much thanks for your help, Fernando!

7

@ tkelly:
Thanks for your report. It is fine, that you succeeded at least with the installation of Windows Home Server 2011 in RAID mode.
Your previous problems have been caused by the fact, that the Intel SATA RAID Controller of your system is an “Enterprise Edition” one with a DeviceID DEV_2826 and needs an Intel RSTe driver of the v3 or v4 series.
The Windows Home Server 2011 in-box Intel RAID driver v8.6.2.1015 belongs to the “Matrix Storage Manager” development platform and doesn’t support the Intel RSTe SATA RAID Controller of your ASRock mainboard.