In the last few months I’ve been having BSODs connected to iaStorA.sys, NTFS, and other drive-related stuff. So I went to check for a solution and it turned out my BIOS was still running a 12.7 ROM while Windows was using a 12.9 driver. I don’t know if this was the actual cause, but I updated the latest beta driver (E7681IMS 4.4B3) for my board (MSI P67A-GD55) with UBU, and flashed it. Kudos to the UBU developer btw, it’s incredibly effective.
The problem I’m having now is that the RAID ROM settings don’t show up in the BIOS anymore, even after switching to RAID mode. When I enter the Ctrl-I RAID settings, one drive shows as being part of the array, while the other is ‘Non-RAID’.
So I have a few questions. 1. How to fix this, of course. 2. Could this mean all data on the second disk is gone? 3. How likely is it that Windows running 12.9 and EFI running 12.7 causes BSODs?
Many thanks
What sort of RAID array is it? Have you tried to repair the array from within the Intel RST Console?
Run the Intel RST Console and try to repair the array.
It depends on your RAID.
Most likely not.
It’s a RAID 0 array. And with Intel RST Console, do you mean the Ctrl-I menu or the BIOS menu? Because the latter won’t show up (and the former doesn’t have repair options).
Ok. Do you still have access to the data of the array? If yes, you probably will be able to repair it.
None of them both.
What I mean is the Intel RST Console, which you can run after having installed the complete Intel RST(e) Drivers & Software Set (and not just the RST driver).
No I don’t have access, unfortunately. As one of the drives is not part of the array anymore, it fails to boot. I can remember this happening before, but then I could set the array in the BIOS again, and it was fixed.
Would it be sensible to upgrade to a 13.x ROM and see if the menu shows up? And, will running a 13.x driver on a 6-series chipset be OK?
@ Dropdisk:
If your system drive is within the RAID array and you cannot boot into the OS anymore, there is only the chance to rebuild the array from within the Intel RAID Utility (either the LEGACY one via Ctrl+I or the UEFI one via BIOS).
Sorry, I edited my post above just after you answered. I think I’ll try upgrading to a 13.x ROM to see if the menu shows up, as the legacy menu won’t allow building an array without erasing all data.
The question, which one of the Intel RAID Utilities (LEGACY or UEFI) will show up, usually doesn’t depend on the version of the modules, but on the BIOS settings within the BOOT section.
What exactly would you change then in the BOOT section to have the EFI utility show up? The RAID array isn’t present. Also, slightly off-topic, I’ve always had both the legacy and EFI utility. I’ve seen you mention that the legacy Ctrl-I screen should disappear with one update or other, but it never did.
I just updated to a 13.x ROM and as you said, nothing changed.
If you want, that the on-board Intel SATA RAID Controller uses the EFI RAID BIOS module (named "SataDriver"), you have to install the OS in UEFI mode.
If you have done that, the "Intel Rapid Storage" Utility should be shown within the UEFI BIOS of your mainboard (either as a separate tab or as an additional setting option within the "Storage Configuration" section). The exact location is variable and depends on the mainboard manufacturer and the special board.
The appearance of the LEGACY (Ctrl+I) Intel RAID Utility at bootup can be forced within the BOOT section of the mainboard BIOS, but that doesn’t mean, that this LEGACY mode utility really has been loaded by the system and is working as the actual "Firmware" of the Intel RAID Controller.
The OS was installed in UEFI mode. Everything was working until I updated the EFI ROMs, strangely enough. I’ll try to flash different BIOSes, see if that makes a difference.
After having flashed a new BIOS, it is not enough to set the Intel SATA Controller to "RAID" and to redo the other individual (not default) BIOS settings.
You will not see the UEFI mode "Intel Rapid Storage" Utility within the UEFI BIOS at once. You need to reboot again or - even better - to completely power off your machine for a minute.
After having started the PC again and entered the UEFI BIOS, you will find the UEFI Intel RAID Utility.
Sadly to say, my computer has been off for the night, but the IRS utility didn’t reappear. I just cleared the CMOS too to no avail.
I had a similar issue after upgrading OROM & using UBU. I also used RAID0. I would leave & come back to find the PC unable to boot. It seemed like one or both of the drives were falling out of the RAID array as there were no indications of issues in the windows system event log. I could power off the system (sometimes more than one was required) & get the system to boot again. After this happened several times, I decided it was not worth the risk to system stability to keep that configuration. I went back to latest version of the firmware / OROM provided by the manufacturer.
@ lev:
Thanks for your interesting report.
According to my long-term experiences with Intel RAID0 systems the desribed issue has nothing to do with the update of an Intel RAID ROM resp. EFI SataDriver module or with the UBU tool.
Furthermore I doubt, that it was the "firmware/OROM provided by the manufacturer", which solved the problem (by the way: Even the mainboard manufacturers may update the Intel RAID ROM/EFI SataDriver modules of their original BIOSes from time to time).
I suspect, that the issue is caused by a RAID array intialization error, which may happen on very rare occasions while starting or rebooting the computer.
That would explain the boot failure, but not why the system would die/reboot in the first place. Since there was no indication of an issue in the system event logs I assumed it must be the result of an issue unreported to Windows. Is there another place I could look to find any errors or potential issues related to the RAID?
I flashed the original, unmodified BIOS just now, and interestingly enough a menu item did reappear, just not the Intel RAID one. I guess the only option now is retrieving my files with RAID Reconstructor on a working PC, and start from scratch.
The initialization of the RAID array happens before Windows is loaded and starts to write an event log.
You can check the health of your RAID array by running the Intel RST Console, but this will only work, if you are able to boot into the OS.
Off topic:
Please shorten your signature (max. 3 lines should be enough), because each post from you needs a lot of space and may drop the Forum performance and clarity. For the topics of our Forum the knowledge of your case, optical drives, CPU Cooler and PSU/UPS details are not required.
Yes, it is a pity for you. I am working since 10 years with different RAID0 systems and I have never had a data loss induced by a RAID issue (finger crossed 
)
Well a fresh install’s always a nice thing, thanks for the help again Fernando!