Windows 7 Can not complete installation of Win7 on RAID 10 setup

sympley

New Member
OH boy, I need help. Not sure what else I can try, please help (wife wants to shoot me).

Quick overview:

- build a system with 1 WD1101FALS HDD and installed Windows 7 64 bit no problem. All was good for few days until I got a bug to set up a RAID 10.
- Went out bought 3 more of the same drives. All 4 drives are WD1101FALS 1TB.
- Set up the RAID 10 array on the ASUS motherboard, got the RAID drives for Win7 64bit on a USB key.
- Start install, no problem. Win7 asks for drivers, I click browse and select the drives from USB for the RAID. Install continues, files are copied, thing are flying, it's fast.
- Then 1st re-start
- Windows continues to install (finalizing things, registry update, etc).
- I get to 4 check marks on the Windows Install screen and then it goes into the last step "Completing Installation". The progress bar goes to about 80% complete and then

BLACK SCREEN, computer re-starts. Windows comes up with a message "The computer restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation can not proceed. etc.." It assks to press OK and and PC re-starts and the installation re-starts from scratch. I tried about 15 times, with different RAID drives, from XP to Vista, to Win7.

Any ideas what could be wrong? I have no clue what else I can try. Usually people have problem with the RAID drives but I have no problem with that step. The drivers are selected and seem to be working fine. The install almost completes.

Please let me know any suggestion as what to try next. Here are the images on how far along the install goes. The progress bar actually goes more than that, I just took a picture before the black screen.

Windows Setting &#11.jpgWindows 7 error..jpg
 
Anyone any suggestions? Windows installs fine in a regular SATA setup and works fine. Once I set up RAID array it almost installs. I have been at this for over 24hours now and can't get it to work. Tried various drivers,etc.
 
Anyone any suggestions? Windows installs fine in a regular SATA setup and works fine. Once I set up RAID array it almost installs. I have been at this for over 24hours now and can't get it to work. Tried various drivers,etc.

Thanks for adding info. I suspect it is the RAD driver (7 compatble?) or a bios (configuration) problem, can you set your raid card to boot before operating system?

You are set:

RAID mode - AHCI enabled, RAID enabled, right ?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My opinion/advice is that OS should not be on the RAID10, data should be kept on a separate array than the OS. So, set RAID 10 for data, and another RAID or just single HDD for Windows 7.
 
Thank you for the suggestion. The drivers are Windows 7 compatible. The RAID array loads up before the OS, all looks good. When Windows 7 starts installing(after asking for the RAID drivers) it does see the array and I can format it, set up partitions, etc. Very strange because it crashes after almost completing the install. It writes to the drives etc.

The only thing is that in my BIOS I have the RAID array set up as RAID not AHCI. I will try with AHCI.

After trying many things I decided to take off my RAID setup and try installing Windows 7 on hard drives one by one to test the drives. I was able to only install the Windows on 3 of the drives. I wonder if the 4th one is not working properly. Any way to test it?
 
OK, finally fixed. All 4 HDD are used all are good, none are broken as I though earlier. Running in RAID 10 pretty sweet. This was an experience to say the least. Once I thought that one of my HDD is broken, I tried RAID 0 with 3 drives, Windows still would no install. Then I tried RAID 0 with 2 HDD and still would not install. SInce I had no idea what to try next I did BIOS update on my motherboard, even thought the manual says only do BIOS when something is not working. I checked the description of the BIOS file what fixes/modifications it has. There was nothing related to RAID controllers, SATA controller etc. BIOS update went through no problem. Just for the heck of it I tried installing Windows in 2 HDD RAID 0 because that was the last set up I had configured....it WORKED. So, I was debating was it a fluke or was it the damn BIOS update. I really wanted the RAID 10 for some safety. Well since I tried installing Windows for 50 ++ times whats another try, plugged in the other 2 drives, set up RAID 10, Windows install flew through the set up no problem. Windows 7 64bit on RAID 10....DONE.

In conclusion, I almost went out and bought another HDD because I though the one I had was faulty. I was going to start replacing components as well ( Video card, motherboard, and lastly CPU). I guess can't always trust what they say in the Instruction Manual.
 
Nice troubleshooting and thank you for the feedback.

So, updating BIOS did the trick.

simpley said:
The only thing is that in my BIOS I have the RAID array set up as RAID not AHCI. I will try with AHCI.


I understand AHCI turns automatically on when you enable RAID. As far as I know, the SATA controller has three modes of operation:

- IDE mode - no AHCI, no RAID
- SATA mode (sometimes called AHCI mode) - AHCI enabled, no RAID
- RAID mode - AHCI enabled, RAID enabled
 
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