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Precision T3500 Workstation RAID problem
I am trying to install Win7 64-bit from scratch (CD) after deleting/recreating the RAID array as RAID5 (4 x 1TB HDD),
but the RAID array isn't bootable and therefore Windows won't install. I have no idea how to make it bootable. Does anyone know
how to do this as it doesn't seem to be a simple BIOS issue. Thanks very much.
osprey4
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November 10th, 2011 16:00
Hi Julianbrad,
When you boot to the Windows disc, describe what happens.
julianbrad
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November 10th, 2011 17:00
Hi Osprey
I should also mention that when I create a partition in the unallocated space, it creates a 2048 GB (2 TB) partition and leaves the rest of the disk space unallocated.
JulianBrad
julianbrad
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November 10th, 2011 17:00
Hi Osprey
When I boot from a Windows CD and try to install from scratch I can create a partition in the unallocated space but cannot install windows because of the warning:
"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computers hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disks controller is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu".
Any idea ?
osprey4
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November 11th, 2011 04:00
Can you describe how the drives are configured in the system BIOS and in the RAID BIOS?
julianbrad
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November 13th, 2011 13:00
In the system BIOS the drives are configured as SATA, controlled by the RAID BIOS. The SATA Operation setting is RAID On. I have tried changing the SATA Operation setting to RAID Autodetect / ATA but this made no difference.
In the RAID BIOS the drives have status Normal but the Bootable status is No.
BTW - the RAID BIOS is Intel Matrix Storage Manager ROM v8.5.2.1002.
osprey4
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November 14th, 2011 04:00
You don't see AHCI as a controller option?
julianbrad
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November 14th, 2011 13:00
Yes. There's a Raid Autodetect / AHCI setting available. I'll try that.
julianbrad
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November 14th, 2011 17:00
The RAID array isn't available in the system BIOS as a boot device and whatever I do I cannot make it available. I have also tried installing the RAID controller drivers from a USB drive at the point just before installing Windows but this doesn't seem to actually do anything and doesn't help.
julianbrad
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November 14th, 2011 21:00
Ok, some progress...I have removed 1 disk from the RAID array so it's now, in total, less than 2TB. Now I can install Windows onto the partition on the remaining 3 disks. So the fact that the RAID array was more than 2 TB (even though the partition created for OS installation was 2 TB) seems to have been the issue.
Now, though, I have to hope that I can add the 4th disk to the RAID array after OS installation.
osprey4
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November 16th, 2011 10:00
Ok, hope that works.
julianbrad
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November 16th, 2011 16:00
Solution:
This RAID controller won't allow a volume of 2TB or more to be presented as bootable for a Windows OS installation. I have therefore created 2 RAID5 volumes in the BIOS - 1 of 200 GB which is bootable and 1 using the rest of the disk space. I have successfully installed Windows to the 200 GB volume. It was as simple as that ! I wish I had looked more closely at Intel's web site earlier to find this forum : communities.intel.com/.../8120
Thanks for your responses.
osprey4
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November 17th, 2011 07:00
Ok, that's good information. Thanks for post the link.
Semi-geek
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January 31st, 2022 21:00