Hello Level1Techs,
I need some help with my setup. Here is my list of parts:
Processor: AMD Threadripper 1950X
Motherboard: Gigabyte X399 Designare EX F2b BIOS
RAM: Corsair LPX DDR4 2x16GB
Video Card: Zotac GTX 1050 Ti
SSDs:
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Samsung 960 Pro NVMe 512 GB
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2x HP S700 Pro SATA 512 GB
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3x Seagate Barracuda 2TB
OS: Windows 10 Pro
I have the BIOS set to FakeRAID for my SATA SSDs and HDD. I have set these to RAID0 through the RAIDXpert utility in Windows. I use the HDDs for large file storage and the SSD RAID for large files that I access often. On BIOS F2b this setup would work as expected.
I am attempting to update the BIOS of my motherboard from F2b to F11e. When I flash the new BIOS version, it appears to be successful and reboots. After I change the disk mode back to RAID, I am no longer able to access the BIOS, and need to use the button on the motherboard face to clear the CMOS. If I leave the BIOS in ACHI mode, Windows will boot to the login screen, but it will login to a blank screen that only shows a cursor.
Here’s a list of things I’ve tried to get this working:
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Delete the RAID setups. I have backups of all the data on the RAID so I deleted the RAID arrays to attempt to go back to ACHI mode. There was no difference.
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Boot into Safe Mode to remove drivers. I can successfully boot Windows into safe mode and login. When it’s booted I can see all of the disks and there are no additional drivers that need to be uninstalled. If I try to boot back into normal mode it there is no difference.
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BIOS Flashback. I reloaded F2b and put my BIOS into AHCI mode. If I do this I have usable Windows but I can’t launch any MMC software, PowerShell, or CMD. I can use web browsers, UWP applications, and file utilities.
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Unplugging the hard drives. When all SATA devices are unplugged, I still can’t use Windows.
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I can currently get into usable Windows if I disable the onboard SATA controller.
The only thing I haven’t tried yet is reinstalling Windows on my NVMe drive with the new BIOS loaded because the new BIOS won’t get back the POST screen when RAID mode is turned on.