970 Extreme3 RAID drivers for win7 64 bit not recognized

[railshot]

I set up RAID 0 on a new build. Made a flash drive with the drivers per Asrock instructions. When Win7 install asks for drivers, it does not recognize them in the x64 folder. It does recognize 32 bit ones and windows proceeds with installation. However after install it just goes into a reboot loop. I tried downloading new drivers from ASrock website, but they are the same that came with the MB. Any help would be appreciated.

[SaphireX]

Re: 970 Extreme3 RAID drivers for win7 64 bit not recognized

Very curious that AMD does not have a real method to installing their RAID drivers during the SETUP phase of Win7 using a USB stick. After looking at the TXTSETUP.OEM file I SEE that it refers to the paths as well as a careful read of the ASRock's install directions albeit a USB Floppy Drive

From the TXTSETUP.OEM File: The KEYWORD here is DISKETTE!!!

[Disks]
disk0 = "AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller Driver Diskette", \ahcix86, \
disk1 = "AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller Driver Diskette", \ahcix86, \x86
disk2 = "AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller Driver Diskette", \ahcix64, \x64

[Defaults]
SCSI = Napa_i386_ahci8086

[SCSI]
Napa_i386_ahci8086 = "AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller-x86 platform", ahcix86
Napa_amd64_ahci = "AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller-x64 platform", ahcix64

[Files.SCSI.Napa_i386_ahci8086]
inf = disk1, ahcix86.inf
driver = disk1, ahcix86.sys, ahcix86
catalog = disk1, ahcix86.cat

[Files.SCSI.Napa_amd64_ahci]
inf = disk2, ahcix64.inf
driver = disk2, ahcix64.sys, ahcix64
catalog = disk2, ahcix64.cat

[HardwareIds.SCSI.Napa_i386_ahci8086]

id = "PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4392&CC_0104", "ahcix86"
id = "PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4391&CC_0106", "ahcix86"
id = "PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4393&CC_0104", "ahcix86"
id = "PCI\VEN_1022&DEV_7802&CC_0104", "ahcix86"
id = "PCI\VEN_1022&DEV_7801&CC_0106", "ahcix86"
id = "PCI\VEN_1022&DEV_7803&CC_0104", "ahcix86"


[HardwareIds.SCSI.Napa_amd64_ahci]

id = "PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4392&CC_0104", "ahcix64"
id = "PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4391&CC_0106", "ahcix64"
id = "PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4393&CC_0104", "ahcix64"
id = "PCI\VEN_1022&DEV_7802&CC_0104", "ahcix64"
id = "PCI\VEN_1022&DEV_7801&CC_0106", "ahcix64"
id = "PCI\VEN_1022&DEV_7803&CC_0104", "ahcix64"


[Config.ahcix86]
value = "", Tag, REG_DWORD, 1

[Config.ahcix64]
value = "", Tag, REG_DWORD, 1

After some googling to find out why a USB stick won't work as you discoverd for the Win7 X64 SETUP installation...

Windows 7 cannot install 64 bit AMD RAID driver - NAS-RAID-Technologies - Storage

So it would appear that your only recourse/solution (after wiping the 2 drives clean/deleting any partitions) is to create your RAID Array in the UEFI/BIOS then let Win7 install using the native AMD AHCI drivers then afterward install the latest rev 12/13/2011 version 11.12 of the SB8xx RAID driver that includes both the RAID drivers and the SouthBridge drivers

AMD RAID/SATA Drivers

OR

hook up a USB Floppy for the SETUP phase but after Win7 is installed you will still need to run the full SB8xx RAID driver + SouthBridge Package...

Hope this helps

SaphireX

[railshot]

Re: 970 Extreme3 RAID drivers for win7 64 bit not recognized

So it would appear that your only recourse/solution (after wiping the 2 drives clean/deleting any partitions) is to create your RAID Array in the UEFI/BIOS then let Win7 install using the native AMD AHCI drivers then afterward install the latest rev 12/13/2011 version 11.12 of the SB8xx RAID driver that includes both the RAID drivers and the SouthBridge drivers

Thank you for your help. By native AMD AHCI drivers you mean that come on Win7 installation dvd? In my case Win 7 refuses to continue installation until I provide external drivers.
I tried looking on AMD's site for drivers, but all I can find is installation executables for use after OS is installed, so it's not something i can put on a floppy.

[SaphireX]

Re: 970 Extreme3 RAID drivers for win7 64 bit not recognized

Been awhile since I modded a TEXTSETUP.OEM file to make it work from a USB stick versus a Floppy Disk. Unless certain phrases and paths are changed in that file to reflect that Disk 2 which is where the X64 drivers are referenced to are change to reflect the path ie USB stick versus floppy disk it will not work...The simplest solution is to go out a buy a cheapo usb floppy drive and put the files at the ROOT of the floppy disk (not having them inside the Floopy_Win7-64_Vista_XP64 ...directory)

You did try extracting the files from within that directory to the ROOT of a USB stick have you not???

[railshot]

Re: 970 Extreme3 RAID drivers for win7 64 bit not recognized

Been awhile since I modded a TEXTSETUP.OEM file to make it work from a USB stick versus a Floppy Disk. Unless certain phrases and paths are changed in that file to reflect that Disk 2 which is where the X64 drivers are referenced to are change to reflect the path ie USB stick versus floppy disk it will not work...The simplest solution is to go out a buy a cheapo usb floppy drive and put the files at the ROOT of the floppy disk (not having them inside the Floopy_Win7-64_Vista_XP64 ...directory)

You did try extracting the files from within that directory to the ROOT of a USB stick have you not???

Just tried it - no luck. It keeps saying that there are no compatible devices. Seems to find 32 bit ones just fine though.

[railshot]

Re: 970 Extreme3 RAID drivers for win7 64 bit not recognized

Just tried to install win7 64 without RAID. Says that drivers are unsigned. Looks like I will have to be sending this back and switching to Intel. :(

[SaphireX]

Re: 970 Extreme3 RAID drivers for win7 64 bit not recognized

Sorry to hear that...but the thread at Tomshardware basically said the same thing...unsigned drivers. Too bad AMD can't get their act together like Intel and other manufacturers and get their drivers WHQL signed as well as move away from floppy disk (XP days) and move up to Win7 SETUP that uses USB sticks!
Best of Luck to You
SaphireX