z97 gaming 7 hdd issues

[davecheesedeer]

When I built my new computer, I got a 120Gb Samsung 840 Evo for a boot drive.  In order to save some cash I decided to keep my two old 80 Gb WD drives and set up a RAID0.  A week later, the computer would get past the BIOS then go to a black screen with multicolor static near the top of the screen.  No Windows 7.  I unplugged the RAID0 drives, and Windows would start fine.

I broke the RAID0, tested all the SSD and the two 80Gb with three different software, all tested good.  I used Windows to set up the RAID instead of the MoBo.  Good for a week.  Then I scraped some cash together and bought a 256Gb Samsung 850 Pro with the intent of reinstall windows and remove the very old RAID drives.  I tested the new drive before going through the reinstallation.  Same thing again, black screen after Bios with multicolor static at top.  I played with the RAM settings (4X 8Gb GSkill RipJawsX) but to no avail.  I've replaced the SATA cables, and tried multiple ports. 

The MoBo does not show any error codes, and Memtest86 says the RAM is good.  What do I check next? 

i7 4790K
1375W Thermaltake PS
Pioneer Bluray Drive (also SATA, no issues I've noticed)

 

[Svet]

are you trying to boot from correct boot drive which contain your installed OS?
what's your bios version?

 

[davecheesedeer]

Boot order in BIOS is set to try Bluray first, then the 840 Evo, which is my boot drive.

I updated the Bios to 1.5 when I first received the MoBo.

I'm thinking of reinstalling windows with the SATA controller set to AHCI, not RAID mode, and abandoning the RAID disks. 

I am wondering if there's an issue with the on board RAID controller, but I can't find any info of others having this issue.

 

[JLio01]

Hi,

I think you can try different SSD brands, cuz one of my friends has same kind of boot issue...I'm don't know the model name, but he uses Samsung SSD and sometimes gets suddenly black screen when boot up or other unstable issues. Just a suggestion.

 

[Svet]

Hi,

I think you can try different SSD brands, cuz one of my friends has same kind of boot issue...I'm don't know the model name, but he uses Samsung SSD and sometimes gets suddenly black screen when boot up or other unstable issues. Just a suggestion.

well, disconnect the RAID HDDs and leave  Samsung SSD only
then see if the problem remain or not

about the SSD make sure that you have latest firmware installed
and/or if needs try with different SSD like JLio01 to help isolate the issue

 

[davecheesedeer]

Sorry, I've been busy and haven't had a chance to deal with this until now. Samsung Magician says the firmware is up to date.

Unfortunately, I live in a small town, and can't buy computer components here.  I have to order them online.  It takes about a week for anything I order online to arrive.  If I continue to have issues, perhaps I will order another brand of SSD as JLio01 suggested.

This morning I disconnected the RAID and connected the new SSD.  I got the same black screen.  I booted from the CD and used diskpart to clean and reformat the drive.  I was able to get into windows.  I shut down and reconnected the RAID, and was able to get into windows again.


I'll test the system for a week before I celebrate.  If I have no issues in that week, I will likely go change the BIOS to AHCI instead of RAID, and reinstall windows.  With two SSD's, I will no longer need the RAID for a "data disk."

 

[davecheesedeer]

Well, it's been a week, and no more issues.  Except I couldn't get Samsung Magician to create a bootable USB for secure erasing the 840 EVO before a fresh install of Windows.  I think Magician does not work properly in RAID mode, from some of the things I've read. 
I've been using the computer for two days since I reinstalled windows, with no issue so far.  So maybe the second cleaning and partitioning of the 850, setting the BIOS to AHCI, and removing the RAID array fixed my issues.  Time will tell.

 

[glenroebuck]

I would bet you installed your os in AHCI mode? with just the ssd and then added the raid array? I tried to do this and got crashes out of win 7 - I was going to copy my os drive to the raid array but nope....crash when I switched from AHCI to RAID in the bios.

 

[davecheesedeer]

Yes, I started that way too - AHCI then RAID.  That isn't the problem now though.  I was okay for a month, and then the black screen occurred again.  Now it seems to be a problem with my HDD.  If I unplug the drive, boot windows, then plug in the drive, everything works. 

The only thing I can guess at now is it could be a Windows 7 problem...  I recently tried to run error checking on that drive, and it said the line about not being able to check the drive, and I should unmount or check at next boot.