First, I need to say that I am a complete newbie here and I'll apologize in advance for any blunders. I'll also greatly appreciate any advice that can get me moving again. Here is my component list. It includes some items that I don't think are relevant, but I've found that unexpected relevancy can be an issue in anything. (I'm a geologist.)
Motherboard: Asus P6X58D Premium. (It's for a build I began three years ago and got side tracked on.)
On board are Intel Chipsets with an ICH10R RAID controller.
They are (using the Intel ID program) 6, 5, 4, 3, 900 Series and found to be valid versions.
Bios is American Megatrends 1301 dated 16Nov2010.
The CPU is an Intel Core i7 950 at 3.07 GHz.
RAM is Crucial 12 Gb in three sticks, which shows (for reasons I do not understand) as 13 Gb.
The motherboard contains two 6 Gb/sec SATA ports controlled by a Marvell controller. Those are not now in use.
The motherboard contains six 3 Gb/sec SATA ports controlled by the Intel ICH10R controller, configured this way:
0=Seagate Barracuda 64 mb cache (I think) 7500 RPM 2Tb set up in the bios as a RAID member.
1=Seagate Barracuda 64 mb cache (I think) 7500 RPM 2Tb set up in the bios as a RAID member.
2=Seagate Barracuda 64 mb cache (I think) 7500 RPM 2Tb set up in the bios as a RAID member.
3=Seagate Barracuda 64 mb cache (I think) 7500 RPM 2Tb set up in the bios as a RAID member.
4=LG Super Multi Drive CD/DVD Read and Write drive. Windows recognizes this drive.
5=Crucial 128 GB M4 SSD purchased about 18 months ago. Windows recognizes this drive. This is intended as a program-only drive.
Lastly, I'm using an old Dell keyboard, an older Logitech optical mouse and a Samsung 23 inch LED monitor.
The OS is Windows 7 Professional, SP-1. It has Internet access, and I am using it for this plea for help.
This is my first RAID setup. I evidently misinterpreted the ASUS instructions. I successfully configured the BIOS to recognize ICH10R SATA ports, and the connected Seagate drives, as RAID members. The BIOS shows them that way during boot-up. I clearly did not understand how to add the RAID drivers prior to installing the OS.
Windows does not show the RAID array as drives. In fact, Windows denies that the drives even exist. The only drives that Windows recognizes are the Crucial SSD (designated as C:) and the CD/DVD drive (designated as D:). Thumb drives that I insert are designated by Windows as E:. I have been unable to load the RAID driver now that the OS is loaded. I am able to get the .EXE file that takes me to the console that is intended to set up RAID, but it has no effect. I have deleted those files and tried older and newer versions with the same effect. The most recent drivers come within a ZIP file, and I can't get that to do anything.
Here are my main questions:
1. Is there a way that will work to get the RAID controller to work after I have installed the OS? If so, what do I need to delete to do so?
2. Do I need to make changed in the BIOS? Bear in mind that the BIOS already shows the four drives as being a RAID array.
3. Do I need to reinstall Win 7 Pro? I can do so, because we have not loaded any serious programs yet.
4. If I need to reload the OS, what drivers should I install at the BIOS prompt? (And what bios prompt is correct for this motherboard?)
Many thanks. Matt Shumaker, Glendale, AZ. mshumaker@q.com. We have two other computers, so I can look at one while making changes to this one.