After Windows 10 1803 Crash, How to Re-configure iRST

[WSpos]

My wife's machine has the following characteristics:

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-x79-UD5

CPU: Intel Core i7 3970X Extreme Edition (LGA 2011)

RAM: 32GB G. Skill Ripjaws DDR3

SSD: Samsung: 850 EVO 512GB

HDD: Seagate ST1000DM003 1TB x 4 in Intel (iRST) RAID10 (0+1) Mode

OS: Windows 10 Pro (64-bit) 1803

Her machine crashed. But now Windows will not repair or boot up. I have a sector by sector system boot image of her SSD stored on my NAS and initially restored the latest working image back to her SSD. However for some reason, it still won't boot.

I have scoured the Internet looking for answers, but can't see to find any and I'm doing my best not to make this a "rabbit hole" issue. When pressing [CTL]+[I] I can see the SSD as a non-member of the RAID10 array in the iRST interface. But, Windows still refuses to see it as a boot device. I believe I can fix it using BCDEDIT and can find plenty of cases on just what to do with non-iRST computers on the Internet, but nothing for my case. Can someone please help guide me or provide steps that I can do in order recover my particular configuration? Any comments or help would be greatly appreciated, and of course if there is any other information that is required, I will do my best to answer, however, please remember that my answers may be limited because all I have access to on her machine is the BIOS (UFEI) and Windows 10 Pro on a thumb drive.

[idata]

Hello Wayne_IO

Thank you for posting in the Intel® community. 1. Was the OS was installed on the SSD Samsung: 850 EVO 512GB or in the HDD Seagate ST1000DM003 1TB x 4 RAID?2. Please share with us a picture of the CTRL+I view of the system. Hope this helps. Regards,Leonardo C.Intel Customer Support TechnicianUnder Contract to Intel Corporation

[WSpos]

Hi Leonardo —

Thank you very much for responding so quickly. The OS was originally located on the Samsung 850 EVO SSD. The bulk of my wife's other data is on the other four Seagate drives. It doesn't really matter, but the array is then partitioned into two logical drives, "D:" and "E:".

Please note, I am aware of the degraded status of the RAID array. Originally, the array only needed verification, but I am not surprised to see it now in a degraded state, probably from plugging and unplugging the HDDs and multiple reboots.

Anyway, I have attached an image of the iRST Control Panel.

Thanks again for your help!

Wayne

[idata]

Hello Wayne_IO

Thank you for the information.Looking into the picture you shared since the disk ID 2 is reporting an error occurred (0) that could mean a damaged disk I recommend changing it with a new HDD disk, booting the system a let it complete the rebuild (You can access the CTRL+I to monitor if the system on rebuilt state), once the rebuilt is completed try to install the OS. Bear in mind that the rebuilding process will take several hours. NOTE: make sure to let the system on in the CTRL+I until the rebuilt is completed, avoid shutdown or restarts during the process, this is to avoid more damage to the date on the degraded RAID. Hope this helps. Regards,Leonardo C.Intel Customer Support TechnicianUnder Contract to Intel Corporation

[WSpos]

Hi Leonardo —

Please correct me if I am wrong, but don't I need to boot into Windows 10 in order for the rebuild/verify to take place? If so, then that is my problem, as Windows 10 won't recognize the SSD as the original boot disk and there doesn't seem to be a way to apply the iRST driver like there used to be in Windows 7 without wiping out the Original OS contents. Are you saying that if I just go into the iRST console with [CTL]+[I] and wait, it will rebuild there without going into the OS? Please let me know if this is true.

Thanks again!

Wayne

[idata]

Hello Wayne_IO

Thank you for the information. The RAID controller is on the option ROM (chipset) once the new drive is connected to the system it should recognize that there is a drive that could be used to rebuild the RAID as hot-spare. As advice please access the CTRL+I to verify that the RAID rebuilding process has begun, do not turn off the system. Hope this helps. Regards,Leonardo C.Intel Customer Support TechnicianUnder Contract to Intel Corporation

[WSpos]

Hi Leonardo —

Please allow me to respond to each of your suggestions in red:

"The RAID controller is on the option ROM (chipset) once the new drive is connected to the system it should recognize that there is a drive that could be used to rebuild the RAID as hot-spare."

That is true, and you can see in the iRST control panel that the new replacement drive is a member disk and that it is set to "Rebuild".

"As advice please access the CTRL+I to verify that the RAID rebuilding process has begun, do not turn off the system."

This is an incorrect statement, as the rebuilding does NOT happen until the system is in the Windows 10 OS. I have Intel iRST on my own machine and have rebuilt and replaced a few RAIDed HDDs over the years. But, even back on Windows 7 Pro, the rebuild happened in the OS not at the pre-OS level.

But, please note, my issue is not about rebuilding my wife's computer's RAID array. I obviously know how to do that. My problem is the Windows 10 BCD isn't right for some reason and neither "Windows 10 Repair" or using the various BCDEdit routines are working.

For instance, do I need to first take the Intel SATA Contoller Mode out of "RAID Mode" and put it into "ACHI Mode" first? Then, if Windows 10 Pro will boot, then download the iRST driver for this motherboard in Windows and apply the driver there? There isn't a way, that I know of, to apply the RAID driver in a pre-boot mode for the OS, like there used to be in Windows 7 using [CTL]+[6].

I am essentially trying to figure out how to get Windows 10 repaired enough to boot into it without wiping the computer's OS clean and having to reinstall everything on the non-RAID member SSD. I'm sure someone has done this using Windows 10 Pro on an X79 motherboard with SATA controller mode usually set to "RAID Mode". Unfortunately, I am missing something that could be obvious. I also do not remember this being a problem with Windows 7 Pro.

Thanks again,

Wayne

[idata]

Hello Wayne_IO

Thank you for the information. In reference to the Operating system no boot or repair my suggestions would be:

• First, most likely you already have tried the following; while trying the backup restored did you make sure that system is set to boot from the SSD as the first option on the boot order in the BIOS and that the backup image was set to be a bootable.
• Completing a fresh install of the OS, letting the system complete the RAID rebuilt on the OS level and then loading the back up on your NAS storage.
• You also can contact Microsoft for assistance on the repair process of the Operating system.

Hope this helps. Regards,Leonardo C.Intel Customer Support TechnicianUnder Contract to Intel Corporation

[WSpos]

Hi Leonardo —

Thank you again for following up with me; greatly appreciated!

You are correct, I may just have to get Microsoft involved, but I am not sure they will have answers. To answer your questions, yes, I have always set the SSD as the first option, but because I was using Win10 on a thumb drive, I would use the selective boot option and boot from the thumb drive. I have also thought about a fresh install of the OS, but am trying to avoid that so my wife doesn't have to reinstall all of her software due to missing registry entries with a fresh install.

I have worked in the IT field (I'm an enterprise database architect) for 35 years and have built my own machines with quality components for years, so all of this is familiar, but I have never seen anything like this. There is no clear guidance anywhere on the net on how to restore a boot drive that is a non-member of an iRST RAID array.

Anyway, thank you for your help!

Best regards,

Wayne

[idata]

Hello Wayne_IO

Allow me to share with you that the previous post is going to be marked as correct answer but the thread would remain open for the community to provide any more inside on your situation. Regards,Leonardo C.Intel Customer Support TechnicianUnder Contract to Intel Corporation