Tried installing Intel Rapid Storage and Optane, computer won't POST

[Raddy]

I recently upgraded my computer and last night I was trying to set up Intel Rapid Storage to recover my RAID 5 array and it asked if I wanted to include Intel Optane Memory with it. I remembered seeing that in my BIOS set up so I said okay. It said it needed to restart, I clicked OK, and now my computer won't POST. It starts up for maybe half a second and then loses power. According to the diagnostic LEDs, it is failing at the memory check before shutting off. In any other case I would assume this was a hardware issue (possibly PSU), but the fact that the computer was working fine until I tried to install this has me wondering if the installation is causing a POST problem?

CPU: i7-10700

Mobo: MSI Z490 Gaming Carbon Wifi LGA 1200

Memory: 2x16GB Gskill Ripjaw 32000

GPU: MSI GTX 980

PSU: Thermaltake 850W

OS: Windows 10 Pro

[Maria_R_Intel]

Hello Raddy,

Thank you for posting on the Intel* Community.

We would like to gather more information to provide you better assistance. Please, provide us the below details:

• May I have more details about the upgrade you mentioned?

There is the possibility that the boot order of your system or the RAID 5 Array was affected when you installed the Intel Rapid Storage with Optane Memory, but to check this we should be able to get into the BIOS.

As your system is not posting, the first steps will be to check with MSI for further advice on how to set the BIOS to default, and also discard a defective motherboard.

Please, contact MSI* and let us know the outcome with your motherboard.

Best regards, 

Maria R.  

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Raddy]

I got a second identical board (MSI Z490 Gaming Carbon WiFi) and ran it through the same setup, and the same exact thing happened when attempting to reinstall the RST drivers. It said it would need to reboot into safe mode to switch from AHCI to RAID mode, and it got stuck in a loop where it was unable to POST.

This time, I shorted the CMOS jumpers with a screwdriver to reset the motherboard and it was then able to boot again, and the RST installation completed. I don't know whether this bug is with Intel or with MSI, but it seems like a pretty serious issue.

Upgrade Specs:

CPU: i7-10700

Motherboard: MSI Z490 Gaming Carbon WiFi

GPU: (2x) MSI GTX 980

RAM: 32GB Gskill Ripjaw DDR4

Carry-over hardware:

PSU: Thermaltake 850W

HDD 1: Crucial 512GB SSD (bootable)

HDD 2-5: WD Blue 2TB HDD in RAID 5 configuration

HDD 6: Seagate 3TB HDD backup

[Maria_R_Intel]

Hello Raddy,

Thank you for the information.

In Intel* we highly recommend using the drivers that are provided by the system manufacturer/provider or via Windows Update to eliminate the potential impact caused by loading non-customized drivers (Intel's generic drivers that were not tested on your specific system). System manufacturers regularly customize Intel generic drivers to meet the needs of their specific system design. In such cases, the use of the Intel generic driver update is not recommended. We don't have the version you installed, but we highly recommend you, as per the previous explanation, to install the driver directly from the MSI* website, you can find the drivers here: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/MPG-Z490-GAMING-CARBON-WIFI#down-driver&Win10%2064

Every time you change SATA controller from RAID to AHCI in the BIOS or the software you will have to reinstall the OS because the machine will think that this is a hardware change. This is how the Intel* RST works. So there is the chance that when you switch from AHCI to RAID mode it changes something on the BIOS that make your PC unable to boot, with the clear CMOS you restart your BIOS to defaults, and that's why after this process you're able to boot up again the PC.

The best would be to install the MSI* driver and see the outcome with that version, also, you can contact the MSI* support and verify what is the process to change from AHCI to RAID, and the changes you should perform using their BIOS settings.

Best regards, 

Maria R.  

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Maria_R_Intel]

Hello Raddy,

We have not heard back from you, so we will close this thread. If you need any additional information, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer being monitored.

Best regards, 

Maria R.  

Intel Customer Support Technician