I used to have two vector 150 240gb drives that I was using in raid on a z97 system. When I go to setup the raid in amd's raid bios, everything is fine. When I go install windows 8.1 64 bit, I get to to the 1st step where windows (just before copying begins) partitioning, but then the install stops. I let ii seit there for almost 15 mins without response. This also happens when I use AMD's AHCI driver when installing on a single drive. For AHCI to work, I have to use the MS driver supplied with windows then install the amd driver afterwards. So, AHCI i get and how to fix it. But can someone help me with RAID on this mb? PS. I was using the current drivers from AMD's chipset/driver package 14.9.

1. It was done in UEFI mode meaning using ahci and raid drivers.
2. That I am not sure of since I don't have a secondaty drive to test them on although the main bios is UEFI and I can use UEFI mode with the MS ahci drivers.
3. Yes, windows 8.1 detected the raid array when I had one after installing the latest raid drivers included with the 14.9 chipset drivers.

because when I chose the storage boot rom mode, I chose UEFI only. Mind you, it's a little hazy now since I remember seeing the raid bios a few times. Not sure if I changed the storage boot rom to uefi mode after creating the raid array in the raid bios. All i am sure is one of the modes (uefi or legacy) does not take during OS install. I can load the raid driver, choose the raid partition, but I can't install. And I went to amd's site and the raid controller although it has amd trademarks on it for the bios is from a 3rd party called DOT HILL, just check this link, the lower end chipsets for fm2/fm2+ apu' use a promise controller at sata 2 speeds (big surpiise there) and the higher end go with Dot Hill. I don't know the company dot hill Anyhow, here is the a series chipset page, just check the specs, they show the brand of raid controller.

http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/chipsets/a-series#

anyhow, I am thinking of getting a syba pci-e 2.0 4x raid card with a marvell 9230 chipset on it from newegg canada. I can get it for about $50 before shipping. And it says that the 9230 chipset does hardware raid which for a bargain basement price I will take. That way,I can use the card in ahci (and yes, I know it will probably be legacy) mode until I pick up a second ssd again. I don't feel like testing motherboard modules with multiple installs of windows. I have installed windows enough last year to make me sick of it. I only reinstall windows now if new hardware demands it.

no,I actually haven't given up hope just yet? Would it be a wild guess that my motherboard can only do Raid in legacy mode then since UEFI mode stalls. What I mean is it probably doesn't have uefi bios sata driver? Is that common for AMD APU boards? Because I am thinking of going full ATX with a ASRock FM2A88X PRO3+ motherboard as my gtx 970 uses 3 slots (it's the zotac amp edition) and my other pci-e x4 2.0 slot is used by the sound blaster z sound card. Just in case legacy raid doesn't work, I do want to have a backup in this for my open pci-e 2.0 4x slot on the asrock mb meaning just in case I can't get raid to work either. I am thinking it maybe tied to my OCZ vector 150 240gb ssd. The gigabyte mb may not like that drive period. Here is the backup RAID card I want to get:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.asp...N82E16816124056

as for the motherboard from asrock, it's $80 with a $15 MIR at newegg. Not bad for full atx.

I actually got the raid driver to work in UEFI mode with win 8.1 64 bit. The only difference between then and now is a picked up a copy of win 8.1 with update 1 included on the disks. What I am getting at is that update 1 must have fixed it. Anyhow, off to get a second ssd (vector 150 240gb) on friday the 30th.