# BIOS hangs after setting linux raid autodetect partitions

## DarkAn9el

Hello,

I was setting two drives in RAID 1 following the instructions on http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Migrate_to_RAID

all partitions on both drives are set to 0xfd type (Linux RAID autodetect).

When rebooting, at the AHCI disk drive detection the BIOS hangs when detecting those drive. If i either set SATA mode to IDE compatibility or unplug the soft RAID partioned drive the problem disappear.

I have done a BIOS update but that doesn't solved the problem (even worst, now the chassis fan keep runing at full speed [SC5650DP] if anybody know how to resolve this issue, let me know)

My hardware:

Intel S5520HC

 — BMC firmware 00.54;

 — BIOS R0054;

 — Manageability Engine (ME) Firmware 01.12;

 — FRUSDR 28

Thanks if anybody could help me

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## krinn

well, that's kinda odd.

i don't own that board, but all my boards own intel chipset, and on all my bios board, when settings ahci for sata, i have an extra option that tell the operating mode the sata should run : raid / normal.

check that your setting is set to ahci / normal, i suppose a ahci/raid might get stuck when finding some unknow raid partition. Thta's would still be a bug, that would still need a fix from your bios (what if someone wish 2 hdds using fakeraid intel + 2hdd using linux raid), but at least, you might get pass it.

check your bios PM section for the cooling speed, if you can alter it, an option must be there. You might be able to alter its speed, but be able to tell your bios to stop checking its speed as a workaround.

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## DarkAn9el

I posted on intel support http://communities.intel.com/thread/17937

At least the fan issue is solved…

looking in the BIOS I have compatibility (IDE mode up to 4 drives) / ehanced (IDE mode all drives) / AHCI / SW RAID.

So from what I tried and understood, Intel® RAID crap II is only loaded when setting SW RAID mode.

Other odd thing, if I try to hotplug my 2 drives with linux raid partition, nothing happens, nothing in dmesg, nothing in /dev/… but S-ATA hotplug for any other drive works.

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## DarkAn9el

Solved by pluging drives on a USB dock station and clearing MBR

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## frostschutz

bios shouldn't hang regardless what's written on the disk

if it does and if it does this because the raid autodetect fd type (sounds extremely unlikely to me though), you'll just have to bite and use initramfs instead of raid autodetect... or get a bios update

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## DarkAn9el

Yes, it is really weird… still I managed to get my system running with linux raid autodetect partition. But using GPT instead of MBR. BIOS is up to date, but the AHCI ROM (where my system was hanging) show a copyright up to 2008.

Also, don't know if AHCI ROM is looking at the MBR and has a bug, but at least now my system boot on software raid with GPT.

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## frostschutz

Great. GPT is better anyway...  :Smile: 

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