F5F Stay Refreshed Hardware Desktop Issue with MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk Freezing post-RAID0 Windows setup – possible bad controller.

Issue with MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk Freezing post-RAID0 Windows setup – possible bad controller.

Issue with MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk Freezing post-RAID0 Windows setup – possible bad controller.

R
Remigiusz1991
Member
68
11-13-2022, 11:09 PM
#1
Hey there, I’m facing a pretty annoying problem with my MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk. Every time I perform a clean Windows install on my RAID0 configuration (two identical NVMe drives), I make sure to change the motherboard’s SATA mode to RAID and load the RAID drivers during setup. Everything runs smoothly—Windows installs, boots, and operates perfectly. But after a restart, the system freezes completely for a few seconds to several minutes before logging in. There’s no BSOD or error messages, just a total lockup. This has occurred every time I try a fresh install on RAID0. I’ve repeated this process multiple times now just to confirm.

What’s odd is that switching the board back to AHCI mode and installing Windows on the same disks (without RAID) works perfectly. No crashes, no freezes—just solid performance. This makes me wonder: is the controller on this board faulty? Or am I missing something in the BIOS settings or during installation?

I’ve updated the BIOS and downloaded the latest AMD RAID drivers from MSI’s site, but it hasn’t resolved the issue. Have others experienced similar problems with the B650 Tomahawk or other AM5 boards? Should I consider using software RAID instead, or should I rethink RAID altogether on this platform? Any guidance would be really helpful! Thanks a lot.
R
Remigiusz1991
11-13-2022, 11:09 PM #1

Hey there, I’m facing a pretty annoying problem with my MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk. Every time I perform a clean Windows install on my RAID0 configuration (two identical NVMe drives), I make sure to change the motherboard’s SATA mode to RAID and load the RAID drivers during setup. Everything runs smoothly—Windows installs, boots, and operates perfectly. But after a restart, the system freezes completely for a few seconds to several minutes before logging in. There’s no BSOD or error messages, just a total lockup. This has occurred every time I try a fresh install on RAID0. I’ve repeated this process multiple times now just to confirm.

What’s odd is that switching the board back to AHCI mode and installing Windows on the same disks (without RAID) works perfectly. No crashes, no freezes—just solid performance. This makes me wonder: is the controller on this board faulty? Or am I missing something in the BIOS settings or during installation?

I’ve updated the BIOS and downloaded the latest AMD RAID drivers from MSI’s site, but it hasn’t resolved the issue. Have others experienced similar problems with the B650 Tomahawk or other AM5 boards? Should I consider using software RAID instead, or should I rethink RAID altogether on this platform? Any guidance would be really helpful! Thanks a lot.