To solve my issues, I updated my BIOS and installed Windows 7 with the Intel RAID driver (Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver for Windows 7 (64-bit) for good measure. Windows 7 successfully installed and I am in the process of updating it. However, I ran into a few issues:
1) For whatever reason the product key from my legitimately purchased copy of “Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade - 64 bit” is not working. Very frustrating! I checked that I am entering it correctly, and I am connected to the internet. I ended up calling Microsoft support and after 37 minutes got it sorted.
2) The status of my RAID volume was yellow in Verify status on the Intel Matrix Storage Manager splash screen, but after a day or so it went to Normal.
3) During bootup, after the Intel Matrix Storage Manager screen appears, I still receive a “Boot from AHCI CD-ROM” message before the system proceeds to Windows 7. This message was never present when XP was successfully running. I solved this by changing my startup sequence such that my DVD drive is listed last. That is:
1: IDE HDD:
2: PCI SCSI: Intel RAID5
3: PCI BEV: P3-HL-DT-STDVD-RAM GSA-H60
