Installed LSI 9271-8i lost onboard arrays (but can see the drives)

[shanemario]

I'm a newbie. I've not worked on Linux since 1998... I have been tasked at work to build 3 Linux DaVinci Resolve boxes.

I successfully built a Supermicro 747 case with an X9DRG-QF motherboard with AHCI and SCU I/O support with CentOS 7.3 build.
ON-BOARD CONTROLLER
512GB SSD Boot drive in on SCU SATA II port
2TB HHD Overflow Drive on SCU SATA II port

I built a 4 HDD Array Raid 0 (Bay 0-3) and connected to AHCI SATA II ports internally
I then built 2 SSD Array Raid 0 (Bay 6-7) and connected to ACHI SATA III ports internalls

These were all working fine.

I received the ICY DOCK 8 SSD Tray (fits in a 5.25 bay) and LSI 9271-8i Controller/Cables.
I installed 3x 240GB SSD and 1 TB SSD (2 more coming) and planned to build a "test-Raid" and mount the 1TB drive solo.
I installed these into the ICY DOCK and rebooted.

The MegaRAID configuration came up, It recognized the 3x 240s and the 1TB. I built the TEST RAID and mounted the 1 TB as a solo Virtual Drive.
I reboot.

I called Supermicro and they dialed in and tried to update my Firmware on the on-board Controller. - that was a disaster. it bricked my system and sent it into a loop at startup. They reverted it back to the previous version AND I pulled the LSI card and all was back to normal.

They suggested that I install the card and update the driver.

I did NOT do that yet. Mainly because the directions to do so were VERY confusing and I didn't want to screw it up. I did install the LSI card again and a NEW issue popped up:

ISSUES:
1. The opening BIOS screen (where it says "Press Delete" to enter BIOS") is not showing so i can't get into BIOS to check to see if ACHI and SCU are configured correctly.
2. With the LSI card installed, I only see (connected to LSI - 1. SSD array (3x 240GB), 1TB.arrays) - HOWEVER - when i pull up the Disk Utility I can PHYSICALLY see ALL drives in my system. and the ones belonging to the INTEL raid show that they are part of a "Intel RSTe RAID Member (1.0.00) and (1.3.00) but I can't "mount" the array.

Drives.png (121.84 KiB) Viewed 1180 times

What I could do was reformat the members of the Intel RSTe RAID Members. So I reformatted 4 of the 2TB drives to ext4 and left the (512 GB M4-CT512M4SSD2) as a RAID Array hoping that I could then the system would "somehow" allow me to recreate the Array. ....as you guessed..nope. however, i can access all of the drives that i reformatted. just not in an Array.


HELP REQUESTED:
1. Bring back the BIOS screen so I can enter BIOS settings
2. Advice/Instructions on how to end up with:
--- 4 x 2TB array via the onboard controller
--- 2 x 512GB array via the onboard controller
--- Keep the current 2 LSI 9271 arrays (which will eventually be converted to a single 8x 1TB SSD array - drives to be bought over time). (it's a fast temp space for 4k+ project media also saved on external drives for security).

I'm good with sarcasm and good natured newbie tauntings if it manifests a faster result.

Thanks all!! Please let me know if I can provide any other details that would help. (you may need to tell me how to get them...sorry and thank you in advance).

UPDATE: APRIL 6, 2017
By turning OFF the LSI Controller's BIOS setting in its setup, all arrays are now available and mounting. However, the original BIOS screen (with the message "press delete to enter BIOS") is still missing.

-Shane