RAID trouble

BloodBath

I have just installed windows xp pro on my new system. Both 120gig drives are formatted and ready. I have installed all the relevant drivers.

Problem is when I press f4 to enter the RAID utility on boot up it skips it and starts loading windows. Not experienced with RAID at all so any help is appreciated.

BloodBath

atheist

Which raid card are you using?

BloodBath

I don't have a RAID card. Do I need one? What is it?

BloodBath

atheist

Are you being prompted to press F4?

If so is the message appearing before or after the
Starting Windows XP...
message?

What motherboard have you got?
From a previous post I see it's an abit IC7-MAX3 with SATA raid

What dose it's manual say about raid?
Its at http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/manual/ic7-max3.zip

How is the SATA controller(s) configured in the BIOS? - Page 49

If you make changes to you're raid setup you are likely going to have to reinstall your OS.

On page 71 it's <Ctrl><I> to enter you’re raid config utility.

Read the friendly manual

SickBoy

Sounds like the ICH5 SATA controller is either disabled or set to IDE only.
Go into the bios and set it to RAID then next time you reboot press CTRL + I and configure the drives as you see fit(either RAID 0 or 1)
I had a smilar issue with my ASUS PC-DL Deluxe which uses the same i875 chipset as the IC7-MAX3 so hopefully this will fix it.

BloodBath

Cheers I figured it out (with some help) anyway.

Now a new problem. I have my RAID 0 set up. The 2 drives have been partitioned and are being read by as one 240gig by windows with aid of the floppy with the sata drivers on it.

So all fine and dandy until I go to install windows. It examines the disks then copies the setup files to the windows installation folders. When finished it says to remove any floppys and it will continue setup after it reboots.

The problem is it doesn't continue setup. It just goes back to the same setup screen with no additional options. It just starts to load up the setup files again and gives me the same options this time saying some windows files are already on the disk and do I want to overwrite them or put it on a new partition.

Gah it's wrecking my head.



BloodBath

Dman_15

take out windows cd as well

BloodBath

If I take out the windows installation disk how is it going to continue setup and install windows.................


BloodBath

Dman_15

i think it has already copied all the installation files over from the cd at that point. i'm not too sure though.
worth a try

BloodBath

No it doesn't work. If I take out both disks that means I have to boot of the HD's.

So I change it back in the BIOS and when I startup it tells me disk read error.

It won't load.


BloodBath

Dman_15

are you telling the bios to boot scis not hdd because thats what you have to do with my asus a7n8x under raid0. after that i dont know.

BloodBath

There is no scis option in hte boot device part of the bios.

All I have is floppy, ls120, hard-disk, CDrom, zip, usb and lan.


BloodBath

Dman_15

sorry m8, dunno then:dunno:

atheist

Hit F6 early in the boot process, (the prompt appears briefly) and provide the driver diskette for the sata raid controller. Remove the diskettes and CDs when asked by setup. You will be asked to insert them later if needed.

Personally I would not touch raid 0 with a barge pole - doubles youre chance of failure.

BloodBath

Ya that only works in the windows setup part. I load the drivers for the sata raid and it installs the setup to my HD. It's when it reboots that it won't continue the setup and pressing F6 does sweet fa.

Read on another forum a guy with the exact same problem
he said:

YaY! i fixed it ....after playing with it for a couple of hours and not giving up i traced it down to that there was something wrong with the boot.ini (boot config) in windows XP ... :S i looked up the different errors i got @ the windows website and i figured out how to run windows again ...there are still 2 problems tho:

Ok so he figured it out himself but I still don't have a clue what to do. Don't fancy looking around the massive microsoft site.

BloodBath

unkel

as atheist says. You've got to download the RAID drivers from the manufacturer's website first though and stick them on a diskette. Make sure the diskette is inserted while you hit F6 during the very early stages of the xp install

Also your BIOS needs to be ready to run your OS on RAID. Check your mobo's manual. Also make sure you setup RAID parameters according to your needs. Research and read up on it on the web

We can't reveal all here m8 - you gotta do some work as part of your initiation ritual

unkel

I'd advise Master/Master configuration for optimal performance

BloodBath

Gah is no-one reading my posts.

I have set up the RAID array. That is no longer the problem. I have the RAID drivers on a floppy and I used them during xp setup by pressing F6 and it loaded them.

Windows then saw my 240gig RAID drives and I proceeded to install windows on them. After initial setup it restarts and says it will continue setup after reboot.

It doesn't continue setup.

This is the problem.

I have done all the work, there is just some niggling little problem and I don't have a clue what it is.


BloodBath

unkel

reading your post alright. It is crucial HOW you let your BIOS read the RAID though as I've stated

RTFM (and the forums) and you will conquer this step. Went through the same process myself only weeks ago

BloodBath

They are sata drives.

BloodBath

unkel

Originally posted by BloodBath
They are sata drives

Yes of course they are

As I said, I had the same issue myself - Study the manual and compare notes with users on your mobo's forums. BIOS setup is crucial for RAID0 m8

BloodBath

I have studied everything and cannot come to a solution which is why i'm posting here.

I can't set it to master/master because they are sata, I can only do that for ide.

The problem according to other forums seems to be with the specific driver and xp.



BloodBath

Mutant_Fruit

try and get a third drive, and install windows onto that, and then keep your raid seperate. Other than that, buy and hardware raid controller.

Dempsey

Originally posted by BloodBath
I have studied everything and cannot come to a solution which is why i'm posting here.

I can't set it to master/master because they are sata, I can only do that for ide.

The problem according to other forums seems to be with the specific driver and xp.

BloodBath

SATA Drives are Master by default. That cant be changed

Did you reformat the drives after windows picked them up in a RAID setup?

try and get a third drive, and install windows onto that, and then keep your raid seperate. Other than that, buy and hardware raid controller

I wouldnt. You'd want windows in the RAID array so windows will be quick and your solution is a huge cost considering that there is already a onboard RAID controller and the fact that there is no guarantee that the RAID setup will function properly afterwards.

atheist

And when you formatted the drives did you choose NTFS or FAT32. I hope it's a primrary partition. Boot to the recovery console (remembering to <F6> and load the raid driver) and fixboot and fixmbr.

Another approach is to start with a win9x startup diskette, partition and format the drive (assuming int13 support) then copy the contents of the xp cd i386 directory to a directory tree with the same name on the hd. Run winnt /? or with the appropriate switches to start setup from there. This could get around a problem where the driver for the CD Rom's controller is not loaded, however you will still need to <F6>

Given that the mb has a 2 channel sata controller and a 4 channel sata controller and several xata devices, thete may be more drivers to load at the <F6> screen. Load all the mass storage drivers required by your MB.

Please indulge us and take out the WinXP CD after the initial setup.

astrofool

heh, just installed a raid with this board a few weeks ago. First, use the intel sata ports for the raid. Setup the raid within that. MAKE SURE that the on-chip raid is both enabled and set as a boot device in the bios, then install windows and use f6 to install the raid driver.

BloodBath

Cheers for the help lads but I figured it out in the end.

Managed to get it at about 5 in the morning last night. There was some sort of conflict with XP and the Intel controller. There are two controllers on the board. The intel one controls sata1 and sata2. The siliicon one controls 3-6.

So I undid the RAID. Swapped the sata connections from the 1 and 2 to 5 and 6, set the RAID back up and installed the other drivers and it worked.

It's running perfect now. Early benchmarks look promising. Will post the results later.


BloodBath

atheist

Would you have figured it out without help?

BloodBath

Yes I DID figure it out without help. The advice I got was stuff I had already tried and was doing correctly. It just clicked with me at 5 in the mornin that the first two SATA contollers were different from th other 4 so I tried switching and it worked.


BloodBath