There are so many posts of so many different people - how should I remember all these things? Where did you mention that?
This is a thread dedicated for users with an nForce Raid array (look at the title of the thread). As a consequence I assume, that each poster is a user of an nForce Raid system.
If I had realized, that you have no Raid, I would have given you the advice just to integrate the SATA_IDE subfolder as "normal" PnP driver and nothing else.

@ all:
My guide (first post) is absolutely useless for people with a non-Raid system!

CU
Fernando

I've built a few systems using the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe and Premium; both for myself and another person. I always use RAID 0 on my personal systems but, Mario's was just 1 WD250G SATA II on the A8N-SLI Deluxe nforce4 chip. Unlike the Siil setup, nforce4 natively supports all versions of SATA and is supposed to require no F6 or other driver integration during WinXP setup for single-nonRAID-HDD's. I setup Mario's system and installed WinXP-pro SP2 in this fashion using no F6 and integrating no drivers at all-that was in the spring and he is still using the same install today-trouble free-1016 BIOS. After install I rebooted in to safe mode and ran setup.exe-6.66 at the time-and only the ATAPI drivers changed-opting for the NVIDIA sw drivers over MS generic.

I hope this helps

I have personally experienced these hardware anomolies-from total system freeze up so that when I forced a reboot WinXP would run chkdsk on my applications partition every reboot; even though no errors were found; to one of my Raptors dropping out of my array for no reason-checks good. The first concern required complete re-install and the second required shutdown, disconnect all power from mainboard for 1 minute, reconnect and switch system on booting into Windows with the array working perfectly and no problems since.

There have been other errors but the gist of it is already here-no sense going into detail about all. I think the mobo is probably good and the errors occured for me with or without an nlite install but, I feel NVIDIA and ASUS--and perhaps ABIT,........so on, need to synchronize the drivers and BIOS releases-the A8N32-SLI's problems smell a lot like the A8N Deluxe's crashes with the post 1007 BIOS releases-solved by 6.65 and later; a compatable NVIDIA driver set.

The A8N32-SLI Deluxe is one buggy mobo sometimes. In closing I've found integrating the drivers-nlite-and using a winnt.sif file is the most trouble free and stable.

I could use those drivers. I will PM you my email

Please give some informations about your system (mainboard, number and sort of hdd's, Raid Bios version etc.).

Hey Fernando,

First let me congratulate you on your fine work... Highly appreciated!

I have a small problem...

I used your method to slipstream the nForce drivers on Windows XP Pro version.
Which was meant to install on a Asus A8N32-SLI motherboard... Which worked perfectly!

But since my motherboard was malfunctioning and giving a lot of troubles, I bought a new motherboard; the DFI LANPARTY UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert...

...except now I can't use the Windows XP Pro version I slipstreamed for some weird reason.
Currently I am rebuilding the Windows XP Pro cd with nLite with the drivers mentioned on the DFI website:

Revision 1.0.0.16
Driver RAID Driver
OS Window XP
File NF4 RAID F6.ZIP
Size 545,515 bytes
Date 2006/01/27
Description nForce4 RAID0/1 Driver & Silicon Image 3114 RAID0/1/5 Driver (Self-Extract to floppy for F6 Installation).

These could be added in text mode. Hopefully these will work.

If they do work, I will edit my post.
Otherwise, I am hoping to get a solution for this problem...

/edit

Wrong drivers... :S

Hi HHawk,
don't use the DFI drivers. They were published by DFI in January 2006, but when you unzip them, you will see, that they are produced by NVIDIA in 2004.
If your old mainboard and the new one have the same nForce chipset (I suppose nForce4 SLI AMD), normally the same nForce SataRaid driver package should work.
Do both boards have exactly the same nForce chipset?
Which driver package did you use with your Asus A8N32-SLI motherboard?
What sort of problems did you have during the install on your new DFI board?

CU
Fernando

Fernando - just getting the hang of this, but got the nlite xpsp2 nvidia 6.67 CD to install and setup all 4 SATA ch. (1-mirror, 1-JBOD) OK on my MSI Neo4 Bios 4.84 - Great stuff btw, thanks - nvidia should have people like u! Now my RAID Bios (N) New Array option doesn't lite up so I can add some IDE RAIDS (2x160Maxtors) - maybe I f__d something up since, but being I got this far I don't want to start from scratch (already got my JBOD array loaded, etc). Can I fix it in Windows (already tried to uninstall (won't let me)/disable the IDE/PATA controller in DM and disconnecting cable/disabling BIOS IDE, then reboot, etc)? Also tried to just re-install the drivers, but they're already there (MB supposedly supports both SATA & IDE - 4 drives each). Any other ideas to get this RAID Bios option lit up again Thanks...

Please write, what exactly you are trying to do.
As far as I understand, you want to rebuild your nForce Raid array (by adding 2 IDE hdd's) on a running system, although you are booting from the Raid. If this is correct, I would not suggest to try it. I would never touch a running Raid system.
Why don't you create a new Raid array with your Silicon Image Raid Controllers? And why can't you add non-Raid IDE hdd's?

I am trying to add a New Array (RAID 0) for my IDE drives. I already have 2 SATA arrays working. Shouldn't the New Array option be lit up at the bottom of the RAID Bios? - the Rebuild option is. I don't want to rebuild my working SATA arrays - just add a new IDE array. As it stands now, I can't get past that to see if my IDE's even show up to make a New Array in the nvidia RAID Bios (like my SATA's did). My IDE's show up in the main Bios and are functional as single drives in Windows. I don't recall seeing SI driver/controllers on the MB disk - only mentioned in the manual. Maybe it came with nvidia and Sil - so I'll take another look. (I'll certainly feel stupid if it is!:) Thanks.

Yea, I found something about SI buried in a nvidia folder on the MB driver CD, but it looks like and from the description in the manual, that it only deals with SATA raids and not IDE arrays. I've got my SATA arrays already covered by nvidia. How do I create a new IDE array in nvidia if the New Array option choice is greyed out in their bios?

Yes, have a look into your BIOS, if you find any Sil Raid controller. If yes, enable them and create a new Sil Raid array.
Do not touch the nForce Raid array where you are booting from (with MBR).

EDIT:
It seems, that you are not able to create a third nForce Raid array. Why is this so important for you to have 3 Raid arrays? I have only 1 single Raid array with 2 Sata hdd's and I don't even think about more of them.

Here is the description about the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum:

So if you have this mainboard, you can only create a Sata Raid array with your Sil Raid controller.

OK, thanks Fernando. I didn't have any more SATA drives, just IDEs that I wanted to RAID together for larger capacity. I'll see, from the MB description, if I can get the Sil "SATARAID5" Software to creat an IDE Raid array. Let you know later pm, early am after I gotta go babysit my nephew now! (Still bothers me why nvidia won't let me create 4 arrays if I want to-.

Why do you think, that you get a larger capacity by building a Raid array? I have never heard about that.

I guess technically you're correct Fernando - whether you stripe or mirror 2x76GB drives, u still get 76GB's. I meant the JBOD feature in the RAID Bios and not Raid0. eg, one of my existing arrays is JBOD (just a bunch of disks) & I have a 300 + 400 = 652GB of space! (yes, after 13 yrs of accumulating stuff - files, scans, pics, movies, etc - I still have most of it (Knock on wood:) that exceeds 400GB. Since I'm a little nervous bout keeping it on a JBOD, it's temporary & I'm looking around for a dependable solution (somehow compressed) to keep it all on one backup HD. Any ideas?

Buy a second computer or hdd's with more space!

Hello,

I just purchased the DFI Lanparty Ultra-D AMD motherboard with 3 SATA hard drives that I want
to use in a non-RAID configuration (just want to use as regular hard drives).

I'm a bit confused as to whether to use the LEGACY or SATARAID subfolder when I want to
integrate the drivers into nlite.

Would just integrating the SATARAID folder be enough for Windows XP to regonize the SATA
hard drives as regular drives?

Also, when installing the OS with the drivers integrated, do you still have to hit F6 to install the drivers
or is it done automatically?

One last question, the DFI motherboard also has the Silicon Image 3114 SATA RAID controller on it. Can
you also slipstream the SI 3114 drivers into the image also? I'm assuming you cannot since I'm already
slipstreaming the Nvidia SATA drivers already.

Thanks for the help.

My guide was not written for users with a non-Raid system.
Windows XP with integrated SP2 normally needs no extra drivers to detect SATA drives.
If you want to slipstream the nForce SATA drivers, just integrate the SATA_IDE subfolder as PnP driver (not as Textmode).
If your SATA drives are detected during TEXTMODE part of the installation, you don't need to hit F6 and no floppy is necessary. Everything is detected automaticly. You can test it by just booting off your XP CD with integrated SP2. If your SATA drives are not detected, you really have to integrate the nForce SATA driver (but only this one, not the NVIDIA RAID driver) by integrating the LEGACY subfolder as TEXTMODE driver.
When you use nLite, you can integrate as many drivers as you want (especially if you use RC7, because they are now stored in different folders). But it normally makes no sense to integrate drivers you don't need.
You have to decide prior to the installation , if you want to use the nForce or the Sil Sata controllers and you have to choose the correct Sata mainboard ports and BIOS settings.

CU
Fernando

Thanks Fernando,

I'm new to SATA so I'll ask a couple more questions. I just want to use my 3 SATA
drives in regular mode (non RAID)

Is it better to use the Nforce SATA drivers from the SATA_IDE folder than
the Windows SP SP2 ones since I'm assuming that the Nforce SATA drivers
are probably more optimized than the Windows SATA drivers?

If I were to use the Nforce SATA drivers from the SATA_IDE folder, when I see the F6 during
install, do I just ignore it and continue on with the install?

Also, what is the difference between the LEGACY folder and the SATA_IDE folder since
a lot of the files seem to be overlapping.

Thanks

Tony

best way i think, it's to install an xp+sp2 without f6 ( it should work if u don't use raid mode) then after the end of setup, install the full nforce package, it will install the lastest drivers for sata/pata controllers.

MS has no SATA drivers, the MS setup routine is only able to detect SATA drives. So the nFoce SATA driver is really necessary for you after you have completed the setup.

Just ignore it - as Blank has written.

The LEGACY folder contains TEXTMODE drivers because it has a TXTSETUP.OEM file and it has an information file (NVATABUS.INF) for the nForce SATA driver.

CU
Fernando

Thanks Fernando,

When you mean to install the Nforce SATA drivers after I have completed the setup, does
this mean after I have installed Windows XP onto the SATA hard drive?

Also, is it better to use the SATA drivers in the LEGACY or SATA_IDE folder? Seems like
using either one is ok.

Yes!

If you want to integrate the SATA drivers by using nLite, I would take the SATA_IDE subfolder (as PnP driver), but if you want to install those drivers after you have finished the installation of Windows XP, I would just run the setup of the chipset driver package und choose those drivers which you want.

CU
Fernando

Hi,

Has anyone been having problems getting an ASUS A8N-SLI motherboard working with the Seagate 500GB SATA II drives under XP?

I've followed the instructions in the first message here to integrate the Nvidia Nforce4 SATA drivers from the 6.70 distribution (using the legacy directory), but it doesn't work. Basically the PC freezes when it gets to the formating stage in the XP setup (same as it did when installing from the original XP CD without the integrated drivers).

Also, I have tried adding the jumper on the drive to reduce it to 1.5Gb/sec speeds (as recommended on the Seagate website - though the motherboard is supposed to fully support SATA II), and updated the motherboard BIOS to 1014, but nothing works.

I've got 4 of the Seagate disks and they all exhibit the same problem, so it can't be a broken disk.

The BIOS recognises the disks as 500GB SATA 2, LBA.

Anyway, I'm pretty much out of ideas, so any suggestions as to what I can try next would be very much appreciated!

Thanks for any help.

Cheers,
Ben

Hi Ben,
if you don't have a Raid array, you should not follow my guide (first post of this thread), because this is only useful for SataRaid systems.
The best way to install Windows XP onto a SATA drive is to use a slipstreamed XPSP2 CD and to integrate no SATA driver during the install (even no F6 and no floppy). Normally XP detects the SATA drive and gets correctly installed. After the successful setup of the OS you can install all needed nForce chipset drivers inclusive the SATA ones by running the setup of the chipset driver package.

CU
Fernando

Hi Fernando,

THanks for the feedback. I previously tried to install XP from a brand new XP CD (already at SP2), but it fails with the same problem (freezes when formating or partitioning). Seagate support said to try installing the SATA drivers during installation, which is what brought me here!

I think it's beginning to look like there is a major incompatibility between the Seagate SATA II disks and the Asus motherboard.

Ben

Hi, I wanted to thank everyone for this great topic. I have an Asus a8n32-sli Deluxe with 2 74GB raptors. I created a slipstreamed xp cd with nlite and followed your directons. I used the Sata raid folder and copied over those 4 listed files from the legacy folder into the sata raid folder. I then proceeded with the unattended installation inside nlite and then I created my iso and burned it using nero.

I then went to create my array, partitioned, formatted, and then it went to copy some files (some files errored when copying so I'm re-installing windows on 1 disk and then gona redo nlite). I'll burn at a slower speed around 20x to make sure everything is copied over fine. I hit escape so it'd still copy over the rest of the files. My text mode setup was finished and the computer rebooted to enter gui mode setup. The windows xp logo came up, and bam, BSOD. I don't understand why this is happening to me. I can't test with my original Windows XP cd because after i hit f6 and it asks me to hit S to specificy additional device, my keyboard stops working completely. Dunno why. Any help with getting my nvraid solution configured would be appreciated.

Btw, I'm using the Nvidia nForce4 AMD/Intel X16 - Windows XP/2000 (32-Bit) 6.82 drivers which are supposedly WHQL certified. I used RARlab to extract the .exe file into a folder setup so I can move around files and use nlite to use those drivers.

Hi icroyal,
as I know from other nLite members, the Asus A8N32-SLI DeLuxe is not very cooperative with nForce SataRaid drivers. You may have a look at the last sites of this thread.
On the other side your experience, that your keyboard stopped working after you have hit "S", astonished me. You may have a real hardware problem.
Here are my my questions:
1. Is your system stable (no overclocking during the install of an OS)?
2. Do you have a really healthy Raid array and only a single MBR?
3. What version has your nVRaid BIOS (second boot screen)?
4. Have you tried to unplug all unneeded hardware and RAM sticks (only 1 left) during the install of XP?

CU
Fernando

Hi Ben,
you may be right. I have read about the same problems in other forums.
Some people with similar issues succeeded by changing the SATA ports.
Have you tested your SATA drives by the Seagate utility?
Did you try to enable SATA1 instead of SATA2?

CU
Fernando

Well, the S not working is only on the official XP disc (not pirated, has actual hologram and is from Microsoft and everything). It works on slipstreamed discs though.

Also, I don't know what sites to look at. The thread is 53 pages long and I'm kind of clueless on what to do to get my raid 0 up and running. Like I said, I followed all of your steps, still get a BSOD. Well, I just re-instaled XP, I'm going to try to re-do nlite without all the unattended stuff and all that and just make a simple disc and try to take screenshots to show what happens.

If you are not able to install the nForce SataRaid drivers from the IDE\WinXP folder of the chipset package 6.53 via F6/floppy by using the original XP CD, you definitively have a problem with your system.
EDIT:
Look at posts from RickSteele and Blank within the last pages (ca. 45-51) of this thread.

Well the point was that it didn't work with the official cd that doesn't have sp2 slipstreamed but works with a burned sp2 slipstreamed copy. If it works with 1 cd and not the other, I doubt it's a hardware issue. As for the post information, ty very much.

Have you ever tried to install the orinal XP version by using the F6/floppy method and the 6.53 driver package?

icroyal

I'm assuming you are using a USB keyboard; if so do the following:

1) do not update to the latest BIOS-1103-until XP is installed and running well
2)shutdown your PC, switch off the power supply and then disconnect the power cord from your power supply-no power to your PC at all except CMOS battery-for 15 minutes
3)plug in your power supply and switch it on
4)start your computer and enter BIOS setup and make sure the Boot setting for Legacy USB is Enabled; not Automatic.
5)finally there are many of the popular full featured keyboards that simply will not ever be compatable during setup-I use a BENQ Internet keyboard and it works all of the time during setup for slipstreamed or a SP2 XP but, not for SP1a.

I have had this, among others, concern and this procedure solved it. When nliting your SP2 disc watch out for Nero 7. 7.5......was the first update to actually burn anything on my computer correctly; 7.0.8... is out now and it does well-many bugs that I experienced fixed. Bootable DVD's were a real concern/headache but so far the latest version does all well-one thing with Nero 7; make sure you enable burning support for all newly installed drives, reboot and then for everybody in Nero Burning Rights or only your first DVD/CDROM will read one burned from the other in Windows Explorer.

Use the 6.85 X16 drivers, not the 6.82, and integrate the Legacy folder only, or copy the entire Legacy folder to floppy for F6.

After setup is complete and first logon accomplished, copy the entire 6.85 extracted driver folder to your HDD and reboot into safemode where you finally run setup.exe-allow the NVIDIA sw drivers to install, reboot normally when prompted and all should be reasonable.

This is what worked for me. I am typing this reply from 4*74g Raptors in RAID0 at 16kb stripe on the nforce4 chip.

Well an update on what I'm doing. I'm goign to make an nlite slipstreamed xp sp2 cd and a regular xp sp2 slipstreamed disc. The slipstreamed disc will not have any of the nvraid stuff and I have 4 floppies for f6 install. 1 is the asus makedisk, 1 is the legacy files, 1 is the sata files, and one is the file structure you based the tutorial on with the legacy+sata folder. I'm going to try several variations and see if I can get my system up and running and this time i'll try burning at a slower speed to see what happens. I'm also going to try using 2 different versions of nero, nero 6 and nero 7. I'll let you guys know what happens.

Well I remade the nlite package as I said without all the mumbo jumbo stuff. Just SP2 and the drivers exactly as stated in the 1st post, and burned with nero 7 with an 18x speed to make sure nothing gets messed up from writing to fast. This worked perfect and now I have my 2 74GB Raptors in raid 0 with my 250g WD drive installed as well. Thanks for the help guys.

Do not use any but the 6.85-trust me on this one.

There are a couple of other discoveries I have happened upon just over the last couple of days with the A8N32-SLI Deluxe; again this is my system so mileage may vary:

1) The custom Tutorial sataraid+legacy setup works fine but, there are discrepencies; your Local Area Connection will be named Local Area Connection 2 and in the registry there is reference to a fanthom Local Area Connection which is neither functional or existant in windows; for some reason your IE window size never opens maximized from the Favorites in Windows Explorer, or hyperlinks while online; no matter what you do. Frequently there are DHCP error logs in the system logs on bootup which causes XP to hang at logon as it persists in solving for the connection. All of this is gone with an F6 install-6.85. I am going to try just the Legacy nlite1.0rc7 integrated and run setup.exe-6.85 in safemode after first logon this weekend to see if this copies the F6 characteristics and report to fernando1. Finnally, the connection is much quicker and more robust with F6.

2) do not forget to set the Nero Burning Rights configuration before any burning.

3) SystemFileChecker enabled has made a huge positive impact on my system stability. XP sp2 chkdsk finds few or no errors on any of my 4 partitions in a thorough check after the first run compared to SFC disabled.
This mobo is really buggy if you do something not quite right-very sensitive. The BIOS and nforce drivers are still immature and it shows in the many problems I've encountered over the last couple of months. Terabyte has the best disc tools. Check them out=trial available....partitioning .....etc.

4)I have found overwriting an errant install with zero's is the best way to ensure error free re-install-not sure why but have read somewhere about mbr hangover.......

When updating the BIOS do so in DOS only using a Unix boot floppy-from BootDisc.com-with afudos 2.21 and your ROM file-currently 1103-renamed to A8N32SLI.ROM all copied to that floppy. The reason is if you do not have a command.com you will only be able to reboot after flash using your case reset button-the Unix disc allows cntl>alt>del. There is no "press any key to reboot....etc. in AMI's flash executable. It is very important to set up BIOS defaults before flashing with one exception; if you are using nforce RAID enable this in the BIOS after loading up defaults before exiting-saving changes to reboot; otherwise you will get a "BIOS checksum error press F1...etc." message after flash and this causes grief later on-dropped/corrupt partitions/ntfs file structures in the near future.
After flashing allow the system to fully boot into windows cancelling any driver prompts you do not want... then, reboot and enter BIOS setup to customize as you wish. So far this method has been foolproof for me.

Goodluck!

Hi Rick,
thank you for your detailed post. Your interesting advices may help other members who have the same board and the same problems as you.

What I do not understand is the relationship between the nForce SataRaid drivers and the Local Area Connection. I cannot believe, that this has something to do with the method how you integrate the SataRaid drivers (F6 or by using nLite).
How do you explain your findings? Did you integrate all nForce drivers (SataRaid, SMBus, Ethernet, Audio) by using nLite? Did you take them all off the package 6.85?

CU
Fernando

Well I already upgraded to the 11.03 bios a couple weeks ago. I did use the 3.85 raid drivers integrated with the nlite package on my a8n32-sli deluxe and everything is working fine. My Local Area Connection is fine and I've monitored my system performance, and so far have had zero problems at all.

Hi Fernando 1,

How do you explain your findings? Did you integrate all nForce drivers (SataRaid, SMBus, Ethernet, Audio) by using nLite? Did you take them all off the package 6.85?
Yes, from the modified sataraid folder etc.. I am beginning to suspect the way I intall all before first logon.

I've just now finished a fresh install using the Legacy folder only and no net, BUS etc.; just the Legacy, rebooting into safe mode after first logon to install all using 6.85 setup.exe.
I integrated the Legacy with nlite 1.0 rc 7 and no removals-sfc enabled, with various eye-candy tweaks, reg tweaks etc., all hotfixes and WMP10 complete with all it's updates slipstreamed. I have my own winnt.sif file that I use.
The difference is tangible; no more net issues, Local Area Connection 2 etc.; the system just seems more solid; but, I also have modified the way I install my apps; instead of all before first logon I install all DOTNET etc. reboot, install the rest of MS's addons, then on the third reboot install Nero etc .-all third party stuff. So, your querry is certainly been the question I have asked myself, especially in light of icroyal success.
I have made a complete, as I used to, nlited 1.0 rc7 4.1G bootable DVD+RW using the Legacy folder on one and the modified sataraid on the other, complete with all drivers save video, and will try it sometime soon-I just want to enjoy my computer for a while; you know-Day of Defeat Source, FEAR etc.
I will post back the experience when I do the nasty.

Thanks for this thread and all of your hard work.

Live long and prosper

Just dropping a quick ?. I get an error message during the initial setup of windows not during driver detection stating that windows could not copy nvuide.exe. Does anyone know how I can get rid of that error. It works when the system comes up, but the thought is this is unattended I dont like hitting escape to cancel the copy.
Thanks in advance for any help with this issue.

Viper999

Try redoing a fresh nlited integration and, then, iso; ran into this a couple of times and the redo all solved it for me; suspect file corruption.



Fantastic-details please-no Local Area Connection 2, no BIOS checksum error message after flash or did you enable nforce RAID after setting defaults before flashing......?

Hi Fernando 1

"What I do not understand is the relationship between the nForce SataRaid drivers and the Local Area Connection. I cannot believe, that this has something to do with the method how you integrate the SataRaid drivers (F6 or by using nLite)."

Just finshed a fresh install last night using the Legacy and all else as usual-Ethernet, SMBus, sfc disabled-all my normal removals, tweaks etc.; but no video drivers-install them after setup to get all the driver features.
It is good-no Local Area Connection 2 etc.

Update; s..t, the twin bugs are back:

I just burned a bootable DVD+RW nlite 1.0rc7 with Nero 7.0.8.2 in my Plextor 716A and the LG-4163B will not read it-system log flags error=CDROM has a bad block, popup dialogue after my system hangs for 3 minutes or so while the LG tries to read the disc=invalid function; the freeze ends at this time. Meanwhile if I insert the disc into the Plextor 716A=no worries, it loads and reads it immediately.
Upon trying to boot the DVD+RW I get the error=line 1 of the inf file\i386\txtsetup.sif is invalid setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit.
The boot problem with bootable DVD has been there off and on since A8N32-SLI Deluxe-no rhyme or reason to it. The DVD-RW reading concern is new to this install after disappearing over the last 5 or so.
Bootable CD-RW 700mb are no problem-they work fine.....so basically I'm f...ed if I can figure this one out; and am definitely frustrated. All of the nonbootable DVD+RW I've created read in both DVDROMs; irregardless which one was used to burn it. If I replace nlite's makeiso with cdimage then the bootable DVD's work fine-but I hate that cdimage because it dates all to 2002-including all the folders/files in your finished installation-WINDOWS, system32 etc.
No relevant info on the net that I can find so must be peculiar to my setup only; go figure!!!

Catch ya' later

March 13-upd.

Fully nlited a bootable 685mb CD-RW using the modified 6.85 sataraid, but, with one exception-did not again integrate Catalyst drivers-installed them at the end of setup-I now use 2 CDROM installation discs with 3 cmd files. All of the above is fixed; no Local Area Connection 2, DVD bootable still gives the same error but, read concerns etc. gone. Everything is working better than it ever has at 16kb stripe; I'm beginning to consider the Catalyst 6.3 integration as the primary source of my ills; integrate=problems, no integrate=no problems. Perhaps, like Creative, these should no longer be integrated. I've replaced my DVD cables as I received an error report in the system logs relating to this as the usual cause of that error-will use a while and report.

Check this out: http://www.msfn.org/board/-t69587.html
This 4G barrier could be the problem for my bootable DVD's-I'm at 4.2G; cdimage puts the i386 directory at the front of the disc and, apparently, this is what allows it to succed for discs above 4G. man!!!!

Final Update on this post, March 15,

One intermittently faulty ATAPI cable was the reason for all my DVD+RW read errors and nonbootable compilation errors-replaced both cables; I use two DVD-RW's, and all is well. The bootable DVD+RW error is due to the 4G limit discussed above. I reduced the size from 4.2G to 4.01G, created with nlite1.0rc7 and burned a bootable DVD+RW-the disc booted/operated perfectly=solved.
fernando1's guide is the best way to integrate nforce4 RAID on the A8N32-SLI Deluxe; after trying several variants of integration the guide works best; yields the most stable install.

Later, Rick

Thank you Fernando 1 for this guide. However, I am a little puzzled. I have been struggling with Windows XP install onto an nf4 mobo and the F6 floppy route for the Nvidia drivers. My troubles (described in this post in detail (http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47592) relate to how only older nvidia drivers worked. The 6.6 and 6.7 nv sata raid drivers resulted in an endless reboot cycle.

A reader on that board suggested that slipstreaming was flawless for him and in fact referred me here. Why would slipstreaming solve a problem with what appears to be a driver issue?

Also, this fellow is talking about the bus and the network driver conflicting (http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46714&highlight=microsoft+engineer)
Is this what you have been discussing in the previous few posts?

Please forgive me if you think this is irrelevant and I will post a new message for this issue.

Congratulations, Rick, that you found at least the reason for your oroblems. Other people had already given up a while ago, but you tested it again and again until your search was successfull. It seems to me, that we are like twins.

At first I have 2 questions:
1. Did you read my first post of this thread? There is the answer.
2. Do you have an nForce4 board (as you have written in this post) or an nForce3 board (as your signature in DFI-Street forum says)?
The problem, that the XP setup installs the wrong MS IDE bus drivers instead of the correct new nForce Sata drivers (off the packages 6.66 and higher) during the GUIMODE part of the installation, is not solved by just slipstreaming the nForce drivers, but by the combination of slipstreaming and modification of the MS IDE drivers done automaticly by nLite.
No, the last posts had nothing to do with your linked thread.

please forgive me for not reading and UNDERSTANDING what your first post said. After reading the next 52 pages (instead of cutting to the last post) i realized the havoc that the new nvidia folder structure creates for the new windows xp install. And how the integration of the various files from legacy and sataraid,etc. folders works to get around and solve the problem. Yes I am building an nf4 system and this is how I came across the current problem. I will update my sig when complete.

I also noticed in the first post you explicitly mention the legacy folder but in the actual text of the thread you started by suggesting files be pulled out of the pataraid folder. i guess at some point it was discovered that the legacy folder has what's needed. (somewhere around the end of the page 20s)

thank you for your fine work as it enabled a quick install. along with auto patcher, winxp install is a breeze.

What happens when nvidia comes out with an upgraded nforce driver set? does the installation overwrite these older files? does the raid array use the new sata drivers?

Does this work with Windows 2000?

Hi im newish here and i need a hand concerning slipstreaming raid drivers into a sp2 xp.

i followed ferdinands guide and selected the "legacy" folder to be incorperated into the disk, i then burnt teh iso created all seemed fine, but when running the install when it goes to start windows (bit were u choose hdd etc) it hangs keyboard flashes then nothng. I guess this could be me not doing the slipstream right as this the first time ive done it.

This has all come about because even with F6 floppy (new DFI one) i still cant install Xp either on Raid or SATA and this is my last ditch hope before i RMA this mobo.

im trying to install on to 2 raptor hdd on raid-0 and have been trying to get my rig working for the past 3 weeks. could any1 help me please.




My pc
146 amd opteron
Dfi- ultra D
x800xt
480W antec true blue
2 WD raptors.

The nVRaid Controller uses the Raid driver NVRAID.SYS, the NVIDIA Sata Controller uses the Sata driver NVATABUS.SYS.
If NVIDIA brings new chipset drivers, there is no problem to update the installed ones.

I think so, but I never tried it. You have to use the W2k drivers instead of the XP ones.

Try to install XP by using the F6/floppy method and take the SataRaid drivers off the 6.53 chipset driver package (content of the IDE\WinXP folder without the raidtool subfolder). If the install fails, you really have a problem, which has nothing to do with this thread.

This didn't seem to work for me. I'm working on this issue in another thread:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?act=ST...t=0#entry482943

My motherboard info and other details are there. If you have any ideas, please post them there. I can later post any solution here, I just want to keep all suggestions in one place.

Thanks in advance.

hey
btw this guide worked for me, with both xp sp2, and xp x64 sp1

using an nforce4 sli, and 4 sata II drives on the sata II controller.
also I dont got a floppy drive, glad this guide was here

I just tested the integration of the nForce SataRaid drivers into Windows 2000 by using nLite 1.0 RC7 according my guide (see post 1 of this thread). It worked flawlessly.
The only difference concerning the integration was, that I integrated the IDE\Win2k drivers instead of the IDE\WinXP ones. As I have an nForce4 chipset, I took the LEGACY subfolder off the nForce chipset driver package 6.70.
So I suppose, that your problem has something to do with your Promise ATA Card.

CU
Fernando