The method I have described is only suitable for NVIDIA nForce Sata or Raid Controllers. If you have a Serial ATA Controller from Silicon Image, you may not use the NVIDIA nForce chipset package 6.66, but the SATA drivers from Silicon Image for integrating the correct Sata drivers for your board.
For all other Controllers you have on your nForce2 board (IDE, LAN, GART etc), you can use the NVIDIA driver chipset package 5.10 (don't try the package 6.66 for these controllers, they don't work with nForce2 boards).

yes, the silicon image controller is built into my AN7. thank you for you help. much apreciated as is nuhi for taking the time to make nlite.

G'day Fernando
Just wanted to say thanks, I've had the nVidia RAID problem for a few days and found your site and app. Followed your directions and everythings seems to be working fine (fingers crossed).

I'll get back if have any troubles or can contribute anything to the thread to help others.

AMD 64 3800
GA KN8F-9
1Gb Corsair DDR
2 x 250Gb Seagate SATA (striping RAID)
XP SP2 and nVidia 6.66 drivers

Hi guys and gals,

For the past 4 days I had lots of problems installing RAID 0 with a friend of mine, on his brand-new machine.

I found this topic (refered by Short-Media.com forums) and FINALLY managed to install my RAID 0 setup without a single hiccup. Thanks to you guys, especially Fernando ;-)

I :

- Updated my BIOS to the latest release (1009.001, September 13th 2005 release)

- Enabled ACPI (it was on by default)

- Installed XP using the special unattended install CD, using the FIRST method mentionned in the first message of the thread (modified version of WINNT.SIF).

One thing though : make sure that you include these lines in the WINNT.SIF file :



My WINNT.SIF did not have "Data" section and I almost omitted the "OemDriverFlags=1"

Also, I have a question : what is the better driver to use ? I only tried the one from the nVidia nForce drivers package but I wonder if the Silicon Image 3114 works better... I did not compare the two 'cause I only wanted RAID 0 to work and since then, I don't touch anything else ;-)

What you think ?

The configuration :

- Athlon 64 X2 3800+
- Asus A8N-E, BIOS 1009.001
- 2 * 512 Mo DDR400 Corsair Value (eventually 2 * 512 DDR400 Corsair XMS TwinX)
- 2 * 80 GB Seagate 7200.7 SATA in a RAID 0 configuration
- Windows XP w/Service Pack 2 and nForce 6.66 Drivers

It is not the question of the driver, but of the Raid Controller.
Most of the users who have both Raid Controllers (nVRaid and Sil3114), prefer the nForce Raid controller.
The best drivers for the nForce4 SataRaid Controller will certainly be the brandnew ones from the NVIDIA chipset driver package 8.12 (look here:).

Hi Fernando,

I try to figure out something : the website you're talking about (Station-Drivers) contains nForce 4 drivers that are stamped version 8.12.

On the other hand, nVidia offer the 6.66 nForce 4 drivers (AMD Edition).

What are the differences between the two packages ?

The 6.66 package is complete, whereas the 8.12 packages contains only SATARAID, Ethernet and SMBus drivers.
Both driver packages were built by NVIDIA. The driver package 6.66 was already officially presented by NVIDIA, whereas the brandnew package 8.12 was leaked first by the french website "station-drivers", but now already presented as "official" nForce4 driver package by ASRock:
http://www.asrock.com.tw/support/Download/...8NF4G-SATA2.htm

Users with an nForce4 system should take the SataRaid drivers from the new package 8.12. They are really better than the older ones.

CU
Fernando

Acpi is enabled, (S1 /S3)
Tried it first with F6 and a floppy disk.
Copied nvatabus.inf to sataraid and did that .oem change.
XP booted ok afterwards but showed ms drivers.

Then I made a nlite bootdisc using the 2nd method, deleting the other ide drivers.
But had the same results as above.
I'm getting tired of this.
Gonna try the first method and then I'm gonna give up and delete my raid array..

Attached are some shots
I have no idea what that unknown device is.
Btw my mb is an Asus a8n-e

What is your problem? Everything is fine within your device manager!
The only little thing you have to search for is your "Unknown Device". (My tip: Google for "Asus A8N-E" +"Unknown Device"!)
Everything else is totally OK.
As you can see within the pictures, your NVIDIA Raid Controller and the nForce4 SATA Controller have their correct NVIDIA drivers.
It is totally normal, that the "device" NVIDIA Stripe shows MS drivers (disk.sys and PartMgr.sys).
CU
Fernando

EDIT:
I found something about your "Unknown Device" in an ASUS newsgroup::

yeah i had already found that too, it seems to work
just installed xp again using your 1st method.
it has some other ide controllers installed, see pic
and what happend with the human interface devices??
something not really ok?

now going back to your second method.
Are there any other nice hotfixes, patches, tweaks to include that you can recommend?
thanks for the help so far

If you have only S-ATA and no IDE (P-ATA) hard disk drives, then you did something wrong this time.
The first pic looked much better.
Each user has his own preferences. You can include what you want, but you have to remove the IDE bus drivers (see my first post within this thread).

I too, like many of you, have an ASUS a8n-sli deluxe motherboard (version 1.02) on which I am attempting to run raid using the Nvidia contoller (not the Silicon Image controller). I have been enduring problems up the wahzoo trying to get this motherboard to work with either nvidia reference drivers 6.66, asus drivers 6.65 for winXP 32 bit or BIOS version 1013 (version 6.53 works so so, but more on that in a minute). After about one week and a hundred permutations later, here are the results:

BIOS versions 1001 to 1011 -> Fernandos OemInfFiles Method while very clever and a great step forward (thanks for posting your work, it has been a godsend) does not work. Changing the txtsetup.oem makes no difference. You may use nLite or you may take the F6 floppy route but the result is the same, endless reboots or blue screens. The reason as Fernando correctly points out, is that nvatabus.sys and nvraid.sys (found in nforce4_amd_6.66\ide\winxp\sataraid or pataraid) are not f&#*!$& WHQL by the Microsoft Gods. They are replaced during the GUI install portion of XP by generic Intel IDE drivers and this is what is causing the endless reboots/BSOD. The creation of an $OEM$ file system is not enough to override the generic IDE drivers that XP normally uses.
Fernandos Driver Removal Method DOES work with BIOS 1008, 1009 and 1011 (sorry, not enough time to test all earlier versions) but YOU MUST ALSO enable the txtsetup.oem tweak mentioned in the OemInfFiles method. This method works only by the nLite method. The reason it works is that you are using nLite to remove all the generic IDE drivers so that during the GUI install portion of XP, XP can only see the Nvidia files. The irritation with this method is that you will be warned during setup and everytime in the future that you install drivers that XP has found a problem with incompatable drivers (the sataraid crap) that could damage your system. You will also find an annoying icon in the taskbar that continually asks you to uninstall your RAID system. I have also found other small problems (such as ASUS update 6.07 does not recognize my motherboard BIOS and device manager problems) and I am still testing. Basically, it works but I am a perfectionist so that crap drives me batty.

BIOS version 1013 -> If you are one of the few lucky ones who thru sheer cussing, mountain dew binges and/or compulsion to rake your own eyeballs have updated the BIOS to 1013, then congratulate yourself, you are a Siddhartha of motherboards. The 1013 BIOS is a bit different from all previous versions because it includes specific changes that allow the Nvidia SataRaid controller to be recognized by the non-WHQLed nvatabus.sys and nvraid.sys files (this is done, I believe by sequencing at the machine code level, not at the C++ level). These changes take the place of the nvcchflt filter file found in the 6.53 drivers.
Long story short, the OemInfFiles method DOES works and so does the Driver Removal Method (both using nLite). You still will have all the minor irritations I mentioned above though. It works, I believe, because the generic IDE drivers are now seeing the Nvraid controller as an ide extension. The easiest method with the least problems seems to be the OemInfFiles method but I am still testing. If you want to use the floppy method, go to the sataraid folder, copy in the nvatabus.inf from the pataraid folder, then change the nvraid.inf line to nvatabus.inf in the txtsetup.oem file, then copy all the sataraid folder to one floppy.

I will be testing BIOS 1013 with 6.66 for the next few weeks and BIOS 1013 with version 6.53 drivers to see how it goes. BIOS version 1009 and 1011 work fine with Nvidia's reference drivers 6.53 because of the included filter file nvcchflt in the sataraid folder. You will still get the taskbar icon asking you to disable your RAID hardrives but just ignore it. Stay tuned...

Please Note: I use an AMD X2 4800 and two of the four drives I worked with to get the above results have been Hitachi T7K-250s, which use the new SATA II standards (3 Gbps and NCQ)(that is part of the reason I wanted to use the Nvidia raid controller, which is made to work with SATA II, instead of the Silicon Image one). Using or not using dual core processors or SATA II makes no difference (as long as you use a BIOS version that recognizes dual core processors)

reach me at jayhall0315@yahoo.com because I will most likely forget to post here often.

(Homebuilt) X2 4800/ASUS a8n-sli deluxe/BFG 7800 GTX SLI/2 74 GB Raptors and 2 250 GB Hitachi T7K-250s/Creative X-FI Fata1tly/DangerDen watercooling/Plextor Burners/Dell 2405 FPW/PC Power and Cooling 850/Gigaworks S750

I think that driver removal method is actually my method but ok...

You might want to wait for next nLite, seems to integrate nvraid perfectly without having to use my driver removal method.

Attention to all thread users: The "unknown device" that is appearing for many of you in device manager (especially for those of you who have nforce 4 boards) is the ATK0110 APCI Util that is used to change the FSB with software like ASUS's AI Booster. To clear the problem, do the following:
insert your motherboard driver cd or download the latest AI Booster from Asus.

browse the cd and goto \software\aibooster\acpi64 and copy the win2000 folder to your desktop.

open the win2000 folder on your desktop and open the file ATK2000.ini with Notepad.

Look for this


[Manufacturer]
%ATK%=ATK

[ATK]
%DeviceDesc1%=DriverInstall,ACPI\ATK0110



and change it to this (bold text is only to show you what you have to change)


[Manufacturer]
%ATK%=ATK,NTamd64

[ATK.NTamd64]
%DeviceDesc1%=DriverInstall,ACPI\ATK0110


save the file and then go to the unknown device in device manager and manually update the driver pointing it to the win2000 directory on your desktop.

There should be no more problems. Also, even if you overclock, avoid ASUS's AI Booster and Nvidia's nTune. Short story is that they both suck and are alot like the 6.66 driver package, full of bugs.

Sorry Dale, I did not mean to give credit to someone else for your work.

For all the rest of you, I am attempting to get the source code from a contact in China at ASUS. I contacted Nvidia and they do not seem to give much of a **** wether the nForce community hangs in limbo (that is about 2,100, 000 nforce 4 motherboard purchases and counting). If my contact comes thru (a big "if"), I will attempt to rewrite the sataraid drivers and test them on my own systems. If I am successful and my coding works well, then I will release the new drivers here in the forums as a Beta release to test out. In the meantime, I encourage those who are still having problems to try the 6.67 drivers at www.guru3d.com. Stay tuned.......................

Thank you very much for the perfect description of your nVRaid problems and your thoughts about their reasons, but I see causes to point out the following:
The experiences of Jayhall0315 were done with an ASUS A8N-SLI and cannot be automaticly transferred to users with other mainboards.

Same thing: This is only a problem for users with an ASUS mainboard and has nothing to do with the integration of the nForce SataRaid drivers into a bootable Windows XP CD.

That would be great! All users with an nForce SataRaid system wish you good luck!

CU
Fernando

Hi all,

I was finally able to create a working boot cd including sata raid drivers based on the following config:

- Official NVIDIA nForce4 6.66 drivers
- nLite 1.0 beta 6
- XP Pro cd with SP2 and latest hotfixes already slipstreamed
- Motherboard MSI K8N Neo4-F with bios 1.6
- Raid 4.84
- 1 single Hitashi Deskstar 7K250 160Gb SATA disk on Channel 3 SATA
- Raid enabled for Channel 3 in Spanning mode (JBOD)

I started by applying the exact steps of post #1 by Fernando 1 using the OEM method. My installation always crashed right after loading the drivers, even before partionning the disk.
I found post #133 by mjswooosh to be very helpful. Here are the exact steps that I used to build a working cd:

1.- Started from original XP Pro cd
2.- Slipstreamed (integrate) SP1
3.- Slipstreamed (integrate) SP2 + latest hotfixes
4.- Downloaded 6.66 nForce4 drivers from NVIDIA: here
5.- Renamed .exe to .zip and extracted all files using 7-zip (like WinZip)
6.- Started nLite, selecting "Integrate Drivers" + "Unattended Setup" (nothing else)
[EDIT]
7.- When nLite asked me to choose the driver to integrate, I browsed my unzipped 6.66 driver directory structure and selected the IDE\WinXP\sataraid\nvraid.inf file. Then in the textmode driver select box, I picked up both drivers listed.
[/EDIT]
8.- Finished nLite integration (without creating iso at this point, no parameter changed)
9.- In bootable cd root, created the $OEM$/$$/OEMDIR directories
10.- Copied "nvatabus.sys" and "idecoi.dll" from original IDE\WinXP\sataraid\ directory into $OEM$/$$/OEMDIR directory
11.- Copied "nvatabus.inf" from original IDE\WinXP\pataraid\ into $OEM$/$$/OEMDIR directory (I didn't modify the file)
12.- In I386/WINNT.SIF, changed OemInfName = "nvraid.inf" to OemInfName = "nvatabus.inf" (yes, no nvraid.inf here)
13.- In I386/WINNT.SIF, changed OemDriverPathName = "%SystemRoot%\nldrv" to OemDriverPathName = "%SystemRoot%\OemDir"
14.- Restarted nLite, selected only "Create a Bootable ISO"
15.- ISO created by nLite
16.- Burnt ISO with Nero
17.- Installed XP successfully
18.- NVIDIA nForce™ RAID Class Controller visible in Device Manager
19.- Disks Manager now reports a 153Gb JBOD (raid spanning) device

This was my 8th cd, after 7 failed attempts... Thanks a lot to Fernando 1 and mjswooosh for their detailed posts.

Next step (9th!) will be a bootable dvd, not-so-fully-unattended-setup and slipstreamed with all the remaining drivers (SMBus, Ethernet, Audio, ...). I'll post the details if it works.

Cheers,
- Stéphane

Brilliant. Will try later.

Has anyone dared to try this:

1. Using HFSlip, integrate all XPSP2 hotfixes.
2. Using Nlite, add the references to the nForce4 raid drivers.
3. Integrate all of BTS's driver packs, including mass storage, using method 1.

You SHOULD NOT be integrating SP1 and then integrating SP2 over top. SP2 contains all the things from SP1 but updated and more. So just integrate SP2...

dale5605 -

You are pefectly right. In fact, I didn't realize that I was using my previously-slipstreamed-sp1 cd when I started to integrate the sp2 and the sata drivers.

Anyway, it seems to work just fine.

Cheers,
- Stéphane

Hi Stephane,
it is very interesting, what you have written.
As far as I can see, you have modified the OemInfFiles method (that I described within post No 1 of this thread) only by these 2 points:
1. instead of copying the whole SATARAID subfolder content into the OEMDIR directory you took only the files NVATABUS.SYS and IDECOI.DLL and
2. you removed the "NVRAID.INF" from the OemInfName line within the WINNT.SIF.
It is hard for me to unterstand, that these small changes, which only can have an effect within the GUIMODE part of the installation, have prevented the crashes of your system within the first (TEXTMODE) part of the installation.
The only explanation for me is what you have written within point No 7. Is that true, that you did not take both mass controller drivers nLite proposed to integrate, but only the NVRAID.INF?
Please give us an exact answer, because this might be important for other users witth similar systems as yours.
CU
Fernando

Hi Fernando,

Well, not exactly. I selected only the nvraid.inf in the directory browsing window in nLite, but I actually selected both textmode drivers in the textmode selection box. I've edited my previous post to make it perfectly clear.

That being said, I'm now burning my 14th dvd (it now includes all splipstreamed drivers + additionnal apps for quicker/easier setup) and I've identified a mistake I made during some of my early slipstreaming tests: I've sometimes tried to use the DefaultHide or ProvideDefault unattented mode in WINNT.SIF, which leads to the same exact BSOD failure right before the partionning textmode part.

I now want to be 100% sure that the multiple BSOD I experienced were also due to the OEMDIR containing the nvraid.inf (and related) files, and not only to the wrong unattended mode.

More news on this in a couple of hours

Cheers,
- Stéphane

I am really all on edge about your results....

By the way I have 2 questions:
1. Have you ever tried the "Drivers Removal Method" that I described in post 1? If yes, how were the results with your system?
2. Why did you build a Raid array, although you have only 1 hard disk drive?
CU
Fernando

Fernando,

Here are the results of my latest tests. I've burnt 2 CDs, 1 using the method described in my previous post (copying only 3 files to OEMDIR and having only nvatabus.inf in WINNT.SIF) and 1 using the oem method of post #1 (full sataraid + nvatabus.inf from pataraid in OEMDIR and nvatabus.inf + nvraid.inf in WINNT.SIF).

Well... Both installations actually succeeded . It seems that my BSODs were only the consequence of the unattended mode changed from FullUnattended to either DefaultHide or ProvideDefault. My bad

Now there was in fact one difference during the installation. With oem method from post #1, I got a window from the new hardware wizard just before the locale settings (graphical mode already). It said that a new device was found (disk drive), and that it would be ready to use after the next reboot. And the installation continued normally. I didn't get this message at all using the "light" OEMDIR method. What's different? No idea...

Now concerning your last questions:

1.- I've never used the Driver Removal method, because I read several posts in other forums saying that you might have problems the next time you try update the nForce drivers.

2.- Why only 1 disk? I've also used 2 stripped disks, but I begun my tests with only 1, which is actually enough to get a fully functionnal stripped raid array. That was really just for initial testing.

Cheers,
- Stéphane

It's now time for conclusion. After burning 15 cds and dvds, here is what I found:

1.- Post #1 oem method works great.

2.- You may actually copy only 3 files in OEMDIR (pataraid/nvatabus.inf, sataraid/nvatabus.sys and sataraid/idecoi.dll) and set [OemInfFiles]->OemInfName to "nvatabus.inf", it works too.

3.- Don't even think about changing the [Unattended]->UnattendMode setting to anything else than FullUnattended, the installation will BSOD in the textmode part of the installation.

4.- During the nLite drivers integration process, you must choose IDE\WinXP\sataraid\nvraid.inf and then select both textmode entries displayed by nLite. You may also pick up the other nForce4 drivers:

Network support: pick up Ethernet\nvenetfd.inf
Audio support: pick up AudioDrv\nvmcp.inf
SMBus support: pick up SMBus\nvsmbus.inf

You do not need to add any other file in the OEMDIR for Network, Audio or SMBus support.

5.- It's perfectly safe, once the Windows XP installation is complete, to reinstall the 6.66 drivers from the original NVIDIA package (system reboot required at the end). It will install the audio systray apps that is not included in the drivers for example.

6.- As a reference, here is the I386\WINNT.SIF file I used:

---------- file begins on next line
; Generated by nLite 1.0 beta 6

[Data]
Autopartition = 0
MsDosInitiated = 0
UnattendedInstall = Yes
OemDrivers = OemInfFiles

[Unattended]
UnattendMode = FullUnattended
UnattendSwitch = No
OemPreinstall = Yes
OemSkipEula = Yes
FileSystem = *
WaitForReboot = No
NoWaitAfterTextMode = 1
NoWaitAfterGUIMode = 1
TargetPath = WINDOWS
DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore
NonDriverSigningPolicy = Ignore

[OemInfFiles]
OemDriverFlags = 1
OemDriverPathName = "%SystemRoot%\OemDir"
OemInfName = "nvraid.inf","nvatabus.inf"

[GuiUnattended]
AdminPassword = *
;OEMSkipRegional = 1
OemSkipWelcome = 1

[Components]
msmsgs = Off
Msnexplr = Off
Zonegames = Off

[UserData]
ComputerName = *
FullName = *

[Networking]
;InstallDefaultComponents = Yes
---------- file ends on previous line

You may comment the AdminPassword, ComputerName and FullName lines BUT this will display an ugly non-fatal error during the graphical part of the setup that basically tells you: "Error, OEM settings missing, please enter a value now". It works but doesn't look too professional
The [Components] section is parsed for a FullUnattended setup, so I decided to remove Windows Messenger (msmsgs), MSN Explorer (Msnexplr) and MSN Gaming Zone (Zonegames).

7.- Using a DVD to add more stuff on it (like applications) is fine. During my tests, however, I didn't create the iso with nLite. I've integrated the drivers and generated the full unattended setup with nLite, then I've added some apps and finally I used Nero to burn a bootable DVD, using a boot image (*.IMA) that I found on the net (but you might also extract it from your Windows XP setup cd).

8.- I'm not too sure about what to do with the raidtool directory. Even reinstalling the 6.66 drivers doesn't seem to help much. A shortcut to the nvraid manager (raidtool\NvRaidMan.exe) still has to be created manually.

That's all I can think of.

Cheers,
- Stéphane

Stephane I have used ProvideDefault unattended method many times and it has worked.

Double post!
Sorry....
Fernando

Hi Stephane,
thank you very much for having taken the time for several tests and postings within this thread, because it is very important for other users to know the exact reason, why someone succeed with a special method and others have BSOD's or endless reboots.
The short interruption of the hardware installation during Windows Setup showing a popup window "New Disk Drive Detected" is very common for me. It is the moment, when the Windows XP setup routine is going to install the correct NVIDIA driver "NVATABUS.SYS" instead of the (wrong) MS driver for the PCI Standard IDE Controller. I have always seen this popup window, when I used the "fullunattended" method and both INF-files (NVATABUS.INF and NVRAID.INF) were integrated into the OemInfFiles section of the WINNT.SIF. It did not bother me at all, because this event supplied evidence, that the installation will succeed without endless reboots due to wrong Sata/Pata drivers.

Just a little correction: It does not matter at all, which INF file you are choosing, when you are going to integrate drivers by nLite, because all files - inclusive all other INF-files - are copied by nLite and the hardware detection of the OS will take the correct INF file during installation. The only important thing is to choose the correct folder (with a suitable INF-file within it).

Your contribution was very helpful for us all!
Thanks!
Fernando

The RC1 version of nLite 1.0 has brought some important changes, which make it easier than ever to integrate the nVRaid drivers into a bootable Windows XP CD.

That is the reason why I have just edited the new method within post No 1 of this thread.

CU
Fernando

"Please post your experience with this method - successfull or not - into this thread"

Power Management no longer operates correctly 1.0rc1-sytem will not shut off the harddrives, fans, cpu etc. Only the monitor screen will turn off.

The SBA2_PCDrvBeta_LB_2_08_0002 drivers do not integrate correctly-no sound, no working "Sounds and Audio Devices" console. The drivers had to be installed using Creative's setup program after install.

When running 1.0rc1 initially to create a new iso, the winnt.sif must be created at the same time as the driver integration or the [OemInfFiles] section is not created and during install my system hung at file copy-had to abort.

The NVATABUS.INF/SYS for ATAPI shows as WHQL-as do all the drivers- if the nforce4 drivers are installed after setup in safe mode using the main setup program, but show the opposite if integrated using nlite-6.66 or 6.67. The inf references the nvata.cat as its signature found in both SATA-XP-folders.

"It said that a new device was found (disk drive), and that it would be ready to use after the next reboot. And the installation continued normally"

No detrimental effect on anything that I can see; this has been the case for me since 1.0b6 and if you install using F6 this message will appear at this time frame in setup also.

As I understand your post, your experiences using the new method using nLite 1.0 RC1 were the following:
The integration of the nVRaid drivers succeeded (no BSOD, no endless reboots), but after the installation of Windows XP by your nLited CD you have problems with your power management and with your sound.
Is this correct?
If yes, I will give this information to Nuhi.

I don't understand, what you have written.
The new version RC1 of nLite 1.0 does not use the OemInfFiles method. EDIT: Nevertheless the final version contains an [OemInfFiles} section.
AFAIK there is still no NVATABUS.SYS, which is WHQL-certified. Although some NVIDIA driver packages are proposed as WHQL-certified, the special nForce Sata Raid drivers are not. Exactly this is the main reason for most of the difficulties.

This is the moment, when the Windows XP Setup detects your Raid array. I have seen this popup only with nLite 1.0 Beta6, when I used the OemInfFiles method.

CU
Fernando

The integration of the nVRaid drivers succeeded (no BSOD, no endless reboots), but after the installation of Windows XP by your nLited CD you have problems with your power management and with your sound.

Rarely experienced the BSOD or endless reboots-and could not tell you why.

Power Management concern was due to USB mouse "allow this device to bring computer out of standby" in device manager being checked. I never allow this and the Logitech MX518 installation checks this option by default-I forgot to uncheck-once unchecked all is good; power management now shuts all down correctly. Sorry, my error.

The Audigy 2 ZS driver concern is as stated. I have just created a fresh ISO nlite1.0rc1 and will test again on Sunday with a fresh install to see if it repeats....


The new version RC1 of nLite 1.0 does not use the OemInfFiles method at all, you will not find an [OemInfFiles] section within the WINNT.SIF, if you use nLite 1.0 RC1.

Meanwhile, below find the WINNT.sif file just created by nlite1.0rc1.


; Generated by nLite 1.0 RC1

[Data]
Autopartition = 0
MsDosInitiated = 0
UnattendedInstall = Yes
OemDrivers = OemInfFiles

[Unattended]
UnattendMode = ProvideDefault
UnattendSwitch = No
OemPreinstall = Yes
OemSkipEula = Yes
FileSystem = *
WaitForReboot = No
NoWaitAfterTextMode = 1
NoWaitAfterGUIMode = 1
DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore
NonDriverSigningPolicy = Ignore
Hibernation = No

[OemInfFiles]
OemDriverFlags = 1
OemDriverPathName = "%SystemRoot%\nldrv"
OemInfName = "nvatabus.inf","nvraid.inf","nf4pcie.inf","nf4sys.inf","nvsmbus.inf","nvenetfd.inf","nvnetbus.inf","atk2000.inf","snylcd53.inf","ctgame2k.inf","ctljystk.inf","ctusfsyn.inf","wdma_emu.inf","c2_26409.inf","cx_26409.inf","atixpwdm.inf","atinspxp.inf"

[SystemRestore]
MaximumDataStorePercentOfDisk = 1

[GuiUnattended]
EncryptedAdminPassword = No
AdminPassword = "hepna"
TimeZone = 04
OEMSkipRegional = 1
OemSkipWelcome = 1

[Shell]
DefaultThemesOff = Yes
DefaultStartPanelOff = Yes

[Components]

[UserData]
ProductKey =
ComputerName =
FullName =

[RegionalSettings]
Language = 0409

[Networking]
InstallDefaultComponents = Yes

AFAIK there is still no NVATABUS.SYS, which is WHQL-certified.

Open the attachment nvatabus_sys.jpg I've included from my current device manager only for the nvraid controller drivers, but all else is similarily WHQL

[Version]
Signature = "$Windows NT$"
Class=HDC
ClassGUID={4d36e96a-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
Provider=%NVIDIA%
CatalogFile=nvata.cat
DriverVer=08/18/2005,5.10.2600.0552

Above is an extract from the nvatabus.inf. The nvata.cat is found in the sata_ide folder. Also it looks for nvcoi.dll which is in the Legacy folder. I've copied both the cat and nvcoi.dll to the nvraid folder along with nvatabus.inf when creating this latest iso. Sunday I will try a fresh install to test.

[SourceDisksFiles.x86]
nvatabus.sys=0
idecoi.dll=0
nvcoi.dll=0

You are right, that was my fault. I have tested a lot of prebuilds of RC1 and those prebuilds did not contain this entry within the WINNT.SIF. Nuhi must have put the [OemInfFiles] section into the final version of nLite 1.0 RC1. I do not know the reason why he did it, because the OemInfFiles method needs a path $OEM$\$$\OEMDIR.
If you look into your device manager and open the properties of the NVIDIA nForce4 Serial ATA Controller (device group IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller) and look into the driver details, you will see that the NVATABUS.SYS is not WHQL-certified.

"It said that a new device was found (disk drive), and that it would be ready to use after the next reboot. And the installation continued normally".

This is the moment, when the Windows XP Setup detects your Raid array. I have seen this popup only with nLite 1.0 Beta6, when I used the OemInfFiles method.

I got this on my latest install using 1.0rc1-refer my previous post for OEMInfFiles generated by nlite 1.0rc1

This popup message is not an issue.
I think it is due to the fact, that you mixed the nForce SataRaid files, before you integrated them as TEXTMODE drivers. Normally no file changes or transfers are necessary, when you take the driver subfolder I proposed (PATARAID with 6.66, LEGACY with 6.67).

[/quote]If you look into your device manager and open the properties of the NVIDIA nForce4 Serial ATA Controller (device group IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller) and look into the driver details, you will see that the NVATABUS.SYS is not WHQL-certified.

[/quote]


Not so, all nforce drivers are WHQL after manual install-refer the nforce SATA controller properties.jpeg attached below, the previous attachment was also from driver properties in device manager.

At least this is the case on my system.

This popup message is not an issue.

I agree, never caused me grief.

This is really interesting. I just have checked it on different partitions of my system (nForce4 Ultra chipset with 2 SATA2 drives as Raid0). Unless I have used the same nForce IDE drivers as you did (v. 552), the NVATABUS.SYS and the NVRAID.SYS is presented as not WHQL-certified within the device manager of my system. The same thing with the nForce IDE drivers v. 621.
But I have other Controllers than you have:
1 NVIDIA nForce™ RAID Class Controller as "SCSI and RAID Controller",
1 NVIDIA nForce4 Parallel ATA Controller and 2 NVIDIA nForce4 Serial ATA Controler as "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller".

Conclusion: The nForce SataRaid drivers NVATABUS.SYS and NVRAID.SYS are WHQL-certified for some, but not for all nForce systems.
That might be the reason, why you didn't have these big problems with bluescreens and endless reboots after the install of the new nForce SataRaid drivers.

My System:

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium, AMD FX-55 Clawhammer processor, ASUS EAX850XT PE 256mb PCIe, Audigy 2 ZS, Sony LCD SDM-HS95PS-DVI, Corsair TwinX1024XL 3200 Pro, 4*WD 74G Raptors in RAID0 on nforce4 chipset, Lian-Li PC-75 case, 1*LG 4163 and 1*Plextor PX-716A DV-RW, Panosonic floppy, Sycom 1000va UPS, Enermax EG701AX-VE SFMA 2.0 (600W) Power Supply, Labtech 580e 5.1 THX speaker system, HP Deskjet 940C, Logitech MX518 Gamers Edition mouse
I believe if you copy the nvata.cat, nvcoi.dll and nvatabus.inf to the nvraid folder prior to integration with nlite and let nlite create your initial answer file in the process then the drivers will show up WHQL because all of the inf's make reference to this same cat file in the SATA_IDE folder and coinstaller in the Legacy folder. I'll know better on Sunday. But, keep in mind that in order to have WHQL on all my drivers I must manually reinstall after setup in safe mode.

Also, I only remove the eye-candy and things like MSN Explorer.

@ RickSteele:

Thanks for the details about your system. I am waiting for your next report.

CU
Fernando

I think I'd agree with this. Similar problems have been reported to me regarding chipset drivers. Anyone else here having issues with that, on particular on nForce 3 and nForce 4 motherboards? Possibly (probably) also ethernet driver problems? If so, please don't hesitate to post that in the device drivers forum!

I think I'd agree with this........

I believe if you copy the nvata.cat, nvcoi.dll and nvatabus.inf to the nvraid folder prior to integration with nlite and let nlite create your initial answer file in the process, using his own OEMinf customization, then the drivers will show up WHQL because all of the inf's make reference to this same cat file in the SATA_IDE folder and coinstaller in the Legacy folder. I'll know better on Sunday. But, keep in mind that in order to have WHQL on all my drivers I must manually reinstall after setup in safe mode.

Also, I only remove the eye-candy and things like MSN Explorer.

What do you think?

Only the ATA/ATAPI drivers show up unsigned; as before-manual install corrects this...so it did not work.

Where do you have a folder called "NVRAID"? Do you mean the SATARAID subfolder?

@ rick steele, that has nothing to do with integrating nvidia raid drivers. Creative drivers simply do not integrate properly, I have tried myself many times, this is unrelated to the nvidia integration and I am surprised you did not mention they were creative drivers because I think you have confused fernando pointlessly now.

@ all, just use the "legacy" folder from the 6.67 drivers, don't mess with the 6.66 or sataraid folders, it will only cause pointless problems.

@Fernando 1

Where do you have a folder called "NVRAID"? Do you mean the SATARAID subfolder?

Yes

@dale5605
Creative drivers simply do not integrate properly..

Never had a problem with the others-only the SBA2_PCDrvBeta_LB_2_08_0002

just use the "legacy" folder from the 6.67 drivers, don't mess with the 6.66 or sataraid folders, it will only cause pointless problems...

The inf's are different and reference different coinstallers etc., but I will make a fresh ISO and try with only the Legacy drivers integrated and try it on a fresh install. Keep in mind that this nvraid.inf references the cat file in the sataraid folder...which means only manual install will render them WHQL; until nvidia's setup routine is deciphered.

this is unrelated to the nvidia integration...

????-never said different

@Fernando 1

I am waiting for your next report.

Could not wait 'till Sunday and have just finished a complete fresh install.

Copied the nvata.cat, nvcoi.dll and nvatabus.inf to the sataraid folder prior to integration with nlite and let nlite create the initial answer file in the process, using his own OEMinf customization. The ATA/ATAPI drivers only showed up unsigned still, all others show WHQL as before so, nothing changed; has to be something in the way setup.exe registers the files because, as before, manual install rendered all drivers WHQL.

The Creative SBA2_PCDrvBeta_LB_2_08_0002 drivers still exhibit the same behaviour-no console, no sound, the older ones integrated successfully every time for me. Had to manually install the sound drivers again.

I have tried integrating the 2.08, the 2.05, and the 1.84 drivers. Every time the same thing as happened to me like you said. I will be really curious if you know of a way to integrate these drivers because they have never worked for me to date, nuhi even said not to integrate creative drivers.

@dale5605

I have tried integrating the 2.08, the 2.05, and the 1.84 drivers..

I don't remove much using nlite-just the eye candy; screen savers, msn, colour schemes, images, display drivers etc. I use a common sense approach to spanking XP-pro sp2. For instance, I cannot remove sound devices in the drivers section; I forget why now-tried it once-way back-created all kinds of problems in many of my apps etc.

The 2.08 drivers integrated correctly using nlite 1.0b6 with the exception of the ctac32K.sys file in the original SBA2_PCDrvBeta_LB_2_08_0002\Drivers\wdm\win2k_xp\i386 folder-nlite b6 did not even cab/copy this file or the win2k_xp\i386 folder during integration; resulting in a file copy error during GUI setup. I just cabbed it and created the folder in I386 in NLDRV\win2k_xp, then modified the dosnet and txtsetup accordingly to point to this driver and voila-for me anyways.

Creative's 1.50 always integrated no problem, but the 1.55 had to be installed manually after setup and reboot was complete because the 1.50 was prerequisite. the manual update is done in Device Manager-right click and update driver, point to the extracted 1.55 folder...and so on-never using Creative's setup.


nuhi even said not to integrate creative drivers..

new to me