[binaryjunk]

Ok, here are the details. I have:

1st gen Windows XP 32bit disc (no service pack installed)
Windows XP w/ SP2 slipstreamed onto it.

Intel QX6850 Core 2 Extreme 3ghz processor
Asus P5K-E WiFi AP Edition (Latest BIOS - 0906)
Dual Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

Essentially, what I'm trying to do is install XP 32bit with the harddrives in RAID 0... I do not want Vista.

My very, very first attempt was to install the hardware then pop in the CD and run the installation. This resulted in a BSOD message 0x7b.
I read everywhere about slipstreaming SP2 using nlite... I got the same result.
Then I read that the driver packs would need to be updated... same result.
I read the that hotfixes (RyansVM) would need to be installed on top of that... same result.
I then slipstreamed the iaStor.inf Version 7.8.0.1012 (text mode with TXTSETUP.OEM) into the cd... no luck. I do not have a floppy drive.
I updated the BIOS... no luck. I keep getting that **** BSOD error...

The BIOS is set to RAID and the screen after the BIOS has both drives listed in RAID 0 w/ no problems. If I remove 1 drive and change the BIOS to enhanced IDE, it works.

I am going crazy. This forum has helped me out a lot but not enough. I need specialized help b/c I'm a special person I will PayPal anyone who helps me, to resolution, $50 if I can get it to work (because it will save me about $250 in restocking fees)

I am a smart guy (usually) when it comes to this stuff, I do my homework but I'm not arrogant. Feel free to ask any question because sometimes I overlook the obvious.

This post has been edited by binaryjunk: 18 January 2008 - 12:08 AM

[Zxian]

A few things to try out.

- Set the BIOS to ACHI mode only and see what happens if you've got the drives configured independently. Try plugging only one drive in at a time.
- Set the BIOS to RAID mode and configure the drives independently. Again, try one disk at a time.

How did you slipstream the Intel Matrix drivers? Did you get the ones from here? (the 32-bit floppy configuration download)


EDIT - Actually I just thought of something else. Have you tried a different optical drive? 0x7b indicates an inaccessible boot device, which would tell me that there's a problem with the device being booted from (in this case, a CD). There have been reported incompatibilities between some SATA DVD drives and chipsets configured in RAID mode.

[patronu]

use version 7.0 for iastor.sys

Attached File(s)

•  iaStor.zip (165.89K)
  Number of downloads: 6

[jcarle]

I'd run a memtest and hard drive tests before messing around with drivers.

[Zxian]

jcarle, on Jan 18 2008, 12:07 AM, said:

I'd run a memtest and hard drive tests before messing around with drivers.

I'm not so sure that this is memory related. He mentioned that when the motherboard is set to IDE mode, the installer is able to proceed normally, but it's when RAID is enabled that he gets problems. I'm guessing that he's got a SATA DVD drive that's incompatible with ACHI and RAID modes.

[jcarle]

Zxian, on Jan 18 2008, 09:23 AM, said:

jcarle, on Jan 18 2008, 12:07 AM, said:

I'd run a memtest and hard drive tests before messing around with drivers.

I'm not so sure that this is memory related. He mentioned that when the motherboard is set to IDE mode, the installer is able to proceed normally, but it's when RAID is enabled that he gets problems. I'm guessing that he's got a SATA DVD drive that's incompatible with ACHI and RAID modes.

Perhaps. I've found in my experience that BSODs usually happen with a memory problem, although you're right, it's not the only cause. The OP would have to provide more information to be able to go further with this.

[Tarun]

It's possible that your motherboard doesn't support it. What does the Intel Chipset Utility tell you about your board?

[Zxian]

The P5K-E motherboard does indeed support the Intel Matrix RAID manager. It's got the ICH9R chipset, and if it didn't support RAID, it wouldn't give it as an option in BIOS.

[binaryjunk]

@Zxian

ACHI mode does not work, BSOD with 1 drive as well.
RAID on one drive... not possible

I slipstreamed those same drivers you linked to. Version 7.8.0.1012.

Thanks for your tip on the optical drive. Will try that now, gotta turn this PC I'm typing on off to salvage the drive.

It's a LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S.

Thanks mate, hopefully it works!

@patronu
Where is the TXTSETUP.OEM file for this? I cannot slipstream it using nlite without it.

@jcarle
I ran Ubuntu Linux 7.10 and it installed without any problems. The hardware works fine.

@Tarun
Motherboard supports RAID and it supports XP according to the manual.

[binaryjunk]

ZXian - We are getting somewhere! I replaced the SATA dvd burner with an IDE dvd player. No BSOD but now it's saying "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer."

1 step closer... Now what?

This post has been edited by binaryjunk: 18 January 2008 - 02:20 PM

[cluberti]

Now it's saying it can't find a controller with a hard disk attached, so are you using a CD with the RAID controller driver integrated? If you have it in RAID, you can test this by setting the controller and drives back to standard IDE drives (no RAID arrays) and see if it picks them up - assuming it does, that's the problem.

[Zxian]

@BinaryJunk - You can set the BIOS to RAID mode and run the disks separately. I wanted to make sure that this wasn't a problem with the difference between ACHI mode and RAID mode. The only difference in these two configurations is the ability to create RAID arrays. All other underlying ACHI functionality is enabled in RAID mode.

What SATA port did you have the DVD drive plugged into? With my setup at home, I've put my two RAID drives on ports 1 and 2, and my DVD burners always count from the top down (4,5,6 in my file server, 6 on my workstation).


In any case, it looks like the DVD drive you were using doesn't play well with ACHI. Like cluberti said, the next step is to use the CD that has the storage drivers integrated along with the PATA DVD drive.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Your BIOS may be reporting none for HDDs. Does your HDD have any jumpers?

[binaryjunk]

Cluberti/Zxian How does $25 each sound? It seems like both of your contributions helped out tremendously! IM me with your email addresses and I will pay soon (next paycheck).

If you were curious and for the benefit of anyone who is in the same boat. with nLite, I didn't select the RAID controller.. I only selected the bottom option that said ICH9R (but it was for the ACHI, not the RAID). The one above it said ICH8x/ICH9x RAID... I did both and it seemed to work.

Just to confirm the DVD issue, after I installed windows, I put the SATA dvd drive and got a BSOD after the Windows logo, put the HDs on 1,2 and the DVD on 4 and it worked great... Had to shuffle them around. I wouldn't have gotten this to work w/o you both THANK YOU!!!!

[puntoMX]

I’m sure it’s not the LiteON drive, I use them my self and sold plenty of then in AHCI mode.

Happy it worked by the way .

[cluberti]

binaryjunk, on Jan 19 2008, 03:23 AM, said:

Cluberti/Zxian How does $25 each sound? It seems like both of your contributions helped out tremendously! IM me with your email addresses and I will pay soon (next paycheck).

If you were curious and for the benefit of anyone who is in the same boat. with nLite, I didn't select the RAID controller.. I only selected the bottom option that said ICH9R (but it was for the ACHI, not the RAID). The one above it said ICH8x/ICH9x RAID... I did both and it seemed to work.

Just to confirm the DVD issue, after I installed windows, I put the SATA dvd drive and got a BSOD after the Windows logo, put the HDs on 1,2 and the DVD on 4 and it worked great... Had to shuffle them around. I wouldn't have gotten this to work w/o you both THANK YOU!!!!

If I wanted money, I'd be charging for this already . Keep it and spend it on a night out or something.

[jcarle]

Zxian, on Jan 18 2008, 08:23 AM, said:

I'm not so sure that this is memory related.

Just to illustrate how sometimes the memory is possible in weird cases. I have a friend who has an Intel Q6600 with the ASUS P5N-E SLI motherboard and 2 x 1GB Corsair TwinX DDR2. The system would randomly BSOD for no apparent reason until it was discovered that other people with similar combinations of motherboard / memory had similar issues. The fix was to manually set the tRAC memory timing to 22. Goes to show sometimes, anything's possible.

[puntoMX]

jcarle, on Jan 19 2008, 01:45 PM, said:

The fix was to manually set the tRAC memory timing to 22.

tRAS I presume you are talking about? That’s high, even if you have the timings on 5-5-5 or 6-6-6. I would blame Asus for tight chipset timings...

[Valerie]

cluberti said:

If I wanted money, I'd be charging for this already. Keep it and spend it on a night out or something.

No - get that feel-good feeling by donating to your local Breast Cancer Support Group. Every little helps.

Thanks

This post has been edited by Valerie: 19 January 2008 - 06:32 PM

[cluberti]

Valerie, on Jan 19 2008, 07:31 PM, said:

No - get that feel-good feeling by donating to your local Breast Cancer Support Group. Every little helps.

Even better - pick a charity and give to it .