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Integration of NVIDIA's nForce RAID and AHCI drivers


Fernando 1

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I have some problems at instalation on a acer aspire 5520g. When i try to install i can`t see the hard disk. I`m preatty sure that win 7 has sata drivers incorporated for my nvidia nforce chipset. When I browse for drivers I can see the hard disk, i tried to install them from a external hdd and from a cd. Not working. Maybe someone come with a ideea. I tryed to install win xp also and it works ... Maybe someome can give me another sata drivers. I tried with drivers from acer website

Edited by rexrohunter
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@ rexrohunter:

Welcome at MSFN Forums!

The topic of this thread is the integration of NVIDIA's nForce RAID and AHCI drivers into a Windows XP CD.

I tryed to install win xp also and it works
So where is your problem?
Maybe someome can give me another sata drivers. I tried with drivers from acer website
You will find other nForce SATA drivers within the first post of this thread, but they are only usable with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

If you want to get Windows 7 installed onto your nForce 630a (MCP67) chipset Acer notebook, you should search for appropriate Win7 nForce drivers at Acer's or NVIDIA's download pages.

Regards

Fernando

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  • 2 weeks later...

Fernando,

I install successfully XP SP3 on asus K40IN (chipset's NVIDIA MCP75L) with compatibility mode in BIOS (using nLite to intergrate driver)

and then, I try to change compatibility mode to enhance mode but unsuccessfull.

please tell me how to change to enhance mode or install XP in enhance mode?!

thank you.

sorry for my english.

detail for asus K40in: http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=VB4TfUFszKKyzdR1

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@ mkeptau:

Welcome at MSFN Forums!

I install successfully XP SP3 on asus K40IN (chipset's NVIDIA MCP75L) with compatibility mode in BIOS (using nLite to intergrate driver)

and then, I try to change compatibility mode to enhance mode but unsuccessfull.

please tell me how to change to enhance mode or install XP in enhance mode?!

Since I am not sure, what ASUS means with "Compatibilty" (=IDE?) and "Enhanced" (=AHCI?) SATA Mode, it is difficult to help you.

Maybe you will get some useful informations by reading >this< thread.

If not, here are some questions:

1. Which nForce IDE driver version and folder did you integrate, when you prepared the recently used nLited XP CD?

2. Which Controller names are listed within the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" section of your Device Manager while running XP?

Regards

Fernando

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Hey guys,

have the following problem.

Tried installign Windows but it wouldn't find my Raid 1 setup. Then I used Fernandos SATARAID 1110333 Mod 32 Bit driver and got Windows installed. It's been running fine now for 2 weeks. One morning I saw that Windows had rebooted but didn't know what happened. A day later I realized, that I suddenly had two hard drives in "My Computer" instead of the one RAID 1 array. During the day I did not notice the change I kept using the PC and due to that the two hard drives have slightly differnt data on them now. In the Windows Event Viewer I saw that it logged the following things:

Event ID 259: The signature for Raid Array \Device\00000068 - NVIDIA MIRROR 1.81T was updated after a degrade.

Event ID 262: Raid Array \Device\00000068 - NVIDIA MIRROR 1.81T was marked as degraded. A Raid Disk from the Array was not enumerated correctly.

I went to the NVIDIA Control Panel and it showed that the array was degraded. It had the option of repairng or rebuilding (can't remember the exact term). Decided to make a Backup Image before proceeding. In the process of installing the backup software I had to reboot the PC. I noticed in the RAID Boot Manager which get shown during the boot process, that both drives were flashing red and were labeled degraded. Back in Windows the Array is now not shown anymore in NVIDIA Control Panel!? How can I join the 2 drives back together to one MIRROR Array without the array being recognized by NVIDIAs Control Panel?? I have no clue. Could the driver be the reason? Please help me with this. Thanks

Jaxx

Edited by Jaxx
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I noticed in the RAID Boot Manager which get shown during the boot process, that both drives were flashing red and were labeled degraded. Back in Windows the Array is now not shown anymore in NVIDIA Control Panel!? How can I join the 2 drives back together to one MIRROR Array without the array being recognized by NVIDIAs Control Panel??
If you are not able to repair the RAID array from within the NVIDIA Control Panel, you have to do it from within the MediaShield Utility (RAID ROM Utility) by hitting the required keys while booting.
I have no clue. Could the driver be the reason?
I don't think, that the integrated nForce RAID driver v.11.1.0.33 caused the degradation of the RAID.

Nevertheless you may give me the details regarding your nForce chipset and the OS you are running.

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Attached are a couple of screenshots I took. I'm not 100% sure what I need to do. If I go to one of the 2 shown in the overview and select "Rebuild", I get the message shown in green. Does that mean I need to select one of them and delete it? What do I need to do after that?

post-277835-126842749342_thumb.jpg

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post-277835-126842750677_thumb.jpg

post-277835-126842751305_thumb.jpg

post-277835-126842751981_thumb.jpg

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Attached are a couple of screenshots I took. I'm not 100% sure what I need to do. If I go to one of the 2 shown in the overview and select "Rebuild", I get the message shown in green. Does that mean I need to select one of them and delete it? What do I need to do after that?
Since I never have seen a degradation of both mirrored hdd's of a RAID1 array, I am not able to help you in this case.

If you have been able to get an image of your RAID data, you may create the array again from scratch, but if not, I do not know what to do first.

According to my knowledge you will not loose the data - contrary to the RAID0 - by breaking the RAID1 array. So you should be able to create a new RAID1 array anyway.

Good luck!

Fernando

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  • 2 weeks later...

Howdy Fernando:

I was recently bequeathed a Chaintech VNF4 MOBO (not the Ultra)...

I attempted to use two five-year old 40 Gb Samsung Spinpoint SATA I HDD's to create a bootable RAID 0 array for the OS (WIN 2K Pro SP4)...

Prior to using the HDD's, I ran the Samsung ES Tool on them to make sure there were no errors (they were OK) and then wiped them with DBAN...

I found the latest NVIDIA drivers (v 6.86 for this OS) and a somewhat helpful guide on their site (Configuring bootable NVIDIA RAID array for a Windows XP 32-bit/Windows XP 64-bit Edition installation)...

I figured the difference between XP and 2000 SP4 would be negligible in terms of setting up the RAID array...

I enabled the RAID in the BIOS, rebooted and went into the RAID config screen (F10), configured the two drives as a striped array, set them as bootable and rebooted...

I had previously copied the SATARAID files onto a floppy for the F6 install...

I hit F6 when the OS asked for the RAID drivers, and left the floppy in until the OS had completely loaded and took everything out when the OS loader said to remove the disc(s)...

The OS recognized the RAID 0 array (because I had a single 74 Gb drive as the primary partition to format with NTFS)...

The whole process went without a hitch but on the first reboot, I got a BSOD (something about an inaccesible boot partition) before Windows loaded...

I rebooted and went into the BIOS to see if the RAID array was set as the Boot disc and it was...

I rebooted and got the same BSOD...

I wiped the discs and reloaded from scratch but got the same deal again...

I accidentally came across your XP thread and I had no idea that this NVIDIA RAID driver thing was a global issue...

I'm wondering if the slipstreaming method will work with Win 2000 Pro SP4?

Your thoughts on this would be appreciated...

Tree

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@ Treeant34:

Welcome at MSFN Forums!

The problems you got were caused by loading the wrong driver folder. Windows 2000 Setup (as Windows XP) needs the nForce SATA information file (NVATABUS.INF or NVATA.INF) to get the nForce SataRAID drivers properly installed. That is why you will never succeed by just loading or integrating the SATARAID driver folder.

I accidentally came across your XP thread and I had no idea that this NVIDIA RAID driver thing was a global issue...

I'm wondering if the slipstreaming method will work with Win 2000 Pro SP4?

Yes, this method will work with Windows 2000 SP4 too.

The W2k IDE drivers of the nForce chipset driver set 6.86 are a good choice for your nForce4 RAID system, if you want to get Windows 2000 installed.

When you are going to prepare the W2k boot-CD with integrated nForce SATA and RAID drivers, you have at least 2 options:

  1. integration of the IDE\Win2K\LEGACY folder content as textmode driver
    or
  2. integration of the IDE\Win2K\SATARAID folder content as TEXTMODE driver and additionally the IDE\Win2K\SATA_IDE folder content as PnP driver.

Whatever option you choose, you will not recognize any difference regarding the stability and the performance of your RAID system.

The advantage of the second option is, that the nForce SATA and RAID drivers of your W2K installation will be digitally signed by Microsoft (WHQL certified).

Good luck!

Fernando

Edited by Fernando 1
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@ Treeant34:

Welcome at MSFN Forums!

The problems you got were caused by loading the wrong driver folder. Windows 2000 Setup (as Windows XP) needs the nForce SATA information file (NVATABUS.INF or NVATA.INF) to get the nForce SataRAID drivers properly installed. That is why you will never succeed by just loading or integrating the SATARAID driver folder.

I accidentally came across your XP thread and I had no idea that this NVIDIA RAID driver thing was a global issue...

I'm wondering if the slipstreaming method will work with Win 2000 Pro SP4?

Yes, this method will work with Windows 2000 SP4 too.

The W2k IDE drivers of the nForce chipset driver set 6.86 are a good choice for your nForce4 RAID system, if you want to get Windows 2000 installed.

When you are going to prepare the W2k boot-CD with integrated nForce SATA and RAID drivers, you have at least 2 options:

  1. integration of the IDE\Win2K\LEGACY folder content as textmode driver
    or
  2. integration of the IDE\Win2K\SATARAID folder content as TEXTMODE driver and additionally the IDE\Win2K\SATA_IDE folder content as PnP driver.

Whatever option you choose, you will not recognize any difference regarding the stability and the performance of your RAID system.

The advantage of the second option is, that the nForce SATA and RAID drivers of your W2K installation will be digitally signed by Microsoft (WHQL certified).

Good luck!

Fernando

Morning Fernando:

I used the v6.86 to make the nLite ISO...

I integrated the textmode drivers and the entire SATA_IDE folder as a PnP driver and the ISO creation went well...

I will give it a go when I get home tonight...

If all goes well and the OS is finally loaded onto the RAID 0 array, should I then execute the setup on the v6.86 driver package and load everything (the audio, ethernet, RAID and IDE drivers)?

Will overwriting the RAID and SATA_IDE drivers become an issue if I do this?

I'm guessing it probably wouldn't be an issue...

Hope this works

Cheers

Tree

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If all goes well and the OS is finally loaded onto the RAID 0 array, should I then execute the setup on the v6.86 driver package and load everything (the audio, ethernet, RAID and IDE drivers)?
Yes, you should do that.
Will overwriting the RAID and SATA_IDE drivers become an issue if I do this?
No, nothing will happen with the already installed nForce SATA and RAID drivers, because they are the same.

You should nevertheless check the MediaShield (IDE/Storage Driver) option to get the RAIDTOOL installed, if you want to have access to the MediaShield Console from within the OS.

Good luck!

Fernando

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If all goes well and the OS is finally loaded onto the RAID 0 array, should I then execute the setup on the v6.86 driver package and load everything (the audio, ethernet, RAID and IDE drivers)?
Yes, you should do that.
Will overwriting the RAID and SATA_IDE drivers become an issue if I do this?
No, nothing will happen with the already installed nForce SATA and RAID drivers, because they are the same.

You should nevertheless check the MediaShield (IDE/Storage Driver) option to get the RAIDTOOL installed, if you want to have access to the MediaShield Console from within the OS.

Good luck!

Fernando

Howdy:

The slipstreaming worked like a charm, the array works well...

I did notice a couple of things:

1) Both of the HDD's are shown in the USB "safe to unplug" dialog on the notification tray (IE you could apparently "stop" either or both of the HDD's)

2) The striped array is showing in computer management as a basic disk (should I upgrade the array to a dynamic disk?)

Have you had any success cloning a RAID 0 array (could you recommend software that will allow me to image the array)?

Thanks for your time Fernando

Tree

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The slipstreaming worked like a charm, the array works well...
Fine, that you succeeded at least.
I did notice a couple of things:

1) Both of the HDD's are shown in the USB "safe to unplug" dialog on the notification tray (IE you could apparently "stop" either or both of the HDD's)

2) The striped array is showing in computer management as a basic disk (should I upgrade the array to a dynamic disk?)

1. You should never try to unplug any of the RAIDed hdd's unless the power of the system is completely off.

2. My recommendation: Let the RAID array be a "basic disk".

Have you had any success cloning a RAID 0 array (could you recommend software that will allow me to image the array)?
Since I am working with different RAID arrays I have always used Acronis TrueImage.

All the best to you!

Fernando

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