[Fernando 1]

tonyyip, on Mar 7 2006, 09:53 PM, said:

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?

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.

Quote

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?

Just ignore it - as Blank has written.

Quote

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

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

[tonyyip]

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.

[Fernando 1]

tonyyip, on Mar 8 2006, 03:52 PM, said:

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?

Yes!

Quote

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

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

[ben_gb]

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

[Fernando 1]

ben_gb, on Mar 8 2006, 06:19 PM, said:

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).

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

[ben_gb]

Fernando 1, on Mar 8 2006, 12:35 PM, said:

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

[icroyal]

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.

[Fernando 1]

icroyal, on Mar 8 2006, 10:38 PM, said:

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.

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

ben_gb, on Mar 8 2006, 07:08 PM, said:

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.

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

[icroyal]

Fernando 1, on Mar 8 2006, 04:09 PM, said:

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

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.

This post has been edited by icroyal: 08 March 2006 - 04:50 PM

[Fernando 1]

icroyal, on Mar 8 2006, 11:45 PM, said:

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

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:

Quote

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.

Look at posts from RickSteele and Blank within the last pages (ca. 45-51) of this thread.

This post has been edited by Fernando 1: 08 March 2006 - 05:03 PM

[icroyal]

Fernando 1, on Mar 8 2006, 04:53 PM, said:

icroyal, on Mar 8 2006, 11:45 PM, said:

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

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:

Quote

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.

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.

[Fernando 1]

icroyal, on Mar 9 2006, 12:05 AM, said:

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.

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

[RickSteele]

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.

[icroyal]

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.

This post has been edited by icroyal: 08 March 2006 - 06:24 PM

[icroyal]

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.

[RickSteele]

icroyal, on Mar 8 2006, 07:24 PM, said:

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.

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!

This post has been edited by RickSteele: 08 March 2006 - 10:25 PM

[Fernando 1]

RickSteele, on Mar 9 2006, 05:18 AM, said:

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

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

[icroyal]

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.

[RickSteele]

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

This post has been edited by RickSteele: 09 March 2006 - 07:29 PM

[Viper999]

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.