[Fernando 1]

hip, on Apr 29 2006, 01:28 AM, said:

I've just put together a new system with the following hardware:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ / Scythe Ninja Plus / OCZ (1GBx2) PC3200 DDR DIMM Dual Channel Platinum / Asus A8N-SLI Premium / Phoenix-Award v1008 /eVGA 7800 GT CO / WD Raptor 74GB / 2X WD CaviarRE2 400GB / Plextor PX-716A / NEC ND-3550A / Mitsumi 7-in-1 + Floppy FD-FA404M / Thermaltake 680W W0049RUC / NZXT LEXA / Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
According to the Asus/Nvidia manuals, Nvidia only supports Raid-0, 1, 0+1 and JBOD. If I want to setup a Raid-5 array, I need to use the Silicon Image (Marvel) drivers which I understand from a number of sources are less desirable. Be that as it may, it leaves me with little choice. So the big question is has anyone successfully integrated these into a slipstream WinXP install?

I am afraid, that you will not get an answer, because only a few users of this thread are reading more than the first post (with the guide for the integration of the nForce SataRaid drivers).
So I give you the advice just to try to build your Sil Raid5 array and to create a bootable XP CD with integrated Sil SataRaid drivers. It is much easier to slipstream the Sil SataRaid drivers than the nForce ones.
Things to pay attention on:
a ) Assure yourself, that your hdd's are connected to the correct Sil controllers.
b ) Format (low format level) all hdd's, before you build the Raid array.
c ) The Raid bust be correctly created (shown as "healthy" in the boot screen) and set as bootable.
d ) The boot partition should be C:\.
e ) Take the correct Raid5 drivers.
f ) Integrate the Sil Raid5 and the SATA drivers as TEXTMODE drivers.

Good luck!
Fernando

[hip]

Thanks Fernando,

I have an order in for additional drives and will let you know how it works out.

BTW, regarding the screen prompt at the begining of WinXP requesting the user to hit F6 and have a floppy available with the drivers. Even during an unattended install using the "Default/Hide" setting this should be ignored, correct?

Thanks again for your help

This post has been edited by hip: 30 April 2006 - 08:18 AM

[Fernando 1]

hip, on Apr 30 2006, 03:23 PM, said:

BTW, regarding the screen prompt at the begining of WinXP requesting the user to hit F6 and have a floppy available with the drivers. Even during an unattended install using the "Default/Hide" setting this should be ignored, correct?

That is totally correct. You should it ignore as the message "hit any key", which you get several times during the installation of an OS (each time when it reboots).

[pingwax]

Thanks to all you folks for taking the time to find and support this solution. Fernando, your ongoing support of this has been fantastic to read and I really appreciate how it has helped me.

This solution worked for me. I have an MSI Neo2 Platinum Ultra nforce3 based motherboard. With the latest main BIOS, my nvraid shows up with bios version 4.81.

I ended up using the legacy drivers from the 6.70 nforce drivers. To be honest, I have read the instructions on the main page regarding the steps for users with an nvraid BIOS older than 4.84 and I still don't quite follow them. I'm think they are instructing users to copy the legacy files from 6.70 into the sataraid folder of 6.53, but I'm not sure to what advantage since the legacy files themselves appear to work on my BIOS and also appear to be a newer version than those in the 6.53 folders.

One thing that I have observed is that going back to make any kind of changes to a previous nlite session resulted in either errors copying files during the Windows installation process or the blue screen problem returning. I was never able to go back and get a previously created session to work properly. However, starting a completely new session always got things back on track. While it is more time consuming, it seems much more reliable.

If it helps others, I ultimately integrated the following drivers into my nlite install:
From the nforce3 5.11 package from Nvidia I included:
GART
MEMCTL
SMBUS
From the nforce4 6.70 package from nvidia I included:
IDE/WINXP/legacy
AudioDrv
Ethernet
From RealTek's website, I downloaded a driver package named "ndis51-pci(641).zip" for the second onboard NIC and included that.

The Ethernet and Audio drivers from 5.11 seemed to be buggy, the ethernet driver in particular which is astonishingly bad, causing blue screens when you do pretty much anything with the driver, including install the adapter, disable the adapter and uninstall the adapter. The nforce4 versions of drivers for these components worked much better for me.

Thanks again to everybody for putting this together!

This post has been edited by pingwax: 30 April 2006 - 12:44 PM

[Fernando 1]

@ Pingwax,
thank you very much for your interesting post, which could be very helpful for other users with an nForce3 chipset mainboard.

pingwax, on Apr 30 2006, 08:38 PM, said:

I'm think they are instructing users to copy the legacy files from 6.70 into the sataraid folder of 6.53, but I'm not sure to what advantage since the legacy files themselves appear to work on my BIOS and also appear to be a newer version than those in the 6.53 folders.

There is something you have misunderstood. Within my guide (the first post of this thread) you don't find such a recommendation.
The "normal" way is to integrate just the LEGACY subfolder of the 6.70 package (even for users with an nForce3 mainboard), but if you don't succeed with this driver version (because of your low BIOS version) you have to take the 6.53 or the 5.11 driver package (instead of the 6.70 one). There is nothing said about something to copy from the 6.70 into the 6.53 package!

Thanks again!
Fernando

This post has been edited by Fernando 1: 30 April 2006 - 12:55 PM

[sjec]

Fernando, Thanks for your great work.
But I still have some problem about it.

Do you have experience with NF 430/410 mobo?
I just bought a MSI k8ngm2-fid mobo which use 6150/430 chipset.

I am trying to integrate Sata raid driver from the latest driver package 8.22 to my windows xp!

I following your setps as per the first post. But it do not work?

I got fail message "setup cannot copy the file: nvsata.sys". when I use floppy disk.

the setup programe can not recognize my raid0 when I use the integrated CD.

I compare the sata driver in NF4 driver 6.7 and 430/6150 driver. they are same.

Sould I use the driver from NF4 driver 6.7?

BTW I have two seagate 7200.9 250G 8M harddriven and want install system to raid 0 on this mobo.

Looks like you are the only expert in this area. So please help me!!

Thanks again

This post has been edited by sjec: 01 May 2006 - 12:28 PM

[Thorgal]

hej ther i have made a sata raid windows xp like (Fernando 1) tolde but my windows whont restart ore shut down i have 2 puhs the booten 2 restart ore shut it down WHAT DO I DO HELP

[Fernando 1]

Thorgal, on May 1 2006, 08:56 PM, said:

my windows whont restart ore shut down i have 2 puhs the booten 2 restart ore shut it down

Can you please explain what you mean?
If the installation failed, I need some informations about your system (mainboard and chipset, hdd details etc.) and a description at what point the installation stopped.

[Thorgal]

my install of windows workt but i wont restart when i wont it 2 restart ore a program whonts it 2 restart i have 2 push the butten on the computor 2 make it restart ore shut down

[Fernando 1]

Thorgal, on May 1 2006, 09:51 PM, said:

my install of windows workt but i wont restart when i wont it 2 restart ore a program whonts it 2 restart i have 2 push the butten on the computor 2 make it restart ore shut down

Your problem has nothing to do with the nForceSataRaid driver integration and probably not with nLite.
Did you get any error message?
What is about your device manager? Everything ok there (no yellow marks)?
Have you tried to reboot or to hit the Reset button? Normally these issues disappear after a reboot of the OS. If not, you should "google" a little bit and see if other users have a tip for you to solve the problem.

[Ragnaroth]

Hi, i'm having a few problems.

I'm not sure how to tell whether or not Windows has successfully used my drivers, and therefore recognised the HDD. When i install i manage to get the drive partitioned and i manage to get the Windows files installed afterwards. However, upon rebooting to complete the install i recieve this message:

Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.

Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware.

Please check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information.

I've asked around and someone said that even though i had manage to get the drive partitioned, Windows had not installed the SATA drivers. Is this true? If so, then i must have wrongly integrated them. I just find it strange that the partition would be complete even though Windows did not have the drivers.


Also, regarding this bit off info on your first post:

Then you can integrate the other nForce drivers (SMBus, Ethernet etc.) as "normal drivers".

What else needs to be integrated? I think this is perhaps where i went wrong. What apart from the LEGACY folder needs to be integrated? :S

I'd appreciate any help because i've been struggling to get this new computer up and running for about a week now.

Thanks, bye.

[Fernando 1]

Ragnaroth, on May 1 2006, 10:05 PM, said:

When i install i manage to get the drive partitioned and i manage to get the Windows files installed afterwards. However, upon rebooting to complete the install i recieve this message:
Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.
Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware.
Please check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information.
I've asked around and someone said that even though i had manage to get the drive partitioned, Windows had not installed the SATA drivers. Is this true? If so, then i must have wrongly integrated them. I just find it strange that the partition would be complete even though Windows did not have the drivers.

This is not a driver problem, but a hardware one. Normally Windows XP does not need any special SATA driver for the detection of a SATA hdd.
Do you really have a RAID array? If yes, is it "healthy" (shown at second boot screen)?
How many hdd's and what sort (SATA1/SATA2/IDE) do you have?
Please check your boot sequence within your BIOS. Your first booting hdd should be your Raid array with Windows XP installed onto drive C:. Have a look into your partitions (for example by using a tool like Partition Magic or Acronis Disk Director), if your fresh installed Windows XP really is on drive C.
Remove all USB sticks before you are booting.

Quote

Also, regarding this bit off info on your first post:
Then you can integrate the other nForce drivers (SMBus, Ethernet etc.) as "normal drivers".
What else needs to be integrated? I think this is perhaps where i went wrong. What apart from the LEGACY folder needs to be integrated?

If you have an nForce SataRaid system, you only have to integrate the LEGACY folder as TEXTMODE driver. This is essential, because otherwise your Raid array would not ne detected by Windows XP.
All the other nForce drivers (SMBus, Ethernet etc.) and the drivers for other devices (graphic adapter, printer etc.) are not really needed for a successful installation, but it is more comfortable, if you have already the newest drivers for all of your devices "on board", when you are creating a bootable XP CD with integrated drivers.

CU
Fernando

This post has been edited by Fernando 1: 01 May 2006 - 02:59 PM

[Ragnaroth]

I have a SATA2 HD, and it's the only drive i have connected, so it's the only one in the booting sequence. I have RAID disables in the BIOS. And i'm sure that Windows is installed onto the C: partition (my only partition). There are no USB sticks in my computer.

By the way, my HDD/mobo spec: My HDD is a Western Digital 250Gb SATA2 harddrive (7200RPM, 16Mb Cache). My motherboard is the DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D.

This post has been edited by Ragnaroth: 01 May 2006 - 03:02 PM

[Fernando 1]

Ragnaroth, on May 1 2006, 11:01 PM, said:

I have a SATA2 HD, and it's the only drive i have connected, so it's the only one in the booting sequence. I have RAID disables in the BIOS. And i'm sure that Windows is installed onto the C: partition (my only partition). There are no USB sticks in my computer.

If you don't have a Raid array, you should not use my guide (post 1 of this thread).
Look here, what I have written:

Attention: The following guide is only useful for users with an nForce Raid array!

Have you tried to boot off your Windows XP CD without hitting F6?

This post has been edited by Fernando 1: 01 May 2006 - 03:15 PM

[Ragnaroth]

I'm not sure whether or not i have RAID array, i'm don't know an awful lot about computers. My spec is in my previous post.

[Fernando 1]

Ragnaroth, on May 1 2006, 11:15 PM, said:

I'm not sure whether or not i have RAID array, i'm don't know an awful lot about computers.

If you don't know, if you have a RAID array, then you don't have one.

As I have exactly the same mainboard as you, I will try to help you nevertheless:

At first step you should try to boot off the original Windows XP CD without pressing F6 or inserting a floppy. If XP detects your SATA disk, you may either format your just installed OS and reinstall XP without any integrated drivers or you can prepare a new nLited XP CD with the following changes:
1. You may integrate the SATA_IDE subfolder of your nForce chipset package 6.70 as PnP driver.
2. Don't integrate the nForce Raid driver (NVRAID.SYS).
If XP does not detect your SATA drive, do the following:
1. Integrate the LEGACY subfolder as TEXTMODE driver, but choose only the SATA driver (NVATABUS.SYS).
2. Don't integrate the Raid driver (NVRAID.SYS).

Good luck!
Fernando

[Ragnaroth]

Ok, i'll try. Thanks!

[Ragnaroth]

Wait a second... Are you saying that SATA drivers aren't needed unless you have a RAID array?

[Fernando 1]

Ragnaroth, on May 2 2006, 12:09 AM, said:

Wait a second... Are you saying that SATA drivers aren't needed unless you have a RAID array?

Yes, if you have Windows XP SP2.

[Ragnaroth]

Well i have Windows XP Pro SP2. Wonder why it wouldn't boot. Guess i'll need to reconnect everything.