[boxer2007]

Forgive me if this has been covered, but I poured over all 48 pages and couldn't find it.

I'm going to be using the evga 680i SLI board. It comes with a floppy. Should I just copy that floppy to my laptop and work with nlite on those files? I tried downloading the drivers from the evga site and I run the exe file and then running setup to expand everything and it just doesn't run...brings up an nvdia screen and then that's it. So that's why I am wondering if I can just use the floppy.

[WrongTurn]

boxer2007: generally, the floppy should contain the txtsetup.oem and you need to use that for the "text mode" driver and then only if you're installing a SATA drive or RAID array. (in windows it's the short seconds when you see the message "press F6 to install SCSI drivers" or smth like that.) if you have any other directories not containing a txtsetup.oem but rather "inf" files you have to use them in the "unattend" (graphical install) part. (or manually after windows has loaded.)
so the short answer is yes copy them and use them if you have SATA drives or hardware that does not work properly with the default windows drivers.

but then again i'm also awaiting a reply on my setup for this strange nforce chipset which brakes some rules...

[Fernando 1]

WrongTurn, on Jan 6 2007, 04:39 PM, said:

i'm expecting my new Abit AN8 32 SLI motherboard (Si3132+nvraid) in a few days and i've been reading posts related to the unattend installation of the nforce4 SATA drivers - i dont own a floppy and i need to install the stuff on my SATA drive. apparently there are some serious problems with the SATA controllers (found out too late, wouldnt have ordered it but oh well ). anyway i already have my viasraid set up and working on my winxp sp2 customized CD (for my old board that i'm still using) and i was wondering if anybody has the text files and folder structure for the nvraid. i prefer not to use any program to do the setup, i'm happier when i know exactly what and where to add rather than hope some utility will do the job correctly

As you don't want to integrate the mass storage device drivers by using nLite, you better should ask for help within this forum: http://www.msfn.org/...hp?showforum=88
By the way: You don't need to integrate any nForce S-ATA driver unless you have built an nForce RAID array.

[boxer2007]

OK, I've never built a system before. While I'm overall quite knowledgeable, when it comes to building and all the intricacies of getting the board drivers on, I need my hand held a little.

Could someone either post or pm me (if you feel this request is too beneath being public, although I would think it might help many) explicit, step-by-step instructions on how to get everything going for an evga 680i? I'm not a stupid man:) But I still am having a hard time deciphering all the instructions that have been layed out in here.

Also, I know this is a little off topic, but what's the best way to flash a new BIOS for my mobo before I even do anything? I'm sure you evga people are aware that the 680 board shipped with some nasty BIOS that causes SATA errors and they have a new BIOS and every thread on the evga board is a mess....one posts contradicts the one before it and there's really no straight talk. I won't have a floppy, so I want to flash it from a USB and I'm assuming it's wise to do it before I do the nlite stuff, right?

Thanks in advance and I apologize in advance if this is a noob question, but I'm a noob at this, what can I say?

[WrongTurn]

ups sorry bout that Fernando 1! i guess you can remove my post with all the files that i quoted. i already read some of the stuff in that forum and it's hopefully helping! i'll ask them for more help if i need it.

thanks again

[Fernando 1]

boxer2007, on Jan 7 2007, 01:42 AM, said:

Could someone either post or pm me (if you feel this request is too beneath being public, although I would think it might help many) explicit, step-by-step instructions on how to get everything going for an evga 680i? I'm not a stupid man:) But I still am having a hard time deciphering all the instructions that have been layed out in here.

Within this thread you can expect only help regarding the integration of the nForce SataRaid drivers into a bootable CD. If you need special assistance in how to get everything going for an evga 680i, you should look here or google for "evga 680i".

boxer2007, on Jan 7 2007, 01:42 AM, said:

Also, I know this is a little off topic, but what's the best way to flash a new BIOS for my mobo before I even do anything? I'm sure you evga people are aware that the 680 board shipped with some nasty BIOS that causes SATA errors and they have a new BIOS and every thread on the evga board is a mess....one posts contradicts the one before it and there's really no straight talk. I won't have a floppy, so I want to flash it from a USB and I'm assuming it's wise to do it before I do the nlite stuff, right?

You are right - before you begin with the installation of any OS, you should update your mainboard BIOS. If you need instructions in how to flash a BIOS, you should look into your mainboard manual. Here is a sticky thread about your special question.

This post has been edited by Fernando 1: 07 January 2007 - 03:44 AM

[Speeddymon]

Fernando 1, on Jan 7 2007, 03:36 AM, said:

boxer2007, on Jan 7 2007, 01:42 AM, said:

Could someone either post or pm me (if you feel this request is too beneath being public, although I would think it might help many) explicit, step-by-step instructions on how to get everything going for an evga 680i? I'm not a stupid man:) But I still am having a hard time deciphering all the instructions that have been layed out in here.

Within this thread you can expect only help regarding the integration of the nForce SataRaid drivers into a bootable CD. If you need special assistance in how to get everything going for an evga 680i, you should look here or google for "evga 680i".

boxer2007, on Jan 7 2007, 01:42 AM, said:

Also, I know this is a little off topic, but what's the best way to flash a new BIOS for my mobo before I even do anything? I'm sure you evga people are aware that the 680 board shipped with some nasty BIOS that causes SATA errors and they have a new BIOS and every thread on the evga board is a mess....one posts contradicts the one before it and there's really no straight talk. I won't have a floppy, so I want to flash it from a USB and I'm assuming it's wise to do it before I do the nlite stuff, right?

You are right - before you begin with the installation of any OS, you should update your mainboard BIOS. If you need instructions in how to flash a BIOS, you should look into your mainboard manual. Here is a sticky thread about your special question.

I wouldnt advise doing it from usb, as floppies dont load anything other than what is required for the floppy drive to work, usb does.

Best bet if you refuse to do it rom a floppy is to see if you can find a windows-based flash program for your bios (ami, award/phoenix, etc) and just flash from within windows.

[jimcarmichael26]

Help! any ideas with the following...bear with me... If anyone can help fernando 1 can...

new asus M3N32sli deluxe (590sli), new raid array (nvidia, but silicon image available on mb)
xp home edition upgrade cd installed on old hd

After ugrading my hardware I wanted to fresh install XP on new raid (nvidia) and then ditch old (slow) hd so I went for nlite and all was going well...
I updated bios, added latest nvidia chipset drivers and burnt the CD. Followed above instructions text mode for raid, pnp for ide etc
I couldn't unplug old hd during setup as XP CD is home edition upgrade (what a false economy in retrospect) so had to install on raid as a mulitboot setup.

Now I can't access either installation, despite recovery console fixboot, fixmbr (apparantly i have a non standard mbr (no matter how many times I fix it))and bootcfg /rebuild (incidently bootcfg /list now shows about 6 items, but i'll check microsoft for help on that). The system will not start without the nlite cd (error message= NTLDR missing), and when I do use the nlite CD it goes straight to windows setup...

Any ideas where to go with this?
My mb can do silicon image raid, so maybe i should ditch Nvidia raid - will this be free of probs/any disadvantages using this raid controller? Will I have to buy full win XP? Should I throw the whole thing out the window and do something more interesting?

Many thanks...

This post has been edited by jimcarmichael26: 07 January 2007 - 10:31 AM

[Fernando 1]

jimcarmichael26, on Jan 7 2007, 05:27 PM, said:

new asus M3N32sli deluxe (590sli), new raid array (nvidia, but silicon image available on mb)
xp home edition upgrade cd installed on old hd
After ugrading my hardware I wanted to fresh install XP on new raid (nvidia) and then ditch old (slow) hd so I went for nlite and all was going well...
I updated bios, added latest nvidia chipset drivers and burnt the CD. Followed above instructions text mode for raid, pnp for ide etc
I couldn't unplug old hd during setup as XP CD is home edition upgrade (what a false economy in retrospect) so had to install on raid as a mulitboot setup.
Now I can't access either installation, despite recovery console fixboot, fixmbr (apparantly i have a non standard mbr (no matter how many times I fix it))and bootcfg /rebuild (incidently bootcfg /list now shows about 6 items, but i'll check microsoft for help on that). The system will not start without the nlite cd (error message= NTLDR missing), and when I do use the nlite CD it goes straight to windows setup...

I assume, that you have 2 S-ATA hdd's set as nForce RAID and 1 non-RAID hdd.
First questions: Did you set your RAID array

• as bootable within your RAID Creation Utility (F10) and
  
• as first bootable hard disk device (this has nothing to do with the "normal" boot device order CD-ROM/hdd/floppy) within BIOS after having successfully created the NVIDIA RAID?

This is very important, otherwise your system will not find the correct boot sector (MBR), which should be at drive C: within your RAID device.
It was not a good idea to install the new OS onto your RAID without unplugging the non-RAID hdd. Now you probably have a mixture of MBR's on different drives. I don't understand your explanation for not being able to unplug the non-RAID hdd during the XP installation. When you have an XP Home CD as Upgrade version, you simply have to insert the upgradable OS CD into your CD drive, when you are asked for, and then you can continue your installation.

jimcarmichael26, on Jan 7 2007, 05:27 PM, said:

Any ideas where to go with this?

Check, if you have set your RAID as bootable (by using the RAID utility) and as first bootable hard disk drive (open your mainboard BIOS and search for "Hard Disk Priority" or something like this).
If you managed both, unplug your non-RAID hdd and retry to install XP. Do a clean install of Windows XP by formatting drive C.
One more tip: If you have a running OS, I would recommend to prepare a second nLited XP CD without integrated SATA_IDE driver subfolder. It is possible, that your nForce SataRaid system only needs the integrated SATARAID driver subfolder. Use nLite 1.3 RC for creating this CD, this new version doesn't execute the SATA_IDE driver integration automaticly and lets you decide, if you wish it or not.

jimcarmichael26, on Jan 7 2007, 05:27 PM, said:

My mb can do silicon image raid, so maybe i should ditch Nvidia raid - will this be free of probs/any disadvantages using this raid controller? Will I have to buy full win XP? Should I throw the whole thing out the window and do something more interesting?

Don't use any of these possibilities. You will get XP installed onto your new system. By the way: the nForce RAID is much better than the Sil RAID.

This post has been edited by Fernando 1: 07 January 2007 - 11:34 AM

[jimcarmichael26]

Thanks very much - now much more optimistic...

In answer to your quieries:
Yes, Raid set as bootable and first on boot sequence.
About xp home upgrade - I seem to remember that if I unplugged old hdd with xp installed on it and tried to boot on nlite CD the XP setup says it couldn't find prev install of XP and therefore won't proceed to install.

I'll try again and keep you posted

many thanks

[Fernando 1]

jimcarmichael26, on Jan 7 2007, 06:53 PM, said:

About xp home upgrade - I seem to remember that if I unplugged old hdd with xp installed on it and tried to boot on nlite CD the XP setup says it couldn't find prev install of XP and therefore won't proceed to install.

You must have an original Windows 95/98/ME CD. Windows XP Setup will ask you to insert this CD. After having done it, you have to reinsert the nLited XP CD and Setup will continue.

[jimcarmichael26]

Ah - that will be a problem, its many years since I last saw the old (think it was ME) CD...
cant find it!
any suggestions? difficult problem

[Fernando 1]

jimcarmichael26, on Jan 7 2007, 07:30 PM, said:

Ah - that will be a problem, its many years since I last saw the old (think it was ME) CD...
cant find it!
any suggestions? difficult problem

If you own a Windows 98 or Windows Millennium CD, but can't find it now, why don't you just borrow such a CD from a friend? You will need it only during the installation of Windows XP.

[Angelico_Payne]

I am confused about driver version

For nforce3 there are drivers version 5.11
for nforce4 6.86

what confuses me is version of :

• Audio driver version 4.42 (WHQL)
  
• Audio utility version 4.44
  
• Win2K ethernet driver version 4.16 (WHQL)
  
• WinXP ethernet driver version 4.16 (WHQL)
  
• Ethernet NRM driver version 4.82 (WHQL)
  
• Network management tools version 4.88
  
• GART driver version 4.36 (WHQL)
  
• Memory controller driver version 3.38 (WHQL)
  
• SMBus driver version 4.04 (WHQL)
  
• Installer version 4.46
  
• IDE driver version 4.46 (WHQL)

and in 6.86 its

• Audio Driver (v4.65) "WHQL"
  
• Audio Utility (v4.51)
  
• Ethernet Driver (v50.25) "WHQL"
  
• Network Management Tools (v50.19)
  
• SMBus Driver (v4.57) "WHQL"
  
• Installer (v4.89)
  
• WinXP IDE SataRAID Driver (v6.66) "WHQL"
  
• WinXP IDE SataIDE Driver (v6.66) "WHQL"
  
• WinXP RAIDTOOL Application (v6.63)

As u can see driver are updated, but what is confusing me, weather e.g.SMBus driver version 4.04 (WHQL) from 5.11 drivers has anything to do with SMBus Driver (v4.57) "WHQL" driver drom 6.86 drivers.

Help

[Fernando 1]

Angelico_Payne, on Jan 8 2007, 06:16 PM, said:

I am confused about driver version
For nforce3 there are drivers version 5.11
for nforce4 6.86
As u can see driver are updated, but what is confusing me, weather e.g.SMBus driver version 4.04 (WHQL) from 5.11 drivers has anything to do with SMBus Driver (v4.57) "WHQL" driver drom 6.86 drivers.

I don't understand, what you mean.
The latest nForce3 chipset driver package has the version 5.11 (the first number=5 stands for nForce3 chipsets) and is from June 2005 whereas the latest nForce4 AMD chipset driver package has the version 6.86 (the first number=6 stands for nForce4 chipsets) was published by NVIDIA 1 year later.
That is the reason why all components are newer and have a higher version number than those of the nForce3 package.

What is your problem?
If you have an nForce3 SataRaid system and want newer drivers than those you find within the 5.11 package, you may try one of the newest nForce chipset driver Remix packages you find here:
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/nforce-111...3e19645950a77eb
and here:
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/meis-nware...3e19645950a77eb

[Angelico_Payne]

thanks, your reply helped

The confusion started because i thought nforce drivers were unified for all nforce chipsets, similar to Via Hyperion drivers.

Anyway which of those two is better driver pack... i cant see no difference between them.

MEI's nWare Release 06.10 (x86) has gpu drivers
and everything else is same with nForce 11.10 Unified Remix (x32/x64)

So which is better in your opinion, or do u know someone that has tested both?

This post has been edited by Angelico_Payne: 09 January 2007 - 07:17 AM

[Fernando 1]

Angelico_Payne, on Jan 9 2007, 02:07 PM, said:

Anyway which of those two is better driver pack... i cant see no difference between them.
So which is better in your opinion, or do u know someone that has tested both?

There is not really a big difference between them and both are successfully tested on several different nForce chipset systems. I have tested them too.
So it is your decision which one you will take.
The only advice I can give is not to take the included Forceware driver. If you have a NVIDIA graphic adapter , take the latest official Forceware v. 93.71 from NVIDIA's homepage.
If you want to integrate the different drivers of one of those AIO chipset driver packages into a bootable CD, you have to do the following:
1. Unzip the package by using 7-zip or by "installing" the package somewhere, where you find them again (it will not really be installed, but only unzipped).
2. Integrate all drivers you need or want separately by using the nLite options.

[Angelico_Payne]

Ok that's all the info i needed, muchas gracias.

I will not integrate drivers until relaease of sp3, then i will integrate all the drivers i can find into install. There are several big drivers packs here on forums.

I have all the latest drivers except, u can guess, nforce

Now that's fixed too

[djkym]

I've been getting on the 1.3 RC a "Parameter is Incorrect" message while nlite integrates my nvidia raid drivers (the last stage of nlite)--

specifically i'm using:

windows xp w/ sp2 oem dell cd
ryan's 2.1.5a
nvidia's nForce sata_ide and sataraid for 430/410/405/400--Version: 11.09 for MCP61 WHQL drivers that were just released five days ago (1/5/07)
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_nf4_wi...8.26_11.09.html

anyone else gets this problem?

thanks,
dk

This post has been edited by djkym: 10 January 2007 - 11:26 PM

[Fernando 1]

djkym, on Jan 11 2007, 06:23 AM, said:

I've been getting on the 1.3 RC a "Parameter is Incorrect" message while nlite integrates my nvidia raid drivers (the last stage of nlite)--
specifically i'm using:
nvidia's nForce sata_ide and sataraid for 430/410/405/400--Version: 11.09 for MCP61 WHQL drivers that were just released five days ago (1/5/07)
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_nf4_wi...8.26_11.09.html

Please try to integrate just the SATARAID subfolder of the new nForce driver package and report here if you succeed this way. Your experience with this brandnew nForce chipset package might be useful for other users with a similar hardware configuration.
As I have written within my first post, the driver combination method (SATARAID+SATA_IDE) is not useful for all nForce SataRaid systems.