Booting without CD in Windows XP- Pro RAID System

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I built a system using a Gigabyte Motherboard with the Intel 875 chip set. I recently upgraded from Win 2000 Pro to Win XP Pro. The system has an 3GHz P4, 1 Gbyte of PC3200 ECC memory and two ATA 100 Harddrives. I also added two Seagate SATA hardrives and set them up as a RAID 0 Array. The system is fast and fairly stable. However, it will only boot if I leave a bootable CD in one of my CD drives. Windows XP calls my C drive [the RAID array] the boot drive, and my E drive [ATA 100] the system drive. If I leave the bootable CD out, I either get an error saying NTLDR is missing, or an error saying HAL.DLL is missing. Which error I recieve is dependant on whether I choose to boot from the E disk or C disk in the bios. I have not been able to recieve support from Gigabyte and of course Microsoft does not support Win XP Pro OEM.
 
check your bios under the boot section and make sure it set to boot from
hard drive
Jim said:
I built a system using a Gigabyte Motherboard with the Intel 875 chip set.
Click to expand...
I recently upgraded from Win 2000 Pro to Win XP Pro. The system has an 3GHz
P4, 1 Gbyte of PC3200 ECC memory and two ATA 100 Harddrives. I also added
two Seagate SATA hardrives and set them up as a RAID 0 Array. The system is
fast and fairly stable. However, it will only boot if I leave a bootable CD
in one of my CD drives. Windows XP calls my C drive [the RAID array] the
boot drive, and my E drive [ATA 100] the system drive. If I leave the
bootable CD out, I either get an error saying NTLDR is missing, or an error
saying HAL.DLL is missing. Which error I recieve is dependant on whether I
choose to boot from the E disk or C disk in the bios. I have not been able
to recieve support from Gigabyte and of course Microsoft does not support
Win XP Pro OEM.
 
SATA support and configuration should be
available at http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/

I think your installation is misconfigured, you should have
C: as one of your IDE hard drives , the other D:, and the
RAID array should be E: or F:

Does the Gigabyte mobo manual or website have any
configuration FAQs?

Are you prepared to wipe your installation and start over if
necessary?


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


| I built a system using a Gigabyte Motherboard with the
Intel 875 chip set. I recently upgraded from Win 2000 Pro
to Win XP Pro. The system has an 3GHz P4, 1 Gbyte of PC3200
ECC memory and two ATA 100 Harddrives. I also added two
Seagate SATA hardrives and set them up as a RAID 0 Array.
The system is fast and fairly stable. However, it will only
boot if I leave a bootable CD in one of my CD drives.
Windows XP calls my C drive [the RAID array] the boot drive,
and my E drive [ATA 100] the system drive. If I leave the
bootable CD out, I either get an error saying NTLDR is
missing, or an error saying HAL.DLL is missing. Which error
I recieve is dependant on whether I choose to boot from the
E disk or C disk in the bios. I have not been able to
recieve support from Gigabyte and of course Microsoft does
not support Win XP Pro OEM.
 
Thanks, but that does not help. In order to boot at all, my first boot device must be CDROM and my second the Harddrive. Otherwise I get either of the two errors.
 
It won't boot from the SATA RAID, install XP to the master
IDE (ATA 100 drive) as C:, set that to be your boot device.

During install from the XP CD, you select to install to the
0 IDE ATA100 drive and make that the C: drive.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


| Thanks, but that does not help. In order to boot at all,
my first boot device must be CDROM and my second the
Harddrive. Otherwise I get either of the two errors.
 
I do know that WinXP must install a few files, such as NTLDR on the IDE master drive. WinXP, Gigabyte and Intel all seem to state that the boot drive containing Windows and all programs can be on the SATA array. Oddly, if I copy the WinXP CD files to the raid array and attempt to repair the installation, Windows repair will boot from the raid array without the CD present, but then it cannot find the Windows installation. If one cannot load programs from the RAID array, RAID arrays are useless. Data files are much smaller than any modern program. Futher, no one would put their data on a RAID 0 array. I would think Microsoft would mention such a hugh "feature." What I cannot figure out is why having a bootable CD in a drive makes the boot work. I do not boot from the CD, the bios just needs to recognize that it is there. To me, this points to an error in boot.ini or one of the associated files.
 
Jim asked
I built a system using a Gigabyte Motherboard with the Intel 875 chip set.
Click to expand...
I recently upgraded from Win 2000 Pro to >Win XP Pro. The system has an
3GHz P4, 1 Gbyte of PC3200 ECC memory and two ATA 100 Harddrives. I also
added two Seagate SATA hardrives and set them up as a RAID 0 Array. The
Click to expand...
system is fast and fairly stable. However, >it will only boot if I leave a
bootable CD in one of my CD drives. Windows XP calls my C drive [the RAID
array] the >boot drive, and my E drive [ATA 100] the system drive. If I
leave the bootable CD out, I either get an error saying >NTLDR is missing,
or an error saying HAL.DLL is missing. Which error I recieve is dependant
on whether I choose to >boot from the E disk or C disk in the bios. I have
not been able to recieve support from Gigabyte and of course >Microsoft does
not support Win XP Pro OEM.
Hi Jim

You have said that you are not to be able to set the SATA array as the
primary boot device.

That would indicate that the Gigabyte implementation of SATA through their
BIOS prohibits such a configuration and that the SATA connections are only
to used for storage.

In order to check this we need to know which mainboard model as well as
manufacturer (in your case Gigabyte) you are using.

It's worth pointing out that such situations do occur. If this is the case
then it is entirely a decision by Gigabyte to restrict the SATA usage to
this and nothing to do with Microsoft.

Hope that helps
Pete
 
The Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-8IK1100 Rev 1 which includes the Intel 875P chipset with SATA RAID 0/1 support. I am using bios version 10.
 
Jim said:
Thanks, but that does not help. In order to boot at all, my first boot
Click to expand...
device must be CDROM and my second the Harddrive. Otherwise I get either of
the two errors.

Try disconnecting the ATA drives, then set the boot sequence to SATA then CD
then ATA.

If it gives you a "can't find the OS" message, wipe the OS files from the
SATA drives, boot from the CD, and install the OS on the SATA drives.
Reconnect the ATA drives when done.
 
Jim said:
The Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-8IK1100 Rev 1 which includes the Intel
Click to expand...
875P chipset with SATA RAID 0/1 support. I am using bios version 10.

Is the SATA array configured and the SATA drivers available on floppy to
transfer to the SATA drives during OS installation?
 
"Jim" replied...
The Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-8IK1100 Rev 1 which includes the Intel
Click to expand...
875P chipset with SATA RAID 0/1 support. I am using bios version 10.

Hi Jim

It is late here so I may not be able to respond until tomorrow but in the
meantime you may try checking the RAID controller version in Device Manager

According to the Gigabyte website there is an update available for version
3.0 for XP.

I'll review the documentation and get back to you tomorrow.

Hope that helps in the meantime
Pete
 
I forgot to mention that I am using the latest Intel Driver. Same problem with version 3 from Gigabyte and 3.5 from Intel.
 
"Jim" added
I forgot to mention that I am using the latest Intel Driver. Same problem
Click to expand...
with version 3 from Gigabyte and 3.5 from Intel.

Hi Jim

Here's a couple of things for you to check.

In setting the BIOS to boot from the SATA array you need to make a few
particular changes to the BIOS - according to the info on the Gigabyte
website the settings should be -

1.. Advanced BIOS features--> SATA/RAID/SCSI boot order: "SATA"

2.. Advanced BIOS features--> First boot device: "SCSI"

3.. Integrated Peripherals--> Onboard H/W Serial ATA: "enable"
Then it depends on the SATA mode that you need to set "RAID" to RAID mode
or "BASE" to normal ATA mode in the item named Serial ATA function.

If that doesn't help then check that you've used the files available here
when you installed.
How to bootup the system from ICH5R SATA RAID?
http://www.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/FAQ/FAQ_401.htm

The info relates specifically to your mainboard.

Hope that helps
Pete
 
Thanks
I've already done that. This is a real mystery. I think it should work. I've reloaded XP Pro 5 or 6 times - using all the advise received here. The set up is very close, but for some odd reason It still requires a bootable CD to successfully boot.
 
Have you considered pasting a copy of your boot.ini file to the group so
that those who have experience using SATA boot disks can see if there are
any obvious issues?

Not saying this will solve but it can't hurt! FYI - I use a PATA RAID 0 for
me boot drive. One thing I do always is disable my primary IDE controler
when installing XP to the array. That way I never get any confused bootup
files on my IDE HDs. My 2nd IDE is where the CD drives are installed and is
not disabled.

FWIW, Len

Jim said:
Thanks,
I've already done that. This is a real mystery. I think it should work.
Click to expand...
I've reloaded XP Pro 5 or 6 times - using all the advise received here. The
set up is very close, but for some odd reason It still requires a bootable
CD to successfully boot.
 
"Jim" replied
Thanks,
I've already done that. This is a real mystery. I think it should work.
Click to expand...
I've reloaded XP Pro 5 or 6 times - using all the advise received here. The
set up is very close, but for some odd reason It still requires a bootable
CD to successfully boot.
Hi Jim

A mystery it is.

You said you're upgrading from Win2000. Are you doing a clean installation?
No tweaking of the BIOS? (had to ask)

Are the SATA connectors for the ICH5R controller the only ones on the
mainboard? Normally they wouldn't require you to use the F6 method to
introduce third-party drivers. (I would normally check the manual but
perhaps you can provide the answer on this.) If you're using an additional
controller on the mainboard it may be that it is designed to be used only
for storage and by swapping to the ICH5R connectors you'll be able to
configure successfully.

But if you're still not able to select the SATA array as the first boot
device I would be looking for a BIOS problem.

If you're still hitting a brick wall you might have to keep trying with
Gigabyte support. They may take a coupe of days but I'd suspect they're
best placed to advise further.

Sorry I don't have a better idea on this
but post an update when you can.

Pete
 
Here is my boot.ini

[Boot Loader
Timeout=
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOW
[Operating Systems
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetec

rdisk(2) apparently refers to my "C" drive which is the SATA RAID 0 Array. The boot.ini file is on my "E" drive which is the master disk on the first IDE controler. The CD-rom drives are on my second IDE controler

I have tried repeating the last line as

C:\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetec

but this does not work either. It will not boot even which the CD-rom in a drive

----- Pete Baker wrote: ----

"Jim" replie
Thanks
I've already done that. This is a real mystery. I think it should work
Click to expand...
I've reloaded XP Pro 5 or 6 times - using all the advise received here. Th
set up is very close, but for some odd reason It still requires a bootabl
CD to successfully boot


Hi Ji

A mystery it is

You said you're upgrading from Win2000. Are you doing a clean installation
No tweaking of the BIOS? (had to ask

Are the SATA connectors for the ICH5R controller the only ones on th
mainboard? Normally they wouldn't require you to use the F6 method t
introduce third-party drivers. (I would normally check the manual bu
perhaps you can provide the answer on this.) If you're using an additiona
controller on the mainboard it may be that it is designed to be used onl
for storage and by swapping to the ICH5R connectors you'll be able t
configure successfully

But if you're still not able to select the SATA array as the first boo
device I would be looking for a BIOS problem

If you're still hitting a brick wall you might have to keep trying wit
Gigabyte support. They may take a coupe of days but I'd suspect they'r
best placed to advise further

Sorry I don't have a better idea on thi
but post an update when you can

Pet
 
Thanks everyone. I did find a solution - although it is very Rube-Goldburgish. I copied boot.ini and all the associated system files from my E: drive [ the first IDE master] to my C: drive [SATA RAID 0 Array with the windows directory]. I set the BIOS to boot from the SATA RAID Array. I then modified boot.ine as follows

Boot Loader
Timeout=
Default=C:\WINDOW
[Operating Systems
C:\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 2" /fastdetec
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetec

It works, but I still do not understand why or why it did not work before
 
Congratulations Jim

I may be wrong but it looks as if your problem may be a result of the
upgrade path you took (with the 'E' drive originally containing Win 2000
Pro)

You may not be inclined to tinker further now that it's working but if it
was my system I'd be running an In-place upgrade (or repair install) to bed
everything in.

Hope it continues to run smoothly.
Pete
 
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