Installation fails on Vista 64 with SB600 RAID 0

  • Thread starter Thread starter NoWires
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NoWires

I just built a new system using a GigaByte MA-790FX-DS5 motherboard / 8GB RAM
(4x2GB - DDR2 - PC8500-1066)/ Athlon X2 - 4850e with 2 150GB WD-Raptor drives
/ 20x Pioneer DVD Burner. (Plan to replace the Athlon with a 45nm Phenom
later in the year). Using a SATA RAID 0/AHCL configuration on the SB600
connectors. XP32 loaded without any major problems and is running fine.
I've run the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool loaded by Vista using the
Extended tests and it appears to be fine.
Tried to install Vista 64 on a Primary Partition. The SATA drivers were
loaded. 2.5.1540.47 from GigaByte and later tried the MSI 2.5.1540.48 build
for the same SB600 chip. Attempted installation about 6 times with failures
occurring at varying points in the installation. I understand from Googling
the issue that many, many people have had similar issues attempting to
install Vista 64 with a RAID 0 using AHCL on the SB600 chipset. Is there a
fix for the problem? Is the problem fixed in Vista SP1?

Thanks for any information.
 
Forgot to mention the Video Card: PNY nVidia GeForce 8800GT. Nothing on
the system is overclocked.
 
NOTE: Hardware works fine with XP 32-SP2 + all current updates from Windows
Update. Windows Vista Memory diagnostic tool on Extended tests gave the
memory a clean bill of health.

I just tried the Checked Build of the full Vista 64 SP1. Attempted 3 times.
It crashes either just before or just after going to the screen where you
have to load the RAID drivers. Different BSOD error code every time. The
first 2 times tried it with the legacy USB support disabled since someone
else with a similar problem was able to make it work with the legacy support
turned off. The third time I tried it with that setting enabled and all
other settings in the BIOS were standard.

Recap of System Hardware:
GigaByte MA-790FX-DS5 motherboard F5 Bios (latest)
8GB RAM GSkill - 4x2GB - DDR2 - PC8500-1066
Athlon X2 - 4850e (Plan to replace with 45nm Phenom later in year)
2 150GB WD-Raptor drives in a SATA RAID 0 / AHCL configuration SB600
connectors
20x Pioneer DVD Burner.
PNY GeForce 8800 GT video card 512MB
Standard settings nothing overclocked.
Microsoft PS2 Keyboard and Microsoft USB Optical Wheel Mouse
 
NoWires said:
NOTE: Hardware works fine with XP 32-SP2 + all current updates from Windows
Update. Windows Vista Memory diagnostic tool on Extended tests gave the
memory a clean bill of health.

I just tried the Checked Build of the full Vista 64 SP1. Attempted 3 times.
It crashes either just before or just after going to the screen where you
have to load the RAID drivers. Different BSOD error code every time. The
first 2 times tried it with the legacy USB support disabled since someone
else with a similar problem was able to make it work with the legacy support
turned off. The third time I tried it with that setting enabled and all
other settings in the BIOS were standard.

Recap of System Hardware:
GigaByte MA-790FX-DS5 motherboard F5 Bios (latest)
8GB RAM GSkill - 4x2GB - DDR2 - PC8500-1066
Athlon X2 - 4850e (Plan to replace with 45nm Phenom later in year)
2 150GB WD-Raptor drives in a SATA RAID 0 / AHCL configuration SB600
connectors
20x Pioneer DVD Burner.
PNY GeForce 8800 GT video card 512MB
Standard settings nothing overclocked.
Microsoft PS2 Keyboard and Microsoft USB Optical Wheel Mouse
Click to expand...
 
Vista SP1 did not resolve installation issues with RAID 0+ AHCL on SB600.
From the data collected so far, it is possible that a new build of Vista is
needed. This problem has been reported occurring on multiple brands of
motherboards with the SB600 chipset ( Asus, MSI, GigaByte, DFI, etc). SB600
appears to work fine with standard non-RAID usage. The problem occurs when
trying to set up a RAID 0 (striped for performance) using AHCL.

RECAP OSs Loaded:
XP-32 bit - Loaded, no issues, works is stable (4 days stable on this)
XP-64 bit - Loaded, no issues, works appears to be stable ( < 24 hours
usage on this)
Suse Linux 10.2 - 64-bit - Just brought up the installer which
recognized all hardware and appeared quite stable. Did not install as it was
not needed on this machine.

RECAP OSs Failed to Install:
Vista 64-bit Original RTM - Failed erratically, tried AMD SATA RAID
Drivers for SB600 chipset. Tried both the GigaByte download of 2.5.1540.47
and the MSI download of 2.5.1540.48 which one person reported worked.
Vista 64-bit SP 1 Checked/Debug Build Full DVD - Failed erratically once
just after trying to read the SATA drivers from a floppy. Failed once trying
to get it to go read the SATA (form was up but failed when clicking the
butten requesting the load.). Failed once just before getting to the form
that displayed the disk partitions and has the items to allow the user to
load the drivers. Different error messages given every time on BSOD.

RECAP Hardware:

Recap of System Hardware:
GigaByte MA-790FX-DS5 motherboard F5 Bios (latest)
8GB RAM GSkill - 4x2GB - DDR2 - PC8500-1066
Athlon X2 - 4850e (Plan to replace with 45nm Phenom later in year)
2 150GB WD-Raptor drives in a SATA RAID 0 / AHCL configuration SB600
connectors
20x Pioneer DVD Burner.
PNY GeForce 8800 GT video card 512MB
US Robotics Wireless Network Card MaxG 5117
Standard settings nothing overclocked.
Microsoft PS2 Keyboard and Microsoft USB Optical Wheel Mouse
 
Finally got the MSDN Full DVD version of Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 to install.
1. Swapped the 8GB of DDR2-PC8500 / 1066 memory temporarily for 4GB of
DDR2 PC800 memory. Curiously the 1066 memory passed all memory tests and
neither XP32 nor XP64 had any problems with it either installing or running.
The motherboard can handle either speed but the current CPU limits it to 800
MHz.
2. Had to give Vista SP1 Installation the 32 bit SB600 RAID drivers to get
it to install. First gave it access to the 64 bit SB600 RAID drivers. The
installation came back with a cryptic message saying in effect that you
shouldn't install 32 bit and 64 bit drivers that weren't signed or
appropriate for the hardware. Installation was basically stuck in a loop
with the message coming back up every time the user tried to select the 64
bit RAID driver. Finally, clicked on the directory with 32 bit driver and it
took the driver and proceeded to install.

Vista SP1 has exhibited some stability issues after putting the faster
memory back in. The faster memory worked okay in another box on a Gigabyte
MA-770-DS3 motherboard with Vista 64 (no SP1). Need to do some more testing
to determine if the memory is faulty or it just doesn't work well with Vista
 
I have had similar problems with the pathetic ATI Raid drivers for the SB600.
When I have 4GB of ram installed in the system, setup of Vista 32bit w/SP1
fails. Either it won't enumerate my RAID 0 drive, or the USB keyboard will
fail to work after it installs the RAID drivers. If I run setup with only 2GB
of ram, I am able to successfully install Vista on the RAID 0, but then after
I put the 2GB stick of memory back in, I get random bluescreens that site the
ATI RAID driver as the problem.

I am really pissed about the poor state of the RAID driver. There isn't even
a way to get support for the RAID driver from AMD/ATI to even log a bug. I
have created a "ticket" with AMD regarding the issue, and I have sent in
feedback to the Catalyst Feedback mechanism. It's as if using the RAID driver
is an at your own risk situation.

The RAID implementation in the SB600/SB700 is actually an implementation
that they licensed from Promise.

At this point, I am thinking of ditching the RAID for a single faster drive
since AMD/ATI refuse to support the RAID driver.
 
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