P4C800-E Dlx+ICH5R+IAA+RAID1=NOGO??

  • Thread starter Thread starter jim
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jim

I'm trying to setup ICH5R RAID1 on a P4C800-E Dlx on an existing non-RAID
install of XP Pro. If one tries to run IAA35R(from Asus) under XP Pro then
one gets an abort "Incompatible hardware. The software is not supported on
this chipset."

If one tries to enable the ICH5R RAID functionality in BIOS setup then XP
wont boot.

How to solve??
 
I'm trying to setup ICH5R RAID1 on a P4C800-E Dlx on an existing non-RAID
install of XP Pro. If one tries to run IAA35R(from Asus) under XP Pro then
one gets an abort "Incompatible hardware. The software is not supported on
this chipset."

If one tries to enable the ICH5R RAID functionality in BIOS setup then XP
wont boot.

How to solve??
Click to expand...

If you go to the Intel download page, there are the actual installer
files, as well as "readme" and "release notes" files for each release
of installer.

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scr...SFullName=Windows*+XP+Professional&submit=Go!

This readme mentions that you can use the installer to just
extract files without installing them. In your case, I don't
know if this particular installer will check the hardware
before running, or will do the extract and quietly exit.
You'll just have to try it.

ftp://aiedownload.intel.com/df-support/6868/ENG/Readme.txt

Now, in principle, if you have the separate INF files for the
device, _perhaps_ booting from the WinXP install CD and doing
a repair install (a.k.a in-place upgrade), will give you an
option to press F6 at some point and present a floppy with
the new driver files on it.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

Note that this will take you back to pre-SP1, if you don't have
an SP1 version of XP install disk - similarly, all your Windows
Update OS security updates would be lost as well. What you are
saving by going this route, is on having to install applications
again. Otherwise, this is still an expensive option with regard
to the amount of time it will take to do properly.

I don't think it is sufficient to just drop INF files into
the Windows INF directory, as there will be some other stuff
buried somewhere, such as a path to the boot device hard coded
in a script or some registry entry. The path will change when a
RAID device is involved. Maybe some hacker type could get out of
this catch22 situation, but I've never seen a description of such
a Houdini-like escape.

Maybe someone else will have a less expensive recipe...

Good luck (and back up your files first!)
Paul
 
Just run the repair install and have the drivers at hand on floppy disc.
When the install prompts you to press F6, do so and feed in the drivers.

As Paul mentioned, a repair (which is more like an over the top fix it
install) will bring your installed XP back to whatever is on the XP install
CD so, if the CD did not come with XP SP1 on then you need to bung that on
too followed by all critical updates / patches that you already have - even
Internet Explorer will be dragged back to its original version, so before
you attempt to do anything with the repaired installation, install XP SP1,
install all critical and other updates.

This doesn't take too long at all if you have the necessary stuff on CD
first - if you don't have XP SP1 on CD then perhaps prepare by getting it
first.

My experience on this is that there can be 2 versions of the drivers: SATA
and RAID (not necessarily in the case of this Asus and this mobo, but for
the ICH5R), so don't be surprised to get a BSOD during repair. Don't fret. I
would simply make sure that you have a floppy with each Raid driver set
version 3.5 of each type you can find (IE one from Asus and one from Intel
or more if you find them) and try both - one will work, but make sure you
have a working internet connection in case. If you get the BSOD, try the
other floppy.

With the ICH5R, Intel has actually done a good job - the documentation is
abysmal. You do *not* have to have the IAA installed to have a working RAID
system, although you should as it will raise a visual alert in the event of
a disc failure. Some other points:

You can have what Intel calls Raid Ready - this is where the controller is
in Raid mode but there is only 1 disc.
You have to F6 load the Raid drivers during install / reconfig.
If you then install IAA, you can at a later date migrate to RAID 0 or 1.
It is Raid ready in that when you add another SATA drive to the ICH5R, you
can use IAA to migrate online from single disc / non raid to RAID 0 or 1. I
was too chicken to try this as the software says you will lose all data if
you migrate from single to Raid 1, but according to someone else here, it
works a treat. I would still back up all data and assume that it will fail,
but look forward to a successful migration.

HTH
- Tim
 
Thanks. Responses/questions appear inline below.

Tim said:
Just run the repair install and have the drivers at hand on floppy disc.
When the install prompts you to press F6, do so and feed in the drivers.

As Paul mentioned, a repair (which is more like an over the top fix it
install) will bring your installed XP back to whatever is on the XP install
CD so, if the CD did not come with XP SP1 on then you need to bung that on
too followed by all critical updates / patches that you already have - even
Internet Explorer will be dragged back to its original version, so before
you attempt to do anything with the repaired installation, install XP SP1,
install all critical and other updates.

This doesn't take too long at all if you have the necessary stuff on CD
first - if you don't have XP SP1 on CD then perhaps prepare by getting it
first.

My experience on this is that there can be 2 versions of the drivers: SATA
and RAID (not necessarily in the case of this Asus and this mobo, but for
the ICH5R), so don't be surprised to get a BSOD during repair. Don't fret. I
would simply make sure that you have a floppy with each Raid driver set
version 3.5 of each type you can find (IE one from Asus and one from Intel
or more if you find them) and try both - one will work, but make sure you
have a working internet connection in case. If you get the BSOD, try the
other floppy.

With the ICH5R, Intel has actually done a good job - the documentation is
abysmal. You do *not* have to have the IAA installed to have a working RAID
system,
Click to expand...


Could you please elaborate? Do you mean that one can just set ICH5R RAID
and enable the BOOTROM in BIOS(1016) setup and something like an XP/W2k3
install will find a usable array and just install/run? What drivers does
the OS use in such a case for say RAID 0?
although you should as it will raise a visual alert in the event of
a disc failure. Some other points:

You can have what Intel calls Raid Ready - this is where the controller is
in Raid mode but there is only 1 disc.
You have to F6 load the Raid drivers during install / reconfig.
Click to expand...


Which RAID drivers? As far as I can tell there are only the IAAR drivers
and a floppy F6 version of the IAAR drivers. What am I missing?
If you then install IAA, you can at a later date migrate to RAID 0 or 1.
It is Raid ready in that when you add another SATA drive to the ICH5R, you
can use IAA to migrate online from single disc / non raid to RAID 0 or 1. I
was too chicken to try this as the software says you will lose all data if
you migrate from single to Raid 1, but according to someone else here, it
works a treat.
Click to expand...


Any pointers to that thread please?
 
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