P4P800 Deluxe - New Sys - XP Pro not recognizing the stiped HD's

  • Thread starter Thread starter Richard
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R

Richard

Ok..I'm building anew system. I put 2 WD 120's (one is master 1 is slave) in
series and plugged into the Raid_PR1 slot. I boot; walk thru Bios ok. I then
press Tab and use the Via software to set up my Raid. I have several issues
I could really use help on:

1. I would like to use the Raid 0/1 but it's grayed out. Thoughts?

2. I then chose the Raid 0 for performance and set the block's at 32

3. I select the HD array.

4. I exit the Via config software and then re-boot with the XP Pro CD in the
master CD/DVD drive

5. The OS setup load the various drivers.

6. I tell it to install and the OS setup says there are no HD's.

Tried everything I can think of but nothing. (I should say this is my first
Raid setup attempt ever). Appreciate any suggestions or direction on what I
need to do to get the OS to recognize the array so I can finish building
this unit.


Richard
 
Richard
I'm new to this too, but I think that when you boot with the Win XP CD, you
have to hit the F6 key when prompted to install drivers for the raid drives
from the floppy drive, as it will not recognize the drive until it has
drivers for it.
Ken'
 
So do you think the XP CD has the raid drivers on it or will want them from
some other source?
 
Just tried the F6 option. Didn't load a driver for the VIA controller and
ask me to put the driver in Drive A (floppy). I don't have a driver on a
floppy. Thus, it still doesn't see the array....
 
Richard
My understanding is that you must copy them from the CD that comes with the
motherboard to a floppy, as when you are prompted to hit F6 to install
drivers, you have no option as to which drive to use as it only looks in the
floppy drive.
Bummer as I did have no intention of installing a floppy drive.
Ken'
 
dryland@3- said:
So do you think the XP CD has the raid drivers on it or will want them from
some other source?
Click to expand...

It requires a floppy disk. If the board didn't come with one, you'll
need to make one yourself.
 
Ok...found the solution...and it's not intuitive!!!

Put the ASUS CD in a CD drive on a working computer

Put a Floppy disk in a floppy drive (yes you must have a floppy)

Go to the Drivers section of CD and find a file called MakeDisk. With the
floppy in the A drive click this icon and it will transfer the necessary
files to the floppy.

* Copy all files and directories to a floppy disk.

A:\
\Win2000
VIARaid.inf
VIARaid.sys
\Win98-Me
VIARaid.inf
VIARaid.mpd
Vraidvsd.vxd
\Winnt40
VIARaid.inf
VIARaid.sys
\WinXP
VIARaid.inf
VIARaid.sys
Txtsetup.oem
Viaraid

* Boot system from OS installing CD-ROM.

* Press "F6" when OS installer starts running.

* Insert floppy disk.

* Choose the OS device driver which you want to load.

* Install OS

* Run setup.exe after OS installed.

Boot your system with the XP CD in and press F6 during the load process.
When XP asks for the floppy put it in and press "S" to load. At that point a
window will open asking you to choose the raid. Choose yours and press enter
and then follow the process. The driver set is loaded and then you can move
forward with XP to format the raid array and do the install.

This should be spelled out somewhere clearly!!!

p.s. Now after formating the Raid 0 it tells me the CD may be damaged. I
tried another CD and then same error message!!!



Hope this helps and thanks for the comments that helped spark the thoughts
that lead me here
 
Ok...I just made a new floppy disk on the off chance the firs disk was
somehow damaged or had a problem and Whalla!!! It appeas to be working now.

Go figure...
 
Richard said:
Ok..I'm building anew system. I put 2 WD 120's (one is master 1 is slave) in
series and plugged into the Raid_PR1 slot. I boot; walk thru Bios ok. I then
press Tab and use the Via software to set up my Raid. I have several issues
I could really use help on:

1. I would like to use the Raid 0/1 but it's grayed out. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

If it's what I think it is (stripe and mirror), you need at least four hard
drives for this. With two drives, you'll need to decide whether you want
speed (RAID 0), or mirrored reliability (RAID 1).
2. I then chose the Raid 0 for performance and set the block's at 32

3. I select the HD array.

4. I exit the Via config software and then re-boot with the XP Pro CD in the
master CD/DVD drive

5. The OS setup load the various drivers.

6. I tell it to install and the OS setup says there are no HD's.
Click to expand...

Yup. It will say exactly this (after making you go through a few minutes of
setup) if you don't press F6 and install the RAID drivers when loading XP at
first. There will be a message at the bottom of the screen saying something
like "Press F6 to install RAID or third-party drivers". At some point (not
immediately, IIRC), it will *then* ask for the drivers (mine have always
been floppies for controllers like Adaptec 2100 and 2110, but yours are
on-board). Load them, then select the controller (if there's more than
one).

THEN it should be OK!

HTH...
 
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