Urgent Serial ATA Raid Advice Needed Guys Please

  • Thread starter Thread starter michael c
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michael c

Hi Everyone,

I have the A7N8X Deluxe Board and I love it.

I simply want to install 2 x seagate 80gb SATA HDD's in a raid one configuration.

My problem is that I cannot get Windows XP Pro to recognise the drives.

I dont pretend to be an IT wizz kid but this has got me well and truely flumoxed.

Any help and advice would be appreciated greatly

Thanks all

Michael
 
In the bios have you set the SATA drives as first in the pecking order if
you are also running ide drives.
 
michael said:
Hi Everyone,

I have the A7N8X Deluxe Board and I love it.

I simply want to install 2 x seagate 80gb SATA HDD's in a raid one
configuration.

My problem is that I cannot get Windows XP Pro to recognise the
drives.
Click to expand...

On installation of XP or after installation?

In both cases you will need to have the Controller on (Jumper on the
motherbaord), the drivers for it installed (f6 at start of new
installation), and the RAID partition built.

Ben
 
sheer said:
In the bios have you set the SATA drives as first in the pecking order if
you are also running ide drives.
Click to expand...



Hi There,

Thanks for the reply.

Basically I was running 1 IDE drive which is being completely removed
and replaced with the two SATA drives.

I just cant get XP Pro to recognise them?

I have been into the bios and altered the settings you suggested but
to no avail.

Any more ideas?

Thanks

Michael
 
hi there,

yes i tried that but to no avail.

i have completely removed my ide drive and am wanting to replace it
with the 2 x SATA drives in a raid 1 configuration.

Any more ideas?
 
in-line

michael c said:
Hi Everyone,

I have the A7N8X Deluxe Board and I love it.

I simply want to install 2 x seagate 80gb SATA HDD's in a raid one
Click to expand...
configuration.

In addition to your main drive? Or do you want to remove the IDE drive and
leave only the RAID1 setup?
My problem is that I cannot get Windows XP Pro to recognise the drives.
Click to expand...

You must enable the jumper on the mobo to get this to function correctly.
After this the array must be built prior to the XP install if this is your
intention. Also set the BIOS order to Boot to SCSI.
I dont pretend to be an IT wizz kid but this has got me well and truely flumoxed.

Any help and advice would be appreciated greatly

Thanks all

Michael
Click to expand...

Dave
 
Michael,

Sorry if this is obvious, but is this a new installation of WinXP you are
trying to perform? If so, is it that WinXP setup cannot find any drives to
install on? If so, you probably need the SATA controller driver disk. You
can create this by copying the files in the "X:\Drivers\SATA" directory of
the ASUS CD onto a floppy disk (you don't need the "GUI" directory or the
"SATARaid_Manual_Rev092.pdf" file) and then pressing "F6" during the WinXP
installation process when prompted to install a 3rd-party driver. Pop the
floppy into your drive, hit return and it should find the SATA controller.
Sorry if you've tried this, but nobody had mentioned it as a possibility.

Cheers and good luck,

Charles
 
I don't know if this is during a new install or if you just plugged the
drives in and booted up to the old drive just to see if they show up.

New install:
Hit F5 when setup asks you to install 3rd party SCSI drivers - put the
driver floppy in that came with the MB.

Old install:
Once in windows - right click on my computer and select manage. Under
storage click on disk management. You should see the drives in there. At
this point you can right click on the drive and format.

Good luck
 
My $0.02. Set up the Raid array with the IDE drive still connected. Use XP's
disk management to format the new array. Make a Ghost or Drive Image copy of
your IDE drive. Shut down, remove IDE drive, reboot and set BIOS to boot from
SCSI, reboot from Ghost or Drive Image floppy, load image back on to Raid
array. This is how I did it on my P4G8X Deluxe.
Be aware that you may have to reactivate XP, I had to call MS and reactivate.
 
I have the same problem but i do not have a floppy drive at all. Is there a
way to do this without a floppy or am i doomed to go and buy a floppy to
make the SATA work as the only drive?
 
Chestum said:
I have the same problem but i do not have a floppy drive at all. Is
there a way to do this without a floppy or am i doomed to go and buy
a floppy to make the SATA work as the only drive?
Click to expand...

You could create youself a bootable CD, El Torito style that appears to be a
floppy... but you usually need a floppy image... and you usually need a
floppy to do that. :-P

I'm not sure, but other boot devices (USB etc) may act like a floppy.

Ben
 
Chestum said:
I have the same problem but i do not have a floppy drive at all. Is
there a way to do this without a floppy or am i doomed to go and buy
a floppy to make the SATA work as the only drive?
Click to expand...


Oh... you can copy your drivers onto your installation media and get setup
it to take notice of them... maybe a scripted install or something like
that.

Ben
 
Ben Pope said:
You could create youself a bootable CD, El Torito style that appears to be a
floppy... but you usually need a floppy image... and you usually need a
floppy to do that. :-P
Click to expand...

Nero is really good at this, even going as far as to provide a freeware dos
to
make thier 'images' bootable if needed (not in this case)

It lets you drag and drop 'build' a floppy image (but not constrained to
1.44MB)
In 1.2MB (Mode 3 .jp) 1.44MB, 2.88MB No floppy emulation, or HD emulation
but you'll normally need (2) ATAPI CD/DVD drives, one for the winxp CD, and
one for the NEro CD pretending to be a HD, with the drivers on it.

I think you may have better luck figuring out how to 'slipstream' the .inf
and drivers files required
ONTO a Windows XP cd, so that they are on the single installation media. I
own this board, and
I get it done, I'm going to post a webpage for other p4c800-e owners with a
step-through on
making a winxp install cd with all the drivers for this board ready.


A good reference for this is:
http://www.msfn.org/unattended/xp/index.htm
I'm not sure, but other boot devices (USB etc) may act like a floppy.
Click to expand...

They can, but dont need to, this board supports booting of a usb2.0 pen
device.
 
Philip said:
Nero is really good at this, even going as far as to provide a
freeware dos to
make thier 'images' bootable if needed (not in this case)

It lets you drag and drop 'build' a floppy image (but not constrained
to
1.44MB)
In 1.2MB (Mode 3 .jp) 1.44MB, 2.88MB No floppy emulation, or HD
emulation but you'll normally need (2) ATAPI CD/DVD drives, one for
the winxp CD, and one for the NEro CD pretending to be a HD, with the
drivers on it.
Click to expand...

Oooh, drag and drop build an image? Gonna check that out now... looked once
before and didn;t see the option.

Nero is the best, you'd need a big stick to persuade me otherwise :-)
I think you may have better luck figuring out how to 'slipstream' the
.inf and drivers files required
ONTO a Windows XP cd, so that they are on the single installation
media. I own this board, and
I get it done, I'm going to post a webpage for other p4c800-e owners
with a step-through on
making a winxp install cd with all the drivers for this board ready.
Click to expand...

Yep... that was my second thought... :-)

I thought the board in question was the A7N8X?
A good reference for this is:
http://www.msfn.org/unattended/xp/index.htm


They can, but dont need to, this board supports booting of a usb2.0
pen device.
Click to expand...

Indeed... but can XP access it to grab drivers :-)

Besides... I think thats only for Rev2.0? (of the A7N8X - confused about
which board we're talking about now)

Ben
 
Ben Pope said:
Oooh, drag and drop build an image? Gonna check that out now... looked once
before and didn;t see the option.
Click to expand...

This in in 6.0 mind you.
I remember 5.5 had the same functionality, maybe a little less, but Nero has
always
kicked ass for Torito's! ;)
Nero is the best, you'd need a big stick to persuade me otherwise :-)


Yep... that was my second thought... :-)

I thought the board in question was the A7N8X?
Click to expand...

HAha, I just know it was regarding the fact that an ASUS mb needed SATA
drivers
pre-install, I know my board is the same, so I think finding a way to
slipstream our ASUS
cd's into windows is a good solution.
Indeed... but can XP access it to grab drivers :-)
Click to expand...

I think that if the flash device is emulating a floppy drive, it should
appear as a floppy drive
to winxp.
 
Philip said:
This in in 6.0 mind you.
I remember 5.5 had the same functionality, maybe a little less, but
Nero has always
kicked ass for Torito's! ;)
Click to expand...

Nero has always kicked ass, full stop. I'll take a look at the new
options... not had much of a play yet.
HAha, I just know it was regarding the fact that an ASUS mb needed
SATA drivers
pre-install, I know my board is the same, so I think finding a way to
slipstream our ASUS
cd's into windows is a good solution.
Click to expand...

It's not Asus specific... it's any board with an additional controller, no?
I think that if the flash device is emulating a floppy drive, it
should appear as a floppy drive
to winxp.
Click to expand...


Yeah... thats what I was saying... not sure if they emulate floppies...
which they would need to to be able to stick the SATA drivers on in order
for XP to be able to grab them from there to install, rather than using an
actual floppy device.

Ben
 
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