XP fails to start with RAID controller

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jorg
  • Start date Start date
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Jorg

XP fails to start with RAID controller

SYSTEM
Processor: Intel Pentium 4, 2.2 GHz
Board: Intel D850EMV2
Memory: 512 MB PC800 RDRAM
Operating System: Windows XP Home (incl. all available
updates)


PROBLEM
I recently purchased and installed a RAID controller card.
My intention is to create a mirrored set of my existing
boot hard drive.

On installing the RAID controller card in a free PCI slot
(without any drives connected to it yet), Windows found
the new hardware and the driver installation went through
without a glitch. The RAID controller can now be found in
the Hardware Device Manager - fully operational and
without any conflicts.

In theory (according to the RAID controller manual), I
should now be able to disconnect my HDD from my onboard
IDE controller and plug it into the RAID controller's
primary port. This should allow my system to boot.

However, Windows fails to start properly. XP gets stuck on
the black logo screen and then the system all of a sudden
restarts. It then gets to the point where I can opt to
start in Safe Mode, which is possible.


ATTEMPTS MADE TO SOLVE PROBLEM
I returned the RAID controller card to the dealer where it
was checked and found to be fully functional.

I then changed the plug and play settings in my system's
BIOS and disabled the onboard IDE controller. None made
any difference whatsoever.


My last resort now is this forum. What could be the
problem, what else could I try (short of re-installing
Windows and all application)?

Someone suggested that the hardware change may have been
too severe for XP so that XP no longer accepts the system
as the one it was originally installed on. Is this
possible?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Jorg.
 
If you intend for your boot drive to be on a raid
controller, you MUST install XP with the raid driver.
There's 2 drivers, the windows driver and what I call
the "low level driver". You have the first, but need the
second. It ususally comes on a floppy.

Chances are you CAN do a repair install so that you won't
lose anything, but BACK UP before proceeding.

First, get the controller installed. you did that.

Turn off the pc and set the bios to boot from the cdrom.
While powered down, move the hard drive from the MB
controller to the raid one. Put your second hard drive on
it, too.

put the xp cd in the drive and power up. You will need to
setup the raid bios at this time (before xp setup
starts). Follow the directions to set up a mirrored (raid
1) array. You may have to restart after this. When you
restart, the pc will boot up to the windows xp setup.

**********YOU MAY NOT NEED TO DO ALL OF THE REMAINING
STEPS. XP may start correctly after you setup the RAID
BIOS. If not, do the rest.

Right at the beginning of xp setup, you will see a prompt
at the bottom of the screen to press F6 to install a
raid/scsi card. Press F6 at that time.

Soon, you will get a prompt asking you to insert a floppy
with the raid/scsi driver. Setup is looking for a file
called "oemsetup.txt". Use that floppy. When the driver
is done, continue with installation and pick the repair
option.
 
XP is inded sensitive to hardware. When it installs, it
senses what you have and loads drivers and somehting
called a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) that is
appropriate for the hardware. Major replacements of
components will not work directly. However, it is
sometimes possible to "repair" the XP installation by
installing XP on top of itself. This is a special
installation that does not format the disk. For more
inforamtion see the following Microsoft article (Q315341):

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-
US;Q315341&
 
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