XP64 RAID no go

[amnonliu]

I am completely stuck getting RAID-0 to work on my Lanparty SLI-DR with XP64. I tried to install the XP64 drivers from the nForce 6.66 AMD64 driver package. I first tried a floppy, and then I tried to make an installation CD with nLite Beta 4, as the forums here suggest. With nLite, it will not accept my Windows CD key, so I can't complete the install. With the floppy, the installation seems to go ok, but then it BSODs as soon as windows loads, even in safe mode. If I just do a single-drive non-RAID setup, everything works. Any ideas?

 

Thanks!

[Fight Game]

I don't know much about xp64, but I do know that I couldn't get nlite to work, even after trying about 10 different times. Anyhow, in another post, I just read

Been using floppy for RAID driver on Raptors SATA & never have any problem. But install Windows x64 you need to embed RAID driver in the CD.

 

Maybe this will start you on your path. pm this guy or do some searches.

[gord27]

i had the same problem. originally i was trying to use a 16k cluster size on my drive and was using a nlite disk. then i tried without nlite. then i tried without 16k. nothing seemed to work. so i fresh formatted the whole thing and set it up default with default cd and all went well. i'm pretty sure i tried the same thing that worked at least twice before but i still can't explain what happened. i will be formatting again soon when i add two more 120gig drives for raid 0+1. i will try 16k cluster at that point again. hopefully it works this time.

 

anyway i can't help solve your problem but i can say i've experienced the same thing. windows seems to install fine and then when it goes to boot it doesn't work. this is with the 6.66 drivers and 6-23 bios w/ 4.84 raid bios.

[Fernando]

With nLite, it will not accept my Windows CD key, so I can't complete the install.

This only happens, when you take a wrong key. Did you really verify, that you edited the right CD key?

You can't install a corporate version of Windows XP x64 with a key, which is dedicated for the "normal" evaluation version.

CU

Fernando

[Diverge]

I have raid 0 setup on my system with win x64, was the same way you'd install sata/raid drivers when installing any operating system. Hit f6 at that prompt, and have the right floppy/drivers.

 

granted, i an nf3, it should be the same for nf4. just get the latest nvidia nforce drivers for x64 (or what ever ones are working best), don't worry about looking for anything dfi specific.

[Greenbarr0n]

I used the "6.56 working bootable floppy" image, found at PlanetAMD64.com in the download section. Once you install x64 with those drivers on a floppy, upgrade to 6.66 from x64 desktop.

 

You must be a registered user to download the floppy image, here is the direct link for once you have a registered account. http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?dlcategory=8

 

Don't bother with nLite, this floppy image works just like you would expect a mfg. raid floppy to work with F6 and x64 setup.

 

Upon setup, specify both:

Nvidia Raid Class (Required)

Storage Driver (Required)

 

 

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread...&highlight=Raid

[amnonliu]

Thanks for the advice.

 

gord27:

I didn't check the block size at all. I am not sure what this is about, but I'll look at that.

 

Fernando:

I am sure I was getting the serial number right. I tried nLite twice, and I made one version manually enter the serial numbers. I typed them in exactly from the Windows license sticker and triple checked them. I made another nLite disk from the XP64 disk that I got from MSDN's subscriber service, and I used that serial number, and it didn't work either. And for good measure I used the serial number from another machine, and that didn't work either.

 

Greenbarr0n:

This seems like a very good suggestion. I was looking for the older version of the nVidia drivers, but I couldn't find them on nVidia's site. Thanks for the pointer to this.

 

Thanks for the help everyone!!! I will try the floppy that Greenbarr0n suggested and see how that goes.

I really want to unplug the ugly A: drive that is dangling out the side of my machine so I can button it up and be done with this phase of my build!

[amnonliu]

I installed the older nVidia drivers from the link. The installation gave me warnings about using unqualified drivers, but went ok otherwise. Finished the install, and booted it up to the same old BSOD.

I am almost ready to give up. This is just impossible.

[Greenbarr0n]

You are definitely using NF4 Sata/Raid connectors 1 and 2 (3 or 4)and show a healthy Raid 0 set at Raid Bios screen? Meaning, you have Raid enabled in DFI Bios on the proper channels and then have built a healthy set using Raid bios.

 

Did you also reformat upon install each time? Quick format is fine.

 

I honestly had no trouble with this install. I had to agree to 50 unqualified driver queries, but continued through them all, and was able to get to desktop on the first try. I have 2 Hitachi Sata drives connected to ports 1 and 2.

 

You specified both drivers listed from the floppy?

[gord27]

crap it was late when i made that first post. i should have specified that i had that problem with win xp pro not x64. but same drivers so that's very likely the problem or maybe raid bios. definately not a bad cd or windows problem if it happens with xp and x64. wish i knew why the two of us have this problem and others don't...

[amnonliu]

Thanks again for the help!

 

 

 

Here is my whole procedure:

I have a pair of WD 74G Raptors on SATA 1 and SATA 2. I enable SATA in the BIOS, then I reboot and I use the RAID configuring tool (F4 from the BIOS I think), and I add both drives to the RAID, set it as striped, set it as bootable.

Then I put WinXP64 OEM in the drive, boot it from the CD.

I F6 it to add drivers, put in my driver floppy, select the two nVidia drivers.

Windows asks if I want to format the drive, which it sees as a 140G single partition, so it seems ok.

I format NTFS, quick or slow, I've done both.

The installer does its thing. It asks me for the key, time, date, region, etc.

It finishes happy and reboots.

The Windows loader screen comes up, with the sliding progress bar, and windows starts to load.

Then, before I see a login screen, I just see a flash of BSOD, too fast to read anything, and the machine is completely reset and I see the graphic card POST and then the mobo POST.

Then I try again in safe mode, same deal.

This happens with any of the nVidia drivers I've tried.

I didn't set any jumpers on the drives themselves, but I don't think the jumpers will help. I didn't install any Silicon Image chipset driver.... do I need that too? Did I miss some step?

 

 

Then, since I want to use my new machine, I decide to try a regular install with no RAID.

I set the RAID to disabled in BIOS.

Windows then sees the drives as a pair, but it thinks one is 74G with 140G free (makes no sense, and must be due to a leftover master boot record or something from the failed RAID), and the other has 74G.

I tell it to install/format the 140G free drive, and it does its thing, asks the questions etc.

The machine reboots, and I get a login screen, and the machine comes up fine, as a non-RAID installation on the SATA 1 connected drive.

[Fernando]

I had the same problems, when I tried to install Windows XP x64 with the new nForce SataRaid drivers v. 6.66 and 7.13, but I found a solution:

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.p...044&postcount=1