I have been reading some old threads looking for answers to my problem. I am trying to install 2 200GB WD Sata HD's on a Asus a7n8x-e MoBo. I have set up the raid array in the bios. I have a floppy with the drivers copied, boot to windows set up. Hit f6 when asked, install drivers from floppy when asked, then the set up continues. It stops dead when at the bottom of screen says "setting up windows". Nothing further happens. Does anyone know what else I need to do, or if I am doing anything wrong?

Hi is your system overclocked in any way? I suggest loading the failsafe or optimized settings in the BIOS. Also check your install cd for grease/finger prints. I might have heard about problems with raid on this board but I can't recall; I'll search the net a bit.

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I have nothing over clocked. The windows disk is clean. I have installed a ide drive and loaded windows on. I have looked in My Computer and it sees the Sata drive(s)? I am not sure it sees both drives. It lists it as one drive at 187gb. I have two drives at 200gb. Not having done this before, I am not sure what it will see. I would like to get to the point where I can load windows onto the Sata drive and let it boot from that disk, then remove the ide drive completely.

Didou Plz read

Didou, I emailed you earlier. Here are my system specs. Asus a7n8x-e MoBo rev.01. AMD Athlon XP 2400. Phoenix awardsBios v6.00pg. Silicon Image Raid Bios 3112a Bios 4.2.27. I am trying to use the latest drivers from Silicon Image. 2 Western Digital Sata Hard drives. 512MB PC 3200 Geil ram. ATI 9700 Pro. Again, the problem I'm having is getting windows installed on the sata drives. I had a earlier post, explaining this problem, but didn't get too many hits on it. I hit f6 when called for, insert floppy disc in A: drive, then windows gets to part where it says, "starting windows" , then it just hangs there. I have installed an IDE 60GB Maxtor drive, installed windows on that, and when I go to My Computer, I can see the Sata drive. I would like to install windows on the Sata and take the IDE out. Hope this is enough info. Thanks in advance. Steve

Well which BIOS for the motherboard are you using ? There have been new released which include an updated BIOS for the SATA controller & this new BIOS is supposed to fix certain problems people have had with large SATA drives. It is worth a try.

I have not updated the Bios, it is the version that came with the board. I have never updated a bios. Have heard of some bad things. I guess I am nervous about that. I will look into it though.

Download the asus update utility if your nervous of updating the bios. Just follow the instructions, very easy to use.
When you start up you should see both drives, if only one is showing you have a problem, check leads and power.
In bios make sure you only have boot from cd selected disable all others.When you have the drivers installed and the system reboots, disable the boot from cd also.
This is how i got my dual sata 80gb maxtors working.

Good Luck

Could you be trying to set up windows on a RAID array and accidentally used the non-RAID SATA drivers on the floppies?

I have read other threads that have said what files I need, and I have the newest files on the floppy.

Ok, I have updated the bios to 1013. I see the new option for raid or scsi, I have that enabled. Boot to the windows disk. Hit f6, load the raid drivers, goes through the process and still hangs at "Setup is starting windows" Please help!

When the system is starting do you see a screen that says -

Sil 3112a SATAraid Version 4.2.47
Copyright silicon image
Press ctrl+s or F4 to enter raid setup

Then your drives should appear eg

0 Maxtor 80gb
1 Maxtor 80gb

?

Yes that is what I see, except my hard drives are WD 200GB.

Maybe you can try keep the two Sata drives separate (do not make them into an array) and then install Windows. Once installed then convert them into an array.

You say you have set the raid up in bios, is this the mobo bios eg. Advanced bios settings raid or scsi mine is set as raid.
First boot is set as cdrom.
Second boot is set as scsi, all the rest disabled.

Have you also used the sil setup utility ie F4 on startup to set the raid up and what type of raid are you trying to set up stripe or mirror.?

Yes, I have updated my bios, and now have it set to boot to Raid. Yes I have hit f4 to set up array as mirrored. And I have the first boot cdrom, then scsi, with all the rest disabled. Thanks for your continuing support.

Maybe you can try keep the two Sata drives separate (do not make them into an array) and then install Windows. Once installed then convert them into an array.


How can I use my two SATA drives separately??? Have same MOBO and experiencing same problems with set up and recognition of drives in MY COMPUTER

Check out this posting of mine from 03/03/05 . . .
Ater my computer crashed and I replaced the motherboard (faulty IDE controller), I found it impossible to install Windows XP on my new setup. I determined that there were no hardware problems, so the fault was probably with the OS, APIC mode settings or with my computer's problem with recognizing the XP installation sequence.
Here's how I was able to install WinXP:

First, clear the CMOS on the motherboard (usually with a jumper). Set FSB at lowest setting, also with motherboard jumper. Make sure that the only components on the computer are the basics: CPU, memory, hard drive, floppy drive and CD ROM. Use only one stick of memory, preferably one that has shown to work properly when the computer was working.
Fire up the computer and go into BIOS setup. Set boot sequence in Advanced BIOS to floppy, CD ROM and hard drive (SCSI with SATA drives). Disable level 1 and level 2 cache (really important). Disable APIC mode. Go into Advanced Chipset features and set CPU external frequency to the lowest setting. Set system performance to optimal. Leave memory frequency at SPD.
The reason for doing this is to get the computer to operate slowly. The reason for getting it to slow down is that, for some reason on some computers (this is the second time it has happened to me using an nforce chipset), you get zero time to hit the enter button after the "Setup Is Starting Windows" and "Processing Information File" is presented. With a slower computer, you have time to start the sequence of formatting and preliminary file installation--you can hit that button and it works!
Here's where the rub comes in: the installation of the primary files will take an incredible amount of time. It took my computer about eight hours to just accomplish this phase of installation. BUT . . . the files will install.
My idea was to let the installation go overnight while placing a floppy in the drive so that the file install phase comes to a halt by itself, unattended.
I got up in the morning and instead of taking the floppy out and hitting "ANY KEY" to proceed, I hit Alt/Ctrl/Delete. That brought me to the BIOS after hitting the Delete key. In the BIOS, I returned every setting to default (optimum, whatever) and then I reset the necessary jumpers. After this was done, the computer automatically performed the rest of the installation without need of intervention.
What I've discovered since performing these operations is that my problem is not unique--there are lots of people on this and other web sites looking for a cure to this particular predicament. I am in the process of relaying the method I used successfully to all of these web sites .
I am really good at understanding computers, especially hardware issues. But this problem threw me for a loop. The only thing I knew I needed to do to try and solve it was to slow down the computer so that I had time to hit the appropriate buttons.
And it worked!
I hope you all find this information useful (I'm pretty sure my "cure" will never end up on Microsoft's troubleshooting web site!).

Thank you all for all the help! My system is up and running now.