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Reload this Page Windows XP installation stability problems with SATA RAID H.D.

Windows XP installation stability problems with SATA RAID H.D.

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  #41  
Old 03-31-2005
Newcomer, in training
  
Member since: Mar 2005, 17 posts
Your quote is correct.

The HDDs are partitioned with a small secondary partition that holds the original version of the PC as it was when I got it. Therefore I'm going to back up all the important stuff to CD then reinstall Windows using the version at this second partition and see if that makes a difference.

cheers

BW
  #42  
Old 03-31-2005
Vigilante's Avatar
TechSpot Paladin
  
Location: Arizona, USA
Member since: Dec 2004, 2,120 posts
Excellent. When you reload, use all the new drivers you've been downloading thus far.

Then apparently XP has decided that it won't accept any new drivers for it's own boot partition. So I'm pretty sure, this has got to be the next step. And once your data is succesfully backed up and verified, you have all freedom to play with your drives and RAID setup and get to the bottom of this.

Good luck, keep us posted on the results.
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  #43  
Old 04-06-2005
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Member since: Mar 2005, 17 posts
Well -

It didnt work Still have the same problem having returned software side of PC to original factory condition. Turned it off overnight then booted up again - exactly the same problem.

Guess it is a hardware issue. Is the next best thing to to swop out the PSU or change the motherboard ??

Yours sadly

BW
  #44  
Old 04-06-2005
Vigilante's Avatar
TechSpot Paladin
  
Location: Arizona, USA
Member since: Dec 2004, 2,120 posts
I still think maybe you got into a bum BIOS. Keep your eye out for a new one, or E-mail the tech support of whoever.

I might add again, if you want to experiment. Since you are reloading now I assume you got your data off somehow?
Reload your XP onto just one HDD with no RAIDing taking place at all. Be sure to do F6 during load, I'm sure you know.
And does it still crap out on you then with only one drive and not even using RAID?
  #45  
Old 04-25-2005
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Member since: Apr 2005, 2 posts
250Gb Western Digital Caviar 2500JD SATA on Gigabyte Dual GA-7A8DW MOBO
Hello!
New Here!

I think this forum is of big help, but i still couldn't find an answer for my problem! I have a Gigabyte Dual GA-7A8DW Mobo with a 250 gb SATA HDD and i'm having a problem. After windows xp was installed i rebooted the pc and as soon as the windows loading screen appears the it restarts by itself. I can only load XP on safe mode. Can it be a PSU problem? Not enough power? i have a 380W Tagan Whisper quiet 20db aPFC. is it enough?

Can somebody help me please? I'm geeting desperatted! Thanks
  #46  
Old 04-25-2005
TechSpot Enthusiast
  
Member since: Feb 2005, 464 posts
Have you tried resetting the boot order in BIOS?
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  #47  
Old 04-25-2005
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Member since: Apr 2005, 2 posts
Yes i changed the booting sequence and previously i tried all the steps mentioned on this forum including the sata drivers instalation on the begining of the xp installation by pressing F6, and the HDD was recognized by the system but when the xp is starting to load sudently it reboots by itself.
  #48  
Old 04-25-2005
Vigilante's Avatar
TechSpot Paladin
  
Location: Arizona, USA
Member since: Dec 2004, 2,120 posts
xabinhas, you might want to start a new thread. Your problem is a bit different from the one in this thread.

However, there are some Recovery Console commands you could try.

Any luck, Bagwafu?
  #49  
Old 04-25-2005
Newcomer, in training
  
Member since: Feb 2005, 29 posts
A shot in the dark, but . . .
. . . I had a problem similar to this one a while back. I cured it by clearing the CMOS (leave the jumper off overnight), going into bios and loading setup defaults. Do not change any of the fail safe parameters no matter what. Save and reboot.
Or, it could be a problem that could be detected by following these instructions:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353/ (if you can get into Safe Mode).
  #50  
Old 05-06-2005
Newcomer, in training
  
Member since: Mar 2005, 17 posts
A local PC expert initially seemed to think it is a duff BIOS chip and advised me to flash my BIOS a few times to different versions. I did this and the problem is still there. He then thinks because it works OK during hot reboots and only loses the RAID array when fully powered down, it is a problem with the MB core voltage - I changed the BIOS battery same problem so now it is a duff motherboard itself (??).

Please can someone explain about the core voltage thing (he mentioned +5V) and whether you agree a new MB is in order (they are about $30-$50 on Ebay)? I take it some information is stored electrically even when you power right down - does this include the RAID information? My friend thinks it is not a PSU or dodgy HDD problem however I am not convinced.

cheers

BW
  #51  
Old 05-06-2005
TechSpot Evangelist
  
Location: has left the building
Member since: Aug 2003, 8,160 posts
You guys might want to try the NForce4 drivers. They seem to do very well for the NForce2 IDE-controller, and might do the same for the NForce2 SATA-controller.

Perhaps you could also look at Vigilante's post with similar SIL3112 problems
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic24920.html
  #52  
Old 05-21-2005
Newcomer, in training
  
Member since: May 2005, 1 posts
after all i read, i ainīt got a big problem

well my question:

how do i get win xp to install onto my s-ata harddrive?
iīve seen something with F6 (here and during installation)

i got only 1 HD (do i have to tell the raid controller something special ?)

please answer for dummies


(i have win xp running, but only after i installed on a p-ata HD, then ghosted to the s-ata. i dont want to ghost every installation, you know)

thanks
  #53  
Old 05-21-2005
Vigilante's Avatar
TechSpot Paladin
  
Location: Arizona, USA
Member since: Dec 2004, 2,120 posts
When you run XP setup, you DO have to press F6 to load special drivers.

This driver is for your SATA chipset, whatever it may be. And XP can only load it from a FLOPPY.
So you need to get your SATA driver onto the root of a floppy.

Then, during the begining of setup, XP will ask you to load addition drivers (press S), or continue (press ENTER).
At this point you need to press "S" and have it look on your driver floppy. If it finds a driver, it will ask you which to use. Then you can continue setup.
  #54  
Old 05-22-2005
Newcomer, in training
  
Member since: Feb 2005, 29 posts
One other thing . . .
. . . you'll be asked a second time during the installation of XP for the SATA driver. The process happens so fast, just keep the SATA floppy in the drive and the installation of the driver will happen automatically. (But don't forget to take the disc out of the drive before the first reboot).
Also, I assume that you've gone into your BIOS and set the the boot sequence to Floppy, SCSI (SATA), and HDD so that upon first reboot and final installation your computer boots to your SATA drive.
  #55  
Old 06-18-2005
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Member since: Jun 2005, 1 posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by Polders
I hope somebody can help me, I just bought 2 identical hard drives Western Digital Raptor 36 Giga Sata drives that I wanted to RAID-0 using the motherboard controller I have on the ASUS A7N8X deluxe which is called Silicon Image Sil 3112A controller, so first of all I plugged the sata wires and I started my PC ( Barton 2500+) and setting up the RAID-0 pressing F4 , this operation was succesfull and the bios recognize the 2 hard drives with no problems at all and no conflict.

After that I started installing Windows XP PRO using the 6 floppies + the one containing the Sata Raid controller drivers necessary for WIN to be recognised, I downloaded these drivers from the ASUS website (after unzipping the file) after a while WIN asked me to insert the floppy containing the drivers since I pressed the F6 option that initially the installing program ask if a SATA RAID OR SCSI controller need to be installed. Windows XP PRO recognised the drivers with the only problem that were not digitally signed and this could be the cause of Windows Instability problems, I pressed to "continue anyway" button and the installation proceeded normally even though the same message advising me of istability problems appeared a couple of times more exactly right before WIN XP PRO ask you the time region you are located etc... At the end the program booted and Windows XP PRO was launched properly. This only happened 3 times because at the fourth time I turned on the PC one blue screen appeared and freezed the system, launching WIN XP PRO in the safe mode was not changing anything, always the blue screen and after that nothing and just rebooting rebooting and rebooting.

So, is there a way I can install WINDOWS XP PRO on my new SATA hd drives with RAID-0 without having this big problem? My modo bios is updated with the latest rev. 1008 so I think the problems are that the raid controller sil 3112a 's drivers are not digitally signeed and this cause the instability that now means no Windows at all because of the blue screen.

Can somebody help me or does somebody have any suggestion?
I would really appreciate your help. Thank you Erwin
Hellow Erwin , your problem is that you are installing winXP on a raid 0 and thats not possiable, you cannot have a boot+system pertinion with raid 0

you have to have a HD not raid 0 and to install your winXP on him . then you will be able to use the RAID 0 option with the other 2 HD
  #56  
Old 06-18-2005
Newcomer, in training
  
Member since: Feb 2005, 29 posts
Excuse me, but . . .
. . . there are probably tens of thousands of computer users out there utilizing RAID 0 (striping) configuration on their Win XP Home and Pro operating systems. So, that's not your problem.
Speaking of thousands, that's about how many potential faults you have to chose from that could be causing your problem with the blue screen.
Did you use the Si3112 driver on a floppy that came with your motherboard? That usually doesn't get you a unsigned driver warning when you make the installation.
If not, try downloading the 3112A driver from Silicon Image's web site.
As I have stated numerous times on this forum, nForce 2 Ultra chipset-type motherboards are quirky, which could be causing your blue screen. What has worked for me in the past is reformatting your hard drives (low level type format) and then re-installing your OS. Do this with the minimum of components installed and when you have things working properly, add each component (modem, DVD drives, LAN stuff, etc) one at a time.
Hope this works out for you.
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  #57  
Old 06-22-2005
bazzaw's Avatar
Newcomer, in training
  
Location: New Zealand - Aotearoa
Member since: Jun 2005, 5 posts
SATA & Win XP Problems
Wow - sure is a lot of information to digest on this forum post.
At risk of extending it, perhaps someone can help me with a 'related' SATA/WinXP problem. I am troubleshooting a PC which was operating OK, but recently bombed out. Apparently the owner
installed & ran WinOptimix on it - since rebooting no HDD access & XP simply cycles. No Safe Mode either. All I can access is Bios and the Raid configuration (cant be changed).

The mobo is a Biostar M7VIZ 5.1, KM400 with Via 8237 chipset & is SATA compatible.
The HDD is a single Seagate ST380013AS, in RAID 0 format.

What has been tried? First up I searched forum posts - seems the Via chipset is a big suspect judging from comments on Viaarena.com - lots of bods with unrecognisable SATA drives.
I suspect a driver/chipset incompatibility, however PC was running OK, though it did have a previous problem similar to this apparently.
That time reloading the mobo SATA driver (from floppy) worked.

I downloaded Seagates HDD diagnostics (Seatools Desktop) - drive checked out fine, but SATA Controller was 'unsupported'.
Connected and ran a standard IDE HDD with XP O/S on it - no problem. Then downloaded latest Biostar bios and other drivers (Via 4in1, SATA etc) from website. Have flashed the Bios - made no difference. Checked & d-checked the bios settings - no go there.

Tried reloading XP and the supplied SATA driver on floppy (using F6) several times. XP spends ages checking the drive, then finally craps out saying it cant access it, so have to F3 out. I do wonder about the supplied floppy SATA drivers (dated 2003), but cant find alternatives to DL. Obviously cant load latest Via/SATA drivers until HDD is recognised & Win XP is operable.

Seems the only option is to ditch the SATA drive & run an IDE one unless someone has any bright ideas.
Thanx in anticipation
Bazzaw
  #58  
Old 06-22-2005
TechSpot Addict
  
Location: London
Member since: Apr 2005, 1,267 posts
You might try hooking the SATA disc up to the system when booted from PATA and partition & format. Then remove the PATA and try again.
  #59  
Old 06-22-2005
Newcomer, in training
  
Member since: Feb 2005, 29 posts
Or try this . . .
Start with a completely clean SATA drive by low-level formatting the thing using Seagate's Seatools. This procedure removes everything including the metadata written to the disk, which may explain the problem you are having with recognition.
  #60  
Old 06-22-2005
bazzaw's Avatar
Newcomer, in training
  
Location: New Zealand - Aotearoa
Member since: Jun 2005, 5 posts
Ta Ironduke - was hoping to leave the info on the SATA HDD intact meantime as the owner hasnt any backups (typical). Found newer SATA drivers last night and tried installing them during WinInstall - this time Xp went as far as offering to format the drive which I declined until I can check with owner.
Weird thing about this Mobo Bios is that it doesnt seem to have an entry for SATA devices - have to figure that one out too.
Ah - such fun, so much time .....
Bazzaw
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