W2K SP3
AMD 1.33 GHz CPU
ASUS A7M266 mobo
512 MB RAM
Win2000 Promise FastTrack 100 PCI Card Raid Controller
Two 60 GB IBM Hard Drives in RAID 0 (Striped) configuration (i.e., the CPU thinks there is one 120 GB Hard Drive) formatted into two NTFS primary partitions (C (80 GB) + I (40 GB))
PIONEER DVD-ROM DVD-105 [CD-ROM drive]
PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W1610A CDRW
PowerQuest Partition Magic 7.0
(everything latest drivers, firmware, BIOS)
When attempting to either repair or do a clean reinstall of W2K, the installation CD cannot see the two NTFS partitions (C + I) on my RAID configured hard drive. Since I want to do an emergency install to C from a backup file on I (which also contains the data files), obviously this won’t do.
When attempting a clean reinstall, the first attempt failed with this message:
“your computer’s startup program cannot gain access to the disk containing the partitions or free space you chose. setup cannot install W2K on this hard disk. disk not visible to the startup program unless special software is installed. contact your hard disk controller manufacturer”
Underneath was indicated: “No hard drives”
But remembering that earlier in the process, I was given an opportunity to load special hardware drivers, I rebooted and when prompted, loaded the RAID drivers from the Promise FastTrack floppy.
This must have been successful because I did not get the above message about there being no accessible hard drives. Instead, I get the following:
“the following list shows the existing partitioned and unpartitioned space on this computer.”
“unknown 120 GB”
And I am then given the choice of:
“set up W2K in selected partition
create a partition in unpartitioned space
delete selected partitioned”
However, when I attempted to select “create a partition” (just to see what would happen) there was no response. Furthermore, at the bottom of the screen, only the keyboard commands for “set up W2K” and “delete selected partition” are present.
If I try to “set up W2K in selected partition” , I get the following message:
"Setup cannot install W2K on this partition, but you can delete the partition and setup will create a new partition on which to install W2K."
But this would mean loosing the unseen I partition and all it’s contents.
Certainly, W2K setup should be able to install on a NTFS partition. But notice that after installing the Promise RAID drivers, even tho the hard drive is then visible, neither the C or I partitions show up – just an “unknown” 120 GB disk.
When attempting a repair, and after loading the Raid drivers. I am given the same:
“unknown 120 GB”
Setup cannot find the OS and any commands that I try to enter in C:\ (which setup assumes is the drive where the OS must be even if it can’t see any partitions) produces the following:
"The specified drive is not valid or there is no disk in the drive."
So, the question is, why can't W2K Setup see the partitions. If loading the RAID drivers allows Setup to see the hard drive, why can't it see the partitions? Is there some other driver I should be loading along with the RAID drivers?
AMD 1.33 GHz CPU
ASUS A7M266 mobo
512 MB RAM
Win2000 Promise FastTrack 100 PCI Card Raid Controller
Two 60 GB IBM Hard Drives in RAID 0 (Striped) configuration (i.e., the CPU thinks there is one 120 GB Hard Drive) formatted into two NTFS primary partitions (C (80 GB) + I (40 GB))
PIONEER DVD-ROM DVD-105 [CD-ROM drive]
PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W1610A CDRW
PowerQuest Partition Magic 7.0
(everything latest drivers, firmware, BIOS)
When attempting to either repair or do a clean reinstall of W2K, the installation CD cannot see the two NTFS partitions (C + I) on my RAID configured hard drive. Since I want to do an emergency install to C from a backup file on I (which also contains the data files), obviously this won’t do.
When attempting a clean reinstall, the first attempt failed with this message:
“your computer’s startup program cannot gain access to the disk containing the partitions or free space you chose. setup cannot install W2K on this hard disk. disk not visible to the startup program unless special software is installed. contact your hard disk controller manufacturer”
Underneath was indicated: “No hard drives”
But remembering that earlier in the process, I was given an opportunity to load special hardware drivers, I rebooted and when prompted, loaded the RAID drivers from the Promise FastTrack floppy.
This must have been successful because I did not get the above message about there being no accessible hard drives. Instead, I get the following:
“the following list shows the existing partitioned and unpartitioned space on this computer.”
“unknown 120 GB”
And I am then given the choice of:
“set up W2K in selected partition
create a partition in unpartitioned space
delete selected partitioned”
However, when I attempted to select “create a partition” (just to see what would happen) there was no response. Furthermore, at the bottom of the screen, only the keyboard commands for “set up W2K” and “delete selected partition” are present.
If I try to “set up W2K in selected partition” , I get the following message:
"Setup cannot install W2K on this partition, but you can delete the partition and setup will create a new partition on which to install W2K."
But this would mean loosing the unseen I partition and all it’s contents.
Certainly, W2K setup should be able to install on a NTFS partition. But notice that after installing the Promise RAID drivers, even tho the hard drive is then visible, neither the C or I partitions show up – just an “unknown” 120 GB disk.
When attempting a repair, and after loading the Raid drivers. I am given the same:
“unknown 120 GB”
Setup cannot find the OS and any commands that I try to enter in C:\ (which setup assumes is the drive where the OS must be even if it can’t see any partitions) produces the following:
"The specified drive is not valid or there is no disk in the drive."
So, the question is, why can't W2K Setup see the partitions. If loading the RAID drivers allows Setup to see the hard drive, why can't it see the partitions? Is there some other driver I should be loading along with the RAID drivers?
