[Integration of NVIDIA's nForce RAID and AHCI drivers]

Hey guys,

Sorry I haven't touched base here in a few days. This site is supposed to notify me when messages are posted but it only does so occasionally.

douirc, sounds like you're on your way to success! Sorry I wasn't here for you man. You shouldn't have any problems with USB as long as you have NOT disabled your parallel port (and possibly some of the others but I think it's mainly the P-port).

Merry Christmas to All!

[Integration of NVIDIA's nForce RAID and AHCI drivers]

so i've been trying to make this work for the last two days now and still haven't been able to figure it out. the instructions seem so simple, yet after the installation of windows, i'm still getting the dreaded BSOD. I'm using nLite v1.2.1, windows XP (no SP) and nvidia drivers v6.86 on a DFI Expert with 2 Raptor 74GB RAID 0.

1. i put my xp cd in the cd-rom and start nlite

2. nlite asks for the location of windows xp and i point it at the cd-rom

3. nlite then asks where to store the new xp files, so i create a temp folder on my desktop and point nlite to the directory

4. i choose to include the service pack, drivers and create an iso

5. i point nlite at the XP SP2 file, which extracts and integrates the files into windows

6. nlite then asks for the drivers

6a. in preparation for this step, i downloaded platform driver 6.86 and extract the content into a temp folder on my desktop

6b. i choose 'single driver' in nlite and point it at the IDE\WinXP\SATARAID folder from the extracted platform drivers

6c. i pick both drivers nlite shows (nvatabus and nvraid) in TXT format

7. i created the iso file and burned a CD for installation

8. windows xp installation recognizes the raid drive, formats and installs files

9. windows reboots and begins installation, asking for user information

10. windows has final reboot to enter new installation, and then i get BSOD

if the drivers weren't working, would i see the raid drive in the installation? plus, it reboots and continues on with the second part of the installation flawlessly, which i thought meant everything was working. but when it reboots for the final login, it fails.

i know this works when i do it manually. when i hit F6 and installa the drivers off a floppy, windows installs and runs just fine. i just can't get it to work using nlite. any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks!

douirc, to make mine work I had to also add the nvatabus.inf driver from the legacy folder (using the most recent chipset driver from nvidia, not sure which). Once I did that my driver problems were solved.

If you look at my previous post you'll note that there is another issue, and that involves disabling some of the drivers in the bios. With at least the Asus A8N32 board, and possibly other nforce4 boards, if you disable the parallel port because it’s not going to be used it messes up the USB. Mine was so bad it caused a brief BSOD and then reboot on the first windows boot after all the driver loads, and each subsequent boot attempt. If there is nothing plugged into ANY USB ports then you’re fine. All it took to crash mine was a single USB mouse.

If yours is working with an F6 floppy load why are you attempting this method?

[Integration of NVIDIA's nForce RAID and AHCI drivers]

Hi Guys, Help me here. I have been trying to install windows on my Father-In-Law's computer for several months. Every time I call Asus they tell me the MB must be bad and it has been replaced 4 times. With the same problem ever time I assume it can't really be that many bad MB's or everyone on the internet would be complaining!

Still I cannot believe that 1) I can't find that many instances of the same problem, and 2) that Asus is unaware or anable to help me with this! The only way I found this thread is because I searched for “nforce4 reboot” rather than A8N32.

It’s an Asus A8N32-SLI deluxe and I am having the same problem you describe, where once all the files are installed and it tries to boot for the first time it goes into a reboot cycle.

Unfortunately your solution is not working for me. I followed all your steps as best I could but when the installation is copying files it keeps telling me that it can’t find at least 75 different files, including nvraid.cat and many other nv files. If I hit escape to skip those files, well, you can guess the result. I tried redoing the iso adding files from the different nforce folders into the i386 folder in the nlite folder, but that doesn’t work either.

Tia

Jim Fain

Update: Looks like I got it guys. I was trying to use nlite 1.1 and it apparently doesn't work as well as nlite 1.2. I added the drivers like the instructions in the first post said and voila! Success! Yaaaay! Thank you, Thank you, Thank You Mr. Fernando! You ROCK!

EDIT: OK, I got to Windows but then it asks to update the IDE channel drivers. If I let it update the drivers automatically it apparently installs the wrong ones because it almost immediately goes to a blue screen "machine_check_error." Back to the drawing board!

EDIT #2: OK, I fixed it by adding the nvatabus.inf file from the legacy folder. It now boots to Windows and I can install all the other devices!

Thanks again Fernando! You ROCK!

Edit Again: OK, now I have everything working. I unplug the PS2 mouse and plugged in a USB mouse and once again I get continuous rebooting when trying to get to windows. I am serious. If I plug in the other mouse it boots just fine. What's the deal there? Is there another incompatible device or driver?

EDIT AGAIN: I hope someone somewhere reads this and saves themselves the anguish I went thru trying to get this *&%$# computer running. I called Asus support several times about this and they were useless. USB won’t work properly unless you leave certain devices enabled in bios. Any of you nerds out there know that you traditionally disable unused on-board devices to conserve IRQ’s which promotes stability. With this board it makes USB unstable, causing crashing when you plug certain devices in. I am specifically talking about the onboard serial and parallel ports. If you leave them enabled your USB will work properly. If not, Windows won’t boot with a USB mouse plugged in; I kid you not. I have gone thru four motherboards with this issue. Asus themselves thought they were bad and had me RMA them.

[Integration of NVIDIA's nForce RAID and AHCI drivers]

Hi Guys, Help me here. I have been trying to install windows on my Father-In-Law's computer for several months. Every time I call Asus they tell me the MB must be bad and it has been replaced 4 times. With the same problem ever time I assume it can't really be that many bad MB's or everyone on the internet would be complaining!

Still I cannot believe that 1) I can't find that many instances of the same problem, and 2) that Asus is unaware or anable to help me with this! The only way I found this thread is because I searched for “nforce4 reboot” rather than A8N32.

It’s an Asus A8N32-SLI deluxe and I am having the same problem you describe, where once all the files are installed and it tries to boot for the first time it goes into a reboot cycle.

Unfortunately your solution is not working for me. I followed all your steps as best I could but when the installation is copying files it keeps telling me that it can’t find at least 75 different files, including nvraid.cat and many other nv files. If I hit escape to skip those files, well, you can guess the result. I tried redoing the iso adding files from the different nforce folders into the i386 folder in the nlite folder, but that doesn’t work either.

Tia

Jim Fain