Sapphire

1. NVIDIA's Beta driverpack v6.25 was published during the first stage of the development of Windows XP x64 to give users with an nForce3 chipset mainboard the chance to use this OS. You cannot expect a high value of stability by using these early Beta drivers.2. If you are running a 64bit OS, you should use natively 64bit supporting drivers. Otherwise you will get problems (sudden BSOD's). 3. Benchmark results and the results while working are different things. You should compare the drivers with special scenarios, where the I/O activity is extremely high (Videeo encoding, copying big sized files etc.). I see, and also experienced. The OS suddenly BSOD the other day during my testing. However I was using XP x86. The x86 driver I used was also old (2004). I would assume the v6.25 for the x64 will also occurs BSOD. I will have to do further testings with v6.25 comparing with v6.99.

The "64bit" nForce IDE drivers v4.68 of NVIDIA's BETA package 6.25 are 32/64bit compatible drivers, whereas the 64bit nForce IDE drivers v6.66 are clean 64bit ones, which cannot be used with a 32bit OS.You will get much better results with natively 64bit drivers, if you are going to install a 64bit OS. I see, You wrote" You will get much better results with natively 64bit drivers, if you are going to install a 64bit OS." What is the better result were you referring to? I did a benchmark test on both x64 with the Official v6.25 and the x64 with v6.99 (your latest Mod) using HD tune (trial version) as the benchmark software. The benchmark result was identical. Throughput ~100MB/s Seek time 13.2ms.

Hi Fernando, Just a quick question for you. What will be the difference between using the official 6.25 from Nvidia Website than your modded 6.99 driver? Sapphire

No, I did not bother to install Vista x64 on my NF3 RAID. The Vista x64 I bought was installed on my new AMD Triple Core 8450 on Asus board with no RAID. But I am pretty sure a user can install Vista x64 on a NF3 RAID by first installing XP x64 on it first then upgrade to Vista x64 within the OS. I think there's no driver for vista x64 with NF3?? Some say using XP x64 driver works (but it's is really rare). Regards,

The reason I wanted to give another try after 3 years is just I wanted to know what I did wrong 3 years ago. Spending all this time (I probably have made and burnt ISO (30 mins each) 50 times and do the installation (30 mins) 50 times, so roughtly I spend 50 hours straight during the last 3 weeks. I currently own an Intel Duo 2 Core 7300 laptop with genuine with XP 32bit, and a Intel Pen4 3.2Ghz with genuine XP 32bit with 4 Disks RAID0 setup. So you can figure I pretty much don't need that wimpy AMD with the nForce3 RAID for anything. Additionally, I hope that my testings can help some other users as well in regards to this nForce3 issues. If someone can donate a copy of XP 64bit CD temporary to me for this testing, It would be much appreciated. Fernando, I hope I didn't offended you in anyway. I am not a proud user of using pirate software. I currently just bought a genuine Vista Ultimate 64bit, (Don't buy, it's awefully slow, I really should try it out before spending my money ) Cheers,

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After having a look into the SETUPAPI.LOG file I probably found the reason for the failure of the OS installation:Instead of just integrating the LEGACY folder of my recently linked nForce IDE drivers v6.99 you obviously have integrated a couple of different nForce IDE driver versions (v6.66, v6.68, v6.99, v10.3.0.21 and v10.3.0.42). Result: Windows Setup installed different driver versions for the nForce P-ATA/SATA Controllers and the RAID Controller, which doesn't work at all. Furthermore you have integrated the actual nForce IDE drivers v10.3.0.42, which were taken by the Setup routine while installing the NVIDIA nForce RAID Controller (because these drivers are WHQL), but these actual RAID drivers do not work at all with NF3-4 chipsets. Please repeat the creation of the XP x64 CD with integrated nForce textmode drivers from scratch (with a fresh source, don't use the old one again), but just integrate the LEGACY folder of my newest driverpack and nothing else! I am not sure how that happened, maybe I did mixed up my ISO files (since I have like 8 of them now with diff version of driver). But I am aware of that issue not to mix diff version drivers into the same ISO. I will try again now with the XP x64 source (I dont' have an untouch version), but hopefully at least I can nLite that source with your LEGACY drivers only this time. Is there way to check the source to see if it already contains any other version of nForce drivers? I did a simple test, I use the source without do anything to it (straight from the original). And it didn't see the RAID at all, can that implies the source contain no nForce drivers that might affect anything? Regards,

Which nForce SataRAID drivers (which driver version, LEGACY or SATARAID+SATA_IDE) did you take? It would be interesting to know, if the 32bit version of the v6.99 IDE drivers are working with your RAID system.I didn't use any of the newer drivers. I had a disk for my nvRAID nf3 250 that I got from 2 years ago. It's states v2.6. It's probably be LEGACY I guess. Driver dated : DriverVer=06/03/2004,5.10.2600.0446 I zipped up the driver, Here: http://rapidshare.com/files/167029790/driver.zip.html I am also suspecting the windows install CD source is not clean enuf. It is modded xp x64 with sp2 and some appz, it install okay on systems but just not my RAID.

No, they are within the WINDOWS directory of the failed OS partition (= C:\Windows). Yup, I found it.. Are you able to get the SETUPERR.LOG and SETUPAPI.LOG files?Yes, here it is.. http://rapidshare.com/files/167015343/setup_log.zip.html Hope this will help you. I am unsure, if you get any nVRAID BIOS version higher than 4.81 running with NF3 chipsets.It basically behave exactly the same with F19, v4.60 and the new F21A, v4.81. So I don't really think that is a factor. I wouldn't think v4.84 will help either. And yes, I have just installed Windows XP x86 Slipstream SP3 on my RAID0 on the first try, no problem whatsoever. So all my hardware is good.

Inf files in this pack looks ok... These should work. Sapphire, we're waiting 4 your testing results! Hi Guys, Just a quick head-ups.. No, the 64bit LEGACY drivers that release by Fernando last night didn't work. it behaves the same as the other. installation was okay, but windows can't load, keep crashing, safe mode didn't work..

Okay, I should do that then. I do have 600GBytes of space.. That is a good decision, which will help you to have access to any file even after a crash of any of your installed Operating Systems.Yes, I am installing a temporary Win XP x86 on my RAID0 now. Since I believe, that this file will be without any entry, I need the SETUPAPI.LOG file, which documents the hardware installation procedure.So this SETUPERR.LOG and SETUPAPI.LOG should be in the root dir of the Failed OS partition right? C:\>??

Okay, I should do that then. I do have 600GBytes of space.. I will let you know about the SETUPERR.LOG.

Thanks for your prompt reply, Fernando 1. I am using SataRAID with 2 Seagate Brracuda 320G 2. I will have to find that out but need to install a temporary windows x86 on the system first to look at the HardwareID, is the a easy way to read the HardwareID on a system with no OS? 3. I have used your nForce_IDE_699_for_XP_64bit_mod_by_Fernando.zip (637KB) 1. I will try this newly built for you. 2. How do I get to access this SETUPERR.LOG? From the Failed OS partition? Regards,

Hi Fernando, Here's my testing results, Before I flash my nvraid.rom, With K8NS F19 BIOS, and nvraid @ v4.60 Using driver version: 6.25 -FAILED, 6.56 -FAILED, 6.67 -FAILED, 6.99 -FAILED, The window installation was okay, but when the system reboot for the 1st time, it crashes, safe mode, etc, didn't help. After I flashed my nvraid.rom, With K8NS F21A BIOS, and nvraid @ v4.81 Using driver version: 6.25 -FAILED, 6.67 -FAILED, 6.99 -FAILED, The window installation was okay, but when the system reboot for the 1st time, it crashes, safe mode, etc, didn't help. All drivers were incorporated into the XP 64bit (SP2 Slipstreamed) itself using nLite, into an ISO, then burn the ISO onto a DVD disk. There should be nothing wrong with my system since I was using Windows XP x86 on RAID0 and nvRaid With K8NS F19 BIOS, and nvraid @ v4.60. It's just that x64 is a bit of a pain to install. Please advice. Sapphire

Okay, I will stick with Fernando's modded v6.99. I will let you know about the result.