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The problem might be, that you didn't integrate the correct textmode driver.The Intel textmode drivers do only work, if your mainboard/notebook has a Southbridge with an Intel ICH7-10 chipset. Which mainboard/notebook are you using?

Exactly that is the way how it was layed down by me within the Annex 1 part of this Vista installation guide.

@ Sapphire: Don't worry, you didn't offend me in any way. To make this clear, I have sent you a PM. By the way: Did you install Vista x64 onto your NF3 RAID system? If yes, how did you manage it? CU Fernando

@ Sapphire: Although I am very interested in getting feedback from NF3 RAID users, who are going to install XP x64, I have to stop our discussion at this point. You are obviously using an OS CD, which you got from Warez sites. This is not a forum, where you will get any support for illegal software. My advice: Buy an original XP x64 CD and return here. By the way: Even if you would delete all NV files from within the AMD64 folder and all driver folders, which have previously been created by nLite (name "NLDRV") or any other tool ("Drivers" or similar), you will still have the wrong entries within the WINNT.SIF/TXTSETUP.SIF files. Nevertheless I want to thank you for your test reports, which certify, that a ) the precondition of a successful driver integration is a clean source and b ) it is not useful at all to integrate as many textmode drivers as possible. CU Fernando EDIT: You should update your "Personal Profile Informations" regarding the used OS.

Look into the AMD64 directory of your XP x64 CD and search for file names beginning with the letters "NV" and ending with the suffix ".SY_" or ".SYS". If you don't find any of such files, you can be sure, that no nForce textmode drivers have already been integrated.Notice: The AMD64 directory of the original XP x64 CD contains just 1 file, which begins with the letters "NV": NV4_DISP.IN_ (that's the compressed INF file of NVIDIA's video driver).

The DeviceIDs of NVIDIA's (VEN_10DE) compatible P-ATA and S-ATA Controllers are:DEV_00E5 = NVIDIA nForce 3 250 Parallel ATA Controller DEV_00E3 = NVIDIA nForce 3 250 Serial ATA Controller. The other listed compatible Controllers are the MS ones (Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controllers), which can handle P-ATA and S-ATA drives. Where did you see these devices? Exactly.

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! Good luck! Fernando EDIT: You should always use a clean=untouched source, if you are going to integrate textmode drivers.

Thanks for sampling and uploading the files.I will have a deeper look into the SETUPAPI.LOG file and write, what I found. 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.

No, they are within the WINDOWS directory of the failed OS partition (= C:\Windows). Are you able to get the SETUPERR.LOG and SETUPAPI.LOG files? I am unsure, if you get any nVRAID BIOS version higher than 4.81 running with NF3 chipsets.

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. Since I believe, that this file will be without any entry, I need the SETUPAPI.LOG file, which documents the hardware installation procedure.Good luck! Fernando

You were right, if we would speak about PnP drivers. All these drivers are only checked and used during the second = GUIMODE part of the OS Setup routine. At this stage Setup will have no problem to find the suitable driver INF file entries of the detected Vendor and Device ID. You can integrate as many PnP drivers you want without getting any problem (not even by 64bit drivers integrated into a 32bit OS).The situation is different with mass storage controller (=textmode) drivers, because the OS Setup needs them already during the first = TEXTMODE part of the installation. The real textmode driver (= SYS file) needs to be within the root of the i386/AMD64 directory. Problem 1: Many textmode drivers have the same name (example: IASTOR.SYS), but totally different content (32/64bit structure, differnt versions supporting different ICH Controllers etc.). If you would integrate all available Intel textmode drivers for all existing Intel AHCI and RAID Controllers, only a few of them would be detected, because only the latest integrated driver would work. All previously integrated IASTOR.SYS resp. IASTOR.SY_ files were overwritten by the next one during the textmode driver integration routine. Problem 2: The hardware detection and the driver check within the TEXTMODE part of the installation is not as accurate as within the GUIMODE part. That is why you get error messages like "File xyz.SYS is corrupt" or "Cannot find file xyz.SYS" or Setup even loads the wrong driver with the consequence of a sudden BSOD.

No. If you don't have a running OS an your PC, let it be. It's not that important, since I know, that you have an nForce3 250 SataRAID system. It's not for me, but for you and other users (if it should work...). Yes, but this will be not easy, because you don't have a dual boot system.By the way: Why don't you install XP x64 onto a separate partition? That would be the best solution (unless you don't have enough space on your RAID array).

@ Sapphire: Thanks for your efforts to get XP x64 installed onto your nForce3 250 RAID system and for reporting your test results. It's a pity, that the installation failed at least. I didn't expect, that you wouldn't even succeed with the 32/64bit nForce IDE drivers v4.68 of NVIDIA's Beta pack 6.25. Further questions: 1. Do you have a SataRAID or PataRAID system? 2. Which is the exact HardwareID of your nForce S-ATA or P-ATA Controller (look into the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers section of the Device Manager)? 3. When you tested the nForce IDE drivers v6.99, did you take this driverpack? Recommendations: 1. Please test the 64bit LEGACY drivers, which were built and customized by me yesterday evening (link). 2. If the installation should fail again, please save the SETUPERR.LOG (if it's not empty) and the SETUPAPI.LOG file. You will find them both within the WINDOWS directory of the partition, where you tried to install XP x64. Zip the LOG file, upload it to RapidShare or any other hoster and post the link. Good luck! Fernando

@ iSmart: Thank you very much for your very interesting and substantiated contributions. Your comment is always welcome! We should stay in contact, because I am still going to create/customize nForce IDE drivers for chipsets, which are not supported anymore by NVIDIA. Regards Fernando EDIT: That's right, but since this breaks the WHQL stamp, things will be more difficult with Vista and Windows 7.

Thanks for these additional informations.Further questions: 1. Is it necessary or useful to list "DEV_560" (= P-ATA Controller of MCP67 boards) within the INF file of any nForce driverpack, although this device cannot use any nForce IDE driver (it needs the MS generic IDE driver PCIIDE.SYS)? 2. Do users with a "fake RAID with no array, but controller in AHCI mode" need to integrate your RAID or your AHCI folder?

@ jdfox: If you want, you may try to integrate the RAID folder of iSmart's modded driverpack. This would be an interesting test. Maybe you will succeed this way. Regards Fernando

No mistake. PCI\VEN_10DE&CC_0106 really works— and works great.Just let me explain: In fact, we have the one and only driver (any latest, now it's 10.3.0.42) for all AHCI-mode HWID's— so, no need to enumerate all of them with DEV's— just PCI\VEN_10DE&CC_0106— and it's done. Are you sure about that?If the "PCI\VEN_10DE&CC_0106" entry is good for all DEV's, why are there still listed a lot of them? @ Sapphire: Since you now have an updated nVRAID BIOS v4.81, you probably will be able to get XP x64 installed by using one of my modded nForce IDE drivers v6.99. Please try to install Windows XP x64 again by using my modded nForce IDE drivers 6.99 (Link). Attention: Both driver folders should be integrated by using nLite (SATARAID as textmode and SATA_IDE as PnP driver). If the installation should fail, you may try to create another XP x64 CD with integrated nForce IDE drivers v6.99, but this time you should take the content of my just created LEGACY folder as textmode driver. Download this driver version from here, unzip it and integrate the content of the unzipped package as textmode driver. Attention: You have to use a freshly created source folder. Don't start the new nLite session with an already used source. Good luck! Fernando

Thanks for the link to the modded 32bit nForce IDE drivers v10.3.0.42, which seem to be very interesting, but unusable for Sapphire with his nForce3 chipset RAID system.After having done a first view into the driver folders, I found the following: 1. Only AHCI capable nForce chipsets (from MCP65 up) are supported by these nForce IDE drivers. 2. The drivers contain just the english (US and UK) and russian co-installer DLL files, all others are missing. 3. Within the NVGTS.INF file there seems to be a mistake within the list of supported HardwareID's (the first lines do not contain the DEV ID). 4. Very interesting: The modded drivers seem to support even the newest nForce chipsets (newer HardwareID's than NVIDIA's recent driver sets 15.23/15.24/20.08). You are right - you cannot use these drivers, because they are 32bit ones and do not support nForce3 chipsets at all.

Why weren't you be able to get a higher nVRAID version? Did you ever try to flash an updated nVRAID BIOS into your mainboard BIOS yourself? Probably yes. Which driver version did you take and how did you integrate it?Have you used a clean (=untouched) XP CD as source?

@ Sapphire: You got the error message, because you didn't use a clean (= untouched) XP CD. As soon as Windows Setup sees a file named WINNT.SIF within the i386 directory, it assumes, that all needed textmode drivers have been integrated into the OS CD. Although Setup had loaded the F6/floppy drivers, it "forgets" them and doesn't find the source later on. Solution: You either have to boot off an original XP CD (not nLited at all) and use the F6/floppy method or you have to integrate the nForce textmode drivers into the CD (don't hit F6 in this case!). Tips: 1. You may need to update your nVRAID BIOS version to 4.81 by using a tool like CBROM215.EXE. 2. If you are going to integrate the 64bit textmode drivers into Windows XP x64, you may try the nForce IDE drivers v6.99, which are much newer and better than NVIDIA's old Beta drivers of the 8.25 set. Recently I have modded the 64bit nForce SATARAID and SATA_IDE drivers v6.99 to make them usable with nForce3 250 chipset RAID users. Here is the download link. Unzip the package and integrate the SATARAID folder content as TEXTMODE driver and additional the SATA_IDE folder content as PnP driver by using nLite. Please report here, if you succeeded with these drivers.

Create a bootable XP CD with integrated 32bit Intel textmode drivers as written within the first post of this thread.When you come to the step, where to decide which Intel Controllers you want to be supported, enable just the 5th and the 6th of the listed ones (those with the "ICH-7M" within the names). Do not integrate, remove or tweak anything else. Let nLite burn directly the image. And I think it's AHCI.Good luck! Fernando

Thanks for having done the test and for uploading the LOG file about the hardware installation during the XP Setup.This is what I found out: The NVIDIA nForce RAID Controller (HardwareID: acpi\nvraid20,*nvraid20) hasn't been installed by Windows Setup, because a ) the driver files were "unsigned or incorrectly signed" and b ) "The operation was canceled by the user" (which obviously is wrong and misleading). The NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller (HardwareIDs: ven_10de&dev_07f8&subsys_01371025&rev_a2, ven_10de&dev_07f8&subsys_01371025, ven_10de&dev_07f8&cc_010485, ven_10de&dev_07f8&cc_0104) has been installed at least, but a ) the driver files were "unsigned or incorrectly signed" and b ) "The operation was canceled by the user" (which obviously is wrong and misleading). I have copied both parts and put them into the attached file. NVIDIA_RAID_and_SATA_Controllers_installation_part_of_SETUPAPI.zip Conclusion: The nForce IDE drivers v10.3.0.42, which are part of NVIDIA's nForce chipset driverpack 20.08, seem to be able to detect your RAID Controllers, but cannot be correctly installed by Windows Setup. Options for you: a ) ask NVIDIA or Gateway for usable XP nForce SataRAID drivers b ) try another driverpack (NVIDIA Germany is offering the nForce chipset driverpack 16.08 for users with an nForce 630i/610i = MCP73 chipset, look here). c ) stick with Vista or d ) disable RAID within the BIOS, install Windows XP and then Vista (advantage: you will get a dual boot system at once). Didn't you see the "Don't reboot at system failure" option? Maybe there is a point "Advanced options" with this option in it.

@ Glaedr: AFAIK you can't do a vitual install of an OS by using VMware, if you have a RAID or AHCI system. So you have to do a real install. Which Southbridge chipset does your mainboard/notebook have? Are you running RAID or AHCI?

@ jdfox: Please don't quote the complete text I have written and please do not quote your own text. Hit the "Preview Post" button, before you submit it. That makes it easier to read for me and for other users. EDIT after having seen your updated previous post: I have two hard drives. I installed the 2nd one. Vista in on the 1st on and the installed XP is on the 2nd one.That's intersting, I didn't remember this fact. The settings are from the initial Gateway settings. The SATA Mode is preset to Raid Mode and is greyed out so it is not changeable.Ok, but maybe another BIOS setting will unlock the RAID preset.Currently you have 2 single hdd's set in TAID mode, but without any benefit by having built a RAID array (RAID0 for performance or RAID1 for security).

That's an interesting test result, which explains somehow, why my recently modded nForce IDE drivers v9.99.09 didn't work for you.Conclusions: 1. What you need to load/integrate is the SATARAID driver folder as textmode driver. 2. Your problems to get the RAIDed S-ATA drive(s) detected, obviously was not related to missing INF or OEM files entries within the used driverpacks, but by a missing special nForce S-ATA driver, which may fully support your hardware and BIOS configuration. No, you should not do that, but I would rather like to see the SETUPAPI.LOG file of a nearly completed XP installation.So if you want to take the time, do the following: Integrate the SATARAID driver folder of the original 20.08 driverpack into the XP CD by using nLite. Take a clean = untouched MS CD as source. Boot off the nLited CD and try to install XP onto a free and NTFS formatted partition. If the installation should end again with endless reboots, hit F8 and choose the option "Don't reboot at system failure". Make a notice with the error message. Repair the Vista bootloader and boot into Vista. Search for the SETUPAPI.LOG file within the WINDOWS directory of the partition with the failed XP installation. Zip the LOG file and upload it to RapidShare or any other host server. Post here the error message and the download link to the SETUPAPI.LOG file. Good luck! Another questions: 1. Are you sure, that your computer has just 1 single hard disk drive? 2. Who configurated your PC, that means who has done the BIOS and nVRAID Utility settings? I ask this, because I don't see any sense to enable RAID by having just 1 single hdd. Maybe all your problems can be solved by disabling RAID and enabling the S-ATA ports within the BIOS. Before you are trying to do that, you should make a complete backup of your running Vista partition by using a tool like Acronis TrueImage.