Fernando 1

1. There is no "best driver package" useful for every nForce chipset and mainboard. For your system I would try either the 6.86 or the 6.91 chipset driver package. 2. You may try to install Windows XP by just loading (F6) or integrating the SATARAID subfolder of the nForce chipset driver package, but I think, that you will probably need the NVATABUS.INF/NVATA.INF (only available with LEGACY subfolder or with the combination SATARAID+SATA_IDE) to get XP installed onto your nForce RAID array. 3. No. 4. Nothing is required.

Hi AJPatel,I am really sorry, but I can't help you. Your problem has obviously nothing to do with the integration of the SataRaid drivers, but with your hardware. If you have a multiboot system and you have access to the partition where the XP installation failed, search for the files SETUPERR.LOG and SETUPAPI.LOG. You can find them both within the WINDOWS directory. Look into both files (within SETUPAPI.LOG only the last lines are interesting). More tips: 1. Control your SATA cables. 2. Test your RAM sticks with MEMTEST, try to install XP with 1 stick. 3. Unplug all unneeded devices (COM, USB etc.) during the XP install. 4. Don't integrate any other drivers unless the nForce SataRaid ones. Good luck! Fernando

I am really at a loss with your problem.Another question: Which hdd's are you using (manufacturer, SATA1/2)? Another idea: Maybe your 430 W PSU is not powerful enough for your system.

Did you try it once more with your first nLited CD (using SATARAID+SATA_IDE of the 6.86 package) and failed it again?If yes, try to take the LEGACY subfolder of the 6.70 or 6.85 package. EDIT: It might be a good idea to uncheck "Oem preinstall" within nLite processing.

You may try to remove the automaticly integrated SATA_IDE driver.Another idea: Do you have a S-ATA connected CDROM/DVD? Alright, I'll try thatNope, my CD drives are standard IDE Your reported problems are very unusual, especially the error message about the TXTSETUP.SIF file. The BSOD with the message "IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_EQUAL" is very common and must not be a real hardware issue. My advice: Check your RAM, use default timings (no overclocking during the XP installation) and try your nLited CD again.

You may try to remove the automaticly integrated SATA_IDE driver.Another idea: Do you have a S-ATA connected CDROM/DVD?

Which subfolder of the 6.86 package did you integrate?

The answer is within the thread you posted (the nLite compression of the driver files is nothing to warry about): Yes. NLite did exactly this with the SATA driver for HP laptop, except the iastor.sys is compressed as iastor.sy_.

If your Gateway laptop needs the driver, then you should integrate it by using nLite.It is very easy to do: Open the section "Driver Integration" and point to any INF file of your Gateway driver folder (maybe the driver has to be unzipped). If you see a file named TXTSETUP.OEM within the driver folder, you should integrate the driver as TEXTMODE driver (otherwise as PnP driver).

Thank you for the clarification. So it is obviously possible to get the newest nForce SataRaid drivers installed onto an nForce3 chipset system.So this is what other users with an nForce3 SataRaid system should do: Download Mei's latest nWare Release (x86), which is a "Unified Driver Package" and contains the newest nForce SataRaid drivers modded for nForce2 and nForce3 chipsets. You can get this driver package here. To get the driver subfolders ready for the later integration, you have to "install" the package somewhere or to extract it with 7z. Then start nLite and integrate the IDE\WinXP\SATARAID subfolder of Mei's driver package as TEXTMODE driver and the IDE\WinXP\SATA_IDE subfolder as PnP driver (will be automaticly done by nLite v. 1.2 or higher).

That's very interesting.Which chipset driver package did you take for the nForce SataRaid driver integration?

Afaik VMWare does not really support SATA disks, maybe this is the reason why your SATA drives are not detected by using VMWare. On the other hand there is the "real" Windows XP SP2, which gives full support for SATA (non-RAID) connections. So you probably don't need to integrate any driver.

If you have the gateway drivers, it should be easy to find out the producer of the S-ATA chipset (look into one of the INF files).Does the S-ATA driver package shipped with the laptop contain a file named TXTSETUP.OEM? If yes, try to integrate it as TEXTMODE driver by using nLite. It is not easy to help you, if you even don't know the manufacturer of the hardware (S-ATA port chip). Ask the Gateway support, if you don't succeed by integrating the shipped Gateway driver.

Unless you have a RAID system, you don't need to integrate any special SATA drivers. If you want to integrate third party S-ATA drivers, you can do it. Just integrate them as PnP driver witin the "Driver Integration" section of nLite. For further help we need to know the kind of S-ATA controller of your mainboard.

Try to integrate just the SATARAID subfolder of your used chipset driver package (without additionally integrating the SATA_IDE subfolder). To prevent the automaticly running integration of the SATA_IDE subfolder by nLite you should store the SATARAID subfolder outside the chipset driver package.

If you have integrated any RAID/SCSI driver into your bootable CD, you may not press F6. Otherwise Windows Setup does not find the driver files anymore.

thats very interesting and I didnt know itthe driver was shipped with my laptop and not as a hotfix so what if its a modified driver to suit my laptop? there is no way to integrate this and not the hotfix? It is a Microsoft hotfix (KB888111). So you should integrate it as hotfix.After the complete install of the OS you can update the audio driver. The OS should find the new driver automaticly, because it was integrated by nLite.

If you already knew this before, why did you ask? Without INF file you cannot integrate it.You should have mentioned, that this "driver" is nothing else than a Windows Hotfix (KB888111). Why don't you integrate it as Hotfix?

You have to extract (unzip) the file.nLite can only integrate drivers with one or more INF files. It doesn't matter which one you choose. nLite will copy all of them onto your nLited CD and the installation Setup of the OS will grab the right (=compatible) one for your hardware.

No, if you really want to erase all datas (especially the hidden datas written by any OS), you have to do a special way of formatting ("low format"). This takes more time than the "normal" formatting.But as you have already written, you obviously have done a "low format" before you created the RAID array. It is not a problem to use the "quick format" option, when you are going to install a new OS replacing an already existing Windows partition, but you should not take this option, when you are going to install an OS the first time. Another idea: Did you really unplug all storage devices outside your RAID array (USB stick, Floppy, Card Reader etc.) before you begin with the XP installation? The XP setup routine does not like RAID arrays. If it finds any other possibility to get the OS installed, it tries there first.

The IE7 package laying on your desktop seems to be the 64-bit version. Is it possible, that you tried to integrate this version into Windows XP (32-bit)? EDIT: No, I was wrong! You have integrated the correct x86 version of IE7.

Have you checked, if the boot sector of your RAID array is on drive C:?Many problems with freshly built RAID arrays are due to the fact, that there is somewhere (within one of the hdd's of the array) an old boot sector remaining from earlier OS installations. It is a good idea to delete all former datas of the hdd's by doing a low formatting before creating the RAID array.

The "Hard Disk Boot Priority" (ranking of the hdd's) is something else than the rorder of "Bootable Devices" (CD-ROM/HDD/Floppy etc.). Look into your BIOS again. Your first bootable device has to be the CD-ROM/DVD device, because you want to boot from it, but your RAID should be set as first bootable Hard Disk Drive. Take the single driver option, because you will prevent this way, that nLite integrates not needed or even wrong driver folders. The best source is an original XP CD with integrated SP2. If you have an XP CD without any SP, you shoud integrate SP2 at first step, when you start creating your nLited XP CD.

Maybe you have forgotten to set your RAID as first bootable hdd within your BIOS (Advanced BIOS Features > "Hard Disk Boot Priority"). It seems, that the integration of the SATA_IDE subfolder done automaticly by nLite, isnot good for your chipset.Do the following: Copy the SATARAID subfolder of the 9.16 package somewhere outside the package. Then slipstream your XP CD again just integrating the lonely SATARAID subfolder. nLite should only pick up 2 TEXTMODE (S-ATA and RAID) and no PnP driver. Good luck! Fernando

Fine, that you succeeded at least.You probably would have gotten the same result by just integrating the LEGACY (instead of the SATARAID) subfolder as TEXTMODE driver. The LEGACY subfolder contains all needed files, there is no need for any additional IDE PnP driver, if you take this driver folder. By the way: Nuhi has changed the nForce SataRaid driver installation routine a little bit with nLite 1.2.1. Now it is possible to integrate just the LEGACY subfolder even when you present the normal nForce chipset driver package. The SATA_IDE subfolder will only be additionally integrated, when the user decides to integrate the SATARAID subfolder. So there is no need any more to copy the LEGACY subfolder somewhere outside the chipset driver package prior to the driver integration.