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Problems integrating Sil 3112 Raid Driver...


Ikky_Phoenix

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sorry about the delay, yesterday msfn was mostly down, when it wasnt i couldnt change my email address the be able to get notification if theres activity on this board... actually i wrote this yesterday:

thank you,

i will continue the installation of my new sytem because i need it and honestly the old ide drive and temporary os are driving me crazy.

however i will gladly assist in every way i can, eg to create nlite builds with this driver and trying to install them (and report back).

according to the steam survey only 0.45% of their users have winxp x64 and though i dont know how representative is the steam community that number seems low (and i guess more and more people will switch to win7). however sii raid is quite common either as an addon card or integrated to the mainboard.

what im trying to say is that although id like to see a solution im not sure if this is worth all your time and effort.

thanks,

g

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galocza, thanks for your reply and your willingness to do more testing. I am running XP x64 and had a problem with my 3Ware RAID card. I was able to test without actually installing (and wiping out my running Windows). I just booted the CD and let it go till Setup asked me to pick a HDD/partition. When it found my 3Ware RAID, I was good-to-go (then just hit F3). If you look at the link, you will see that Fernando 1 was able to help me. I suspect he will be all over your problem when he is available (I have no response to my PM). I too was unable to access MSFN forums yesterday. Again, thanks for your willingness to test. Enjoy, John.

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@ galocza:

I am sorry about my late reply. Johnhc has sent me a PM about your problem, but I didn't have the needed time to post here during the past days (holidays and a house full of visitors).

Now to your posted issue with nLite:

If you succeeded with the XP x64 installation by loading the needed Sil3112 RAID driver via F6/floppy, you should be able to get XP x64 installed by using an XP x64 CD with the same integrated textmode driver as well.

Since there are more than 1 possible reasons for the failure of your driver integration tests, I recommend to do the following:

A. Creation of a fresh Windows XP x64 CD with integrated Sil3112 RAID driver by using the tool nLite

Procedure:

  • Use a fresh and untouched Wndows XP x64 SP2 CD (no WINNT.SIF within the AMD64 directory) as source and the latest version of nLite.
  • Don't load any last_session.ini.
  • Just choose the nLite task "Integrate drivers" and "Create ISO file", don't remove, add or tweak anything.
  • Integrate your modified 64bit Sil3112 RAID driver as TEXTMODE driver. Don't integrate any other driver.
  • Let nLite create the ISO file and burn it as bootable Image or let nLite burn the Image directly.
  • Try to get XP x64 installed by booting off the just created CD. Don't press F6 when prompted.

If Windows Setup should not detect your RAID and its partitions, the tool nLite may have a bug regarding the integration of the 64bit Sil3112 driver.

This possibly can be verified by using an other tool, which is able to integrate textmode drivers into a Windows XP x64 CD.

Do the following:

B. Creation of a fresh Windows XP x64 CD with integrated Sil3112 RAID driver by using the tool XP-ISO_Builder

Procedure:

  • Download the actual version of the XP-ISO-Builder (XIB) from >here< and install it as Administrator
  • Use a fresh and untouched Windows XP x64 SP2 CD (no WINNT.SIF within the AMD64 directory) as source.
  • Don't load any previous XIB settings.
  • Just choose the XIB tasks "Controller Drivers" (Menue point 6) and "Creation of the ISO file".
  • Integrate your modified 64bit Sil3112 RAID driver by pointing onto the TXTSETUP.OEM file.
  • Don't use any of the other XIB options.
  • Let the XIB do its work inclusively the creation of the ISO file.
  • Burn the ISO file as bootable Image by using a burning tool.
  • Try to get XP x64 installed by booting off the just created CD. Don't press F6 when prompted.

After having done that, please report here about your results.

Good luck!

Fernando

Edited by Fernando 1
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hi Fernando 1,

thanks taking interest in the problem.

A.: failed. not big surprise there, it was the same setup when i gave up 8). did it anyway.

B.: failed

i also recreated all setups with the three drivers (and only with the drivers), because im at the point i cant believe even myself (and i threw out my notes 8). all failed again.

did the same with xp iso builder, same outcome.

i was surprised however that though i did not change anything in xp iso builder (and it was a new install), ran through the menus as you said (except for source dir, driver integration, iso making) the driver files were placed into both the directories

\$OEM$\$$\OEMDIR\

and

\$OEM$\$1\drivers\kdrv0\

as opposed to nlite which places them into

\AMD64\NLDRV\001\

and the .sy_ file also into

\AMD64\

im not sure if this is important but thought id mention it...

another issue: xp iso builder gives an error when integrating the "flattened " pack. not very surprising as txtsetup.oem points to a subdir that doesnt exist - all the driver files are in the same dir as txtsetup.oem. however xp iso buider copied the files just the same, but when installing gave a different error message, that the si3112r.sys file couldnt be found. other configs say that the setup cant find any hard disk drive. i guess this only means that i can forget about the "flattened pack", good news.

btw i had a little too big mouth when i applied for testing. i can do that but since im working from my raid now i can only confirm if the setup finds the raid and is willing to install to it (but i can still install to an old single ide hdd). if we can find a solution where the setup finds the raid and after installing it to the ide drive i can see the raid i will of course backup my raid system and try to install to that too - but only as a last test, being time consuming.

cheers,

g

ps: next week ill have less time on my hand but i guess i can still report back in one day.

Edited by galocza
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@ galocza:

Thanks for having done the requested tests. I really didn't expect these results.

Regarding your report about the XIB message, that Windows Setup couldn't find the si3112r.sys file, I have an additional question:

Is there a file named si3112r.sys within the AMD64 directory of the XP x64 CD, where you booted from?

If there is no such file, please do the following:

1. Open the ISO file created by the XIB with a tool like UltraISO.

2. Copy the file named si3112r.sys from your 64bit Sil3112 RAID driver into the AMD64 directory.

3. Save the just updated ISO file and burn it as bootable CD.

4. Boot off the new CD

Please report here, if this helped.

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thanks for the quick answer.

this error message only appears with the "flattened" pack that somebody earlier suggested, it is just all files copied together. as in txtsetup.oem and si3112r.inf are references to the subdirectory ext64 (which doesnt exist), i suspect this pack is the least probable to work. i think we really should forget about it (unless you advise otherwise) and stick to the original and modified driver packs. the latter is the same but i tried to modify txtsetup.oem and si3112r.inf to have the right paths based on the 32bit drivers - i can only hope that these all right, i cannot be sure.

EDIT START

to answer your question: the only si3112r.* files there are in the "flattened" xib build are in the \$OEM$\$$\OEMDIR\ and \$OEM$\$1\drivers\kdrv0\ directories. the other two (original/modified) have them also in amd64.

EDIT END

of course if even in the light of these you suggest to try what youve written in your post i will do that.

Edited by galocza
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@ galocza:

Thanks for your quick tests and feedback.

1. When I wrote about the "modified" Sil3112 RAID driver, I meant that one with the customized TXTSETUP.OEM having the correct path to the associated files (the customization of the si3112.inf is less important, because this file is only used by Windows Setup during the GUIMODE part of the XP installation).

2. If even the Windows x64 CD's, which have been created by the tool XP-ISO Builder and definitively have the si3112r.sys within the AMD64 directory, did not detect your RAID, you don't need to do a further test with the "flattened" driver.

Last question:

Did you really use a clean XP x64 SP2 CD without WINNT.SIF file and without last_session.ini as source?

I ask this again, because I am wondering why no other Sil3112 RAID user ever has posted about this driver integration issue within the nLite Forum.

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hi,

1. in post #19 you asked for builds with modified (and i did that, and the others) but the error message you asked about in #21 happened with flattened. thats why the misunderstanding

2. yes, i guess ive come to the same conclusion.

last question: im sorry, i always forget about answering that, and yes. i always have a full copy of the windows installation cd in my toinst dir (if its needed for a driver, eg), thats what i copy to a temporary place and the new dir is what i run nlite or xib on. but to be on the safe side, i compared the directory to the unmodified install cd - they are the same.

as for the lack of problems with this before: the guy who started this topic had the same problem. i pm-d him, but no reply. anyway, as ive written above according to valves steam survey only 0.45% of their customers use windows xp x64. i guess a few percent of that use nlite or have sii raid chipset. and the last two factors together - well, it might not be that high a number...

update: ive checked the updated numbers now its 0.64% (+0.19%):

valve steams survey

Edited by galocza
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@ galocza:

Thanks for answering my additional questions.

My conclusion of all your reports is, that nLite and the XIB obviously have a bug regarding the integration of the 64bit Sil3112 RAID driver.

The reason why I suggested to try the XIB was the fact, that nLite and the XIB are using different methods. I was involved with the devopment of the textmode driver integration of both tools, but I mainly tested them with the most problematic drivers published by NVIDIA and Intel. It is a pity, that both tools are not supported anymore. So at least there will be no chance to fix this possible issue.

I am sorry, that I am not able to help you.

By the way:

The TXTSETUP.OEM file of your Sil3112 RAID driver has an interesting [Config.Si3112r] section, where some hdd's (Maxtor 4D060H3 and a lot of Seagate hdd) are listed as being problematic with this driver.

Do you have any of the listed hdd's within your computer?

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thanks for your quick reply.

is it certain that both software are guilty and the driver innocent? i thought maybe theres an error with the driver descriptor files. a " in the wrong place or a \ or something. i never had problems with nlite (except for that blasted teletext codec), and im not saying its infallable but from an absolutely non-expert point of view the driver seems to be more suspicious.

btw i have 2 samsung hdds in raid0, not the exact same model because one of the originals had to be returned.

anyway, thanks for your effort, its a shame that your time (and others) was wasted - for nothing... at least the next victim wont go through all this in vain.

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Fernando 1 and galocza, you guys have done a great job of defining the problem. Is it not possible to consider some change that might eliminate the problem? We seem to know that the two programs are most likely not going to be updated to correct the problem. Since the ''ProblemDevices" code is unusual, might it help if it were removed? What is the effect of these lines? What is the effect of leaving them out? Is there any other ideas you have Fernando 1? You guys are doing all the work, but I hate to see you have the problem defined so well, but unable to get a work around. Thanks for listening, John.

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hi John,

id like to try a few things yet, a. because i dont want our time invested to be wasted, b. im pigheaded. i really hope that two programs cant be wrong so the problem lies with the driver. i cant understand half of those driver text files but what i can do is to take a few of the other textmode drivers and compare these to them. and hope that some error becomes evident.

and then i can be a master of trial and error too, like Kurt 8).

if theres anything new, i will report back.

thanks again for all your time,

g

Edited by galocza
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