Raid with XP and no Floppy - problem

[frag_68]

First of all, excellent program! I am totally new to slipstreaming and I find it quite incredible. But it is because of a problem I'm having that I'm here.

I'm building a new machine and purchased an Asus M3A76-CM motherboard, not realizing there wasn't a floppy connector. D'OH! Now I'm trying to install Windows on a RAID 0 and I get nothing but fail. It fails to find the hard drive. Of course, without a floppy, I can't load the proper drivers. So, I tried using nLite and slipstreaming in the RAID drivers. No dice, still can't find a hard drive to install to. So, I either have the wrong drivers (I'm pretty sure I have the right ones... from the MoBo's CD) or I'm doing something wrong with nLite, or it's impossible with XP and this board.

When choosing a driver, I have an ahcix86.inf, ahcix86.sys, and ahcix86.cat file in that folder.

Here is what I'm doing:

- copy the XP SP2 CD to a folder on C:

- run nLite and choose that folder

- choose to integrate Service pack, drivers, and create .iso

- integrate SP3

- Choose the .inf driver mentioned above (in text mode)

- create and burn .iso file

Then... fail.

Am I missing something? Does there need to be a txtsetup.oem file somewhere?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am desperatly trying to avoid Vista. THANKS!

[johnhc]

frag_68, yes, text mode drivers are distinguished by having a txtsetup.oem file. If you don't have one, then you don't have text mode drivers or the txtsetup.oem is not in the same folder. In some newer driver folders from manufactures there is one txtsetup.oem for all the versions of OS supported. In that case you need to copy txtsetup.oem into the folder you will actually use. Please post a screen shot of a Windows Explorer display of your drivers. Also, please post a link to the MB driver DL site for you model (suggest you get all your drivers here.) Please attach (not paste) your Last Session.ini. Make sure to always start with a fresh copy of your CD files/folders, do all your work in one nLite session and integrate only one SP. Please report when you have a solution, so others can benefit. Enjoy, John.

[g-force]

- copy the XP SP2 CD to a folder on C:

- run nLite and choose that folder

- choose to integrate Service pack, drivers, and create .iso

- integrate SP3

- Choose the .inf driver mentioned above (in text mode)

- create and burn .iso file

Please do all of these steps in ONE run of nLite.

Don`t run nLite more than one time against the source, it`ll mess up a few things.

And Textmode-Integration is required - as "johnhc" mentioned.

[Spinner]

Sorry to jump on the bandwagon, but I'm having exactly the same problem with exactly the same motherboard. Can anyone shed any light on the problem? Thanks!

[johnhc]

Spinner, welcome to the forum. Also welcome to my standard inculcation: Please attach (not paste) your Last Session.ini. Make sure to always start with a fresh copy of your CD files/folders, do all your work in one nLite session and integrate only one SP. Please report when you have a solution, so others can benefit. Enjoy, John.

[Spinner]

Spinner, welcome to the forum. Also welcome to my standard inculcation: Please attach (not paste) your Last Session.ini. Make sure to always start with a fresh copy of your CD files/folders, do all your work in one nLite session and integrate only one SP. Please report when you have a solution, so others can benefit. Enjoy, John.

Hi John, thanks for the welcome. I followed your recommendations last time I tried to slipstream the driver. Here's the Last Session.ini.

Last_Session.ini

Still not having any joy, however. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

[Fernando 1]

Here is what I'm doing:

- copy the XP SP2 CD to a folder on C:

- run nLite and choose that folder

- choose to integrate Service pack, drivers, and create .iso

- integrate SP3

- Choose the .inf driver mentioned above (in text mode)

- create and burn .iso file

Then... fail.

What does "fail" mean? If you want a solution, you have to be more precise:

What happened exactly at which point of the XP installation?

Sorry to jump on the bandwagon, but I'm having exactly the same problem with exactly the same motherboard. Can anyone shed any light on the problem?

How do you know, that your problem is similar, although frag_68 didn't mention what really happened?

@ frag_68 and Spinner:

You might get less problems while integrating the AMD/ATI RAID drivers, if you take this package, which is already prepared for a Windows XP integration.

[Spinner]

Sorry to jump on the bandwagon, but I'm having exactly the same problem with exactly the same motherboard. Can anyone shed any light on the problem?

How do you know, that your problem is similar, although frag_68 didn't mention what really happened?

He says that XP can't find the hard drives, just like me:

Now I'm trying to install Windows on a RAID 0 and I get nothing but fail. It fails to find the hard drive. Of course, without a floppy, I can't load the proper drivers. So, I tried using nLite and slipstreaming in the RAID drivers. No dice, still can't find a hard drive to install to.

EDIT: Just tried the drivers that you linked to - XP install still won't see the hard drives, I'm afraid.

Edited April 29, 2009 by Spinner

[Fernando 1]

Just tried the drivers that you linked to - XP install still won't see the hard drives, I'm afraid.

1. When you got the TEXTMODE pop-up window while integrating the driver, which if the listed Controllers did you integrate?

2. Are you sure, that you have an AMD RAID system?

[johnhc]

Spinner, I see you are using Vista to create an XP ISO. This is going to cause problems. Can you run nLite under XP? If not, try running nLite.exe in SP2 XP Compatibility Mode, and please let us know the outcome. Good luck, John.

[Spinner]

Just tried the drivers that you linked to - XP install still won't see the hard drives, I'm afraid.

1. When you got the TEXTMODE pop-up window while integrating the driver, which if the listed Controllers did you integrate?

2. Are you sure, that you have an AMD RAID system?

1. There was only one in the package you pointed me to: "AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller-x86 platform".

2. As far as I know, the AMD RAID system is the only RAID controller available on the Asus M3A76-CM.

Spinner, I see you are using Vista to create an XP ISO. This is going to cause problems. Can you run nLite under XP? If not, try running nLite.exe in SP2 XP Compatibility Mode, and please let us know the outcome. Good luck, John.

OK, I've now tried running nLite in XP - same outcome, I'm afraid.

Could there possibly be a RAID configuration error somewhere? The RAID 0 array is showing up after POSTing and it appears in the BIOS, so as far as I can tell it should be available.

Thanks,

Spinner

[johnhc]

Spinner, I went to the ASUS site and DLed the chipset drivers, extracted and looked about. Attached is the folder contents of the text mode drivers. I notice that the txtsetup.oem is not in the driver file. I assume you moved it into the x86 folder. I am not sure what the ahcix86 file is for (contains only sb7xx), but I think I would also move it into the x86 folder. Has this machine been used before? With XP? With RAID0? Have you formated the RAID using the BIOS RAID utility? What BIOS version are you running? ASUS recently release [0602] - using this one? Do you have your BIOS set properly? I assume your HDDs are attached on SATA ports. I am surprised that the driver set did not contain a separate SATA driver. Perhaps Fernando 1 can comment on this. Good luck, John.

[Spinner]

Has this machine been used before? With XP? With RAID0? Have you formated the RAID using the BIOS RAID utility?

No, it's a new build. The HDDs have been used before however, in my previous computer. I used the Secure Erase function of the BIOS RAID utility to wipe them clean. The RAID array shows up in the utility as being functional.

What BIOS version are you running? ASUS recently release [0602] - using this one? Do you have your BIOS set properly?

Yes I'm using 0602. I think all the BIOS settings are correct. I found this RAID guide for a motherboard with a very similar chipset and I can't see any setting that I've missed.

I assume your HDDs are attached on SATA ports.

Correct, SATA ports 1 and 4.

Thanks for your help!

[johnhc]

Spinner, it has been some time since I installed my RAID0 (ePox MB), but I remember after defining the RAID0, I had to format it using the RAID BIOS utility. This sets up the block size you select in defining the RAID. I looked quickly at the manual you posted and did not find reference to this but I did see reference to a CD called AusRock (or something like that) and instructions for building a floppy for the text mode drivers. I still suspect you need SATA text mode drivers and they may be on the CD. So, pop in the CD (on a running system) and explorer it and see if you can find SATA drivers. I have not a clue why, if they are need, Asus did not include them in their DL area. If all else fails, e-mail (or call, if you can) Asus and ask about the SATA drivers. I would guess if you had SATA drivers but bad RAID drivers, you would find the HDDs but not be able to install with some other error. Please keep us informed. Thanks, John.

[Spinner]

Spinner, it has been some time since I installed my RAID0 (ePox MB), but I remember after defining the RAID0, I had to format it using the RAID BIOS utility. This sets up the block size you select in defining the RAID.

I've had another look at the RAID BIOS utility and can't see any reference to a format function, although I can select the stripe size, as I have done.

I looked quickly at the manual you posted and did not find reference to this but I did see reference to a CD called AusRock (or something like that) and instructions for building a floppy for the text mode drivers. I still suspect you need SATA text mode drivers and they may be on the CD. So, pop in the CD (on a running system) and explorer it and see if you can find SATA drivers.

My external USB floppy drive arrived today so I copied the contents of the \Drivers\Chipset\XP\RAID7xx folder to a floppy and tried installing with that. Still no luck; although the installation appeared to accept the driver, it still won't detect any hard drives. I can't see any SATA drivers on the motherboard driver CD.

I keep wondering if there could be some misconfiguration of the RAID array in the first place, but I really can't see what it could be!

I've posted this over on the Asus forums as well but no joy there yet. Thanks for your continued help.