Integration of NVIDIA's nForce RAID and AHCI drivers

[yahfi]

Yea, I found something about SI buried in a nvidia folder on the MB driver CD, but it looks like and from the description in the manual, that it only deals with SATA raids and not IDE arrays. I've got my SATA arrays already covered by nvidia. How do I create a new IDE array in nvidia if the New Array option choice is greyed out in their bios?

[Fernando 1]

I don't recall seeing SI driver/controllers on the MB disk - only mentioned in the manual. Maybe it came with nvidia and Sil - so I'll take another look.

Yes, have a look into your BIOS, if you find any Sil Raid controller. If yes, enable them and create a new Sil Raid array.

Do not touch the nForce Raid array where you are booting from (with MBR).

EDIT:

I've got my SATA arrays already covered by nvidia. How do I create a new IDE array in nvidia if the New Array option choice is greyed out in their bios?

It seems, that you are not able to create a third nForce Raid array. Why is this so important for you to have 3 Raid arrays? I have only 1 single Raid array with 2 Sata hdd's and I don't even think about more of them.

Here is the description about the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum:

On-Board SATA   
• NV RAID supports 4 SATA II ports(SATA 1 to 4). Transfer rate is up to 300MB/s.
NV RAID (Software)
• Supports up to 4 SATA and 4 ATA133 Hard drives[/b]
- RAID 0 or 1, 0+1, JBOD is supported
- RAID function available for ATA133+SATA H/D drives
Silicon Image's SATARAID5™ (Software)
• RAID 0 or 1, RAID5, RAID10, and JBOD groups are supported
• Support up to 4 SATA devices connected to a single controller

So if you have this mainboard, you can only create a Sata Raid array with your Sil Raid controller.

Edited March 4, 2006 by Fernando 1

[yahfi]

OK, thanks Fernando. I didn't have any more SATA drives, just IDEs that I wanted to RAID together for larger capacity. I'll see, from the MB description, if I can get the Sil "SATARAID5" Software to creat an IDE Raid array. Let you know later pm, early am after I gotta go babysit my nephew now! (Still bothers me why nvidia won't let me create 4 arrays if I want to-.

[Fernando 1]

I didn't have any more SATA drives, just IDEs that I wanted to RAID together for larger capacity.

Why do you think, that you get a larger capacity by building a Raid array? I have never heard about that.

[yahfi]

I guess technically you're correct Fernando - whether you stripe or mirror 2x76GB drives, u still get 76GB's. I meant the JBOD feature in the RAID Bios and not Raid0. eg, one of my existing arrays is JBOD (just a bunch of disks) & I have a 300 + 400 = 652GB of space! (yes, after 13 yrs of accumulating stuff - files, scans, pics, movies, etc - I still have most of it (Knock on wood:) that exceeds 400GB. Since I'm a little nervous bout keeping it on a JBOD, it's temporary & I'm looking around for a dependable solution (somehow compressed) to keep it all on one backup HD. Any ideas?

[Fernando 1]

Since I'm a little nervous bout keeping it on a JBOD, it's temporary & I'm looking around for a dependable solution (somehow compressed) to keep it all on one backup HD. Any ideas?

Buy a second computer or hdd's with more space!

[tonyyip]

Hello,

I just purchased the DFI Lanparty Ultra-D AMD motherboard with 3 SATA hard drives that I want

to use in a non-RAID configuration (just want to use as regular hard drives).

I'm a bit confused as to whether to use the LEGACY or SATARAID subfolder when I want to

integrate the drivers into nlite.

Would just integrating the SATARAID folder be enough for Windows XP to regonize the SATA

hard drives as regular drives?

Also, when installing the OS with the drivers integrated, do you still have to hit F6 to install the drivers

or is it done automatically?

One last question, the DFI motherboard also has the Silicon Image 3114 SATA RAID controller on it. Can

you also slipstream the SI 3114 drivers into the image also? I'm assuming you cannot since I'm already

slipstreaming the Nvidia SATA drivers already.

Thanks for the help.

[Fernando 1]

I just purchased the DFI Lanparty Ultra-D AMD motherboard with 3 SATA hard drives that I want to use in a non-RAID configuration (just want to use as regular hard drives).

I'm a bit confused as to whether to use the LEGACY or SATARAID subfolder when I want to

integrate the drivers into nlite.

Would just integrating the SATARAID folder be enough for Windows XP to regonize the SATA

hard drives as regular drives?

My guide was not written for users with a non-Raid system.

Windows XP with integrated SP2 normally needs no extra drivers to detect SATA drives.

If you want to slipstream the nForce SATA drivers, just integrate the SATA_IDE subfolder as PnP driver (not as Textmode).

Also, when installing the OS with the drivers integrated, do you still have to hit F6 to install the drivers or is it done automatically?

If your SATA drives are detected during TEXTMODE part of the installation, you don't need to hit F6 and no floppy is necessary. Everything is detected automaticly. You can test it by just booting off your XP CD with integrated SP2. If your SATA drives are not detected, you really have to integrate the nForce SATA driver (but only this one, not the NVIDIA RAID driver) by integrating the LEGACY subfolder as TEXTMODE driver.

One last question, the DFI motherboard also has the Silicon Image 3114 SATA RAID controller on it. Can you also slipstream the SI 3114 drivers into the image also? I'm assuming you cannot since I'm already

slipstreaming the Nvidia SATA drivers already.

When you use nLite, you can integrate as many drivers as you want (especially if you use RC7, because they are now stored in different folders). But it normally makes no sense to integrate drivers you don't need.

You have to decide prior to the installation , if you want to use the nForce or the Sil Sata controllers and you have to choose the correct Sata mainboard ports and BIOS settings.

CU

Fernando

[tonyyip]

Thanks Fernando,

I'm new to SATA so I'll ask a couple more questions. I just want to use my 3 SATA

drives in regular mode (non RAID)

Is it better to use the Nforce SATA drivers from the SATA_IDE folder than

the Windows SP SP2 ones since I'm assuming that the Nforce SATA drivers

are probably more optimized than the Windows SATA drivers?

If I were to use the Nforce SATA drivers from the SATA_IDE folder, when I see the F6 during

install, do I just ignore it and continue on with the install?

Also, what is the difference between the LEGACY folder and the SATA_IDE folder since

a lot of the files seem to be overlapping.

Thanks

Tony

[blank]

Thanks Fernando,

I'm new to SATA so I'll ask a couple more questions. I just want to use my 3 SATA

drives in regular mode (non RAID)

Is it better to use the Nforce SATA drivers from the SATA_IDE folder than

the Windows SP SP2 ones since I'm assuming that the Nforce SATA drivers

are probably more optimized than the Windows SATA drivers?

If I were to use the Nforce SATA drivers from the SATA_IDE folder, when I see the F6 during

install, do I just ignore it and continue on with the install?

Also, what is the difference between the LEGACY folder and the SATA_IDE folder since

a lot of the files seem to be overlapping.

Thanks

Tony

best way i think, it's to install an xp+sp2 without f6 ( it should work if u don't use raid mode) then after the end of setup, install the full nforce package, it will install the lastest drivers for sata/pata controllers.

[Fernando 1]

Is it better to use the Nforce SATA drivers from the SATA_IDE folder than the Windows SP SP2 ones since I'm assuming that the Nforce SATA drivers are probably more optimized than the Windows SATA drivers?

MS has no SATA drivers, the MS setup routine is only able to detect SATA drives. So the nFoce SATA driver is really necessary for you after you have completed the setup.

If I were to use the Nforce SATA drivers from the SATA_IDE folder, when I see the F6 during

install, do I just ignore it and continue on with the install?

Just ignore it - as Blank has written.

Also, what is the difference between the LEGACY folder and the SATA_IDE folder since

a lot of the files seem to be overlapping.

The LEGACY folder contains TEXTMODE drivers because it has a TXTSETUP.OEM file and it has an information file (NVATABUS.INF) for the nForce SATA driver.

CU

Fernando

[tonyyip]

Thanks Fernando,

When you mean to install the Nforce SATA drivers after I have completed the setup, does

this mean after I have installed Windows XP onto the SATA hard drive?

Also, is it better to use the SATA drivers in the LEGACY or SATA_IDE folder? Seems like

using either one is ok.

[Fernando 1]

When you mean to install the Nforce SATA drivers after I have completed the setup, does this mean after I have installed Windows XP onto the SATA hard drive?

Yes!

Also, is it better to use the SATA drivers in the LEGACY or SATA_IDE folder? Seems like

using either one is ok.

If you want to integrate the SATA drivers by using nLite, I would take the SATA_IDE subfolder (as PnP driver), but if you want to install those drivers after you have finished the installation of Windows XP, I would just run the setup of the chipset driver package und choose those drivers which you want.

CU

Fernando

[ben_gb]

Hi,

Has anyone been having problems getting an ASUS A8N-SLI motherboard working with the Seagate 500GB SATA II drives under XP?

I've followed the instructions in the first message here to integrate the Nvidia Nforce4 SATA drivers from the 6.70 distribution (using the legacy directory), but it doesn't work. Basically the PC freezes when it gets to the formating stage in the XP setup (same as it did when installing from the original XP CD without the integrated drivers).

Also, I have tried adding the jumper on the drive to reduce it to 1.5Gb/sec speeds (as recommended on the Seagate website - though the motherboard is supposed to fully support SATA II), and updated the motherboard BIOS to 1014, but nothing works.

I've got 4 of the Seagate disks and they all exhibit the same problem, so it can't be a broken disk.

The BIOS recognises the disks as 500GB SATA 2, LBA.

Anyway, I'm pretty much out of ideas, so any suggestions as to what I can try next would be very much appreciated!

Thanks for any help.

Cheers,

Ben

[Fernando 1]

Has anyone been having problems getting an ASUS A8N-SLI motherboard working with the Seagate 500GB SATA II drives under XP?

I've followed the instructions in the first message here to integrate the Nvidia Nforce4 SATA drivers from the 6.70 distribution (using the legacy directory), but it doesn't work. Basically the PC freezes when it gets to the formating stage in the XP setup (same as it did when installing from the original XP CD without the integrated drivers).

Hi Ben,

if you don't have a Raid array, you should not follow my guide (first post of this thread), because this is only useful for SataRaid systems.

The best way to install Windows XP onto a SATA drive is to use a slipstreamed XPSP2 CD and to integrate no SATA driver during the install (even no F6 and no floppy). Normally XP detects the SATA drive and gets correctly installed. After the successful setup of the OS you can install all needed nForce chipset drivers inclusive the SATA ones by running the setup of the chipset driver package.

CU

Fernando