Integration of NVIDIA's nForce RAID and AHCI drivers

[Fernando 1]

now all devices are using 699

Ok, then you can run the REG file.

[bonavada]

Hi

Fernando.....Excellent resource for those PC noobs (like me) stuck with a problem. I'm here to beg for help...please.

Sorry if my questions have been asked before, if so, please point me to an answer.

I have been trying to set up a dual boot (Vista/XP) on my newish system for days. Have burnt at least a dozen coasters and am getting desperate.

I have a Packard Bell X2424 with

nvidia chipset (NVIDIA nForce 610i)

Disk Drive WDC WD64 00AAKS-22A7B SCSI Disk Device

Optical Drive Optiarc DVD RW AD-7200S SCSI CdRom Device

Vista Home Premium XP Home

I followed your instructions on the first post, downloaded the driver files (for nForce 630i/620i/610i (MCP73)

I integrated these with n-lite (also integrated XP Service Pack 3) my XP and Vista cd's are genuine BTW.

I get the BSOD after XP setup loads the initial files

Please can you tell me where I'm going wrong? Is it because the Optical drive is SCSI? If so what must I do to solve?

Thanks

BV

Edited March 9, 2009 by bonavada

[Fernando 1]

I followed your instructions on the first post, downloaded the driver files (for nForce 630i/620i/610i (MCP73)

I integrated these with n-lite (also integrated XP Service Pack 3) my XP and Vista cd's are genuine BTW.

I get the BSOD after XP setup loads the initial files

Please can you tell me where I'm going wrong? Is it because the Optical drive is SCSI? If so what must I do to solve?

Welcome at MSFN Forums!

Before we are discussing the reason for your BSOD's, do the following:

1. Run Vista and open the Device Manager.

2. Look into the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" and "Storage Controllers" sections for the listed Controllers.

3. Post the names of the Controllers you found besides the "Dual Channel PCI IDE Controllers".

Further question:

Which nForce IDE driver subfolder (SATARAID or SATA_IDE) did you integrate?

This way we will be able to verify, if you have used the correct textmode driver.

Regards

Fernando

[bonavada]

Before we are discussing the reason for your BSOD's, do the following:

1. Run Vista and open the Device Manager.

2. Look into the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" and "Storage Controllers" sections for the listed Controllers.

3. Post the names of the Controllers you found besides the "Dual Channel PCI IDE Controllers".

Further question:

Which nForce IDE driver subfolder (SATARAID or SATA_IDE) did you integrate?

This way we will be able to verify, if you have used the correct textmode driver.

Regards

Fernando

Thanks for the welcome and thanks for the quick reply Fernando!

In answer to your questions.

In my Vista Device Manager/IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers this is what's listed:-

ATA Channel 0

ATA Channel 1

NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller

Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

And in Device Manager/Storage controllers:-

ABMJMLKZ IDE Controller

Microsoft iSCSI initiator

I integrated the drivers from the Sataraid folder as it was the only folder in the package (nForce 630i/620i/610i (MCP73)) linked to in your tutorial.

Thanks

BV

[Fernando 1]

In my Vista Device Manager/IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers this is what's listed:-

NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller

Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

And in Device Manager/Storage controllers:-

ABMJMLKZ IDE Controller

Microsoft iSCSI initiator

This verifies, that your NVIDIA nForce SATA Controllers are not set to "RAID mode".

I assume, that your SATA hdd is set to "AHCI Mode" within the mainboard BIOS.

I integrated the drivers from the Sataraid folder as it was the only folder in the package (nForce 630i/620i/610i (MCP73)) linked to in your tutorial.

You took the wrong driver subfolder (SATARAID instead of SATA_IDE).

Since you don't have an nForce SataRAID system, the part A of my guide is not valid for you. As a user with an nForce SATA AHCI system you have to follow the part B of my guide.

You can get the best suitabe textmode driver for your nForce chipset from here. Download, unzip and integrate the content as textmode driver. I am pretty sure, that you will succeed with the XP installation this way.

By the way: I will add the special MCP73 AHCI driver link to my guide within the next minutes.

Good luck!

Fernando

EDIT: You have written, that you found within the "Storage Controllers" section of your Vista Device Manager a device named "ABMJMLKZ IDE Controller". I have never heard or seen such Controller. Even Google doesn't know it. Please look again for the correct name.

Edited March 9, 2009 by Fernando 1

[neovox]

Will this work for the xfx GeForce 8200 as well? If so, which driver set should I be using, the one for "all other nForce SataRAID systems"? Thanks in advance.

I've been trying to get the hardware RAID working with this for a couple days with no luck. Been using nLite to slipstream the drives provided on the xfx cd. Results have been inconsistent at best. Sometimes I get the endless reboot after install, other times xp shows the drives separately, and yet other times it may show 1 logical drive but with 2x the space. Crazy.

[Fernando 1]

Will this work for the xfx GeForce 8200 as well? If so, which driver set should I be using, the one for "all other nForce SataRAID systems"?

Welcome at MSFN Forums!

Yes, since your GeForce 8200 has an nForce 730a chipset Southbridge, you can integrate either NVIDIA's official nForce SATARAID drivers v10.3.0.42 or my modded v9.99.09 ones. You may try them both, but I wouldn't take NVIDIA's driver set 15.23/15.24.

Good luck!

Fernando

[neovox]

Fernando,

Thanks a ton for the quick reply. I'll give that a go tonight. And thanks for all the useful info in this thread. It's very helpful.

M

[dawies]

Hey i need some help i get following problem;

The OS installation fails at last reboot with a short BSOD and endless reboots.

Reason: You either didn't choose the correct driver integration method or your optical drive is connected to a S-ATA port, which is set to RAID or AHCI.

Solution:Connect the optical drive to a non-RAID/non-AHCI S-ATA port or take an IDE connected CD/DVDROM drive for the OS installation.

The motherboard i have is: GA-EP45-DS3R

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Mother...?ProductID=2842

I have tried to add the officiel sata files from gigabyte's homepage. But when I add the driver i have to pick between 10 .inf(s):

iaAHCI_ESB2 = "Intel® ESB2 SATA AHCI Controller"

iaAHCI_ICH7RDH = "Intel® ICH7R/DH SATA AHCI Controller"

iaAHCI_ICH7MMDH = "Intel® ICH7M/MDH SATA AHCI Controller"

iaAHCI_ICH8RDHDO = "Intel® ICH8R/DH/DO SATA AHCI Controller"

iaAHCI_ICH8MEM = "Intel® ICH8M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller"

iaAHCI_ICH9RDODH = "Intel® ICH9R/DO/DH SATA AHCI Controller"

iaAHCI_ICH9MEM = "Intel® ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller"

iaAHCI_ICH10DDO = "Intel® ICH10D/DO SATA AHCI Controller"

iaAHCI_ICH10R = "Intel® ICH10R SATA AHCI Controller"

; iaStor.inf

iaStor_ESB2 = "Intel® ESB2 SATA RAID Controller"

iaStor_ICH7RDH = "Intel® ICH7R/DH SATA RAID Controller"

iaStor_ICH7MDH = "Intel® ICH7MDH SATA RAID Controller"

iaStor_ICH8RICH9RICH10RDO = "Intel® ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO SATA RAID Controller"

iaStor_ICH8MEICH9ME = "Intel® ICH8M-E/ICH9M-E SATA RAID Controller"

These are the drivers i can pick.

In bios Sata raid/acci mode has been disabled.

Hope someone can help me !

Edited March 9, 2009 by dawies

[Fernando 1]

@ davies:

Welcome at MSFN Forums!

It is not easy to understand your problem. Nevertheless I will try to help you:

1. If you have disabled the RAID and AHCI mode of the SATA Controller, where your hdd is connected, you don't need to load/integrate any Intel textmode drivers. The Windows XP Setup will detect your SATA hdd automaticly and will manage it by using the in-box MS generic IDE drivers.

2. Your mainboard has an Intel10R Southbridge. The Southbridge chip controls the SATA ports.

3. All Intel Southbridge chipsets are using just 1 single driver named IASTOR.SYS. The different things you have listed are neither drivers nor INF fies, but DEVICES.

4. If you have enabled the "RAID Mode" or "AHCI Mode" (instead of the "IDE Mode") within the mainboard BIOS, you have to integrate or to load (via F6/floppy method) the suitable 32bit or 64bit Intel textmode driver. During the textmode driver integration (or F6 driver loading) procedure you will be asked, which of the listed DEVICES (=Controllers) you want to be supported by the integrated/loaded driver.

5. Since your mainboard has an Intel ICH10R chipset, you should enable the DEVICE named "Intel® ICH10R SATA AHCI Controller", if you have AHCI Mode enabled, and "Intel® ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO SATA RAID Controller", if you are running your SATA hdd in RAID Mode.

6. It doesn't matter, if you enable other - not present - Controllers, but your hdd will not be detected, if you do not enable the correct Controller, if you are running your SATA hdd in RAID or AHCI Mode.

There are several possible reasons for getting a BSOD while installing Windows XP. Most common: wrong driver, bad RAM stick, use of a not clean source, booting off a SATA RAID/AHCI connected optical drive.

I hope, that I was able to help you.

Regards

Fernando

Edited March 10, 2009 by Fernando 1

[neovox]

I tried both the "nForce IDE 99909 for XP 32bit mod" and "nForce IDE 103042 for XP 32bit WHQL" drivers this evening, but was not successful with either one. The 99909 driver resulted in BSOD at the portion of the install immediately before drive partitioning. The 103042 driver got me further, through both the first and second stages of the install however, on first boot after completion I got a NTLDR missing message, followed by a "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from selected boot disk" message. However, if I reboot and go into the MediaShield RAID manager the Array reports healthy. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Fernando 1]

@ neovox:

The issues you reported are strange.

Questions:

1. How much RAM do you have in use while installing XP? If it is more than 3 GB, you should remove 1-2 sticks during the installation.

2. Are you installing the OS onto or outside the RAID array? If you are going to install XP onto the RAID, you should have set the RAID array as first bootable hdd (option "HARD DRIVE BOOT PRIORITY" within the BIOS).

3. Have you followed the advice of my guide to unplug all mass storage devices outside the OS destination drive while installing the OS?

EDIT:

4. Is the optical drive, where you are booting the OS off, connected to an nForce SATA Controller? If yes, you should either use another, but IDE connected CD/DVD drive or connect your currently used optical drive with a Controller,which is not set to RAID mode.

Edited March 10, 2009 by Fernando 1

[neovox]

Fernando,

The box has two 750GB SATA drives as well as a SATA CDROM and 8GB of memory on 4 modules. I overlooked the removal of the additional memory on my attempted install last night but will give it a go that way this evening. As for the SATA CDROM, I have that disconnected per your instructions and am using an IDE one instead. In regard to the boot order, on initial install it was set up to first try the CDROM - so I could boot the Win install disk - then the HD arrray. It's strange because it seems to be to be an issue of the array not being recognized as a valid boot device. The steps I'm taking on install are as follows.

1. Boot machine pressing F10 for MediaShield.

2. Delete array from previously failed install... reboot...

3. F10... Create array (Mirror) using 2 identical 750GB SATA drives... mark array as bootable... save config... reload.

4. Boot nLite created WinXP(SP2) disk with GeForce dirvers (Note: CD image created from original valid OEM XP CD + drivers, no additional nLite tweaks)

5. Installer runs to the point of drive partitioning (with some dirvers I've tried, I get BSOD at this point. with others install continues fine.)

6. Partitioning drives into 2 parts - 100GB "C:" and 650GB "D:" and format using NTFS

7. Windows completes phase one of install... reboots... continues to phase two... completes... reboots...

8. At this point I gotten various results depending on the drivers I've used. Some have resulted in endless reboots, some with just a blinking cursor. Last night when using the 103042 driver I got the messages printed in my previous post. I'll try pulling all but one of the memory modules reinstalling again tonight, but it appears that the system is not recognizing the logical drive as a valid boot device or there's something screwy with the the way the system is setting the MBR.

Thanks.

[Fernando 1]

@ neovox:

Before you are running into new problems, I want to give you the following informations:

1. It will be a good idea to remove 6GB of RAM and replacing the SATA connected optical drive by an IDE one while trying to install XP.

2. You misunderstood my comment regarding the boot order. Within the BIOS you have 2 different boot order setting points: The DEVICE BOOT ORDER (where the CD/DVD-ROM, where you are booting off, should be the first bootable device and the hdd0 resp. the RAID array the second) and the HARD DISK BOOT PRIORITY, where you can set the boot order of the hard disk drives, which are detected by the BIOS (if you are going to install XP onto your RAID array, the RAID device should be set as first bootable hdd).

3. You can do it, but there is no need at all for breaking and rebuilding your RAID array by using the F10 MediaShield Utiity. After having booted off the OS CD, when you come to the point, where you decide, where the OS shall be installed, you should just do a quick NTFS format of the previously already created destination partition - that's all you need to do.

Good luck!

Fernando

[dawies]

@ davies:

Welcome at MSFN Forums!

It is not easy to understand your problem. Nevertheless I will try to help you:

1. If you have disabled the RAID and AHCI mode of the SATA Controller, where your hdd is connected, you don't need to load/integrate any Intel textmode drivers. The Windows XP Setup will detect your SATA hdd automaticly and will manage it by using the in-box MS generic IDE drivers.

2. Your mainboard has an Intel10R Southbridge. The Southbridge chip controls the SATA ports.

3. All Intel Southbridge chipsets are using just 1 single driver named IASTOR.SYS. The different things you have listed are neither drivers nor INF fies, but DEVICES.

4. If you have enabled the "RAID Mode" or "AHCI Mode" (instead of the "IDE Mode") within the mainboard BIOS, you have to integrate or to load (via F6/floppy method) the suitable 32bit or 64bit Intel textmode driver. During the textmode driver integration (or F6 driver loading) procedure you will be asked, which of the listed DEVICES (=Controllers) you want to be supported by the integrated/loaded driver.

5. Since your mainboard has an Intel ICH10R chipset, you should enable the DEVICE named "Intel® ICH10R SATA AHCI Controller", if you have AHCI Mode enabled, and "Intel® ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO SATA RAID Controller", if you are running your SATA hdd in RAID Mode.

6. It doesn't matter, if you enable other - not present - Controllers, but your hdd will not be detected, if you do not enable the correct Controller, if you are running your SATA hdd in RAID or AHCI Mode.

There are several possible reasons for getting a BSOD while installing Windows XP. Most common: wrong driver, bad RAM stick, use of a not clean source, booting off a SATA RAID/AHCI connected optical drive.

I hope, that I was able to help you.

Regards

Fernando

I have know tried to make my own nLite windows xp cd where i integrate windows xp sp3, some drivers (lan driver, sata driver (Intel® ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO SATA RAID Controller) and a nvidia graphic card driver).

I can install windows without pressing F6. After waiting for the 15-seconds reboote (after install) my comp freeze when trying to loading windows (continue the install).

How can i fix this?