Win XP Pro x64 installation problems with RAID0

[Green-Martian]

I'm trying to install my legal and new OEM copy of XP Pro x64 w/SP2 on a newly built system (see below). But for some reason, during Windows install, I'm unable to get the drivers/controllers loaded using the Window's F6 prompt method for my SATAs RAID0 that's connected to the P5W's Intel ICH76R southbridge. I've inserted the floppy with the files that I got from Intel, but I think my new floppy drive might be bad, as nothing is happening. No spinning, no seeking, no nothing. The installation program just keeps asking for the floppy to be inserted, over & over again. Darn, that sounds kinda Freudian. Anyway, I've got a new FD drive on the way. So, I'm dead in the water for now.

But in the meantime, I've read a little about slipstreaming the drivers/controller onto a Windows OS installation disk that I can make myself. Does anyone know of a good tutorial for doing that? Would it work for XP Pro x64 installed on a new system? Is it safe to do this? I've read that it helps to have ISO Buster?

This seems to be a common issue. Will Microsoft tech help me out if I call 'em up with this issue, or is it more of an ASUS issue. Seems like everyone's got issues. LOL Anyway, any suggestions?

[ripken204]

x64 with sp2? there is no such thing... as for slipstreaming, im sure our great unattended guide will help you alot

http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/36/

[Aegis]

No such thing? It's in beta right now!

[ripken204]

No such thing? It's in beta right now!

no such thing yet of coarse i know its in beta. im stating the fact that he is confused between xp sp2 and x64 sp1.

[Green-Martian]

Here's the label that came off my x64 package. I guess the "b" means beta, but nonetheless, this is what I got. x64SP2b, not SP1. Thanks for the link to slipstreaming.

[ripken204]

wow that is strange! i guess you are right. but who in their right mind would give you the beta version!?

[Aegis]

wow that is strange! i guess you are right. but who in their right mind would give you the beta version!?

Newegg apparently...

[levicki]

Have you managed to solve your problem?

First copy all files from a CD to a folder (say C:\X64) on your drive. If you are not using other languages you can remove LANG folder from AMD64 because you might need free space if you want to add more things to your installation than just the RAID driver.

This is how the folder structure for a CD (or DVD) should look like:

C:\XP64-+-$OEM$-+-$$-+-INF
		|	   |	|
		|	   |	+-SYSTEM32
		|	   |
		|	   +-$1-+-DRIVERS-+-000_CHIP
		|			|		 |
		|			|		 +-001_STOR
		|			|		 |
		|			|		 +-002_NET
		|			|		 |
		|			|		 +-003_GFX
		|			|		 |
		|			|		 +-004_MON
		|			|		 |
		|			|		 +-005_SND
		|			|
		|			+-INSTALL-+-DX90C
		|					  |
		|					  +-HOTFIX
		|					  |
		|					  +-NETFX
		|					  |
		|					  +-QTIME
		|					  |
		|					  +-REAL
		|
		+-AMD64-+-DRW-+-1033
		|	   |
		|	   +-SYSTEM32
		|
		+-I386-+-LANG

Whatever you put in $$ folder it will end up in WINDOWS folder so you can put say already configured WINCMD.INI file if you use Total Commander. Likewise, you can put things in $$\SYSTEM32 that will end up in WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 like for example up to 180 x 114 pixel BMP file called OEMLOGO.BMP which should include alpha channel if you want it to be fit well with any background color. It will show up on My Computer properties page. Moreover, you need to include chipset *.inf files in $$\INF folder, more about that later.

In $1\DRIVERS (under 000..., 001...) you put all the drivers you need preinstalled in extracted form. For example you don't put 91.47_forceware_winxp64_english_whql.exe into 003_GFX but you unpack its contents (which you can do with WinZIP or WinRAR or from Total Commander) into that folder.

Next step is to make winnt.sif file to customize your installation of XP. It must include following lines:

winnt.sif

[unattended]
	OemPnpDriversPath = "Drivers\000_Chip;Drivers\001_Stor;Drivers\002_Net;Drivers\003_Gfx;Drivers\004_Mon;Drivers\005_Snd"
	OemPreinstall=Yes

Now it is time to hack some setup files to get AHCI (or RAID) to work. To each section mentioned below you add following lines:

txtsetup.sif

[SourceDisksFiles]
iaStor.sys   = 1,,,,,,4_,4,1,,,1,4

[HardwareIdsDatabase]
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C1&CC_0106 = "iaStor"

[SCSI.load]
ahci = iastor.sys,4

[SCSI]
ahci	 = "Intel(R) 82801GR/GH SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH)"

You should change this a bit if you need RAID:

[HardwareIdsDatabase]
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C3&CC_0104 = "iaStor"

[SCSI.load]
raid = iastor.sys,4

[SCSI]
raid = "Intel(R) 82801GR/GH SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH)"

Remember, this is just to make Windows load the driver during the text phase of Setup. What we want is to have that information in registry so that the driver is still available after the system gets rebooted and when the GUI portion of the setup is started. So we edit the file and add the following lines and the best place to put them is to search for aic78xx and insert them there because a file has a hidden end of file indicator which we do not want to erase inadvertently:

hivesys.inf

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor","ErrorControl",0x00010003,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor","Group",0x00000002,"SCSI miniport"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor","Start",0x00010003,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor","Tag",0x00010003,25
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor","Type",0x00010003,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Parameters","queuePriorityEnable",0x00010003,0

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\System\iaStor","EventMessageFile",0x00020002,"%SystemRoot%\System32\IoLogMsg.dll;%SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers\iaStor.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\System\iaStor","TypesSupported",0x00010003,7

This part is the same for both AHCI and RAID and it effectively installs the driver as a service in the initial SYSTEM registry hive. It gets loaded during the next boot so the setup can continue.

What to do with all those folders under INSTALL? The whole INSTALL will get copied to the HDD during file copy phase before the first reboot. Then we can execute those installations at T-12 minutes before the end of the GUI setup. In the $OEM$ folder you put a text file named CMDLINES.TXT.

CMDLINES.TXT

[COMMANDS]
"REGEDIT /S services.reg"
"REGEDIT /S tweaksys.reg"
"REGEDIT /S tweakusr.reg"
"useracct.cmd"
"dx90c.cmd"
"real.cmd"
"qtime.cmd"
"netfx.cmd"
"hotfix.cmd"

Files you reference here should also reside in $OEM$ folder. Format of this file is one command per line and they are executed one after another. You can include registry tweaks here too. What is even better, you can include user tweaks which will be applied to default user account and each account you create later will inherit those tweaks. I won't include contents of *.reg files above but I am sure you can figure out what you can put into each one.

Now for the *.cmd files referenced, I will give you some examples:

useracct.cmd

NET USER my_username my_password /ADD
NET LOCALGROUP Administrators my_username /ADD
NET ACCOUNT /maxpwage:unlimited
REGEDIT /S autolog.reg

I will give you a sample autolog.reg though:

autolog.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"DefaultUserName"="my_username"
"DefaultPassword"="my_password"
"AutoAdminLogon"="1"

Now for that DirectX update:

dx90c.cmd

ECHO.
ECHO Installing DirectX 9.0c
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\DX90C\dxsetup.exe /silent

Real and QuickTime Alternatives:

real.cmd

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Real Alternative
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\real\setup.exe /verysilent /LoadInf="%systemdrive%\install\real\realalt.ini"

qtime.cmd

ECHO.
ECHO Installing QuickTime Alternative
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\QTIME\setup.exe /verysilent /LoadInf="%systemdrive%\install\QTIME\qtalt.ini"

Their *.ini files:

realalt.ini

[Setup]
Group=Real Alternative
NoIcons=1
Components=player\mpclassic,real\codec,real\codec\browser,real\directshow

qtalt.ini

[Setup]
Group=QuickTime Alternative
NoIcons=1
Components=player\mpclassic,qt\codec,qt\codec\browser,qt\codec\plugins,qt\directshow

.Net Framwork 2.0 (switches for silent install by Aaron Stebner) -- note that this is not possible to install unless you have Windows Installer 3.1 update integrated:

netfx.cmd

ECHO.
ECHO Installing .Net Framework 2.0
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\NETFX\netfx64.exe /q:a /c:"install.exe /q"

And of course, we need to put in some hotfixes too, this is a list of hotfixes from fresh install to fully patched OS:

hotfix.cmd

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Security Patches
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB890046.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB893756.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB896358.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB896424.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB896428.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB898715.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB899587.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB899588.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB899591.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB900725.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB901017.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB901214.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB902400.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB904706.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB908519.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB908531.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB910437.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB911280.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB911562.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB911564.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB911567.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB911927.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB912919.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB914388.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB914389.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB914784.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB917159.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB917344.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB917422.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB917734.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB917953.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB918439.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB918899.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB920214.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB920670.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB920683.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB921398.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB921883.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\KB922616.exe /quiet /norestart
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\HOTFIX\qchain.exe

It is time to populate driver folders, lets do it one by one shall we?

First the chipset because it should be installed first. You extract the outer self-extracting exe by using WinZIP or WinRAR again and when you get files and folders you run:

SETUP -A -PC:\INF -S

After that you have the INF folder on your C drive. If you have an older chipset you will need to figure out which files you need on your own. If you have 945, 955, 965 or 975 chipset based mainboard you will copy the following files from the C:\INF\2003 into 000_CHIP folder:

945.cat
dmi_pci.cat
ich7core.cat
ich7ide.cat
ich7usb.cat
945.inf
dmi_pci.inf
ich7core.inf
ich7ide.inf
ich7usb.inf

Note that you also need to put the above *.inf files into $OEM$\$$\INF.

In 001_STOR you need to put the files from F6 floppy disk -- don't forget to use 64-bit drivers:

iaahci.cat
iastor.cat
iaahci.inf
iastor.inf
TXTSETUP.OEM
iaStor.sys

For this AHCI/RAID hack to be complete you have also to get iaStor.sys into AMD64 folder:

cabarc -m LZX:21 n IASTOR.SY_ iaStor.sys

Now put the IASTOR.SY_ you get as the result into AMD64 folder and you are done.

For the owners of the Intel D975XBX board who have Intel Gigabit Ethernet onboard this is the list of driver files they need to put into 002_NET folder and you will find them in PRO1000\WINX64 folder when you unpack the driver executable:

e1e5132e.cat
e1e5132e.din
e1000msg.dll
NicCo.dll
NicEtCoE.dll
NicInstE.dll
PROUnstl.exe
e1e5132e.INF
e1e5132e.sys

I already told you what goes into 003_GFX if you have nVidia based card. Same goes for ATI. If you have monitor driver it is time to put its *.inf, *.cat and *.icm files into 004_MON.

005_SND can be a bit tricky depending on the souncard you use. Whatever you do, keep in mind that *.inf must come to 005_SND and that you have to preserve folder hierarchy below that level. Depending on your card vendor this may lead to incomplete installation and get you just the basic sound without applications for speaker settings, etc.

And finally, you have to burn the contents of C:\XP64 onto a bootable DVD and there are already plenty of tutorials written for that purpose so I won't bother to explain that part of the process.

That would be it. Took me quite some time to figure it all out and to type it out here. I hope that some will find it usefull.

[levicki]

An update:

To preinstall .Net Framework 2.0 you have to do a little hack. Safest way is to extract the contents of NetFx64.exe to a folder and then make new netfx.cmd to replace the one I gave above:

netfx.cmd

ECHO.
ECHO Installing .Net Framework 2.0
ECHO Please wait...
REG DELETE HKLM\Software\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\DW /F
REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup /V SystemSetupInProgress /T REG_DWORD /D 0 /F
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\NETFX\install.exe /q
REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup /V SystemSetupInProgress /T REG_DWORD /D 1 /F