A7N8X Deluxe raid problems.

[Paul Liu]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help me...I have the above m/b and decided to buy one
(Maxtor) 80Gb SATA hard disk...However I dont seem to be able to get it
recognised in order to load the XP software. I have partioned it in fdisk
and done all the usual pations etc and managed to format it. When I use my
IDE HD, I can see the SATA disk and use it to put data on it, but cant get
to load Win XP onto the SATA...My question is this : Do I have to have
another SATA HD in order to be able to load XP and boot from the SATA disks?

Thanking you in advance

Paul

 

[Chris & Val]

If you are using the RAID controller then I think you will need 2 identical
disks to create an
array which you can then install XP and then boot from. I have the same
setup here, except
I am using Seagate SATA disks (a pair of 120GB)

C

 

[Matthew Farley]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help me...I have the above m/b and decided to buy one
(Maxtor) 80Gb SATA hard disk...However I dont seem to be able to get it
recognised in order to load the XP software. I have partioned it in fdisk
and done all the usual pations etc and managed to format it. When I use my
IDE HD, I can see the SATA disk and use it to put data on it, but cant get
to load Win XP onto the SATA...My question is this : Do I have to have
another SATA HD in order to be able to load XP and boot from the SATA disks?

Thanking you in advance

Paul

To load WinXP onto the SATA drive you have to load the drivers for SATA
controller. Boot of the WinXP CD. When setup asks you to press F6 to load
SCSI or RAID drivers, this is what you do to load the SATA drivers you have
already downloaded and put onto a floppy.

Matt

 

[Ron]

Paul - you do NOT need a second disk unless you wish to create an "array'.
One [SATA] drive will work just fine by itself...as a boot drive if you
wish.

As Mr. Farley said, you'll need to load the Sil controller drivers at the
beginning of the SETUP process. And don't forget to set the BIOS to boot
from SCSI as it's second choice...then as first choice, after XP is
installed (if you want to bother.)

Please post a follow-up.
Ron

 

[Robby]

I'm having a problem loading the SATA drivers when installing XP. I
have the same mobo with a Western Digital 10K 36Gb SATA drive. When
booting and told to press F6 to install drivers it continues on with
the instillation (Disk #2) without asking me for the floppy. Why
can't I get the damn thing to let me install drivers? I've made new
boot disk.... still won't work. Keyboard is working... What else can
I try? Is there a different way I can go about this?

 

[Ron]

Hmm. OK - for Paul & Robby: (Others will probably jump in with their own
experiences, but here's MY advice.)

Procure the Sil3112 drivers, and copy them to a floppy disk. Then, after
attaching the SATA drive to the #1 SATA connector on the mobo, (and ensuring
the SATA jumper is set to enable the Sil controller), start the system and
enter the BIOS. Set the boot sequence to:

(1) CD-ROM
(2) SCSI
(3) Floppy

Then, put the W/XP CD and the prepared floppy in the appropriate drives and
boot up. When it says: "Press any key to boot from CD"...press the "ANY
key. Just kidding. Boot from the CD. Early in the process, you will be
[briefly] prompted to press F6 if you want to install additional drivers.
Watch carefully for this message at the bottom of your screen. When it pops
up, press F6.

Be patient, the utility will go through a bunch of steps. Follow the
instructions to delete any/all partition(s) on the SATA drive, then create
your partition and prepare it for installing XP by following the
instructions. You will not require the "fdisk" or the "format" commands
like in the olden days.

Windows should begin copying stuff, and at some point will auto-reboot.
This time, don't press the "ANY" key. Just leave it alone.

Let's go from there.
Ron

 

[Wolfgang M]

Hi, Ron

As Mr. Farley said, you'll need to load the Sil controller drivers at the
beginning of the SETUP process. And don't forget to set the BIOS to boot
from SCSI as it's second choice...then as first choice, after XP is
installed (if you want to bother.)

I also tried to get a Seagate 80 GB SATA drive installed under Windows
XP. I changed the BIOS as you recommended to SCSI. I installed the
SATA controller driver after pressing F6 but then XP stops the
installation with a message like: Cannot find device.

The LED of the Seagate drive lights up shortly. So I think the system
try to access the drive. But what should happen exactly after the
installation of the SATA controller driver? Will XP detect the
unformatted and un-partitioned drive and ask for creating the
partitions?

I also tried to add the SATA drive as 'slave' to an existing IDE drive
which is connected with a parallel cable. I used the Seagate Drive
Wizard but also failed. The SATA drive was not detected but the SATA
controller was installed properly. I saw it in the hardware manager.

I am a little bit confused because I cannot find an answer in all the
postings I read until now.

Greetings,
Wolfgang.

 

[Robby]

Hi, Ron

I want to clarify my problem... I can't get even as far as
installing the drivers. Hitting F6 doesn't do anything for me. The
install process continues to the #2 Win XP floppy. I thought maybe it
was the keyboard... Keyboard is fine.... Bad floppy..... I made new
ones. Still can't get to installing the SATA drivers. Am I missing
something? Something else I can try?
Hope someone can help!
Robby

 

[Ron]

Goodness. This is getting interesting. (Ben?!)

There is a jumper** on the mobo that must be set to enable the SATA
controller. I get the feeling that this has not been done.

And [Wolfgang] you said:

"...I also tried to add the SATA drive as 'slave' to an existing IDE drive
which is connected with a parallel cable..."

Hmm. I cannot imagine what path you followed in this quest! A SATA drive
uses a SERIAL controller. (Not a PARALLEL controller). The connector is
dramatically different. Further, the SERIAL interface has done away with
the MSTR/SLV configuration options. (You'll acknowledge that the SATA drive
has no jumpers).

Anyway - to address your question; Yes. Once the Sil controller driver has
been installed, XP should see the drive and offer to manipulate partition(s)
in preparation for a clean installation. But let's ensure that the SATA
jumper** has been properly configured, and go from there.

**Page 19 in the manual. Jumper is located close to the CMOS battery, at
the 5 o'clock position. The default setting [1-2] enables the controller.

BTW - what version of the Sil drivers are you using...and from what source
were they obtained?

Ron

 

[Ron]

Robby, I've never attempted to install XP from floppies, but I'll bet you're
being impatient! (no offense intended)

When you press the F6 key, you are telling the [installation] utility that -
yes - you have additional drivers that it will require to function. But the
utility will ask for them when it is good & ready, and not before. In the
floppy situation, it is my guess that the utility needs to copy a handful of
other stuff before it is ready to consider third-party drivers.

So, as long as you press the F6 key when prompted, just play along.
Remember, XP needs to copy a pile of stuff to the HDD before much else
happens. Perhaps it needs to see disk # 2 or even disk # 3 before it asks
for the SATA controller drivers.

Back to you.
Ron

 

[Dustin Nohr]

OK I am in the same boat as everyone having problems here. I changed
my Boot sequence to Cd-rom and then scsi. I pressed f6 at the right
time and waited for Windows to ask for 3rd party drivers. But this is
what went wrong for me. I don't have a floppy installed on my computer
I was planning on swaping the xp setup disk for a cd with the 3rd
party sata drivers. But Windows would not allow it. So does anyone
know if it is possible to just get the information off of a cd?

ps. when i went to go use the floppy cable that came with my
motherboard I noticed that one of the connectors on the cable did not
have a hole. I tried to connect that to the floppy and it pushed a pin
in i think ruining my floppy drive. (thank god i didn't do that to the
motherboard) does anyone else have this wierd motherboard killing
cable?

 

[Ed]

ps. when i went to go use the floppy cable that came with my
motherboard I noticed that one of the connectors on the cable did not
have a hole. I tried to connect that to the floppy and it pushed a pin
in i think ruining my floppy drive. (thank god i didn't do that to the
motherboard) does anyone else have this wierd motherboard killing
cable?

LOL! (sorry - Doesn't anyone read the manuals anymore?)
In the (PDF) manual,Page 26, Part 9, Pin 5 is removed to prevent... bla
bla bla....
Cheers,
Ed

 

[Dustin Nohr]

I was doing some research on the internet trying to find that SATA
drivers and I came across a review that said that you had to manually
copy the drivers from the cd to a floppy. The only problem is that the
folder with the SATA drivers is like 11 mb big. So I am not sure what
files to use and what not. I am soooooooooooo freakin close all I need
is the proper drivers and I should be cooking with crisco.