Desperately need help installing OS with RAID on an Intel mobo

[Nate]

Hello all,

First off please don't be offended by my cross posting. I am in desperate
need of help here. I need to have this new system rolling for a Xmas
present for my Dad.

Here's what I got. I just purchased a new motherboard from www.newegg.com.
An Intel D845PESV. I have a HighPoint RocketRAID 404 RAID card to use with
it, and 2 WD SE 80GB HD's. I have confirmed that the RAID Controller,
cables, and HD's are all in working order by testing them on an ASUS P4B533
after my troubles starting popping up.

Here is the problem. With the RAID controller and drive connected to the
brand new Intel board, I can no longer use PowerQuest Partition Magic 8.0 to
create the partitions on the HD's. I get an error #88 (specified drive
cannot be found). This works just fine on the ASUS board. So I tried to
use my Windows XP disk to create the partitions during the install. It
seemed to work, and install began. I hit F6 when prompted to load support
for the RAID controller. Setup copied its' needed files to the RAID array.
Once it gets to the point where setup needs to reboot, the system will
reboot, and automatically start the setup again from the beginning. It
doesn't pause like with the ASUS boards requiring a key to be pushed to boot
from the CD. So it just keeps looping Windows XP setup. When I go into the
BIOS and disable CD-ROM boot so setup will stop looping, this new board
refuses to boot from the RAID1 HD's to continue the setup. Now this may be
because I couldn't use Partition Magic to set the 1st primary partition as
active. I had hoped maybe the Windows XP setup would do this when I created
the partitions. The RAID controller's BIOS is configured properly. The
RAID1 array is set to boot. Everything looks fine in the RAID controller's
BIOS.

In closing, how the heck do I install Windows XP on this system using a RAID
array?

If I can't boot from a RAID array, then these Intel mobo's are junk, and I
will never, ever buy one again. This board had great customer reviews on
the newegg site. I will be sure to post my unkind review on this board at
the newegg site if I can't get this working.

Thanks for any help,
Nate

 

[Ray]

When I go into the BIOS and disable CD-ROM boot so setup will stop
looping, this new board refuses to boot from the RAID1 HD's to continue
the setup. Now this may be because I couldn't use Partition Magic to set
the 1st primary partition as active. I had hoped maybe the Windows XP
setup would do this when I created the partitions. The RAID controller's
BIOS is configured properly. The RAID1 array is set to boot. Everything
looks fine in the RAID controller's BIOS.

The boot options (in your MB bios, not RAID bios) may have "scsi" or
"external" as boot options in addition to floppy, cd, ide0 etc. Try this
setting in place of IDE0.

 

[DaveW]

You'll have to use XP to FDISK and Format the drives. My guess as to the
problem you're having is that you missed a step. When installing XP, early
on in the install you are asked to press one of the F Keys (it'll say which)
if you want to install any 3rd Party Drivers from a Floppy. Press the F Key
and then place a Floppy, onto which you have copied the RAID driver from
your motherboard's Installation CD, into the floppy drive. Then continue
the installation process.

Hope this helps

 

[Nate]

I did that part. F6 to install 3rd party mass storage drivers. It don't
work with this Intel mobo.

Thanks for the reply,
Nate

 

[Nate]

There were no other options. There are no HD's connected to the onboard IDE
channels. The 2 HD's are connected to the Raid Controller. I had it set to
boot from floppy 1st, CD-rom 2nd, Raid controller 3rd. It looks like I'm
screwed.

Thanks for the reply,
Nate

 

['Show]

Try newer drivers?
http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/brr404.htm

 

[Fitz]

In your post, you didn't mention that you had created the RAID array prior
to trying to install XP w/ the RAID drivers. I've never used an IDE RAID
(only SATA). On the system I just built, I had to create the array through
the motherboard BIOS first, then use the XP disk to format the drives and
install the RAID drivers (F6).

Good Luck,
Fitz

 

[Nate]

Thanks for the reply.

I did that first before anything else. I created a RAID1 mirror array
before I ever attempted to load XP.

Thanks,
Nate

 

[Nate]

Allready got them. v3.03. That's what I'm using.

Thanks for the reply,
Nate

 

[Largo]

Any luck yet?

I have an onboard controller and had this trouble recently with two
new SCSI drives attempting to clean install W2K on RAID 0. My
solution was indirect but worked. You'll need an extra scsi drive and
won't need Partition Magic.

Connect the new drive and install the OS on it. You may need scsi
drivers to do this. They're on the disk that came with the
motherboard. Once that's working, create the array and initialize
your new drives, (array-volume). Boot into the OS with the single
drive again and review if the array is visible to the OS. This step
weeds out any termination or cable problems because you know if it
"sees" the array volume, it works. Format the new volume. Those
large drives will take a while. I don't think format matters even if
it's just unallocated space but I did it anyway to be sure.

Reset the boot order in the array config/setup. My array config was
on a separate boot floppy. Install the OS CDROM and boot from it,
push F6 and add the array driver. The OS startup should initialize
and indicate all the drives or arrays to install the new OS. If your
array's listed along with the single SCSI you loaded earlier, tell it
to load onto the array, and then follow all the steps it recommends,
like format, etc. That worked for me. Remove the old SCSI drive if
desired.

Good Luck,
Largo

 

[Paul]

I'm sorry because I can't remember how this problem was solved when I
ran into that a year ago but here is my suggestion:

After creating the array, try booting using a win9x disk. See if the
raid is detected that way. If it is.. create or set the partition
active.

The problem IS most likely the fact that the drives are not set as
active however there might also be a setting in the raid array to
allow boot etc.

It seams like had the raid drivers installed so that shouldn't be a
problem. Remember, XP can read FAT32 as well and it's much easier to
work with under such problems.

 

[Nate]

Thanks for the reply. No luck yet. I said piss on it and gave up. I
RMA'ed the crap Intel board back to newegg.com in exchange for a real
motherboard. An ASUS P4PE-X. Which I should have went with in the first
place. My bad.

Thanks,
Nate

 

[Nate]

I checked on this, I pulled the card and drives off the Intel crap board
after the failed install attempt, and mounted them in an ASUS P4T533-C. It
booted, recognized the raid array just fine. I booted into partition magic
and the partition that the windows XP install attempt created was set as
active. So that ain't the problem.

I gave up and RMA'ed the PoS Intel board back to newegg.com in exchange for
an ASUS P4PE-X.

Thanks for the reply,
Nate

 

[Gert B. Frob]

Thanks for the reply. No luck yet. I said piss on it and gave up. I
RMA'ed the crap Intel board back to newegg.com in exchange for a real
motherboard. An ASUS P4PE-X. Which I should have went with in the first
place. My bad.

Thanks,
Nate

Nate,

I had the same problem with a D845BG and a Promise Controller. After
numerous emails, Intel support finally came right out and admitted that the
board and controller would not work. Get this. They said the board wasn't
a "server board". Never had the problem with Abit or Asus. Using an Ausu
P4P800E - Deluxe as my "server" now.

 

[Nate]

Ha!

I figured something like that would be the outcome of this. Thank you for
the reply. Not a server board, but yet, my RAID controller showed up
in the BIOS as a boot option. Go figure. I'm saying these Intel
motherboards are not half as great as I've heard and read. Long time ASUS
user here, and sticking with them now. My P4PE-X that took its' place is
working like a champ. Newegg should have received my RMA'd Intel board
today in fact.

Thanks again,
Nate

 

[Gert B. Frob]

Ha!

I figured something like that would be the outcome of this. Thank you for
the reply. Not a server board, but yet, my RAID controller showed up
in the BIOS as a boot option. Go figure. I'm saying these Intel
motherboards are not half as great as I've heard and read. Long time ASUS
user here, and sticking with them now. My P4PE-X that took its' place is
working like a champ. Newegg should have received my RMA'd Intel board
today in fact.

Thanks again,
Nate

Here's the actual correspondence:

That's nonsense. Server functionality has nothing to do with the problem.
Are you willing to state that your boards have a problem with PCI
functionality? This is a simple PCI card. Nothing more.

----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 5:05 AM
Subject: Intel(R) Desktop Board D845BG, RAID


Hello,

Thank you for contacting Intel(R) Technical Support.

The Intel(R) Desktop Board D845BG was not designed with server functionality
in mind. It therefore has not been tested for use with RAID controllers, and
although they may work, we are unable to provide technical support regarding
their use. There are currently no plans to validate the Intel(R) Desktop
Board D845BG for use with RAID controllers in the future.


Please do not hesitate to contact us again if you need further assistance.

Sincerely,

Rick P.
Intel Technical Support
http://support.intel.com

Intel(R) Desktop Board Support Web Site
http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

03/13/2002
06:33 AM

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