How to install Vista 64 with RAID 5

[bubbles]

I have the nVidia 680i motherboard with on board raid. I also have
the nVidia raid driver set from nVidia. Does anyone know how to
install these things. XP lets you pause long enough to install third
party drivers but Vista doesn't seem to. Am I missing something
simple? thanks

 

[Seth]

I have the nVidia 680i motherboard with on board raid. I also have
the nVidia raid driver set from nVidia. Does anyone know how to
install these things. XP lets you pause long enough to install third
party drivers but Vista doesn't seem to. Am I missing something
simple? thanks

On the page where you choose what drive to install to (and in your case you
see no drives) there is an Advanced button. In there you can specify
additional drivers. Use that to load the driver for your RAID controller
and then any volumes you created in the RAID BIOS would be visible as
installable drives.

Make sure you first create a RAID volume using your RAID controllers BIOS
(using a key combo you hit during POST).

 

[bubbles]

Thanks Seth.

I need a more basic procedure. For instance should the 3 harddrives
required for raid5 be formatted or left as "just out of the box".
Then how do I set up the main BIOS. And then go from there. In other
words don't assume that I know anything.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

You don't need to do anything to the drives ahead of time, it (partitioning
and formatting) can be done as part of setup after installing the
appropriate driver. However, you do need to set up the proper RAID in the
drive controller BIOS. Consult your motherboard documentation for the proper
method to do this.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Seth]

I need a more basic procedure. For instance should the 3 harddrives
required for raid5 be formatted or left as "just out of the box".
Then how do I set up the main BIOS. And then go from there. In other
words don't assume that I know anything.

Mo formatting or partitioning.

When you first power on your machine, you should see a message for pressing
some control key for the RAID BIOS. You may have to actually enabled it in
the motherboards regular BIOS first.

I can't be any more detailed than that as many systems are different. The
sequence on my machine may be entirely different than yours meaning a
step-by-step could lead you completely wrong. Consult your manual or post
the make and model of your mobo here to see if anyone knows it specifically.

Once the RAID volume has been created (in the RAID BIOS), and you've loaded
the drivers via the Advanced menu in Vista partitioning, the RAID volume
will show as a single physical drive.

 

[bubbles]

My motherboard is the nVidia 680i with on board raid.
I set up the main bios as raid and select 3 sata harddrives required
for raid5.
I then start installing Vista64.
The raid drivers are on a floppy but there is no opportunity to load
them in.
I have never been able to see the raid bios. I think if I could see
the raid bios then everything would go well.

 

[John Barnes]

If you have the BIOS set properly for RAID, you should see a screen telling
you to hit some function key to enter the RAID BIOS.
The place to add the drivers is on the page where you select the location to
install

 

[Seth]

My motherboard is the nVidia 680i with on board raid.
I set up the main bios as raid and select 3 sata harddrives required
for raid5.
I then start installing Vista64.
The raid drivers are on a floppy but there is no opportunity to load
them in.

Yes there is, you're just not following the directions. I posted earlier in
this thread...

[
Once the RAID volume has been created (in the RAID BIOS), and you've loaded
the drivers via the Advanced menu in Vista partitioning, the RAID volume
will show as a single physical drive.
]

During Vista setup, when you got to the drive selection screen it has a
button for "Load Drivers". Did you hit the Advanced button? If you did, you
would see where it also allows you to "Load Driver".

But no drive will show up if you haven't created the RAID volume.

I have never been able to see the raid bios. I think if I could see
the raid bios then everything would go well.

Then you need to look harder, especially at the owners manual for the
motherboard. You need to enable the RAID BIOS so that you can hit the key
combo to get into it during POST to create the RAID volume.

But as above, that is only half the equation as you will probably need to
install the drivers from floppy, CD or USB stick during Vista setup.

 

[bubbles]

Seth,

I appreciate your following this thread and I have some good news. I
was able to install the raid drivers from a floppy as per your
instructions but I have yet to see the "Raid Bios". After installing
the drivers Vista then installed without incident. What I'm looking
for now is a way to clean up the sata drives in preparation for a
fresh attempt. Incidentally the manual was written for winxp.

My motherboard is the nVidia 680i with on board raid.
I set up the main bios as raid and select 3 sata harddrives required
for raid5.
I then start installing Vista64.
The raid drivers are on a floppy but there is no opportunity to load
them in.

Yes there is, you're just not following the directions. I posted earlier in
this thread...

[
Once the RAID volume has been created (in the RAID BIOS), and you've loaded
the drivers via the Advanced menu in Vista partitioning, the RAID volume
will show as a single physical drive.
]

During Vista setup, when you got to the drive selection screen it has a
button for "Load Drivers". Did you hit the Advanced button? If you did, you
would see where it also allows you to "Load Driver".

But no drive will show up if you haven't created the RAID volume.

I have never been able to see the raid bios. I think if I could see
the raid bios then everything would go well.

Then you need to look harder, especially at the owners manual for the
motherboard. You need to enable the RAID BIOS so that you can hit the key
combo to get into it during POST to create the RAID volume.

But as above, that is only half the equation as you will probably need to
install the drivers from floppy, CD or USB stick during Vista setup.

 

[Seth]

Seth,

I appreciate your following this thread and I have some good news. I
was able to install the raid drivers from a floppy as per your
instructions but I have yet to see the "Raid Bios". After installing
the drivers Vista then installed without incident. What I'm looking
for now is a way to clean up the sata drives in preparation for a
fresh attempt. Incidentally the manual was written for winxp.

If you never configured the RAID level via the BIOS, how do you know you are
actually running in RAID?

And what OS the computer manual was written in is meaningless when talking
about making changes in the BIOS (both regular and RAID) as all that takes
place with no OS installed at all. The only part that is OS specific is the
installation of the drivers which you now know how to do.

My motherboard is the nVidia 680i with on board raid.
I set up the main bios as raid and select 3 sata harddrives required
for raid5.
I then start installing Vista64.
The raid drivers are on a floppy but there is no opportunity to load
them in.

Yes there is, you're just not following the directions. I posted earlier
in
this thread...

[
Once the RAID volume has been created (in the RAID BIOS), and you've
loaded
the drivers via the Advanced menu in Vista partitioning, the RAID volume
will show as a single physical drive.
]

During Vista setup, when you got to the drive selection screen it has a
button for "Load Drivers". Did you hit the Advanced button? If you did,
you
would see where it also allows you to "Load Driver".

But no drive will show up if you haven't created the RAID volume.

I have never been able to see the raid bios. I think if I could see
the raid bios then everything would go well.

Then you need to look harder, especially at the owners manual for the
motherboard. You need to enable the RAID BIOS so that you can hit the key
combo to get into it during POST to create the RAID volume.

But as above, that is only half the equation as you will probably need to
install the drivers from floppy, CD or USB stick during Vista setup.

On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:45:03 -0400, "Seth"


I need a more basic procedure. For instance should the 3 harddrives
required for raid5 be formatted or left as "just out of the box".
Then how do I set up the main BIOS. And then go from there. In other
words don't assume that I know anything.


Mo formatting or partitioning.

When you first power on your machine, you should see a message for
pressing
some control key for the RAID BIOS. You may have to actually enabled it
in
the motherboards regular BIOS first.

I can't be any more detailed than that as many systems are different.
The
sequence on my machine may be entirely different than yours meaning a
step-by-step could lead you completely wrong. Consult your manual or
post
the make and model of your mobo here to see if anyone knows it
specifically.

Once the RAID volume has been created (in the RAID BIOS), and you've
loaded
the drivers via the Advanced menu in Vista partitioning, the RAID volume
will show as a single physical drive.

 

[John Barnes]

Open your manual to the BIOS section and read in the SATA controller section
about how to set RAID. In mine it is in the Integrated Peripherals section.
When you have a feel for it, boot your system and enter your BIOS. Set any
RAID settings and save your settings. When the system reboots, if you did
set it right, you will get a page that says to hit some function key to
enter the RAID BIOS, hit the key and set up your RAID volumes, and types.
Exit and finish booting to the install DVD and where you are asked to chose
the installation partition, there is a add drivers button, you should add
your RAID drivers at this point.

Seth,

I appreciate your following this thread and I have some good news. I
was able to install the raid drivers from a floppy as per your
instructions but I have yet to see the "Raid Bios". After installing
the drivers Vista then installed without incident. What I'm looking
for now is a way to clean up the sata drives in preparation for a
fresh attempt. Incidentally the manual was written for winxp.

My motherboard is the nVidia 680i with on board raid.
I set up the main bios as raid and select 3 sata harddrives required
for raid5.
I then start installing Vista64.
The raid drivers are on a floppy but there is no opportunity to load
them in.

Yes there is, you're just not following the directions. I posted earlier
in
this thread...

[
Once the RAID volume has been created (in the RAID BIOS), and you've
loaded
the drivers via the Advanced menu in Vista partitioning, the RAID volume
will show as a single physical drive.
]

During Vista setup, when you got to the drive selection screen it has a
button for "Load Drivers". Did you hit the Advanced button? If you did,
you
would see where it also allows you to "Load Driver".

But no drive will show up if you haven't created the RAID volume.

I have never been able to see the raid bios. I think if I could see
the raid bios then everything would go well.

Then you need to look harder, especially at the owners manual for the
motherboard. You need to enable the RAID BIOS so that you can hit the key
combo to get into it during POST to create the RAID volume.

But as above, that is only half the equation as you will probably need to
install the drivers from floppy, CD or USB stick during Vista setup.

On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:45:03 -0400, "Seth"


I need a more basic procedure. For instance should the 3 harddrives
required for raid5 be formatted or left as "just out of the box".
Then how do I set up the main BIOS. And then go from there. In other
words don't assume that I know anything.


Mo formatting or partitioning.

When you first power on your machine, you should see a message for
pressing
some control key for the RAID BIOS. You may have to actually enabled it
in
the motherboards regular BIOS first.

I can't be any more detailed than that as many systems are different.
The
sequence on my machine may be entirely different than yours meaning a
step-by-step could lead you completely wrong. Consult your manual or
post
the make and model of your mobo here to see if anyone knows it
specifically.

Once the RAID volume has been created (in the RAID BIOS), and you've
loaded
the drivers via the Advanced menu in Vista partitioning, the RAID volume
will show as a single physical drive.

 

[paul4java]

He is actually right - if the only drive in his system is his array,
and Vista doesn't have the drivers to access the array, it won't even
start the install process. Vista install needs to allow you to load
the drivers before it fails due to not finding a hard drive to install
to.

Yes there is, you're just not following the directions. I posted earlier in
this thread...

[
Once the RAID volume has been created (in the RAID BIOS), and you've loaded
the drivers via the Advanced menu in Vista partitioning, the RAID volume
will show as a single physical drive.
]

During Vista setup, when you got to the drive selection screen it has a
button for "Load Drivers". Did you hit the Advanced button? If you did, you
would see where it also allows you to "Load Driver".

See my statement above. If you have a solution to this, I would be
happy to see it.

 

[Seth]

He is actually right - if the only drive in his system is his array,
and Vista doesn't have the drivers to access the array, it won't even
start the install process. Vista install needs to allow you to load
the drivers before it fails due to not finding a hard drive to install
to.

Yes there is, you're just not following the directions. I posted earlier
in
this thread...

[
Once the RAID volume has been created (in the RAID BIOS), and you've
loaded
the drivers via the Advanced menu in Vista partitioning, the RAID volume
will show as a single physical drive.
]

During Vista setup, when you got to the drive selection screen it has a
button for "Load Drivers". Did you hit the Advanced button? If you did,
you
would see where it also allows you to "Load Driver".

See my statement above. If you have a solution to this, I would be
happy to see it.

Short of me coming over to do it myself, there really isn't anything more to
say. The "Load driver" button is right there on the "where do you want to
install Windows" page as well as the "advanced" page.

I've done this procedure more times than I care to count and really know of
no other way of describing it other than to "hit the button marked Load
Driver".

 

[John Barnes]

Relax, my friend. I think it is a lost cause.

I then start installing Vista64.
The raid drivers are on a floppy but there is no opportunity to load
them in.

He is actually right - if the only drive in his system is his array,
and Vista doesn't have the drivers to access the array, it won't even
start the install process. Vista install needs to allow you to load
the drivers before it fails due to not finding a hard drive to install
to.

Yes there is, you're just not following the directions. I posted
earlier in
this thread...

[
Once the RAID volume has been created (in the RAID BIOS), and you've
loaded
the drivers via the Advanced menu in Vista partitioning, the RAID volume
will show as a single physical drive.
]

During Vista setup, when you got to the drive selection screen it has a
button for "Load Drivers". Did you hit the Advanced button? If you did,
you
would see where it also allows you to "Load Driver".

See my statement above. If you have a solution to this, I would be
happy to see it.

Short of me coming over to do it myself, there really isn't anything more
to say. The "Load driver" button is right there on the "where do you want
to install Windows" page as well as the "advanced" page.

I've done this procedure more times than I care to count and really know
of no other way of describing it other than to "hit the button marked Load
Driver".

 

[bubbles]

Seth,

Evrything you have said is exactly right, but you did not go far
enough. After the drivers are loaded you should immediately reboot
and press F10 to bring up the Raid Bios. There you can point to the
harddrives that should be in the raid array. After this put your
Vista 64 install dvd in and reboot. Vista will install and you will
be happy. Since I am the one that started this thread I thought that
posting the results of my effort might help someone else and close out
this thread. Seth your frustations can only match my own because this
has been a long and drawn out ordeal but now with every thing working
as it should it now makes sense. Thanks again for your patience.

Relax, my friend. I think it is a lost cause.

I then start installing Vista64.
The raid drivers are on a floppy but there is no opportunity to load
them in.

He is actually right - if the only drive in his system is his array,
and Vista doesn't have the drivers to access the array, it won't even
start the install process. Vista install needs to allow you to load
the drivers before it fails due to not finding a hard drive to install
to.


Yes there is, you're just not following the directions. I posted
earlier in
this thread...

[
Once the RAID volume has been created (in the RAID BIOS), and you've
loaded
the drivers via the Advanced menu in Vista partitioning, the RAID volume
will show as a single physical drive.
]

During Vista setup, when you got to the drive selection screen it has a
button for "Load Drivers". Did you hit the Advanced button? If you did,
you
would see where it also allows you to "Load Driver".


See my statement above. If you have a solution to this, I would be
happy to see it.

Short of me coming over to do it myself, there really isn't anything more
to say. The "Load driver" button is right there on the "where do you want
to install Windows" page as well as the "advanced" page.

I've done this procedure more times than I care to count and really know
of no other way of describing it other than to "hit the button marked Load
Driver".

 

[John Barnes]

Thanks for posting your results. Too few do.

Seth,

Evrything you have said is exactly right, but you did not go far
enough. After the drivers are loaded you should immediately reboot
and press F10 to bring up the Raid Bios. There you can point to the
harddrives that should be in the raid array. After this put your
Vista 64 install dvd in and reboot. Vista will install and you will
be happy. Since I am the one that started this thread I thought that
posting the results of my effort might help someone else and close out
this thread. Seth your frustations can only match my own because this
has been a long and drawn out ordeal but now with every thing working
as it should it now makes sense. Thanks again for your patience.

Relax, my friend. I think it is a lost cause.

I then start installing Vista64.
The raid drivers are on a floppy but there is no opportunity to load
them in.

He is actually right - if the only drive in his system is his array,
and Vista doesn't have the drivers to access the array, it won't even
start the install process. Vista install needs to allow you to load
the drivers before it fails due to not finding a hard drive to install
to.


Yes there is, you're just not following the directions. I posted
earlier in
this thread...

[
Once the RAID volume has been created (in the RAID BIOS), and you've
loaded
the drivers via the Advanced menu in Vista partitioning, the RAID
volume
will show as a single physical drive.
]

During Vista setup, when you got to the drive selection screen it has
a
button for "Load Drivers". Did you hit the Advanced button? If you
did,
you
would see where it also allows you to "Load Driver".


See my statement above. If you have a solution to this, I would be
happy to see it.

Short of me coming over to do it myself, there really isn't anything
more
to say. The "Load driver" button is right there on the "where do you
want
to install Windows" page as well as the "advanced" page.

I've done this procedure more times than I care to count and really know
of no other way of describing it other than to "hit the button marked
Load
Driver".

 

[Tom Woolf]

I have a somewhat similar issue to Bubbles, except with an evga 680i MB,
new computer, but installing Vista with an upgrade DVD (legitimate copy).

I've got the Bios set up for Raid 0+1 with 4 drives. Before I saw this
thread I had the fun of stumbling through the Bios setup, I believe (hope?)
successfully.

But, my Vista DVD is an upgrade, so it is requiring that I install WinXP
SP2 before it will let me do the Vista install. My problem is that I
cannot get WinXP to recognize the Raid 0+1 drives. Short of saying {blank}
you Bill Gates repeatedly (ineffective, though at times very satisfying),
what are my options?

I do have (at least I think I have) the WinXP drivers for the Bios/Raid. I
cannot do anything with it.

The options as I see them:
- Repeatedly curse out Bill Gates (as mentioned above - not as effective
as I'd like);
- Add a PATA hard drive to install WinXP SP2, then install the Vista
upgrade on the Raid drives;
- Ask wiser folks than me for their opinion/guidance.

Thanks for any and all assistance!

 

[Tom Woolf]

I have a somewhat similar issue to Bubbles, except with an evga 680i
MB, new computer, but installing Vista with an upgrade DVD (legitimate
copy).

I've got the Bios set up for Raid 0+1 with 4 drives. Before I saw
this thread I had the fun of stumbling through the Bios setup, I
believe (hope?) successfully.

But, my Vista DVD is an upgrade, so it is requiring that I install
WinXP SP2 before it will let me do the Vista install. My problem is
that I cannot get WinXP to recognize the Raid 0+1 drives. Short of
saying {blank} you Bill Gates repeatedly (ineffective, though at times
very satisfying), what are my options?

I do have (at least I think I have) the WinXP drivers for the
Bios/Raid. I cannot do anything with it.

The options as I see them:
- Repeatedly curse out Bill Gates (as mentioned above - not as
effective
as I'd like);
- Add a PATA hard drive to install WinXP SP2, then install the Vista
upgrade on the Raid drives;
- Ask wiser folks than me for their opinion/guidance.

Thanks for any and all assistance!

Found one possible solution in another news group. I had heard of this
method before, but had no clue as to what needed to be done.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/68767-clean-install.html

The above link describes how to do a clean install using the upgrade DVD
alone. I'll try it and post the results - I am curious as to whether
the RAID will throw the process for a loop.

 

[Seth]

I have a somewhat similar issue to Bubbles, except with an evga 680i MB,
new computer, but installing Vista with an upgrade DVD (legitimate copy).

I've got the Bios set up for Raid 0+1 with 4 drives. Before I saw this
thread I had the fun of stumbling through the Bios setup, I believe
(hope?)
successfully.

But, my Vista DVD is an upgrade, so it is requiring that I install WinXP
SP2 before it will let me do the Vista install. My problem is that I
cannot get WinXP to recognize the Raid 0+1 drives. Short of saying
{blank}
you Bill Gates repeatedly (ineffective, though at times very satisfying),
what are my options?

I do have (at least I think I have) the WinXP drivers for the Bios/Raid.
I
cannot do anything with it.

The options as I see them:
- Repeatedly curse out Bill Gates (as mentioned above - not as effective
as I'd like);
- Add a PATA hard drive to install WinXP SP2, then install the Vista
upgrade on the Raid drives;
- Ask wiser folks than me for their opinion/guidance.

Thanks for any and all assistance!

You could...
A) Install XP if you have the XP drivers. During the first "blue" setup
screen there will be a message to press <F6> to add drivers, install your
RAID drivers there and XP will continue

or

B) Install Vista first being sure NOT to enter your license key or activate,
then upgrade that installation this time using your key and activating.