Is it possible to install XP on a RAID?

[El.Guerrero.del.Interfaz]

Hi,

I'm trying to install XP on a RAID0 array and, when rebooting XP for
the GUI installation after the text-mode installation, I received the
following error message (translated from Spanish so I do not know the
exact wording in English):

Error reading disc
Pulse Ctrl+Alt+Supr to reboot

The first phase of the installation, in text mode, works all right.
I use F6 to give the RAID drivers (INtel Chipset) on a floppy disk, the
RAID partition, already formatted under NTFS, is detected, I choose
this partition as the one to be used to install XP and the installation
programa begins to copy the files. Everything all right and no error
message until the automatic reboot to begin the GUI phase of the
installation. It gives me the error message after rebooting.

The mainboard is a Gigabyte GA-8KNXP. The hard disks are both
Seagate ST3120026AS connected to first Serial ATA plugs, the ones
controlled by the Intel buit-in RAID controller ICH5R.

Has somebody any idea of what can be happening and how to solve it?


Thanks and bye.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

No reason it can't be installed on a RAID0 array if the proper driver
support is installed. You mention that the RAID volume is already formatted
NTFS - How was this done? WinXP is particularly finicky about the
installation volume, and likes to do the format itself during setup. If you
used a third party tool, try removing it and allowind XP setup to create the
partition and format it during setup.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Uncle John]

El.Guerrero del interfaz

Hey, what a nickname! Yes you can run XP on a RAID However I urge caution.
Although Windows XP is very reliable running in NTFS as you propose it does
sometimes crash. In my experience this can also crash the RAID and then you
have lost your whole system, OS, Applications and Data.Before relying on a
RAID make sure you have a backup which will restore your system to a blank
RAID if disaster strikes.

Acronis True Image will do this but it is slow and for that reason I
abandoned RAID.

Good luck with your and i would like to hear how it goes.

 

[El.Guerrero.del.Interfaz]

Rick "Nutcase" Rogers ha escrito:

Hi,

No reason it can't be installed on a RAID0 array if the proper driver
support is installed. You mention that the RAID volume is already formatted
NTFS - How was this done?

Using XP on the same computer with XP installed on another disk.

WinXP is particularly finicky about the
installation volume, and likes to do the format itself during setup. If you
used a third party tool, try removing it and allowind XP setup to create the
partition and format it during setup.

I've done it and the result is the same.
The problem is that the RAID partition does not boot. I've tried
with the Intel controller and the result was as described. I've tried
it also with the SI controller and in this case the system does not
halt but reboot itself. Do you know any way to check the boot sector to
see if it's all right and fix it?
Thanx

 

[El.Guerrero.del.Interfaz]

Uncle John ha escrito:

El.Guerrero del interfaz

Hey, what a nickname!

Actually I did not invent it. It as a friend from the FIDO days that
gave it to me due to my dedication/obsession with user interface. It's
based on the spanish Comic heroe "El Guerrero del Antifaz" (the masqued
warrior).

Yes you can run XP on a RAID However I urge caution.
Although Windows XP is very reliable running in NTFS as you propose it does
sometimes crash. In my experience this can also crash the RAID and then you
have lost your whole system, OS, Applications and Data.Before relying on a
RAID make sure you have a backup which will restore your system to a blank
RAID if disaster strikes.

Thanks for the advice but I really do not mind if I do not loose my
Data. And that, I backup very often. I do it for speed as for now the
HD is the worst bottleneck on my system. After all I'm getting in great
pains reinstalling a perfectly running system to get that And not
succeeding :-(

Acronis True Image will do this but it is slow and for that reason I
abandoned RAID.

Good luck with your and i would like to hear how it goes.

Well, it seems that I'm not succeeding so I think that I will be
forced to use a normal system disk to be able to boot and use the RAID
for application and data, etc. Frustrating...

Bye.

Where's the band? ;-) (I'm a Deadhead)

 

[Uncle John]

El.Guerrero.del.Interfaz
You can check the boot sector using the Floppy from BootitNG (boot it next
generation)

www.terabyteunlimited.com/

You can download a trial version and create a floppy which allows you to
enter BootitNG's maintenance mode and inspect and repair the boot sector.

However I think the trouble is more likely the hardware configuration and/or
bios configuration of your RAID, particularly as you mention the RAID
partition.

How have you got the hardware configured.?

BTW
If you have not yet put any data into the proposed RAID and you are looking
for a bigger apparent drive you could try Windows Active disk--
Uncle John

 

[frodo]

more info required please: chipset etc.

You said "intel" in there someplace, so I'm ginna assume ICH5R or 7R.

1) Be sure bios (on OnChip IDE Device page) "on chip SATA setting" is
"raid", RAID Bios is "enabled", and OnChip SATA is in "Enhanced" mode.

2) Be sure bios (on Advanced BIOS Features page) has "hard disk boot
priority" option set to "add-in device", and "bootable add-in device" is
set to "on-chip SATA raid". Then set "harddisk" as first (or second) boot
device.

3) Define the RAID volume by rebooting and using the RAID BIOS (cntrl-I).

Install XP, use f6, and give it the intel drivers floppy disk.

That's it. If first boot device is CD, second is HD, you can boot to xp
install disk, and upon first reboot JUST LEAVE THE CD IN, xp setup will go
past it and boot the HD to finish the setup.

 

[El Guerrero del Interfaz]

(e-mail address removed) ha escrito:

more info required please: chipset etc.

You said "intel" in there someplace, so I'm ginna assume ICH5R or 7R.

You're right: ICH5R, although I've also tried with the SI one. With
the Intel I've got the message, with the SI, a reset. So in both cases
it will not boot.

1) Be sure bios (on OnChip IDE Device page) "on chip SATA setting" is
"raid", RAID Bios is "enabled", and OnChip SATA is in "Enhanced" mode.

It is. Without that I would have not been able to create the RAID
set. Everything is set as on the manual.

2) Be sure bios (on Advanced BIOS Features page) has "hard disk boot
priority" option set to "add-in device", and "bootable add-in device" is
set to "on-chip SATA raid". Then set "harddisk" as first (or second) boot
device.

It's not exactly worded like that but it's set like that. Boot on
RAID and RAID boot priority set on the Intel controller.

3) Define the RAID volume by rebooting and using the RAID BIOS (cntrl-I).

I've done that.

Install XP, use f6, and give it the intel drivers floppy disk.

And that.

That's it. If first boot device is CD, second is HD, you can boot to xp
install disk, and upon first reboot JUST LEAVE THE CD IN, xp setup will go
past it and boot the HD to finish the setup.

Everything works all right during the "text mode" installation. The
problem is when it reboots to begin the GUI based installation: then it
cannot boot from the RAID array. Do you know of any free boot manager
to work around this XP booting problem?


Thanks and bye.

 

[frodo]

Everything works all right during the "text mode" installation. The
problem is when it reboots to begin the GUI based installation: then it
cannot boot from the RAID array. Do you know of any free boot manager
to work around this XP booting problem?

Hum... sounds like you have done it all right. what version if IAAR are
you using, 3.53 or the newer one? 3.53 is the last to work exclusively w/
the ICH5R, later versions were for ICH7R, tho they were supposed to be
backward compatable. FWIW, I use 3.53 and it has always worked fine,
installed it MANY times on many different ICH5R boards, it's always
worked w/o a hitch. Perhaps your floppy disk has a tiny flaw in its
TXTSETUP.OEM file??

Let us know the outcome...