RAID "0" Help please(NOOB)

[Ironwalker]

ok,i have win xp installed clean onto disk when it was ata/100 ide.NTFS

Then i switched the cables and jumpers like this;

ibm 60gig hdd set to master w/jmpr on promise1 slot w/own cable 80pin,bios set to primary master(nothing shows)

ibm 60gig hdd set to master w/jmpr on promise2 slot w/own cable 80pin,bios set to secondary master(nothing shows)

DVD jmpr set to slave,on IDE1 slot w/ own cable 80pin,bios sees drive as primary slave

cdr jmpr set to slave,on IDE2 slot w/ own cable 80pin,bios sees drive as secondary slave

ok now,with dvd and cd functional but no hdd or primary master showing in bios,i boot up and in Fastrack utility(im useing onboard raid on ASUS A7V266E promise chip onboard,
or secondary master showing in bios,

the fastrack utility shows a " *bootable striped array at 2+0 total 112???mb(120gigs)as functional

ok but when i boot to official win xp pro cd i get to menu and weather i hit "R" or ENTER for setup or repair i get;
"windows cannot continue setup because there are no drive disks"

same for bootable floppy

are my jumpers set right on the hard drive...there is master device0 16 head and a master device 0 32 head
im on 16head

My onboard(mainboard) jumper is in the 2/3 raid cfg.
bios has boot scsi/promise and i reversed this promise/scsi with same empty results.

I must be missing something and i dont know what...do i have to go back to ide ata/100 set up and reformatt reinstall xp with fat32

redo set up for raid boot from disc then formatt in raid 0 and reinstall xp NTFS or fat32 and convert later.
or am i totally off base and dont have a clue...lol,i say the ladder

please help raid noob
thanx:confused
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[philocipher]

well Its a shot in the dark .. but u can try to select boot device as SCSI from the bios menu . and then try :)



* oh . U already tried that ! :( :confused:

[Kuasimodem]

OK, I see two problems with your setup, problem #1 is that if you are running both of your CD/DVD drives on their own cables, set them to master/single, not slave.

The second problem is in the bios, you should set this boot order:
Floppy
CDROM
SCSI or ATA100 (whichever is listed in the bios)
Other (if you have 4 choices)

After doing these bios settings, and correcting the master/slave settings, partition and format your RAID array as you want it. After the partitioning and formatting is done, then the install program should be able to see the RAID array as a hard drive. During install you can convert it from FAT32 to NTFS if you want.

You can't do a repair of the original WinXP install because when you created the RAID array, you wiped both drives and rearranged how the data is stored on them.

Let us know how it goes.

[Ironwalker]

Hey thanx for the reply,i have;
floppy
dvd
scsi/promise
other
as boot order
actually i switched floppy and dvd as i have win xp cd there
now i will try to use one cable for dvd and cd drives but how should i set jumpers and which slot on mainboard...the IDE 1 slot??
should my cdwriter be master slave and my dvd slave...im confused sorry.:confused:

[Ironwalker]

just so ya know the raid array is bootable and functional as 2+0 striped array in fastrack utility


anyway both cdr and dvd have 3 jumper settings only
CSEL(i dont know what that is)
master
slave

where should jumpers be for each??

and do i now connect my double (y cable) for both drives (cdr and dvd)
to the primary IDE slot or the secondary IDE slot??:confused:

[Ironwalker]

AAAAAAAh! where did ya go....lol,i am here with everything apart ,need the info above before installing dvd/cdr/cables and try but another darn time...lol
anyone??:confused:

[Philip1952]

CSEL means cable select.
The drive at the end of the cable set it as master.
The drive on the center of the cabel set it as slave.
This is for all ide device. Anything on the end of a cable is the master.

[Ironwalker]

yes....but on the board,primary or secondary IDE slot,my raid is on the promise 1 and promise 2 slots as master.:confused:

[Philip1952]

As far as which ide channel to put the cd-rom and burner it doesn't matter. With you booting from the raid setup. The Position of the ATPI drives on the normal IDE channels doesn't matter. Just put each of the cd types on a seperate channell. That way they are seperated if you want to do a disk to disk burn.

[Ironwalker]

for the record i have tried setting up raid with an fdisk formatted drive .now i have now xp on one drive as told,set up raid in fastrack which says stiped array 2+0 functional.
now my next step is supposed to be,fdisk format the array and reinstall os....it wont let me.
i origionally put xp on the one drive as NTFS.
win xp cd wont allow me to do format/fdisk ,says it cant detect drives
boot from floppy says same thing
NOw,
i made that floppy from xp pro system next to this one.Also NTFS
Do i have to make a special boot disk for floppy...yes is what i found out during a few hours reserch on the net.I have step by step for NTFS floppy.Is it a waste of my time or not.I will try it,can use the XPeriance anyway:D
thanx all and please dont abandon me just yet.Any info ya have post it,please.:confused:

[Philip1952]

On trying to install XP at one point during the innstall. Have you hit the F6 key and installed the drivers for your raid controller?
It sould flash a message across the bottom of the screen. It won't find the raid controller on its own. You have to tell it where to look for your drives.

[Ironwalker]

i dont have an option for F6,i mean it doesnt flash the option.


I have fdisked and formatted and have a c:drive at 117,288m
with floppy
when restarting i get fastrack saying my bootable striped 2+0 at 117288m is functional
so if im functional there and format says im all ready and it also recognises my 117288m drive space then all i have to do is install win xp right??
nope,it wont install.I hit anykey to boot from xp pro cd and the very first screen is 3 options
1)hit enter to install xp and continue setup
2) hit "R" for repair to an installation of xp already on disk drives
3)pressF3 to exit


i hit enter and get
win xp set up cannot continue,no disk drives are on your computer,etc.


so when do i hit F6?

do i have to copy raid drivers from asus disc to floppy,but that wont work because when i tried format C: /s
i got an error message saying "not enough memory to copy system files to formatted disk"

WTF, i got 1gig ddr
thanx and please dont give up,im determined to get this and actually like the challange:D:(

[Ironwalker]

whats the command to install from floppy or redirect through the boot disk A:> to my cdr where my win xp disc is??Maybe install from there.
when i fdisked i have one primary drive no logical or extended,is this ok.i figured on formatting one big drive and while installing xp id partition into smaller drives as needed.
understand???

[Philip1952]

I think you have to have a logical. Have you made the partation active?

[Ironwalker]

yes,it says active 117288mb(120gigs)
so everything seems to be working,i just cant get to the F6 option in xp setup.
i believe its an asus /promise/ thing
i will upgrade if possible to fastrack lite ver 2.0
i have 1.31
if i can flash the promise chip i might be able to get the F6 option at setup.Ill see,but i think its a driver on floppy,i ran out of room on the boot disk,i cant fit no more drivers or .bin files,i removed the bios .bin upgrades for my mainboads bios(already flashed successfully)
any suggestions?

[philocipher]

lets look at it another way..
I assume u have set one drive as master and its on the end of the cable. and the other drive as slave.?
also yes. in the promise bios is the Raid defined as bootable?

[Ironwalker]

yes bootable....noted by "*" in front of line reading;
" * 2+0 striped array functional"
*= bootable


fdisk and format reads 117288mb (almost 120gigs)
as formatted and active

no ...both hard drives are set to master and both have there own cable and both are on there own slots
promise1
promise2
dvd own cable on IDE 1 slot set jumper to master
cdr own cable on IDE 2 slot set jumper to master
recap;
2+0 array striped functional and bootable
formatted active entire 120gigs
win xp cd only reaches opening menu;
enter=setup
R= repair
F3=exit
hitting "R" or"enter"
gives;
No disk drives on your pc,setup cannot continue
chck plugs,wires,biosetc blah blah.
F3 to close

so i have no F6 option and i have no OS on here to put drivers on...i have a C drive formatted to 120gigs with no OS on it.
:confused:

[philocipher]

OH . doesn't i ask you if u need to install additional SCsi or third part adapters before that ? BTW I am not vfery familiar with THAt particular version ure useing for the BIOs or your need for raid and application... but why do u keep refering to it as 2+ 0
have u tried just type 0 RAID?
also get a windows 98SE bootdisk and do a sys on that to make your own Hard drive bootable
and then try running the setup

[Ironwalker]

because the fastrack light utility says its a 2+0 array striped it is raid "0" the 2 means disks im assumeing.


during win xp setup it will flash F6 at bottom of screen....but the problem is i cannot get to the F6 part,it wont go that far.when i hit enter for setup,it sdays no disks detected.

that makes no sense because fdisk/format found disks

fastrack light found them
the raid is bootable and functional
so why wont xp setup disc see them and let me get on to the set up page????:confused:

[Philip1952]

Give us a link to your mother board. Or controller card if you are using one. I want to do some reading on it.

[Ironwalker]

link to my board...um,
ASUS A7V266E
promise fastrack light version 131
ok ill be back with links

http://ironwalkernquake.homestead.com/files/raid.jpg


sorry for size.ya cant read the last words on the line but i have it memorised....i get to the point it says to install OS but the OS wont take...i was told of a possible conflict or compatability issue with promise onboard controller and xp...but how do i get drivers on here with no OS on first??I cant
Ill be back with some links.
thanks :confused:

[Ironwalker]

here are some info sites...first is a review sort of to let ya know the basics of the board.The links are the same color as my text it seems,mouse over.

asus a7v266e (http://www.overclockers.co.nz/ocnz/mobo/a7v266e/1.shtml)

The ASUS site for my board (http://www.asus.com.tw/mb/socketa/a7v266-e/overview.htm)

in there is a pdf of my owners manual

pdf version of my manual (http://cgi.asus.com.tw/cgi-bin/dl.asp?filename=mb/socka/kt266a/a7v266-e/a7v266e-100.pdf)

if ya need more let me know thanx again:)

[Ironwalker]

guess i lost ya'll.....lol:rolleyes:

[Ryan S]

I know you said you tried the F6 option, but I'm not convinced from your description that you tried it successfully. One of the first things that should flash across the bottom of the screen during the install process is, "Press F6 to install third party SCSI controller..." (note that is not exactly what it says, but it is the general idea). The install process will not stop for input at this point, and after this has been displayed for a short time the install process continues and eventually reaches the point where it asks you if you want to install or repair or whatever. If you don't install the WinXP drivers for your RAID setup, WinXP will not be able to see the drives at all and no amount of fiddling elsewhere will make it visible. Since it seems to be visible and usable elsewhere (i.e. in fdisk and by format), you need to install the drivers for XP. Note, that if you hit F6 at the point that it asks, it will give you absolutely no immediate feedback (at least in Win 2K). So you might want to try hitting it repeatedly while the message is displayed. The initial install process after the message is the same whether you have hit F6 or not. Eventually it will prompt you to install the third-party drivers (which you will need to have on a floppy disk, which hopefully came with your motherboard). Following the onscreen directions will allow you to load the RAID drivers, which will allow WinXP to see your RAID array.

[Ironwalker]

when i boot from win xp cd........theres 2minutes of blk screen while cdr light stays on,flashes then win xp options screen pops up
nowhere on there does it say F6 install anything or F6 at all...im sorry but it doesnt say this anywhere,not for a split second as the very first screen pops up.
ok ill try hitting the F6 while the screen is blk and prepareing to display opening win xp screen.............................nothing,in fact hitting F6 before win xp screen appears never allows it to appear at all.
ok then when i get win xp initial screen(the blue one with options)it still doesnt say F^ anywhere,but i hit it repeatedly anyway as if something would happen..............................nothing,again, im sorry but it doesnt do a darn thing.
id take a pic of the entire process but my vid cam is connected to this pc.
in those steps i did at your advice,did i miss anything.???:confused:

[Ryan S]

Is your WinXP cd in your CDR drive for the install? I don't think it should matter, but the little experience I have had with CD-RW drives is that they sometimes do strange things. You might want to put the WinXP cd in your dvd drive and try to install from there.

You say that there is a black screen for 2 minutes with nothing on it before the install, repair, exit option screen comes up? Something is going wrong with the install process itself. I'm not sure what it could be, but there shouldn't be 2 minutes of black screen before the option screen appears. Whatever is causing this is why you aren't getting the message to press F6 and is where all your problems are probably coming from. My first instinct is to say that the WinXP install process doesn't like part of your hardware. So, what you may want to try is to remove everything that is not required to install your OS (disconnecting your CD-RW drive, removing unnecessary PCI cards such as modem/NIC/sound card and leaving motherboard/cpu/ram, video card, DVD drive, floppy drive, and your two hard drives attached to your raid controller). Maybe the install process will function correctly then.

The other thing you might try is to flash the bios, but a quick check on the ASUS site doesn't indicate that the latest bios fixes anything important (it only mentions improved DRAM compatibility).

Maybe someone else here knows something that could cause the install problems you are having. It'll probably turn out to be a setting somewhere that is incorrect. From your explanations of what is occuring, it might not have anything to do with the RAID setup itself, just something that interferes with the normal install process. I'm pretty sure that WinXP will never see the RAID array until you provide it with the drivers for your RAID controller. So, the key is fixing the problem that is causing the 2 minutes of black screen early in the install process.

Sorry if I'm not being very helpful here.

[Ironwalker]

you reply alone is helpful weather it fixes or not...thanx!


ok,ive tried the dvd drive ...same


i get the option screen only,and with no F6 option,i still get long pause with dvd xp cd install as with cdr only not as long ,but never-the -less a long pause.

im useing onbopard raid(promise)
not a raid card

i have only the vid card and other hardware that i had when i installed a regular ata/100 setup useing dbl cables for each of the two drives
one master one slave
cdr also dbl(y cable) cable master and dvd slave

everything was fine this way
c drive was 60 gigs with xp on it
and d drive was also 60 gigs free used for graphics and game proggies



would haveing that setup be much of a performance loss from the raid 0 that i cant seem to get???

its just that i ordered this as a raid 0 set up and didnt get what i paid for and they didnt tell me either....they figured because there was 120gigs divided into t2 drives i wouldnt ask questions...but im not stupid.


Im ready to call xp support,i hear theres free support from microshaft for xp installs...............any links/phone #'s??????????????:rolleyes:

[Ironwalker]

sorry

cant let this go i was a computer diagnostician for ford plant for a few years
and auto tech for 10 years
construction for 5 off and on yrs and machinists/welder and some other trades
NYC ironworker now
anyway my troubleshooting /analytical nature wont allow me to pass on this and go back to ata/100 ide setup
i must know why this isnt working.i have this pc to play online with for now and can wait.

ford dealerships used to send computer problems they couldnt fix to me at the ford plant.I would fix them with all the vast resources made available to me around me,the net wasnt one of them.
Now i have the net.:D :D

[philocipher]

excuse me for bringing out this post from the grave. but did u solve the issue.
very curios to know the cause....
if not.
did u try to make it bootable by a windows 98 boot disk?
did it work . and so on and on?

[Philip1952]

Check this thread (http://www.techimo.com/forum/t11488.html) out. The bottom post. See if it might work for you.