why won't SP2 let me install to a RAID array?

a buddy of mine slipstreamed my copy of xp pro for me and i FINALLY have gotten around to doing a clean install (instead of a restore from drive image). So i put the CD in and let it do it's thing... until i need to select where to install my OS... my sil 3114 does not show up as a 154GB drive (2x80gig maxtors) it shows up (the first time any way) as a 154 GB drive AND a 80 gig drive. When i deleted the partition (don't ask why, because i don't know why i did it) it presented me with two 80 drives, but no RAID array. WTF? am i doing something wrong? setup told me that i had an older version of my RAID driver on my floppy than what came with sp2, so i used sp2's driver... no RAID... tried my own... no array. so now i'm installing xp pro, and hoping to install xp pro w/ sp2 over it on my RAID array. Con anyone tell me why this is giving me such a hard time??

thnx

I guess first of all I'd make sure I had the most recent drivers. I would also recreate the array on the drives (via the RAID controller) before I gave it another shot.

i recreated the array via the raid controller, and just downloaded the absolute latest drivers (i hope). Now, i'll try to do my own slipstream... (he made this one look like win2000 and took a lot of stuff off... i like having everything and the way xp looks) then i'll try and reinstall again (after backing up this install of course) with my version of the sp2 slipstream.

thnx a lot, i hope i get this working.

ARe you pressing F6 at the beginning of the install to specify the raid drivers?

sure am, it's here that xp compares the driver on my floppy to the one that's built in. it says mine is older, then it lets me choose which to use. i tried both, but neither worked. the one i have on floppy works with regular old xp pro (no slipstream). I'm still donwloading sp2 so i can try my own slipstream and see what happens.

install to an IDE on the motherboard ATA, install the drivers for everything, making sure you can see the RAID set, then ghost your OS over to the stripe

slightly off topic, is it a good idea to install to a stripe set?, your chances of losing a drive are doubled then...

i hadn't thought of ghosting over to the RAID Afterwards... i'll keep that in reserve if i don't get this figured out. And the possibility of my array failing doesn't really scare me since the important stuff (everything but gamesaves) are on a different drive- i use tweakui to move any "My * " folder onto a seperate drive so i don't have to back it up when i do clean installs or restore from an image. I don't think i'll be able to get to this prob this weekend though since i seem to have come down with either the flu or a biological attack directed at ME, because it hurts to do anything but sit really still. Hope the Doc has some really good medicine... thanks everyone.

i gues because of the difficulty often involved in installing an OS to a RAID, as well as the chances of failure, i havent ever done it...to get around app loading times and such i just put a "Program Files" foled on my SATA stripe, and anything large that i want to load fast (games for the most part), i install on that drive

this has the added advantage that a reinstal of my OS will more often than not have no affect on the games, as they dont require a system integration like most other apps

meaning that once installed, if i reinstall the OS, i simply grab shortcuts from the games directories and play...no real need to reinstall

this is also tru of many apps, which i also stick in there, Adobe PS and Ill, Lightwave3D