Windows XP x64 Install on new system stops.

Ok.

So I have two Maxtor 500g SATA 3g harddrives running Raid0 striped on an Abit KN9 Ultra Motherboard with an AMD Athlon64 x2 3800+

I installed Windows XP x64 on just one of the 500gig drives and it installed and ran just fine no issues so I'm certain my problem is with the raid drivers?

When I install it does everything as it should up until it starts copying the setup files over and then it will go anywhere from 1 to 12% and it's like the CD rom drive starts reading slower and slower and the whole process just comes to a stop. I can pull the CD out and it does not error or anything.

I am using a floppy drive to load the Raid drivers, I tried using the raid drivers, the SATA drivers, and then both together and it does the same thing every time.

I'm looking for suggestions on what to try next!

Thanks!

Mike

Edit: I can install to either drive itself no problem, or my 60gig PATA drive without any issues whatsoever.

Another Edit: I installed to my PATA drive and when I tried copying a 4gig file to the array it hangs during the copy about 20~35% thru. I have the latest raid drivers so either the raid controller is crap, or the driver is crap. The drives individually work perfectly.

When I install to the raid it hangs usually at drivers.cab around 12%, the CDrom slowly starts spinning down and stops reading alltogether... It's as though the setup is having a hard time copying large files to the array?

Actually now I'm getting all kinds of file copy errors while trying to install.

When I used my default XP CD and I try to load the drivers off of a floppy I get OEMSETUP.txt or something file error and when I use my nLite setup disc with the Drivers on the disc already it gives me a Cannot load nVraid.sys (the raid driver) with error code 32768 or something...

*confused*

I am on my laptop and have MSN/Windows messenger and Yahoo if anybody wants to contact me there to help that'd be great.

Mike

Should build your raid array in bios before beginning the install.

When you get the install blue screen it says at the bottom "Press F6 to install 3rd party or raid drivers"

Press F6, insert your raid driver floppy and select the drivers.

Install should continue normally.

I've done this several times, I can't get past the "Setup is copying files..." it slowly stops copying and then just hangs, cdrom spins down and system is nonresponsive with x64.

On Regular (non x64) WinXP Pro I can get all the way to Installing Start Menu Items (last part of setup) and it will hang.

I have installed on both HDs individually (non raid) and on two other PATA harddrives with no issues so it's a problem with the Raid Controller, Raid Driver, or Windows support for the raid controller.

I did set up the Array in bios before running the setup when I did the installation attempts.

I even deleted the array and remade it, tried different stripe sizes and everything.

When I installed fully on a PATA drive and had the SATA Raid enabled as well, I booted windows and attempted to copy a 4gig file to the Raid Array and it would stop copying at about 30% and then the entire Explorer.exe process that was doing the copy freezes.

This was under the x64 version - I'm working on the regular Pro version now since I've had more luck with it. But so far it's looking like I'm going to have to go get a HW Raid controller and run non-raid until I can get one which is STUPID when the board is supposed to support raid.

Mike

Are you using raid drivers that are 64 bit?

I unplugged the Power from the second SATA drive and the first runs better but still not perfect.

It seems that I cannot power both SATA drives off of the same cable - and that it's somewhat flaky running just one of these drives - is this a problem with the motherboard or the PSU? I'd think it's a PSU problem but honestly I don't know how to diagnose this problem any further and I would appreciate any assistance you guys can offer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817371002
Antec TruePower Trio 550watt (link above)

This is the Power Source... I figured it'd be more than powerful enough to power two 500gig Sata drives, an Radeon x1950 Pro, 2gigs OCZ Ram...???

Mike

p.s.

I ran CPU Burn-in v1.01 (x2 for dual core) for 1 hour temps on processor stayed good and I had error checking enabled so I'm sure the processor is fine.

I also ran MemTest to about 250% coverage and had no errors.

I've tried another video card, a PCI GeForce (older one) and it does not change whether or not the problem occurs.

Sound is integrated and I disabled it and tried the system and it's still not stable on HD access.

So I tested CPU, Memory, and Video, and Sound - only thing left are the HDs themselves - which I plan to swap them into my old system and see how they run but I'm 99.9% sure they're fine and the motherboard.

Good detective work MikeDVB!

Now we wait for a PSU guru to provide enlightenment

Testing the other drive (the one I didn't use single recently) to see if I have the same issue, if I do I HIGHLY doubt I have a PAIR of defective Enterprise drives and I'll replace the motherboard.

If that's the case - what do you guys recommend for what I want:

Everything in my signature except the mobo of course

Gigbit Ethernet, 4 Sata 3g Raid Ports, at least 1 PCI-e x16 (two is fine, but at least 1)

And I want overclockability - I want to be able to overclock if I decide to so a board that has full overclocking features would be nice.

I don't mind spending the $$$ as long as it's a good stable board.

Mike

Ah - easier fix even yet - one of the HDs was in fact bad.

I can install WinXP completely no problem on one but not the other =) Swapped it out just now and I'm going to set up Raid0 and try installing =)

Mike

Just a heads up ... if your installing x64 and you have Xfi s/card installed , REMOVE IT FIRST from your system as x64 will lock up during the install when it gets to the Xfi card with default drivers . Install the Xfi AFTER the x64 install and you should be good to go !

Thanks for the heads up =)

Using a Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 lol =)

Mike

if i were you i'd say forget installing 64bit. I've been running it for about 2 months now and last night i went back to 32 bit. It really isn't worth going to 64bit at all. There still aren't drivers out for everything, several programs won't work properly, some software can't even be installed. I didn't notice any performance increase, actually an increase in lock ups if anything. If i were you i'd stick with what you know works and take my advice that its not worth going to 64bit.