Trouble with Intel DG965wh

I'm trying to setup a new system with an Intel DG965wh MB with three 500 gb drives in a 1 TB Raid 5 configuration with Windows 2000. System supports a Core 2 Duo E4400 processor and 1 GB ram (a properly timed Kingson 5-5-5 module). Video & network are both integrated on the board.

- If system is setup in Raid, windows installation crashes in the middle. The system appears to be currupting the installation files so once copied to the disk, they cannot be read back again. I've tried both 2K and XP and both do the same thing.
- If I remove Raid and install convnetional, the system installs but recognizes only 128 GB of the drives (mb bios sees the full 500 gb). 2K will install, but I cannot update any drivers. I get "non supported operating system" when I try to install mb & chipset drivers (although I downloaded them from Intel's Windows 2000 driver set).
- Since the network card is not recognized (no drivers yet), I cannot update 2K to the latest service pack.

Intel told me that because of PCI express, I needed to install 2K SP4. Intel said Win 2K pre SP4 does not support PCI express. I cannot find any documentation on Intel's web site, Microsoft's web site, or the web at large to support this claim. Nevertheless, I slipstreamed SP4 onto my base 2K and made a bootable from it.

The installation of the Win2K SP4 OS gave me all the same problems as above. After fighting this for five days now, I'm no closer to a working system than when it showed up in a box from Newegg.

Does anyone have experience with this board, this problem; or have any other suggestions?

Thanks.

*In setup have you formatted the drives already? What options does it give you in setup as far as where to install the OS to?
*It only recognizes the drive as 128gb because 2K is old, but that was fixed in the service packs.
*Obvious, but: The MB should have come with a raid driver on a floppy, this would be my suspect for the corruption.
*Get on another machine and pull the drivers for the integrated peripherals from Intels site.

Let us know how its coming, and welcome to the forum.

Do you have a slipstreamed version of XP w/ SP2? I don't know if that will help, but it's worth a try. Also after you set the BIOS to RAID did you setup your RAID BIOS by pressing cntrl-I during boot? And did you make an F6 floppy for the XP installation? Which sata ports on the MoBo are you plugged in to?

I don't know much about RAID on 2k, so I can only offer XP advice.

The guys in the storage section may be able to help you more.

Thanks. I did setup the raid volume (ctrl-i), installed the raid drivers during OS installation (f6 option). I have used both the raid floppy that came with the mb, and also downloaded new drivers from Intel. Both give me the same problem.

When I was able to setup Win2K (without the raid), I downloaded the latest drivers for the hardware and chipset from Intel on another machine, burned them to a CD and loaded them onto my new machine, but the computer would not load the new drivers. They come packed in an EXE that won't run.

Other thoughts?

if the board has a ide connector are you using that for the cd rom? if so and im right that would be the jmicron controller not being found correctly during the install when loading/installing things. this is/was a big problem when 965 first cameout, install the jmicron drivers on startup of the install like you did with the raid drivers.

Will try. Also, Intel is now saying that my 380 W power supply is not sufficient, and that for three disks in Raid I should use 450 W minimum. This sounds fishy to me as I have relatively few components here: mb, processor w/ fan, 2 case fans, 3 drives a CD Rom and that's it. Does the community think 380 W is underpowered and if so, would that cause these problems?

well it doesnt seem to make sense that a 380watt would cause problem esp if the cpu is not overclocked. For the sake of making sure that the psu is not being taxed at ony one time though i would suggest more. you can get a great deal on a 500watt psu, that is highly recommended.
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=PS-E5150GH

Weird stuff like this definitely does happen. I just fixed a ladies onboard sound today in a nice C2D system because of a failing power supply making her audio sound like Alvin & the chipmunks. Replaced the 350w Antec unit with a 400w FSP and she's good to go again. What's weird is the system was fully stable except for the the sound issue.

I give up!

I tried a 480W PSU and tried a slipstreamed XP SP2. Finally, I tried to update the BIOS (again) in recovery mode (as suggested by Intel) and after 20 minutes had gone by with no apparent activity, I said "no more."

Now I'm looking for a new MB for my Core 2 Duo. Any suggestions are appreciated. I'm looking for stability and economy. Integrated Raid, video and 1000 mbps NIC are desired. How is the nForce 650i chipset?

only 2 choices from newegg fitting what you need but these are MATX mobo's.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0200280+107172317+1071828999&name=Intel+ICH9R

Thanks for the link. Why did you focus only on the G33 boards? There are many more G/P965 and 975 boards out there.

maybe but for the price G33/P35 is a better way to go, IMO. since G33/P35 is in the same price range as the older g/p965 i see no reason to suggest the older stuff, unless you can get it cheaper then the G33/p35 parts.