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help me please... first time builder

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dontknowsquat

New Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2003
Location
Staten Island, N.Y.
Hi all this is my first time posting on these boards. I need some help with this mobo that I bought off of ebay, It's a gigabyte 8inxp that came in the mail by itself with no DPVRM or no installation cd. I called customer support and they said that the dps not installed wouldn't affect the mobo at all, with that resolved; I want someone who knows about this board to give me a real "step by step" with what to do. I have the installation cd on it's way but im already up and running so i don't want to wait for something that I don't need at the moment.
I downloaded all of the drivers off of the site for the 8inxp and don't know how or where to install them? I thought that there was some kind of way to flash the bios through windows? but maybe that's on the installation disc. What I want to do run raid with 2x80gig wd hdd I don't have a scsi interface just yet but in the future I would like to get that adapter thingie that converts the EIDE to SCSI but that'll have to wait, so as you can tell I'll be running ATA/EIDE standard with the Raid. But how do I go about doing it, this is my first time building a computer and all aside from just having it up and running i realize that there's alot more tweaking envolved,but I am greatful none the less. here's what I have sofar:
gigabyte 8inxp
pentium IV 2.4 with standard "intel" heatsink
1 aftermarket 80mm fan on the back
2x512 266 DDR sticks,slots 1 and 3 non ecc
ATI Radeon 7000 PCI
soundblaster audigy "xgamer"
NEC 10/100 card
hp cd writer plus
sony dru 500ax
and standard floppy 1.44 3.5
 
I have had 3 gigabyte boards, although they say you can flash through windows, I have always done it with a boot disk. I use Drflash (can't remember where I got it) and whatever files gigabyte tells you for the update.

Raid has to be activated in the BIOS, and you will have to reinstall windows to get in on raid, you can't switch it over to raid once its installed on a single disk.

And what you want are the serial ATA > IDE adapters, I don't think you can convert SCSI to IDE. But I looked at that board on the gigabyte site and I think you can run the raid through the green IDE ports (thats how my systems are) so you shouldn't need any adapters.
 
I see you are running 266 DDR Ram. Since you are a first time builder, I won't pressure you into getting 333 DDR (PC2700), but if you plan on overclocking, that memory will not let you go far.
 
Welcome to the forums.
The drivers should just be an executable you can run right from Windows. Also, I'd recommend that you DL the manual for the board from the Gigabyte website. It should give you all the info you need to configure the mobo.
 
hey, thanks alot for the feedback people. I really appreicate it I just finished trying to install my 2x80 wdc hddv's in RAID but I wasn't able to install windows xp? I don't understand I got to the page where it says that " if this is the first time that this is happened restart your computer if not then" so on and so on.. I don't really remember what the whole page said but It wouldn't let me go on from there so I just reinstalled the OS from the Standard IDE and here I am again:(
But even before that when I booted up the computer it said something about having recognized the 40 connector and I would be running in 33, if however I wanted to run faster they recommend that I upgrade it to an 80 connector??
what in gods name is that? I have no Idea whatsoever I AM TOTALLY BRAND NUBIAN!!! can anyone help shed some light on this? TIAV and thanks for the warm welcome.:)
 
Ok, getting the raid to work on the Gigabyte boards can be a real pain, it took me a weekend to figure out once. Set both drives to master and plug them each into their own channel(ide3 & ide4) so each drive has its own cable going from hdd to mobo. Only attach one of cdroms to ide1 or ide2, make sure the jumper is set correctly. Then boot the pc and go into bios. Set the bios boot order to floppy, cdrom, RAID - or whatever order you like, just make sure RAID is one of the options. You are then going to want to go into the "intigrated peripherals" screen and where it lists the promise chip, select RAID, not ATA or disabled. (a side note you can also disable your onboard sound and other features you may not want from the intigrated peripherals screen) Now save settings and reboot. After it posts and passes the bios screen, the promise chip detects anything on its ports. There is an option to enter the setup, don't remember what key you need to press, but it tells you. Press that key and go into the setup screen. From here you are going to want to build an array. There is an option that walks you through the steps. You want to set it as a stripping array - RAID 0, that is for speed. (the manual will give more detailed directions) Now when you do this all you data will be lost, so make sure anything you want is backed up. Once you have built the array save settings and reboot. If you like go back into the bios and it should show one volume of approx. 160gb. Now when you are installing windows, as it boots from the cd it asks if you want to install third party RAID drivers, press F6. The setup will continue to load and when its done you will need to give it the drivers on a floppy, which you can download from their site. After that format and install windows normally, the windows install screen should detect only one volume of 160gb. And you should be off and running.

A few things to note. Read your manuall, as the directions may vary and be sure to ask any more questions if you have problems. Make sure no other hdd's are attached when doing this. It took me hours one day to realize that my 60gb backup drive was always becoming default in windows setup when it was attached. And be prepared for a little, or a lot, of frustration. Also onboard RAID setups can be unstable, so be sure to backup your data frequently.

Good Luck...:beer: (you'll deserve this when done)
 
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