How to setup Raid

Ok, I've gone through 10 pages of search results for RAID and havent found anything telling me actually how to set it up and it has gotten a bit tedious. I've got my harddrives in my computer (2x80 Hitachi Deskstars from Newegg) and now I dont know what to do. I was told by a friend to goto the Bios, turn on Raid, then goto the windows setup cd, load the drivers and proceed with windows installation. I tried this. None of it worked. I turned on Raid in the Bios and it would just lock up saying "Accessing array..." and just sit there like that for hours. I tried to load the drivers from the floppy that came with my mobo, they weren't x64 drivers apparently because windows wasnt going to play nice with them.

So now I'm stuck and after not finding any info on how to actually go about setting it up, I've decided to ask. I already understand the concept behind Raid, and thats what most of the posts I've found have been about. If I missed the post that everyone looks at so that they dont need to make posts like this, just point me to it and I'll be happy as can be.

after my bios boots the screen flashes and the via raid controller pops up it then says "press tab to configure raid" i would look for something like that. from there you would select which drives you want to add to the array

My 64 bit system raid experience:

Assemble system
Boot into the bios and enable raid there
Reboot after saving bios changes
Begin to install windows
Message says press F6 to install raid drivers (press F5 then F6)
Insert raid drivers floppy
Configure raid
Windows installation continues and eventually finishes.

Well, sounds like you are trying the right steps. Is this onboard RAID? if so go into the BIOS and make sure the RAID controller is enabled.

Then when booting, after the initial screens the RAID controller startup screen should attempt to detect the drives/arrays. Press crtl+(whatever other key) to get into the RAID controller bios. Then you can initialize the array.

If something is going wrong in that portion, there must be a BIOS or hardware problem, could be the drives, the mobo controller (not too likely) or the way they are connected.

If that works then it should be like you said, put windows setup cd in drive, hit F6 at beginning to install the drivers and it should see the array you initialized (in the above steps). Make sure you have 64bit drivers if you are installing a 64bit OS of course.

Yes, this is with the onboard raid controller from the NF4 board I have. I go into the BIOS to Integrated Peripherials and then enable RAID for Interal SATA 1 and 2. I save and exit and instead of booting from cd, or even letting me get back into the BIOS, it goes to "Detecting array..." and will just sit there. Nothing happens. To get it let me back into the BIOS I either have to reset the CMOS or unplug the harddrives at the moltex connector, go into the BIOS, turn off the Raid settings, then turn off the computer and plug them back in.

I eventually found that the mobo driver cd has 64bit drivers that I need on the cd, and I put those on a floppy, but until I get this worked out, they dont do anything. So consider that part taken care of.

Saterus said:

Yes, this is with the onboard raid controller from the NF4 board I have. I go into the BIOS to Integrated Peripherials and then enable RAID for Interal SATA 1 and 2. I save and exit and instead of booting from cd, or even letting me get back into the BIOS, it goes to "Detecting array..." and will just sit there.

Click to expand...

That's because you haven't built an array yet.
Try this...
-Enter BIOS and disable RAID on SATA 1&2 (or wherever you're connected).
-Save changes and exit BIOS
-after the "update DMI pool and CMOS" OK restart the PC
-Now F10 your way into the RAID menu and assemble the array from the list of available drives
-Exit the RAID menu and go to BIOS
-Enable RAID on your SATA ports and go to the 'boot menu" and choose the nVidia stripe (assuming RAID0) as the HDD boot option
-You should be able to begin the Windows install now...don't forget to F6 your RAID drivers in when prompted.

Ok, I'm good up to the "Now F10 your way into the RAID menu..." part. I sit there and hit F10 from the time the computer boots until the end of time but it just sits there after the CMOS OK message. It prints "Nvidia Boot Agent" and gives some copyright info but after that it just sits there and doesnt do anything. I would love to know how to enter the RAID menu and assemble my array, but I dont know how at the moment...any help would be greatly welcome.

Hmmm...
Maybe RAID does need to be enabled in BIOS first.
Go back and enable it and then try the F10 prompt immediately.

It's been a while since I did mine...I do remember it was a real PITA as the instructions were very vague.

I just setup a raid0 array on my NF4 chipset, I went to bios then integrated peripherals, then nvidia raid and enabled it. From that section there was a way to enable/disable it according to channel and since I wanted to setup my sata 1 and sata 2 devices in raid 0, I enabled it for sata 1 and sata 2 then disabled it for everything else. I saved settings and rebooted and after it POSTs there is an NVRAID screen. If you hit f10 then it should take you into the configuration so you can setup your array.

Once you have the array setup, you'll boot off your winxp x64 disc and it'll say Press F6 to load custom scsi controllers or something like that, and it'll be right off teh bat. Nail f6 a couple times just to make sure you get it and then after a minute or so it'll come to a screen asking you to put in the floppy to load them and such. Hit S and then once the floppy is in hit enter and there will be two drivers you need to load- if there are 4 present it shoudl be the bottom two but if you just have the sata drivers then it'll be the only two on there. From there it's smooth sailing the rest of the way

You should be able to pull the nvidia sata drivers from a 64 bit nforce driver package. Just grab the latest from nvidia and run it, but cancel when it starts to install. Go to C:\NVIDIA\nForceWinXP64\6.66\IDE\WinXP\sataraid and copy the folder to a floppy. That should provide you with your drivers for the x64 install. If there's any problems with the drivers you can always try to google for x64 nvraid drivers or check your motherboard manufacturer's website.

edit: Just realised you might not be using x64. It's the exact same to do with non 64bit drivers, you would just have a different folder name inside of nvidia. If it's not 64 bit you can always use the floppy that came with your mobo when you hit f6 as well, not have to mess aroudn with getting the drivers.

da_spork said:

I just setup a raid0 array on my NF4 chipset, I went to bios then integrated peripherals, then nvidia raid and enabled it. From that section there was a way to enable/disable it according to channel and since I wanted to setup my sata 1 and sata 2 devices in raid 0, I enabled it for sata 1 and sata 2 then disabled it for everything else. I saved settings and rebooted and after it POSTs there is an NVRAID screen. If you hit f10 then it should take you into the configuration so you can setup your array.

Click to expand...

Again, when I go into Integrated Peripherals, into the RAID Config, enable RAID, then set the channels, go back out, save, and reboot, it POSTs then it just sits there saying "Detecting array..." and doesnt do anything else. No NVRAID screen, nothing. Just "Detecting array...". I left it like that for over an hour and it didnt do anything.

And yes, I'm using x64.

And I've tried every combination of RAID Enabled and RAID disabled and RAID without channels enabled, etc. that I can think of.

If you are pressing f10 when it says detecting array it should enter the array setup.I have heard of issues using a USB keyboard during setups.Do you have a ps2 keyboard to try?

Try disabling some other peripherals in the BIOS. things you don't need right away, maybe there is some sort of conflict.


Also do the drives detect and work fine on a non-Nforce RAID controller? Maybe it is something with the drives? Do you know for sure they are good? Are teh cables connected properly?

shadowdr said:

If you are pressing f10 when it says detecting array it should enter the array setup.I have heard of issues using a USB keyboard during setups.Do you have a ps2 keyboard to try?

Click to expand...

I'm using a ps2 keyboard already. When I hit F10, it doenst do anything except keep trying to detect the array.

Albigger said:

Try disabling some other peripherals in the BIOS. things you don't need right away, maybe there is some sort of conflict.

Also do the drives detect and work fine on a non-Nforce RAID controller? Maybe it is something with the drives? Do you know for sure they are good? Are teh cables connected properly?

Click to expand...

What else can I disable? I don't know what other peripherals I've enabled? I have everything else in BIOS default settings at the moment.

The cables are properly connected, they are SATA so its pretty easy.

I dont know FOR SURE if the drives are good. They are brand new, I just ordered them. Yes, I suppose there's a chance they are bad, but I dont have any real reason to suspect they are bad. At this point, at POST, they are detected. I could try to setup windows without bothering with RAID and then format them just to make sure they are in working order.

But other than that, no luck.

shadowdr said:

If you are pressing f10 when it says detecting array it should enter the array setup.I have heard of issues using a USB keyboard during setups.Do you have a ps2 keyboard to try?

Click to expand...

Thanks shadowdr your comments solved my problem! Who would have thought that Windows Server 64 could be stopped in its tracks by a usb keyboard and mouse.....

/end threadjack

Ok, I unplugged everything, and I mean EVERYTHING and now it works. I got the array setup. I was very happy. But it was short lived.

I had my array setup, all 160gigs of it. I go into Windows x64 setup. I load my RAID drivers. Setup continues after the EULA! Woo!

But it lists my harddrives as two separate harddrives....this seemed a bit suspicious to me. Well, I partition them, separately. Still suspicious. I go ahead and format the one that is C:. It formats, I go watch tv. It finishes, I come back, reboot it. Detects array...Healthy! Then: "A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart."

Did I miss something when in Windows setup that I should have setup differently? Am I right to think that the Windows setup should have viewed my array as 1 harddrive instead of 2 separate 80gb harddrives? If so, what do I do to fix it?

I'm so close guys, a little more help will be great.

So you were able to enter the array setup? If so while you were there did you move the disk to the right side so that an array could be defined? It usually has a mirrored set by default and it looks a little tricky navigating the array screen.You also have to press b at some point to make the array bootable.

Go to the DFI site and download the nvraid manual2.pdf.
Yours is a difficult array to work with and you will need to review the manual to get it done correctly.

lol, we are tracking the same course

My dually just did the same thing. I gave up for now and deleted the raid array and unplugged one of the drives. I just want to get the darn thing running right now.

Hmm, well, good news and bad news guys. I got past this point. I posted here and then went to the nVidia site and downloaded the drivers, extracted them here on my brother's computer, and put the SATA-RAID drivers on the floppy. I loaded them both at the appropriate time and then went to the Partition screen and I had 1 single 158gb partition! =D

I set it up, it formats, and then starts to copy setup files, got 5% done, and got hung up on some random file. I'm not sure what caused this, but I'm taking a break for a moment and thinking about it. Maybe you guys can figure it out. I think it was like nvdmsg.dll or something similar. I know when dealing with .dlls that 1 letter matters a lot, but i know it was nv*msg.dll. I'll try it again in a little while, I think I'm going to watch some tv to get away from the problem for a while.

Btw, I downloaded this driver from the nVidia site. Worked pretty well, I'm not sure if that's what my problem was though.


EDIT: Hey, I tried again, its working now. It's gotten past the part that it got hung up on last time. Maybe it was just a glitch. Oh well, I'll keep you guys filled in.

Ok, I'm beginning to think that one of my hdds is dying. Windows goes to the graphical portion of the install after formatting and will randomly lock up. When it locks up, there is a definate clicking noise coming from one of the harddrives. If I turn off my pc and turn it back on (not restart) then it will go away and I can try to resume the install, but it will never make it past the main windows loading screen right before the login screen. It gives me a BSOD and restarts.


EDIT: Ok, I unplugged 1 drive and installed Windows non-Raid and it failed. I unplugged that drive and plugged the other drive in and tried again. It worked. Does this pretty much assure me that one of my drives is dead? I'm actually posting from the fresh install on the second harddrive.