installing xp on a new raid0 setup

when i boot with my xp cd, it will not recognize my hard drives in raid0. what steps do i need to take in order to have the windows install untility recognize them?

i see the "hit f6 to install a 3rd party raid driver" prompt, but i have no driver cd to install. if i need to do this, how can i create the necessary cd?

thank you

You need to create the RAID-0 Floppy Driver Disk for your specific MoBo/Chipset. You usually DL a small utility that will create the Floppy for you.

You obviously have access to an online PC (you posted here ), so goto your MoBo's manufacturer page, and find the Floppy Driver Utility for RAID operation. Make the floppy disk on your working PC.

Put the floppy disk in your new PC, and run the XP Installer. Hit "F6" when prompted, and select the correct RAID driver for your Chipset/MoBo (you might have multiple controllers listed and in different modes - so make sure you choose the right one in the right mode). That should work like a charm. The rest of the setup is identical to a non-raid setup (just faster )

PS - you can also "Slipstream" these drivers with a free application called "nLite". It integrates the RAID drivers onto yout XP CD so you don't need to fumble with F6 and Floppy Drivers. nLite can also integrate the "Ryan VM" Update Pack (or other Windows Hotfixes, etc) to get you 95% updated the second your install finishes. I haven't done a "non nLite" install since I found out about it. Oh yeah - it does unattended install, too

ok so i was able to get through the inital windows install (booting from cd.. formatting, ect..) but the subsequent boot will launch windows and the give me a BSOD every time. any way around this? thanks

You've got the wrong drivers, double check to make sure if you have two controllers on your mobo you didn't grab the wrong ones. Signatures help us help you better..........

my apologies- here's the relevent specs:

brisbane 3600+
biostar tforce 550
2 x 250gb seagate sata2 hdd's

i very well may have the wrong drivers. i've been using the "NVRAID_20_WIN2KXP.EXE" driver found here:
http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdownloads.asp?model=TFORCE 550

thanks-

what motherboard do you have? have you checked to see if you needed to flash you bios?

edit... you put the info just before i did sorry

squashfx said:

what motherboard do you have? have you checked to see if you needed to flash you bios?

edit... you put the info just before i did sorry

Click to expand...

i appreciate the reply anyway

i have flashed the bios to the newest version, btw

BlueGuy said:

my apologies- here's the relevent specs:

brisbane 3600+
biostar tforce 550
2 x 250gb seagate sata2 hdd's

i very well may have the wrong drivers. i've been using the "NVRAID_20_WIN2KXP.EXE" driver found here:
http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdownloads.asp?model=TFORCE 550

thanks-

Click to expand...

Those are the correct drivers and should work.

I attempted to get a raid going with 2x 320gb sata2 hdd's with a Biostar TForce 6100 board - very similar to your TForce 550. I could not get it to work and ultimately gave up. For some reason the Biostar bios does not play nice with the nvraid drivers. Hopefully you'll have more luck than I did.