Please help! P5WD2 Premium and RAID not working

[da9pwnsu]

Hey I just got 2x250GB and 1x500GB hard drives complimentary from Seagate, and I want to run the 2x250GB in RAID0. I have downloaded the latest BIOS (0802) for the Asus P5WD2 board, and I have tried many ICH7R *press F6 before installing XP* drivers, but with no luck. Whether or not I have RAID enabled or not, my system blue screens as soon as the Windows XP installation tries to recognize the hard drives after all the device drivers are loaded. When I tried the ASUS ICH7R drivers from the ASUS site (http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=P5WD2 Premium), however, Windows setup told me there were no hard drives attached to the system.

Please help!

 

[dylskee]

You're not using the right drivers for that, you'll want to go here http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101&lang=eng and select your operating system and download the intel matrix storage driver. You can download the floppy configuration tool and then use the F6 option with that driver.

 

[da9pwnsu]

right, ive tried that as well but still no luck unfortunately... Windows setup blue screens as soon as it tries to detect the hard drives after all the device drivers are loaded

do u have any other suggestions? im currently running SeaTools for dos on a floppy to check the drives... but so far they are perfect at 80%

 

[dylskee]

What are some of you're Bios settings? Do you have Raid enabled in the Bios? Are you holding the Ctrl+I at post to configure your raid?

 

[da9pwnsu]

What are some of you're Bios settings? Do you have Raid enabled in the Bios? Are you holding the Ctrl+I at post to configure your raid?

yes the raid is configured using the (first) onboard ICH7R controller:

i have disabled raid support on the Sillicon Image raid controller (the second onboard raid controller) because it doesnt have as many features as the intel

name: Volume0
type: Raid0
strip: 128KB
both 250GB drives are selected

 

[dylskee]

Are the drives recognized in the Bios? Have you tried clearing the cmos and trying again? Try a different dvd drive if you have more than one. I had a dvd drive that would give me a blue screen when installing windows, I put another drive in from another computer and it worked. Also try with just 1 stick of ram. Sorry, running out of ideas.

 

[da9pwnsu]

Are the drives recognized in the Bios? Have you tried clearing the cmos and trying again? Try a different dvd drive if you have more than one. I had a dvd drive that would give me a blue screen when installing windows, I put another drive in from another computer and it worked. Also try with just 1 stick of ram. Sorry, running out of ideas.

ive tried all of that, i assure you its not the other components as they are 100% in flawless working condition

 

[Randyman...]

Are you sure you are selecting the correct driver after you hit F6? It usually has RAID and IDE versions for multiple SB's, and you have to make sure you choose the correct one for your chipset (ICH7R/DH RAID IIRC). And you are using the "Text Mode" drivers, right?

Personally, I slipstream my F6 drivers onto the XP CD with nLite. We don't need no stinking floppies!

 

[da9pwnsu]

Are you sure you are selecting the correct driver after you hit F6? It usually has RAID and IDE versions for multiple SB's, and you have to make sure you choose the correct one for your chipset (ICH7R/DH RAID IIRC). And you are using the "Text Mode" drivers, right?

Personally, I slipstream my F6 drivers onto the XP CD with nLite. We don't need no stinking floppies!

im using the proper drivers, my system just bluescreens as soon as it tries to find the hard drives during setup...

 

[Randyman...]

Do you have your RAID array set to be "Bootable" in BIOS?

Aside from that, I dunno. I assume the MoBo works fine in standard IDE mode? Is this your first OS Install on this MoBo?

Are you overclocked? Is your PCI bus locked to 33/66MHz?

My P5WD2-Premium works like a charm in RAID mode... Go figure

 

[da9pwnsu]

Do you have your RAID array set to be "Bootable" in BIOS?

Aside from that, I dunno. I assume the MoBo works fine in standard IDE mode? Is this your first OS Install on this MoBo?

Are you overclocked? Is your PCI bus locked to 33/66MHz?

My P5WD2-Premium works like a charm in RAID mode... Go figure

yes they are set to bootable, no i am not overclocked when installing, and yes this is my first os install on this mobo ...the drives are SATA, but i will try an IDE drive right now to see how that goes

 

[Randyman...]

Have you tried in standard IDE (non-RAID) mode with one SATA drive connected? Tried swapping out SATA Cables? Tried different SATA ports?

This sounds very odd to me. If you can't get anything to work in Standard IDE mode, then you might have a harware issue.

One last Q - Are you installing XP SP2? Or SP1a?

As a last ditch effort, you might want to try re-flashing your BIOS. I had RAID issues on my old P4C800E after a Bios flash, and a re-flash using the latest AFUDOS fixed it.

 

[da9pwnsu]

Have you tried in standard IDE (non-RAID) mode with one SATA drive connected? Tried swapping out SATA Cables? Tried different SATA ports?

This sounds very odd to me. If you can't get anything to work in Standard IDE mode, then you might have a harware issue.

One last Q - Are you installing XP SP2? Or SP1a?

As a last ditch effort, you might want to try re-flashing your BIOS. I had RAID issues on my old P4C800E after a Bios flash, and a re-flash using the latest AFUDOS fixed it.

ive EZ flashed it many times now lol

the cables are brand new and all the drives can be read as ive used SeaTools to do a scan on each and they all passed

im installing XP Pro SP2 of course ...but whatever i do it seems to bluescreen... damn

 

[Randyman...]

believe me, I feel for you da9pwnsu! What about trying in Non-RAID mode with a single drive at a time?

Is the CD/DVD drive a SATA or PATA?

 

[da9pwnsu]

believe me, I feel for you da9pwnsu! What about trying in Non-RAID mode with a single drive at a time?

Is the CD/DVD drive a SATA or PATA?

the LITE-ON DVD-RW drive is a PATA drive

i havent tried non-raid with a single drive yet, but i may be making progress with the raid configuration as im trying different bios settings

 

[da9pwnsu]

wtf...it crashed with one SATA drive in non raid ...

 

[Randyman...]

Odd indeed. I'd start troubleshooting other hardware. PSU, RAM, and obviously the MoBo itself...

Maybe try booting from a Linux Live CD to see if it also acts odd/crashes?

 

[da9pwnsu]

ok and it boots off my old PATA hard drive, but the system just resets as soon as the windows logo shows up!!?

 

[da9pwnsu]

running memtest86+ right now...

i REALLY REALLY dont wanna have to swap boards

 

[bing]

Maybe you should take a look at this thread ? -> RAID0 - I gave up ! Who knows ?