RAID 0 Problems w/ WIN2k

[Adrayic]

Alright... I'm trying to setup a RAID 0 array on my new system. Here are my components:

2x Diamondmax 10 250GB 16Mb SATA Drives
DFI NF4 Ultra D
OCZ Powerstream 520W
San Diego 3700+
OCZ PC3200VX Memory

Here's what happens:

I can enable to RAID array in the bios and configure it using the NVIDIA raid software. I have set it up in RAID 0 "stripping option" w/ strip size set to optimal. I also make it a bootable array. When the system posts, it detects the array and says that everything is healthy. I then boot from the Win 2000 Pro CD to load windows (while pressing F6 to configure the array to work in windows). It asks me to specify the location of the RAID drivers. I plug in the SATA RAID disk that came w/ the DFI motherboard and load the requested files. It goes through this fine but I get the BSOD right after it says "Windows is starting up". It is a fatal error (can't remember which one) but it tells me that it could be the result of a new hardware installation.

I know that the Win2k disk is fully functional because I just installed a copy of Win2k on another computer (single drive). I tried installing the RAID array via the same method using WinXP and everything worked flawlessly. There were no BSOD's. This is currently the way I have it running. I really want to make a dual boot w/ Win2k Pro and WinXP off the same RAID 0 array. Does anybody know whats going on? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

-Adrayic

 

[juliendogg]

Have you got any IDE hard drives attached to the system? Try unplugging any IDE drives before running windows setup. Also, make sure you are selecting the appropriate driver for your system on the Raid floppy.

J.

 

[Adrayic]

I have no IDE drives.... the only things connected right now are the 2 Diamondmax 10's and my X800Pro. I have selected the right drivers (to the best of my knowledge). There are 4 drivers on the disk.... two of which are for the SIL raid controller (which the NF4 Ultra-D does not have). The other two are for the NVIDIA raid controller, which the Ultra-D does have. I installed both drivers. Mind the fact that this works perfectly for WinXP. Could there be a compatability problem w/ Win2k and the Diamondmax 10's?

-Adrayic

 

[INT21]

check out Microsoft's Hardware Compatibility List to see if your RAID controller is supported. If it doesn't appear on the list for W2K it sounds like you're outta luck.

 

[juliendogg]

Definately check for compatibility. I have noticed however with my silicon image controller if i install both the sata drivers on the disk, it overwrites the first one when i do the second. You MUST choose the correct driver and install only that driver. It should not be too hard to determine which driver is correct for your controller. BSOD sounds like it's trying to utililze the wrong driver files.

J.

 

[Adrayic]

ARG! Still not working. I'm sure that this is compatable w/ win 2k (Nvidia says it is). I tried downloading the latest RAID drivers and installing them (one at a time). Both gave me BSOD's. Here is the error:

STOP: C0000221 Unknown Hard Error
\systemRoot\system32\ntdll.dll

This is definately something to do w/ the RAID controller. I tried installing Win2k w/out RAID and it booted w/ no problems. Anybody have any ideas?

-Adrayic