GA7N400Pro2 /RAID .. SOLVED !!!

[mysunshines]

trying to set up a new system with WIN 2000 on GA-7N400 Pro 2 with RAID 0 (2x WD 800 JB)

I am at the point where i press F6 to install raid drivers , as per the manual , i have used another computer to install the ITE-Raid drivers on to floppy from the CD , but it wont recognise or run the drivers off floppy.

nothing happening jack.
i downloaded the most recent ite-raid 8212 driver from the gigabyte website , but it still wont install from floppy, so of course i cant setup the OS because it wont find the RAID 0 drives until they have the driver installed

do i have to set up a third HDD , install a temporary OS , then setup the RAID array from there ?

wtf ?????

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by MySunshines on 02/09/04 07:15 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[pat]

Did you put the directory or just the file? because the .oem file has to be in the root. If I look at my disk, I have the .oem file, the fasttx2k file (mine is the fasttrak controller) and the directories for the drivers (one for each version of windows) are on the root. if you just put the directories or some zip archives, it wont find the drivers.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[mysunshines]

actually , i blame the idiots who write the manuals , their english is pathetically atrocious , there are mistakes and missing text which make the process a #$@^$& headache.

whoever wrote them didnt bother to proofread.....they get my 2004 vote for biggest boot up their azz.

and your reference to fastrak ? no good to me if mine is a different version ol' son.

i used the file for win2K/XP drivers btw

yes , i know its my fault ....for not being clairvoyant enough to know what the missing text was in the manual

 

[pat]

My reference to fasttrak was just for a hint..I knew yours would be different. So, that's ok? everything works?

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[mysunshines]

no , its not working , i tried every driver file that came under the tree "other" as per the manual , none of them will read from floppy or install into the windows 2000 installation , every one i try , it keeps saying "insert the disk labeled Manufacturer supplied hardware support disk into drive A"

but none of them read or install , yes , floppy is enabled and working fine for everything else.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Did you decompress or unzip the files before writing them to the floppy?
Do your drives appear in the BIOS???

I aint signing nothing!!!

 

[Mind_Rebuilding]

I heard from somewhere that you need to use Abit's RAID driver to install the SATA controller driver...

 

[mysunshines]

i am not trying to install the SATA RAID driver , i am trying to install the RAID driver for UDMA HDD

 

[pat]

I looked at the board at Gigabytes web site and there is 2 RAID controller, according to the drivers page. So....download both drivers, install them on diskette. When XP ask for a disk, try one. If that dont work, try the other disk. because XP might find 2 controllers and you just try to install the drivers for the wrong controller...

Ok I looked at the ITE disk. One decompressed in a repertory on you current computer, you need to put the following files on the diskette, right in a:\ ... txsetup.oem, iteraid and the repertory for win2k_xp.

So when the install prog will look at the disk, it will look for a:\txsetup.oem first...then this file will tell xp what to look for. Idem for the Silicon image controller.

So, when you start the install, when you press F6, look at how many and which controlle XP ask for. then put the correct disk


-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by pat on 02/06/04 10:15 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[mysunshines]

the two RAID drives dont show in BIOS , but they do show when i am booting up just before windows starts.

if i go into the gigabyte Raid manager utility , it shows the RAID array set up properly with both drives identified and with its 16k striping in RAID 0

I have setup a third drive on the other IDE channel and installed Win2K as a temporary OS , which sets up okay.
If i click on My Computer however , the RAID drives dont show there , so i cant format or partition them.
Would my 3rd drive (on its own 80 pin cable) on the other IDE plug need to be set up with jumpers set to master or slave ?
would that affect it ?

The drivers i tried to install were on Other/ite_raid/drivers/win2k/XP

maybe i am not doing that bit right ?

 

[pat]

Oh..and by the way, did you update the BIOS to the latest version? In Gigabyte FAQ, they say that the BIOS may not have an option to enable RAID...

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[mysunshines]

those 2 raid controller files are probably for SATA RAID and IDE RAID.

now....this bit about txsetup.oem etc ???
i cant even find those in the tree from the installation CD...???
the "updated driver" i downloaded from the gigabyte website...i tried to unzip that to floppy but it is about 2 meg...too big for one floppy , lol,...i tried to download diskeeper so i could seperate it into 2 FDD , but that wont work for me either ((

any more suggestions peepil ? ))

 

[mysunshines]

Flash BIOS ?...(pretty flash alright)

i downloaded latest BIOS and tried that with the gigabyte @BIOS utility.......

i get an error message "Can not load ROM image from BIN file Maybe BIN file size not match"

I know......the board is fine , its just me )

 

[pat]

install the file you just downloaded on the hard disk (you double click on the file just downloaded, it will ask you for a destination ...cut it to something simpler, like c:\RAID instead of the full path it will give you. Once done, go to the directory, look for the files and just put the files I told you in another post on a blank floppy. You dont need all the files in that install. And dont put any directory except the win2k_xp one on that disk...the files must be in the root on the diskette (A:\)

Af for the bios, you may not have the good one. later for that


-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[pat]

I just sent you a private message ...

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[mysunshines]

thankyou Pat (and others)
I have spent about 25 hours trying to get this working ;(

hehe , i suppose it is developing my patience

btw Pat , i think you have succesfully helped me on this forum before from memeory.

appreciate your time.

now if i could only work out how to find these files you mentioned......my current BIOS is F5 , the latest is F6 , but i think the RAID issue was dealt with in BIOS F2 , so i dont think its that.......it has to be the file type

 

[Pete_Britt]

I had a heck of a time getting my Gigabyte GA-7VAX RAID working as a RAID 1 (mirrored), until I stumbled on the secret.

You must first install the RAID driver on an IDE (non-RAID) disk. But if you don't have a drive connected to the RAID connector, the RAID driver will not be installed.

The secret then was to start with an IDE boot drive and one RAID drive connected. After that every thing worked OK for me.

I hope this helps.

It would have gone a lot smoother had the manual been better.

 

[mysunshines]

It took alot of time to get RAID to install on this GA-7N400 pro2 board , i will list what things we did that finally worked.

The RAID driver that came on CD with my motherboard did not work , nor did the drivers downloaded from
Gigabyte under Pro2 Version 1.0 , despite about 25 hours work and 25 different setups
My board is a Revision 1.0 , however ____use the drivers for GA-7N400 Pro2 (version2.0) if you want RAID_____
I will emphasize again....USE DRIVERS FOR VERSION 2.0 MOTHERBOARD , you will need to click on motherboard type , but go to GA-7N400 Pro 2 Version 2.0 mobo ,even if yours is an earlier version mobo .
If you want to set up RAID on this board , you also need to have another computer online for downloading this latest ITE 8212 RAID driver set version 2.0 from;

http://tw.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/Driver/Driver_List.htm


the file is too big to install on to a floppy , so create a temporary folder (say on your desktop) , then
unzip the downloaded file into the temporary folder.
now , open the drivers file , delete the NT word file (6.92 Meg) , copy all the remaining files to a formatted floppy.

Now , check BIOS settings.
BIOS settings i used are;
Advanced BIOS Features;
Boot order> set to floppy/CDROM/HDD-0
SATA/RAID/SCSI set to RAID

Onboard H/W Serial ATA >disable
Onboard H/W RAID> Enable
Gigaraid function >Raid

Make sure the 2 RAID drives are connected to the IDE3 , and IDE4 channels with their own cable, both drives set to master ,
I used another temporary hard drive on IDE1 to install win2K on the temp drive , re-booted , selected RAID utility during
POST (CTRL+G) , and set the RAID Array (in my case to a RAID 0) installed the NVidia drivers , and installed the Gigaraid utility.
Use the Gigaraid utility to find and configure the RAID array (in my case i chose 32 K stripe)



everything worked from there , rebooting and going through setup for W2K , press F6 when prompted , install version 2.0 drivers
from floppy, then partition and format the RAID drives , >>install win2K

(Thanks to Pat who spent many hours assisting me with this problem.....if i had my Beer enabled floppy drive installed , i would send the guy a beer....... have a cyber one instead buddy ) )

Now , why couldnt the manual say all that ??