Raid0 on Foxconn A7DA(-S) v3.0 with PCI SATA card

RDKL

October 10, 2011 5:01:51 PM

PLEASE NOTE MODS: If I have listed this in the wrong category for help would you be so kind as to put in the correct thread please? Thanks!!!

I have a Foxconn A7DA(-S) v3.0 mb w/ AMD 3.3 1100T cpu and 4x Western digital 10K raptors plus a storage drive. I am having a degree of difficulty with using a PCI SATA card to add a RAID 0 to my HD configs. I want to use that as my gaming platform. I'm running Win7 Ultimate throughout the entire system.........hopefully that is.

Here is the problem.......... I disconnected the 2 HD's that have my Win7 (no raid) on them that are direct to the MB. I then installed and connected 2 clean 10k raptors to the PCI SATA card I added initially . Now I was finally able to get the drivers to load on the mini disc that was provided with the PCI card. next I went to install the Win7 disc and when I get through to the screen where it shows what drives you are to install to there are none showing. I was told that perhaps I needed to instal the "Initio" program within the driver CD 1st before going further. the "NEXT" button on that screen was not highlighted and I'm sure its do to the HD's NOT being recognized nor showing.

if you cant tell I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I thought I was sharp enough to frollow instructions or use common sense. Guess not though in this case.

Was wondering how to do this and if I'm doing it wrong and or if I should do it with RAID0 direct to MB and my standalone drives that I will be using for business on the PCI card. ???

Please note I'm using OSL2000 for my boot manager. I would like to add that when my installation failed to the PCI card I disconnected and reconnected my SATA wires to my good currently working HD's and when I booted back up it failed to recognize my older good drives. I had to reboot and enter setup and then OSL200 picked it up ok.

I'm thankful to any and all that can work this issue through with me. Tom's community has educated me on other issues but this one has stumped the chumps.

Thanks ,

RD

More about : raid0 foxconn a7da pci sata card

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jitpublisher

Windows 7 Expert

October 10, 2011 5:39:42 PM

There are two first steps you did not do, by your posting anyway. Here is what I see.
You did set the PCI card as a bootable device?
You must enter the RAID BIOS on the card and build the array. There should be a keystroke combination that appears during POST that will get into the cards BIOS so you can actually build the array. This will only appear if you have the card detected in the motherboard BIOS, and setup as a bootable device. You have to do all this before the array will be available for Windows to use, then you supply the driver during Windows setup when prompted, if needed. It is likely you won't even have to supply a driver, Win 7 probably will have it, maybe, maybe not. Don't know about your specific controller.

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RDKL

October 10, 2011 5:57:52 PM

Thanks for your response. The PCI card was recognized on boot by windows. It took a moment or so but it then called for the CTRL+S or F4 to add drivers. The fact is ....I did enter the CTRL+S that is required to load the drivers just like F6 on most XP installs. Sorry I forgot to show that I did perform that move in my initial post. It shows the "Striped Raid" on the Boot after I installed the drivers for the PCI SATA card but once in the Win7 install program it does NOT show the drives in the windo that is after the license agreement and thre "fresh" install option. That window has the drivers tab available and you can access it however the drives DO NOT show as they should or as they have in my other installations.

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