RAID Installation Error

[EvanGeliSt]

Turned to you guys for help.

Been to the official websites and all - been to a few forums and still can't find the solution. Hopefully I'll find it here.

Just bought 20/3/06
Specs of new com:
P4 Celeron 2.13Ghz
MSI PM8M-V
PC3200 256Mb RAM
On board VGA/LAN/Sound.
Supports SATA I (Up to 2 drives)
CD-RW.

Ran with a regular 80GB IDE drive and it works.

CAN'T DETECT SATA HARD DISK THRU WINDOW'S INSTALLATION PROCESS

Since there was onboard SATA, I wanted to install a RAID-1 system just in case one hard disk died. Power supply SATA connector instead of the 4-pin molex and SATA connection to board.

Instructions from official website:
Download Raid Drivers -> Put into Diskette 1.44 (Which I did - VIA latest drivers from MSN website. (There's 2 folders: PIDE and RAID and TXTSETUP.OEM in A

I ran the WinXP SP-2 CD, and hit F6 when necessary. Loaded the XP drivers. Did this like 50 times... and no matter wat, they can't detect the hard drive. Both hard drive went undetected. Power supply checked - all working as per normal.

Did read on a few sites that it could be due to:
The version of Windows (latest updates)
The version of the bios (Which I'm assuming the latest since i just bot it)
Connector loose (of coz)
SATA in bios not detected (Here's the thing, this BIOS DOES not have the option to switch it on or off - so I'm assuming it's on) The jumpers on the motherboard also does not have the option. (Just the regular CMOS reset - which i've tried too)

Solutions tried:
Changing SATA power and cable power supplies.
Connections checked; even went to use IDE hard drives to test power supply
CMOS reset.

Going to borrow a earlier version of Windows tomorrow and try again. *Last alternative*

Kinda desparate after wasting these hours... if anyone has any advice, I'll be more than happy to try.

TIA.

--B

 

[RebateMonger]

Does this motherboard have onboard RAID support?
I looked at the MSI site and read the User Manual and didn't see any mention of RAID support on the PM8M-V motherboard.

MSI PM8M-V User Manual

 

[themusgrat]

For some reason that I can't figure out, since I am not a programmer, there are 2 drivers for most RAID setups. One is for use within Windows, the other is for the Windows installation. You probably have the Windows driver, so try to get one that says for windows installation. What RAID chip is on the mobo?

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Does this motherboard have onboard RAID support?
I looked at the MSI site and read the User Manual and didn't see any mention of RAID support on the PM8M-V motherboard.

MSI PM8M-V User Manual

Indeed, this mobo is non-raid capable based on that manual.

EDIT - I was also wondering that when did failed to mention what he did in the RAID BIOS. No RAID array is happening without setting up in the RAID BIOS first.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: BadThad
EDIT - I was also wondering that when did failed to mention what he did in the RAID BIOS. No RAID array is happening without setting up in the RAID BIOS first.

Yeah. Usually the problem is getting RID of the darned nuisance RAID configuration messages that always pop up when you boot a RAID-capable motherboard.

 

[EvanGeliSt]

Forgive a noob - I'm not sure what you guys mean by RAID BIOS.

@ Least for one thing - I'm quite sure the drivers I've used so far - VIA is right... since it is afterall a VIA chipset they're using.

Quoted from the manual:
On-Board Peripherals include:
...................
2 SATA 150
............

When i went to read further about the VIA VT8237R chipset - it is supposed to provide IDE HDD/CD-ROM with PIO, Bus Master and UDMA 66/100/133 Operation modes. SATA not mentioned strangely.

In the Serial ATA Connectors section: it does mention that it provides dual high-speed Serial ATA interface ports. They support SATA I.

Man the manual sucks.

I went to VIA's website - and it mentions that it supports RAID (Up to SATA I - 150MB/s)

Went to read on further in VIAAREA Website and quote:

WD Drives manufacturerd prior to 1st Dec 2005 are SATA II, so a jumper has to be set in to limit it @ SATA I... that's kinda crappy but i'm going to try it anyway. Also going to try it with hopefully a different OS (Doesn't make sense that WinXP-SP2 not working). There could be a possibility the mobo is disfunctional; Unlikely the HDD.

Wish me luck guys.

 

[EvanGeliSt]

Update for those who are interested - It's worknig finally.

Yes indeed - happens to WD drives without jumpers - They're likely to be running above 150MB/s and the mobo was limited to below that - the reason why it couldn't be detected or run properly.

 

[BadThad]

The RAID BIOS is a special BIOS built-in to the RAID controller. After your regular BIOS POSTS, the RAID BIOS will appear to provide info/control over any RAID configuration in the system.

How could you setup a RAID 0 array without first configuring it in the RAID BIOS?

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: BadThad
The RAID BIOS is a special BIOS built-in to the RAID controller. After your regular BIOS POSTS, the RAID BIOS will appear to provide info/control over any RAID configuration in the system.

How could you setup a RAID 0 array without first configuring it in the RAID BIOS?

He's trying to do RAID 1. But, regardless, I find this all pretty weird. There's absolutely NO mention of RAID capability in any of the MSI literature for this board.

Here's an example of another MSI board, where there IS RAID support:
MSI 945G Motherboard.
And another one:
NVidia4-based MSI motherboard with SATA RAID capability.
Note the specific mention of the various RAID configurations supported. And RAID-capable boards always seem to have more than two SATA or IDE drive connectors.