W7 not installing on RAID0

[Rikki27]

Hi there all,

Still not able to entice W7 to install on may RAID0. Previously broke in on the thread below which has details, [not sure how you reference previous threads in this forum so I just copied and pasted]

https://www.w7forums.com/help-installation-not-recognizing-harddrives-t5789.html

Just trying to isolate a reason why W7 might not be recognising the RAID0 even though it appears to be fine as far as the BIOS is concerned.

Allow me what might appear to be a couple of very basic questions;

1. If the hard drives that comprise the RAID0 pair were formatted on an XP machine prior to being used in this RAID set would it make any difference?
2. Are there any formatting or drive preparation, prior use configurations that might make the drives invisible to the W7 installation process? [Such as one of the drives having a Vista OS installed in a previous life]
3. Is there anyway to bypass the "please load a driver feature' that appears after initiating install on the W7 install?

I'll be away for a couple of days so will not be able to read/reply but would appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

 

[TorrentG]

Hi.

You have to have the SATA RAID driver ready to install along with Windows. It should be on a floppy, usb stick, cd, dvd, or hard drive not attached to the SATA ports.

When installing Windows, it asks if you need to install any 3rd party drivers and to hit a key on the keyboard if so. This is what you want to do to load the RAID driver.

You can obtain the proper driver from the motherboard manufacturer.

 

[Nibiru2012]

When you get to this screen, here is where you install your RAID drivers.

See where the red arrow is pointing? Click that and follow the prompts.

 

[Veedaz]

Rikki27 wrote

Is there anyway to bypass the "please load a driver feature'

No, you have to load the drivers or it just wont work

 

[Rikki27]

W7 not installing on RAID0 (reply)

Thanks for the reply information,

I think that Nibiru2012 has provided the point that I can't reach. I get to the point where the install requests the driver however it doesn't see the RAID0 set. I have never reached the screen indicated that asks where W7 is to be installed.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Veedaz]

Hi Rikki27, your on Windows 7 64-bit ... correct ? and are you using unsigned drivers ?

 

[Rikki27]

Veedaz,

Windows version is 32 bit OEM Windows 7 Pro. I have tried drivers off MB disc and downloaded drivers from Gigabyte and Intel site also.

I have attempted to load drivers direct from the MB disc, floppy and also USB. I have even sought assistance from the Gigabyte technical assistance and have followed their advice to the letter however same result.

Rikki27

 

[Veedaz]

As your on 32-bit have you tried Vista drivers from Gigabyte, also try XP, I have known this to work in the past.

 

[Rikki27]

Veedaz,

Just to check that the driver to be loaded for the P55 chip for SATA connectors 2_0 and 2_1 per MB manual is Intel(r) ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO/PCH SATA RAID CONTROLLER (A:/iaStor.inf). At least this is what the W7 install says is compatible with the system. Following the attempted loading of drivers the following message is given..........."No new devices could be found. Make sure the driver files are correct and located on the driver installation media."

I understand that this is not an ACHI installation. I also note that in the flash screen information during boot for the RAID installation it clearly says that "ACHI Bios is not installed".

Also in the BIOS under HARD DISK Boot Priority, it has the RAID0 set list as "1. SCSI-0 : Intel OS RAID0 W7" [OS RAID0 W7 being what I called the RAID set].

 

[Veedaz]

I think the only thing you have not tried is a different Windows 7 disk, is this possible ?

 

[Nibiru2012]

I believe that AHCI is an integral part of a RAID 0 setup.

What does your motherboard manual tell you to do?

I have a Gigabyte motherboard also, it has a good section on how to setup the RAID and to get it going.

 

[Veedaz]

Info for you Rikki27 > http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-between-ahci-and-raid/

and as Nibiru suggests follow your Motherboard manual (or download it) and just follow one path at a time and check everything (Windows 7 should see the RAID drivers).

 

[Nibiru2012]

After reading the article I see my assumption was wrong about the AHCI.

Thanks Veedaz!

 

[Rikki27]

Veedaz,

I'd have to purchase another copy of W7 to try a different disc. Early on in the process I did try to install Vista however the result was identical. I might give a Vista install another try. I am beginning to think that I should also give XP Pro a go, amazing how through reading lots of forums people gravitate back to XP eventually.

I replaced the SATA cables with a different set to see if that might be the issue however there wasn't any difference. They are a fairly long set which I might swap again for a short set if I can find a pair, clutching at straws as it really shouldn't make a lot of difference as long as the cables are in good order.

I did succeed at one point in getting the install to respond with "please provide an updated driver". I went off to the Intel and Gigabyte sites and download and offered the latest W7 32bit drivers however the same result of "no other devices recognised" resulted.

I am wondering if reinstalling/updating the BIOS might prove useful although I am very reluctant to do so.

Gigabyte technical assistance haven't been able to provide a useful solution either. I asked them for a step by step procedure specifically stating W7 32bit drivers and minimum BIOS settings however they just refer back to their MB manual. The MB manual only mentions W7 in one or two places and not specifically as an install process.

Also strange is that when I reset the BIOS to default settings, break the RAID set and try to install W7 as a single disk install, the install still pauses at the driver install page without an option to bypass and move on. Almost as though the install process for this license requires a different approach eg an image with all drivers installed with image so the install runs through without pausing.

Do you know if the P55 chip has a BIOS of its own, maybe that is corrupt?

Anyway, I'll keep chipping away at it until I figure out what is happening. Thanks so far for your assistance.

 

[Veedaz]

Rikki27 can you post the model No of your Gigabyte Motherboard as I would like to look deeper in to this.

Thanks V

 

[Rikki27]

Veedaz,

My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3R rev 1.0

[There is a rev 2.0 board currently available]

Rikki27

 

[Veedaz]

Thanks Rikki

Being reading up on your Motherboard and there is full support for RAID (dumb question - you are using two the same clean drives ? )

@ Gigabyte > http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/Motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ProductID=3240

@ OC > http://www.overclock.co.uk/product/...1156-DDR3-SATA3-USB3.0-Motherboard_25016.html

 

[Nibiru2012]

Thanks for the reply information,

I think that Nibiru2012 has provided the point that I can't reach. I get to the point where the install requests the driver however it doesn't see the RAID0 set. I have never reached the screen indicated that asks where W7 is to be installed.

Any other suggestions?

According to your motherboard manual, the drive WILL NOT BE SHOWN! You have to load the drivers and then it goes from there.

See the screen captures from your model motherboard manual I took and you'll see what I'm talking about.

NOTE: The Windows 7 Install for the RAID Drivers is exactly the same as for Vista... so don't freak out on that point.



I hope this makes it easier to understand now.

 

[Rikki27]

Veedaz,

2 x Samsung HD161HJ 160GB 7200rpm SATAII 3GB/s

One drive has just been purchased, the other had Vista OS installed briefly. Both drives were formatted NTFS in an XP machine prior to being used in the RAID0.

Nibiru2012,

The drivers for RAID on the P55 chip do not appear to install, the intall always comes back with "no new devices detected" and proivdes no other option at that stage that to seek other drivers. There is no option provided at that point to progress further into the OS install. I'll meticuously go through the process you have provided though just to be sure that I haven't omitted an important step.


I am starting to think that there may be something wrong with one or both of the drives. Might be worth buying a couple more in.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Are you using a flash thumb drive or what to store those drivers on?

Have you tried using an external USB floppy drive?

That's what I use to install drivers when I'm in that screen.

Are you copying the drivers to the "root directory" of the drive? That means not in folders or such. Just the drivers themselves copied to the drive itself.