Install Windows XP on RAID 10 using Asus P5B Deluxe - AHCI or RAID?

primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
edited May 2007 in Hardware
I'm slightly lost here. I have an Asus P5B-Deluxe and I'm trying to install Windows XP on a RAID 10 setup.

I realize I have to have the BIOS set to RAID or AHCI mode in order to actually create an array in the BIOS (Hit CTRL-I at bootup for the raid manager, etc.). I created a RAID 10 using the four drives (which are plugged into the red SATA ports). The RAID is good, it's recognized, etc. When I boot off the XP CD and hit F6 for drivers, I install the JMicron 363 RAID drivers, etc. When the windows install starts, it actually recognizes the array (meaning it doesn't give you the "there are no drives" error thing) but it claims "unknown drive", and shows two of them. That's confusing enough. It gets more fun though - whenever I hit a key at that point, such as "C" to create a partition, or "enter" to install Windows, I get a bluescreen.

I've tried setting sata type to "AHCI", setting it to "RAID" and a few other things, but I'm not hitting the magic combo of settings that allow XP to install on this RAID 10.

:confused:

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    Never messed with a RAID array on this board. I had to slipstream my AHCI drivers into the CD to even get that working right.
  • MissilemanMissileman Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    I've had the same thing happen on a couple of boards. The way I got around it was to install to a single pair, Then after Windows was up and running with all the latest stuff I went back turned on the other pair and created the second level array and had it copy from the existimg pair. Everything was fine after that.

    A lot of RAID controllers have problems trying to report correct drive parameters for a dual level array using the INT13H protocal (bios) and don't work properly until after the driver loads and replaces the INT13H calls.

    Usually the AHCI modes are automatic when in RAID mode on most systems I've dealt with. When you select RAID you get AHCI with it even though it says RAID.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    Thanks for the tips, missleman, but I think I got it.

    First of all, on the P5B the color of the SATA ports is relevant. You would think that logic would dictate that you would put the drives in SATA0 - SATA3, right?

    NO! Asus engineers decided that SATA 0,1 were the Intel controller, SATA 2,3 were the JMicron controller, and SATA 4,5 were Intel again :wtf:

    The JMicron ports are black, the Intel are Red. Why would the Intel RAID BIOS allow me to create a RAID 10 with all four drives even though two of them were plugged into the JMicron controller? Who knows!

    Anyways, I plugged the drives into SATA 0,1,4,5 (red) and the raid stayed put, but this time Windows XP install recognized it.

    The other confusion came because I was installed the JMicron 363 drivers off the floppy instead of the Intel ICH8 drivers. Once I installed the Intel Matrix storage drivers during the "F6" part of the install, everything was golden.

    What a convulted setup! :shakehead
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    Spoke too soon :-/

    Windows install part 1 went fine - copied files over, etc.

    On the first reboot, I get a weird error: Windows XP cannot start due to hard disk configuration error or some such.

    I'm going to try installed both the Intel Matrix storage drivers AND the JMicron drivers during F6.

    //on a side note:

    MY KINGDOM FOR A WORKING FLOPPY DISK

    I have ONE that I can find... My entire empire comes crashing down around me for lack of a single working floppy disk!
  • MissilemanMissileman Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    primesuspect wrote:
    MY KINGDOM FOR A WORKING FLOPPY DISK

    I have ONE that I can find... My entire empire comes crashing down around me for lack of a single working floppy disk!

    Hehe. I went to CompUsa a while back when I was in the same situation. Bought one of those Sony USB Floppy X2 things. Has turned out to be a good investment. I have had to use it on my laptop, my machine, and several others I have been working on. It works like a champ. Plug it in a USB port and you have a working floppy. No power cable or anything else. I have even booted from it when the bios supports USB boot.

    That SATA layout is crazy. I often wonder what is in these engineers heads when they do something like that. They were probably out partying the night before they taught the common sense class :)
  • lsevaldlsevald Norway Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    Works fine using the SATA1-4 ports here. Install only the ICH8 Raid driver using F6 (leave the AHCI alone, and Jmicron you can install later when the OS is up and running). There are 8 SATA ports on this board, and all six located by the southbridge are intel ports. The external one (eSATA) and the one located above the top PCIe slot (below the audio IO), belongs to the Jmicron controller.

    EDIT: I don't remember why two of the six "intel" ports are colored black, but I think there's some minor limitation to those. I'm not sure, but I think you can't run a raid set on those two alone (have to be part of a raid set which is also using some of the red ports).
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    I don't think that's the case, lasse. I'm pretty sure the black ones are the jmicron controllers. In either case, I absolutely could not get windows installed until I moved the two blacks to the red ports.

    I figured out my other problem as well - I had the jmicron controller set to AHCI in the BIOS and so I needed those drivers as well because the DVD-ROM drive uses that controller. When the second phase of Windows install started, it was looking for the DVD ROM and couldn't find it.

    This is the first time in my entire history of installing Windows XP that I had to use TWO floppies at the F6 part instead of just one :wtf:

    Missileman: I have a floppy DRIVE - I needed a floppy DISK. As a matter of course, I STILL install floppy drives in my customer computers, just for installing windows if not for anything else. The problem was a lack of a single floppy disk laying around anywhere ;D I finally found one in the bottom of a drawer that worked. :eek3:
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    Jmicron is black. Jmicron is also ****ing horrible.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    So, to sum up, for googlers who may run across this issue:

    To install Windows XP on the Asus P5B series with a RAID 10 setup:

    1) Ensure that your four drives are hooked up to the RED SATA PORTS ONLY on the motherboard - avoid the black ports!

    2) Make TWO floppies from the Asus MakeDisk CD: one for the Intel ICH8 Matrix storage driver and one for the Jmicron 363 driver

    3) BIOS settings should be:

    Under MAIN --> IDE CONFIGURATION:

    SATA CONFIGURATION: Enhanced
    CONFIGURE SATA AS: RAID

    Under ADVANCED --> ONBOARD DEVICES

    JMicron SATA/PATA Controller: Enabled
    JMicron SATA Mode: RAID

    At initial boot, hit CTRL-I to enter RAID setup, and configure your array.

    When booting off the Windows XP CD, hit F6 when prompted, and insert one of the two floppies. Install the appropriate driver and then Hit "S" again to install an additional storage driver, and use the other floppy. You will be prompted for each floppy in the next stage of the windows install, but everything will go smoothly from there.

    It took me two days to chew my way through this. I hope this info helps someone out there! :crazy:
  • lsevaldlsevald Norway Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    primesuspect wrote:
    I don't think that's the case, lasse. I'm pretty sure the black ones are the jmicron controllers. In either case, I absolutely could not get windows installed until I moved the two blacks to the red ports.

    I figured out my other problem as well - I had the jmicron controller set to AHCI in the BIOS and so I needed those drivers as well because the DVD-ROM drive uses that controller. When the second phase of Windows install started, it was looking for the DVD ROM and couldn't find it.

    I see :) Well, I have disabled the Jmicron controller in BIOS, and I haven't installed the JM drivers at all on mine, and it still works using SATA1-4(RAID0). I have a SATA DVD-RW drive connected to SATA5. But I'm going to try using only the red SATA ports and see if it improves performance :thumbsup:
  • lsevaldlsevald Norway Icrontian
    edited March 2007
    No, there's no real difference in performance if the black ports are involved in the RAID0 set or not (atleast according to HDTach).

    Make your own conclusions, but I'm fairly confident that all 6 ports (red and black), are intel based :)
  • a651788a651788
    edited May 2007
    lsevald wrote:
    No, there's no real difference in performance if the black ports are involved in the RAID0 set or not (atleast according to HDTach).

    Make your own conclusions, but I'm fairly confident that all 6 ports (red and black), are intel based :)

    The ASUS P5B Deluxe manual says the SATA 1/2/5/6 Red connectors are "Master" for "Boot disk". It says the SATA3/4 Black connectors are "Slave" for "Data Disk".
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