NEED help installing SATA with WXP on EPOX 8RDA3+

[johnnywaters]

I have alway used ata drives in the past and this is my my attempt at installing a sata drive. I am assuming I should push F6 when I install WXP and use a floppy to install SIL 3112 drivers to get the HD recoginized. I do not want to install the drive in SATARaid which seems to be the only opinion on the motherboard disk.

I would appreciate any help on which file to use to create the floppy, or a source for the files.

Thanks

[wardog]

RAID Floppy Disk Install
http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_28653.html <- Opens a PDF

If you're sure you won't use RAID, at/during F6 simply choose the "NVIDIA nForce Storage Controller".

There might be a RAID Floppy Create executable on the EPOX CD. Some ASUS CD's have one located in/on the initial screen after the CD autoruns at insertion.


.. Rick

[wardog]

Doh ......

Source files to create said floppy are included in the System Drivers.

Either on the CD or download the newest from http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp .


..

[wardog]

hehe ...

THIS link from the EPOX site is v1.0.0.28 of the SATA Driver Disk.
Original link this file is found at: http://www.epox.com.tw/eng/support.php?ps=230&type=2

It's old but will give ya a list(for reference) of what files are needed on the diskette.


.. Rick

[johnnywaters]

Rick, thanks for your help.

I downloaded the latest invidia files and created the floppy disk. During the WXP setup I used the F6 key and loaded both the drivers NVIDIA RAID CLASS & NVIDIA nForce Storage Controller. WXP however did not find the sata harddrive.

Apparrently I have something set wrong in the bios.

In the Advance Bios section I put the order as "RAID/SCSI" and listed the third boot as "SCSI/SATA" In the Integrated peripherals I enabled "SIL 3112 Serial ATA".

These are the only setting that appear to apply to SATA. Any ideas on what I have done wrong?

Johnny

[wardog]

As it should be, was the floppy left in the drive until Windows has finished copying it's files? At the end there it will ask that you remove any floppy and either press any key to reboot or wait like 15 seconds and it reboots on its own. It doesn't actually copy the floppy files till well after doing their F6 install, but before rebooting..

Was RAID enabled in the BIOS for you to F6 the "NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER (required)" driver?


.. Rick

[johnnywaters]

I cannot tell if Raid was enabled other than to say that I made the settings as listed. I did not have any luck finding the harddrive with the drivers loaded from the NVIDIA latest drivers.

I reverted back to the drivers on the MB Disk v1.0.028 and was able to locate the HD on the WXP install using the driver "SiI 3X12 SATARaid Controller for Windows XP".

This is the method I previously loaded WXP to this hard drive. I have experienced numerous windows lockup with this one and my current settings.

I am wondering if my bios settings are incorrect. It appears the HD is loading as one drive on a raid system.

Any more ideas? If I can not resolve the problem I probably will go back to my old ata drives.

Any comments appreciated.

[wardog]

[wardog]

From the latest NF3 files from nVidia, v5.11?

http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/nForce/5.11/nForce_5.11_winxp2k_international_whql.exe

[johnnywaters]

Reviewing my manual which is revision 3.2 dated 3/15/2004 does not have that section on 4-8. The closest to anything on raid in the bios is the listing of SiL 3112 in the integrated peripherals???

There is a section 5 on configuration of S-ATA Raid using CTRL S on boot up.