Vista & nVRaid - installation guide and troubleshooting

[ambrogio]

This guide got me farther than I was getting on my own or following nVidia's instructions. Why it doesn't let us supply the drivers when booting from DVD, I don't know, but I've found a bug logged about this on Microsoft's beta site for Vista. I'm not sure if you can get access or not, but if so, go add your vote that it is validated and important: http://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=9521&SiteID=4.

Anyways, I wasn't able to get mine going all the way. First, I had to use F8 to tell it to not use driver validation enforcement because the linked drivers are not signed. Second, it BSODed on me about some usbhoci (I think) driver towards the end of the install and now it won't fully uninstall. I had a USB drive connected at the time, so I'm trying again hoping that's what it was.

Anyways, thanks again.

[aerospyke]

This guide got me farther than I was getting on my own or following nVidia's instructions. Why it doesn't let us supply the drivers when booting from DVD, I don't know, but I've found a bug logged about this on Microsoft's beta site for Vista. I'm not sure if you can get access or not, but if so, go add your vote that it is validated and important: http://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=9521&SiteID=4.

Anyways, I wasn't able to get mine going all the way. First, I had to use F8 to tell it to not use driver validation enforcement because the linked drivers are not signed. Second, it BSODed on me about some usbhoci (I think) driver towards the end of the install and now it won't fully uninstall. I had a USB drive connected at the time, so I'm trying again hoping that's what it was.

Anyways, thanks again.

Greetings also from Australia .... i tried that link and got the good ole Microsoft can't find page screen ... shame i'd love to second or third that issue for htem to take more notice that its a shared problem for alot of people. I am curently running Vista x32 which is a shame as its a waste of resources ... or at least not being used .... althoguh i have seen reports that a bulk of vista x64 is still running in 32 bit mode. is this true?

[ambrogio]

Greetings also from Australia .... i tried that link and got the good ole Microsoft can't find page screen ... shame i'd love to second or third that issue for htem to take more notice that its a shared problem for alot of people. I am curently running Vista x32 which is a shame as its a waste of resources ... or at least not being used .... althoguh i have seen reports that a bulk of vista x64 is still running in 32 bit mode. is this true?

Sorry, I guess it's only visible to beta participants. It wasn't clear whether or not the public could also submit feedback. One would think they'll fix it, though.

I did get it going after trying to install a second time w/o having the USB drive connected. Just remember on each reboot to do an F8 and choose to disable driver signature enforcement. Then, once it's installed, you can run:

bcdedit.exe -set nointegritychecks ON

This will set it to not require driver signing permanently, but you have to run that as a admin.

So I'm posting this from Vista. Yay!

[Fernando 1]

i dont have any floppy disk drives so will have to get the drivers from a usb stick. how much of a PITA is it to get this going in vista?

You can load the drivers from an USB stick or even from a partition of your Raid array, if you want. The reason, why I suggested to copy them onto a floppy disk is the fact, that Vista setup automaticly searches at first for a floppy disk. Furthermore the floppy method is easy and secure (less danger of grabbing the wrong driver package).

@ ambrogio:
Thank you for your posts. I have added your recommendation to disable driver signature enforcement into my guide (first post of this thread).

[dureiken]

Hello, I'm trying to install Vista on my computer. I've a nforce4 with 2 disk in a stripped raid. I'm on nforce controller. not sil3114 one.
I've installed winxp 64bits on a ide disk. and i' trying to install vista on the raid. I've download 6.67 drivers. put them on a usb key and begin the installation.

All was right until the last reboot. Vista can't boot and there is a dos message saying that there is a problem with n64 driver and i can4t do anything more, rebooting on xp 64.

can you help me please ?

[Fernando 1]

All was right until the last reboot. Vista can't boot and there is a dos message saying that there is a problem with n64 driver and i can4t do anything more, rebooting on xp 64.
can you help me please ?

Try to repeat the boot of Vista x64 after a shut-off time of some hours.
It sounds unbelievable, but I succeeded this way. I had the same troubles as you at the end of the install and I tried the reboot "normal" and in "safe mode" again and again, but with no luck. Next morning - after powering on my computer - I got Vista x64 working at the first try.

[Kobazz]

well, with the new vista 5456 x64 build released, these beta 2 drivers don't work anymore. When installing from windows Xp you can load the Nforce 4 SATA RAID driver, but after installation Vista won't boot anymore. I think it has to do with these sata raid drivers. When Installing vista from a cold boot, it won't load the drivers at all. I will get an error saying i need updated drivers which error I didnt have when installing under win xp x64, but then Vista wont boot.

Any new drivers out there for the 5456 build?

[Fernando 1]

well, with the new vista 5456 x64 build released, these beta 2 drivers don't work anymore. When installing from windows Xp you can load the Nforce 4 SATA RAID driver, but after installation Vista won't boot anymore.

Did you really try to install Vista x64 from Windows XP? If you followed my installation guide, you should start the install of Vista x64 from a 64-bit OS like XP x64.

Any new drivers out there for the 5456 build?

Not yet.

[Kobazz]

Ofcoarse, I've had vista beta 2 working with the beta2 drivers from nvidia and any pre-beta version before that, but if I use them now with 5456, vista installs OK, boots into vista, but after a reboot vista cant load anymore. It gets to the "logoless" boot screen en then the PC reboots over and over again. I've tried "using the last good configuration" but no help. I tell you it's these drivers. We need new ones

[kdombaz]

Hi Fernando 1,

Thanks a bunch for posting this as I managed to install VISTA beta 2 to my RAID0 (striping) no probs. I was at it on and off 10 days and yesterday I installed it within 1/2 hour.

I have a question though if you can answer.

I have 2 RAID0 partitions. One has my XP which I don't let VISTA see during installation for obvious reasons. Once installation is completed I enable the 2nd RAID0 and let VISTA detect the hardware. After installation it still detects the RAID0 as separate drives instead of RAID0. I don't particularly want to enable my main RAID system during VISTA installation but don't know how to install the drivers correctly once VISTA installation is completed.
Cheers
Koray