Vista & nVRaid - installation guide and troubleshooting

[jeff826]

I followed the nforce update EXACTLY as suggested below. Everything works great with the new 15.25 drivers on my 680i, but everytime vista boots, it auto-reinstalls the "NVIDIA nForce RAID Controller" driver and requires a reboot. How do I get vista to stop this - the drivers are working fine!


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Here is the exact procedure (detected by TheMaxx32000) for an update of the nForce S-ATA and RAID drivers:
Open the "Device Manager", select "View" and check the "Show hidden devices" option.
Search for devices named "NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller" (within the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" or "Storage Controllers" section) and update ALL listed devices with the said name by loading the SATA_IDE driver folder of your prepared new nForce driver package. DO NOT REBOOT!

Open the "Storage Controllers" section and update ALL listed the "NVIDIA RAID Controller" devices and ALL listed devices named "NVIDIA RAID DEVICE" by loading the SATARAID driver folder of your prepared new nForce driver package. DO NOT REBOOT!

Check the driver version of all previous mentioned devices to verify, that all of them have properly updated drivers.

NOW YOU CAN REBOOT.

Have fun with the updated nForce S-ATA and RAID drivers.

[Fernando 1]

@ jeff826:

Welcome at nForcersHQ Forum!

Maybe you can solve your problem by running a registry patch, which deletes the registry entries of previously installed and mayby interfering nForce SataRAID drivers.
You can find such a registry cleaner within the "optional after IDE driver update" folder of any Vista nForce driverpack I am presenting here. Download any suitable driverpack (32bit for Vista x86 or 64bit for Vista x64), unzip it and run the registry cleaner.
Important: Don't run the registry patch unless you have verified, that related NVIDIA SATA and RAID devices are using the nForce IDE drivers v10.3.0.46.

Furthermore I suggest the following:
1. Disable the automatic update option of Windows Update (WU).
2. Don't install any nForce SATA or RAID driver offered by WU.

Good luck!
Fernando

[jeff826]

Thanks for your quick response.

I ran the registry patch, and I got a bsod on the next boot.

I booted to a "last good configuration" and everything is back up - no sweat.

My device manager (under "storage controllers") currently shows one "NVIDIA nForce RAID Controller", two "NVIDIA nForce RAID Device", and two "NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller" ALL running driver 10.3.0.46. I also have another "NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller" under the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers tab running 10.3.0.46.

Everytime I boot up, an icon shows that new drivers are being installed (NVIDIA nForce RAID Controller), and then a reboot is required to complete the installation. If I select "restart later", I can go on and do my work indefinitely. When I do eventually shut down, or select "restart now", the same thing happens on the next boot.

Any more thoughts?

[jeff826]

just to add to the above...

In the system32\drivers directory, I have nvstor32.sys and nvrd32.sys both dated 12/11/2008 and showing version 10.3.0.46.

BUT, I also have nvstor.sys and nvraid.sys dated 2006 showing version 5.10.2600.0822 and 5.10.2600.0930 respectively. These are obviously the "shipped with vista" drivers. Should these not have been updated as part of the 15.25 update? Is this my problem?

[jeff826]

sorry, ignore my last post - i realize these are old, unused files.

My problem remains...

[Fernando 1]

@ jeff826:

Thanks for your report. It is not impossible, that the Vista in-box nForce IDE drivers v8.22 (Vista RTM) and v8.30/8.33 (Vista SP1) may prevent somehow the proper installation of the nForce IDE drivers v10.3.0.46.

Unfortunately I have no further idea how to solve your problem. Maybe TwL or someone else knows a solution.

Regards
Fernando

[jeff826]

What version of nvatabus.sys should be installed? Using Driverview, I can see that my system loads version 5.10.2600.0691. It seems awefully old, but it has never updated with any nForce updgrade I've ever done.

thanks

[Fernando 1]

What version of nvatabus.sys should be installed? Using Driverview, I can see that my system loads version 5.10.2600.0691. It seems awefully old, but it has never updated with any nForce updgrade I've ever done.

Are you still speaking about Vista? Did you do an Upgrade from XP to Vista?
There is no Vista nForce IDE driver named NVATABUS.SYS.
If you really should find a NVATABUS.SYS file v6.91 within the WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS folder, that may be the reason for your issue.
My advice: Do a fresh install of Vista by loading the appropriate Vista nForce SATARAID drivers from scratch. Disable the internet connection while installing Vista und - once Vista is up - disable the automatic update option of Windows Update.

[jeff826]

This was never been an xp box.

I have however deleted the registry key "nvatabus" from hkey_local_machine\system\currentcontrolset\services\

I have confirmed that it no longer loads (using DrivrView), but there is no effect - positive or negative - on my situation.

I did notice however that I have a key for nvstor32, another for nvraid, but NONE for nvrd32. Should there be a key for nvrd32?

Your help is very much appreciated. I want to avoid a clean install at almost all costs.

Thanks Fernando!

[Drago]

@ jeff826: Try disabling system restore, boot into safe mode and update the drivers inside safe mode. Then reboot and see if that helps...