setting up raid

[lazer_viking]

i attempted this awhile back with no success. it seems impossible to set up a RAID configuration. first, im confused as to what driver is necessary (the f6 drivers you're supposed to provide when windows installation first starts). relavent hardware is as follows:
2x WD Raptor, 36 GB
DFI Lanparty UT Expert NF-4 SLi-DR
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
When I first took my computer to a local repair shop, the guy had no idea. He suggested maybe an incompatibility with 64 bitness, a motherboard bios issue, aliens, etc.
Right now, when I'm at the pick-a-partition-screen for Windows install, the two raptors show up seperatly. Yes, I have set both raptors up for raiding. When the computer goes through it's checks and whatnots (before booting off of the CD), it recognizes them as one 68.something GB drive.

 

[King X13]

you need to download 64bit raid drivers for the raid controller you have and they get put on a floppy. set up your raid through the bios. boot to windows and press f6 and load the drivers. windows will now see the raid and install.

 

[lazer_viking]

im using the built in "controller". DFI's site doesn't have any raid drivers. do you think thats my problem?
do you think a dedicated pci or pci-e controller would be better? if at all possible, i would like to use my motherboard.

edit: looks like DFI does in fact have x64 raid drivers. my bad. but there are more than one. which do i use?

RAID Driver for Sil3114 under Windows XP 64Bit.

or

Image of RAID Driver for Sil3114 under Windows x64. Execute directly to copy files under win32/64 onto floppy diskette for installation.

?

 

[King X13]

the are prob both the same, the raid drivers for my mobo has like 7 idk lol. the 2nd one sounds like the installer so download that and it will write the files that you need to the floppy.

 

[lazer_viking]

okay so i ran into another problem, and now i remember why i never got it working. i have a removable floppy drive (USB) and an internal one. i got the internal one because the USB i thought wouldnt work because it was USB. but the internal one's little light stays on constantly and was never recognized by windows. and the USB one isnt working either. well, it works because i put stuff on to it. but when i press f6 for it to look for drivers it says insert disk into drive A: which i did and press enter. and then it just says insert disk into drive A again like it didnt see it. but the drive fires up when it starts booting off of the windows install CD, but it doesnt when i tell it to look on drive A for drivers.
i'd like to get my internal one that i bought working too. its plugged into all the right places, but i cant set it as secondary IDE master or primary slave (i dont know the difference between either of those).

 

[lazer_viking]

yep. raid is hopeless for me. :\ its such a pain dealing with 2 small, seperate raptors.

 

[Deathawk]

You gotta get them into a RAID. the 5 dollars for a floppy wont kill you. I'm sure some people would just give you away a floppy drive if you pay shipping -_-

 

[King X13]

yeah raid can be a little tricky but it will be so satisfying when you figure it out and get it working. and yeah it wont read of the usb floppy you need an internal one and chances are yours is broke. so pick up a new one and try again.

 

[lazer_viking]

well, i got my floppy working :]]
i loaded in the two seperate drivers, i forgot their names though. it was in the right order because i googled it lol.
but when it finished loading all the other stuff it needed and it said "Starting Windows" right before partition time, it said STOP: C0000221 Unknown Hard Error
microsoft's site said this is due to corrupt stuff. (the CD has it's fair share of little scratches. its old)
so... looks like im out of luck for the time being. i'll pick up vista soon though. thanks for the motivation boost lol, or i wouldnt have thought to try turning the FDD cable around. it was plugged in backwards lol.

 

[lazer_viking]

follow up: well... i'm bummed now. i tried installing it with my dell's OS (win xp home) which is a new, unscratched disc. but i have the exact same error.

STOP: c0000221 Uknown Hard Error
\SystemRoot\System32\ntdll.dll

I don't know whats wrong. i suspect it may be the CD drive, because i am unable to INSTALL games or anything off of it when im in windows. i can burn things to it okay, and i can copy files from the CD drive to the desktop okay, but i always get errors when i try to install something directly off the CD drive.
i installed xp off of it on my 180 GB drive okay today though..

edit: i stole my dad's CD drive out of his computer and so far its working. windows sees my two drives as one, and its formatting right now. ill keep you updated.

edit2: working. i installed firefox and graphic drivers from inside windows on my raided hard drives. i looked at drive C:\ and saw 68.9 GB. it workkssssssss