making a asus p4s8x and sata work

[jimnachos]

I got an asus p4s8x mobo, already running a WD 80 gig on ide, trying to get my new 80 gig maxtor sata drive up and running.

Any ideas on how to get this to work. I've tried unplugging the old WD and installing XP to the sata drive but XP won't recognize the sata drive.

When booting, the onboard promise controller recognizes the drive but wants to put it in raid (which I only got one drive).

Any ideas please, I'm at a lost.

 

[Larry K]

I have two SATA drives in Raid 0 on my asus board, but I did not put it together.



however, do you have the correct cable? Is it going into the correct plug/controller? Did you config the bios, after installing?
To me, it sounds like the bios or cabling is incorrect.

Hope that helps a little OR at least gives you a some ideas.

 

[jimnachos]

thats another thing, all the stuff I have read talks about turning on sata in the bios, well its not in my bios, and I got the newest one I could find 1005. As for the cable...I'm assuming its on right, really only goes on one way, unless the ends are different on each end which they didn't seem to be.

I'm hoping once the bios recognizes it that will kind of make all the other issues go away.

 

[jimnachos]

Got it working thanks to ASUS, incase anyone has issues here is the answer:


Here are the directions for Installing the Windows 2k/XP operating system on the RAID controller.

On the CD that came with the motherboard, there is a directory called "DRIVERS." Under that is a directory called PROMISE. there should be 3 files and 5 folders in that directory. Copy all of these items to a blank, formatted floppy drive.

1.Start with clean blank drives connected to the PROMISE Controller. These drives will not show up in the motherboard's BIOS screen.
For a STRIPE array: THIS PROCEDURE WILL DESTORY ALL DATA ON THE DRIVES!
For a MIRROR: You will be asked to copy the information to the new drive. PLEASE BE CERTAIN WHICH DRIVE HAS YOUR DATA. I recommend putting the drive with DATA on it as the primary MASTER, but it can also be the secondary. IF you copy the wrong drive, you will lose your information!!

2. Set up your Array:
On first boot the Promise BIOS should tell you that there are the same number of RAID arrays defined as hard drives connected to the Promise controller. Press {CTRL-F} to enter setup. Delete all of the existing arrays. This will not remove any DATA on the drives yet. Choose between the defaults which should be Security (Mirror) and Performance (Stripe).

3. Boot your 2K/XP CD & start the install.
Once Win2K/XP is setting up, at the first blue screen hit "F6" to load a third party m*** storage driver. IF you miss this, you will be warned that there are no hard drives attached. Restart the machine and Tap the “F6” Key a few times as the CD is spinning up. Windows will go through its install routine, then prompt you for an OEM disk for your M*** STORAGE CONTROLLER. Insert the floppy you created in the steps above, and load the first driver on the list. This will let you use your RAID. LEAVE THIS FLOPPY IN THE DRIVE!

4. Let 2K/XP do the partition and install:
Choose install to the empty disk & choose NTFS FULL format, not quick. If you don't have any other hard disks on your regular IDE channels, there can be a LONG pause after the format, be patient.

5. If you had the long pause during install, you will have the same booting into 2K/XP. Once the install is all done, go into the BIOS, then to MAIN, then change "Auto" to "None" for all channels where there are no devices connected. NOTE: This is for your regular IDE channels, NOT your RAID Array.

6.Let 2K/XP do all it's setup routines and updates installed.

7. You will now be able to use your RAID disk as a normal hard drive!