Vista - Install/startup problem: Vista on Intel RAID controller (ICH8R etc

Hi,

First: apologies if you are already across this issue on the TechNet forum.
I'm still looking for a workaround that works (or a fix).

I've been trying to install and run Vista on my system for a couple of
weeks. Like a number of others I've bumped into around the web, I'm having
problems getting Vista to install onto a RAID array running on an Intel ICH8R
(or similar) controller.

The RAID arrays worked 100% under XP. I can install Vista fine when the
drives are set up in IDE mode, but I use RAID 1 for a reason and want it back!

The failure mode is pretty simple: when Vista takes control (either at the
point of the upgrade process where the system has rebooted after XP 'hosted'
the first part of the process, or very early in the clean Vista install
process) the Microsoft copyright notice appears, the 'Cylon Eye' appears and
crosses the screen, the HDD activity light comes on solid and nothing further
happens.

Various fora have suggested ways to migrate a Vista install from IDE mode to
RAID mode use of the drives. The simplest approach suggested is to

1) install in IDE mode
2) update the drivers from within Vista (to Intel RAID drivers)
3) shut down
4) reconfigure motherboard to RAID mode
5) the system should then start in RAID mode.

When I do this, I get the same failure mode: 'Cylon Eye', HDD light on,
nothing further.

I have been following a Microsoft TechNet thread on this issue. A number of
suggestions were made as to workarounds, and the last one left for me to try
was to install Vista on the hard drive in IDE mode (which is the only way I
can do it), then 'clone' this installation onto a RAID array (using Acronis
TrueImage or Norton Ghost) after which all should be well. Here's what
happened:

1) Downloaded the TrueImage trialware and installed (much easier to install
than Ghost, which produced several Windows Vista errors). I made a TrueImage
Restore CD (CD that can boot the PC without any other OS, and then move
things around from drive to drive).
2) Installed a pair of new SATA drives and had Windows format them (so that
TrueImage would not need to do that - heeding a warning: "True image have
some problems with formatting and creating partition with Raid array.").
3) Set a system restore point so that, in the event of failure, I'd have
soething to come back to.
4) Updated the drivers for the ICH8R controllers (using the iastor driver
from the latest Intel download).
4) Made a TrueImage image of the Vista C: onto another HDD on the system (I
have a lot of drives).
5) Shut down the computer and reset the HDD mode to RAID in BIOS. I made
sure that the two empty drives that would be target of my TrueImage Restore
were visible through the RAID setup screen and that they were set up in a
RAID 1 array -- all OK.
6) Rebooted the computer using the TrueImage restore CD that I made in step
1. It rebooted fine. I selected the image I made in step 4 and asked
TrueImage to restore that image onto the RAID 1 array that had been set up.
TrueImage found the array fine and clunked away for 12 minutes restoring the
image.
7) I shut down the computer and took out the TrueImage Restore CD so that
the next boot would be from the RAID array.
8) The system started to boot up... and... the disc clunked away... and...
the Microsft copyright notice appeared (so Vista was able to at least start
reading from the drive)... and the 'Cylon Eye' appeared... and the HDD
activity LED came on and stayed on and nothing more happened.

It's still borked.

So that's it folks, I've tried EVERYTHING that I can find. I tried:

a) disabling the LAN chip in BIOS
b) loading new LAN ROM
c) updating drivers and rebooting onto same HDD (after changing ROM setting)
d) re-installing from scratch on a pair of new HDDs
e) updating drivers and booting onto a 'restored' image (on a pair of new
HDDs).

I don't think I've missed anything from the recommendations in the forum.
And I am no further advanced than I was a week ago.

I guess that some (many) have already come to the conclusion that nothing
but new Intel RAID drivers will fix this problem. After much trial and no
progress and can only say that I am in full agreement!

Anybody got a different conclusion or a suggestion?

Thanks.

Hi ...
I got exactly the same problem as you have. Trying to install Vista on a
RAID on ICH8R and the setup stops at the green loading bar.
But not even the IDE Mode does work for me.

Sorry for dubleposting, but it seems, that I could narrow it down to EIST.
If you can disable it, try. I've read (guess it was wikipedia) that some
processors got a faulty implementation of speedstep (such as pentium d, that
i got), so disabling EIST can be your way to vista.

good luck everyone

Hi Richardnau:

I ran Vista Home Premium in RAID 0 on an Intel DG965WH motherboard for
a while and it seemed to work fine for me. It should work on any Intel board
with RAID capability. The steps I took to install Vista follow:
1. Downloaded the latest Intel Bios (For Vista)
2. Flashed the Bios in XP (before installing Vista)
3. Downloaded the latest Intel F6 Vista RAID floppy and made a floppy in XP
4. Downloaded the Vista Intel Vista Intel Matrix Storage Manager
5. Entered the board Bios and enabled RAID
6. Inserted Vista install DVD and re-started PC
7. During the installation one screen asks for the F6 driver floppy
8. Insert F6 floppy and Vista copies data
9. Leave floppy inserted for further reference as O.S. is installed.
10.During the install Vista sees the drives and you can format & partition
them
as needed.
11.After installing Vista, install all the latest Intel chipset and other
drivers
12.Then install the Intel Matrix Storage console for Vista
13.Open the Matrix Storage Manager and check to see if you successfully
created a
RAID array on your selected drives.
14.If not, use the advanced button in the Matrix storage manager and choose to
"migrate" your current 1 hard drive installation into a RAID volume.

*It is best to use Sata hard drives with NCQ when setting up a RAID system
according to Intel. Be sure you have made the primary partitions in the RAID
array the same size.

I think this should work for you. In my system I already had XP in a RAID 0
array and simply did a clean install on the same array with Vista after
formatting. I did wind up with a file called "oldwindows" that I later
deleted. I did use the Vista F6 floppy during the Vista install however. I've
since moved Vista to a new pc I built and set up as RAID ready. Intel has a
couple of RAID manuals you can download and read thru. They are very
informative.

xiowan..........in tucson
"richardnau" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> First: apologies if you are already across this issue on the TechNet forum.
> I'm still looking for a workaround that works (or a fix).
>
> I've been trying to install and run Vista on my system for a couple of
> weeks. Like a number of others I've bumped into around the web, I'm having
> problems getting Vista to install onto a RAID array running on an Intel ICH8R
> (or similar) controller.
>
> The RAID arrays worked 100% under XP. I can install Vista fine when the
> drives are set up in IDE mode, but I use RAID 1 for a reason and want it back!
>
> The failure mode is pretty simple: when Vista takes control (either at the
> point of the upgrade process where the system has rebooted after XP 'hosted'
> the first part of the process, or very early in the clean Vista install
> process) the Microsoft copyright notice appears, the 'Cylon Eye' appears and
> crosses the screen, the HDD activity light comes on solid and nothing further
> happens.
>
> Various fora have suggested ways to migrate a Vista install from IDE mode to
> RAID mode use of the drives. The simplest approach suggested is to
>
> 1) install in IDE mode
> 2) update the drivers from within Vista (to Intel RAID drivers)
> 3) shut down
> 4) reconfigure motherboard to RAID mode
> 5) the system should then start in RAID mode.
>
> When I do this, I get the same failure mode: 'Cylon Eye', HDD light on,
> nothing further.
>
> I have been following a Microsoft TechNet thread on this issue. A number of
> suggestions were made as to workarounds, and the last one left for me to try
> was to install Vista on the hard drive in IDE mode (which is the only way I
> can do it), then 'clone' this installation onto a RAID array (using Acronis
> TrueImage or Norton Ghost) after which all should be well. Here's what
> happened:
>
> 1) Downloaded the TrueImage trialware and installed (much easier to install
> than Ghost, which produced several Windows Vista errors). I made a TrueImage
> Restore CD (CD that can boot the PC without any other OS, and then move
> things around from drive to drive).
> 2) Installed a pair of new SATA drives and had Windows format them (so that
> TrueImage would not need to do that - heeding a warning: "True image have
> some problems with formatting and creating partition with Raid array.").
> 3) Set a system restore point so that, in the event of failure, I'd have
> soething to come back to.
> 4) Updated the drivers for the ICH8R controllers (using the iastor driver
> from the latest Intel download).
> 4) Made a TrueImage image of the Vista C: onto another HDD on the system (I
> have a lot of drives).
> 5) Shut down the computer and reset the HDD mode to RAID in BIOS. I made
> sure that the two empty drives that would be target of my TrueImage Restore
> were visible through the RAID setup screen and that they were set up in a
> RAID 1 array -- all OK.
> 6) Rebooted the computer using the TrueImage restore CD that I made in step
> 1. It rebooted fine. I selected the image I made in step 4 and asked
> TrueImage to restore that image onto the RAID 1 array that had been set up.
> TrueImage found the array fine and clunked away for 12 minutes restoring the
> image.
> 7) I shut down the computer and took out the TrueImage Restore CD so that
> the next boot would be from the RAID array.
> 8) The system started to boot up... and... the disc clunked away... and...
> the Microsft copyright notice appeared (so Vista was able to at least start
> reading from the drive)... and the 'Cylon Eye' appeared... and the HDD
> activity LED came on and stayed on and nothing more happened.
>
> It's still borked.
>
> So that's it folks, I've tried EVERYTHING that I can find. I tried:
>
> a) disabling the LAN chip in BIOS
> b) loading new LAN ROM
> c) updating drivers and rebooting onto same HDD (after changing ROM setting)
> d) re-installing from scratch on a pair of new HDDs
> e) updating drivers and booting onto a 'restored' image (on a pair of new
> HDDs).
>
> I don't think I've missed anything from the recommendations in the forum.
> And I am no further advanced than I was a week ago.
>
> I guess that some (many) have already come to the conclusion that nothing
> but new Intel RAID drivers will fix this problem. After much trial and no
> progress and can only say that I am in full agreement!
>
> Anybody got a different conclusion or a suggestion?
>
> Thanks.

I've experienced the issue with a 4-drive RAID-5 on the ICH8R. From
what I can tell, the Vista installation environment does a low-level
write to the disks in a control block during its start-up that corrupts
the RAID array. When it happens on my system, two drives get corrupted.
The first drive needs to be rebuild but the second just needs to be
reset. Given the behavior, it's not surprising that users have no
problem with RAID-0; in that configuration the two disks don't match
but each is okay. With higher levels, the disk is actually corrupted
and fails.

I have been able to get Vista working on the RAID array by installing
on a single, non-RAID drive and then cloning it with Norton Ghost 12 to
the array. However, I end up with drive letter problems because the
drive letters in use point to the original partition. I think I know
how to resolve that issue but haven't gotten around to it.

Both Microsoft and Intel seem disinterested in the issue which is
either with the driver or installation environment.


--
rblevow
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