Vista - Vista + Raid = :(

Vista business x64
DFI Lanparty UT 250GB (supposedly 100% 64 compatible)
-Marvell sata raid
-Nforce3 sata raid
2 320GB sata hard drives
***Striped Dynamic Disk***
80GB blank partition for vista
500GB with some data I was using in XP

When it asks for you to select an install partition only 1 drive shows up as 279GB(1 of the drives) and unformatted. Makes sense...I need to load the raid drivers. I have tried all of the 32-bit XP raid drivers on the DFI website and copied the raid drivers out of their 64-bit XP install suite thing. When I try to load them into Vista it says no drivers found(or something like that).

Am I using the wrong drivers? I see none that are explicity for Vista
Is it because they are formatted as dynamic disks?
Am I using the right drivers but loading them improperly?

I tried to search but couldn't find anything. I'm sure I'm not the only one with raid on a lanparty UT...Please help

I had to force an XP raid driver with my Asus board, it won't show them by
default. You have to manually select them.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"bobdole" <bobdole.2pbv2d@no-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:bobdole.2pbv2d@no-mx.forums.net...
>
> Vista business x64
> DFI Lanparty UT 250GB (supposedly 100% 64 compatible)
> -Marvell sata raid
> -Nforce3 sata raid
> 2 320GB sata hard drives
> ***Striped Dynamic Disk***
> 80GB blank partition for vista
> 500GB with some data I was using in XP
>
> When it asks for you to select an install partition only 1 drive shows
> up as 279GB(1 of the drives) and unformatted. Makes sense...I need to
> load the raid drivers. I have tried all of the 32-bit XP raid drivers
> on the DFI website and copied the raid drivers out of their 64-bit XP
> install suite thing. When I try to load them into Vista it says no
> drivers found(or something like that).
>
> Am I using the wrong drivers? I see none that are explicity for Vista
> Is it because they are formatted as dynamic disks?
> Am I using the right drivers but loading them improperly?
>
> I tried to search but couldn't find anything. I'm sure I'm not the
> only one with raid on a lanparty UT...Please help
>
>
> --
> bobdole

You mention dynamic disks. Were the disks set up with software RAID in XP?
Which RAID controller are the disks hooked up to?

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"bobdole" <bobdole.2pbv2d@no-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:bobdole.2pbv2d@no-mx.forums.net...
>
> Vista business x64
> DFI Lanparty UT 250GB (supposedly 100% 64 compatible)
> -Marvell sata raid
> -Nforce3 sata raid
> 2 320GB sata hard drives
> ***Striped Dynamic Disk***
> 80GB blank partition for vista
> 500GB with some data I was using in XP
>
> When it asks for you to select an install partition only 1 drive shows
> up as 279GB(1 of the drives) and unformatted. Makes sense...I need to
> load the raid drivers. I have tried all of the 32-bit XP raid drivers
> on the DFI website and copied the raid drivers out of their 64-bit XP
> install suite thing. When I try to load them into Vista it says no
> drivers found(or something like that).
>
> Am I using the wrong drivers? I see none that are explicity for Vista
> Is it because they are formatted as dynamic disks?
> Am I using the right drivers but loading them improperly?
>
> I tried to search but couldn't find anything. I'm sure I'm not the
> only one with raid on a lanparty UT...Please help
>
>
> --
> bobdole

You need Vista drivers, XP drivers will not work in the 64bit version of
Vista. That trick only works on the 32bit version.

Dan


"bobdole" <bobdole.2pbv2d@no-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:bobdole.2pbv2d@no-mx.forums.net...
>
> Vista business x64
> DFI Lanparty UT 250GB (supposedly 100% 64 compatible)
> -Marvell sata raid
> -Nforce3 sata raid
> 2 320GB sata hard drives
> ***Striped Dynamic Disk***
> 80GB blank partition for vista
> 500GB with some data I was using in XP
>
> When it asks for you to select an install partition only 1 drive shows
> up as 279GB(1 of the drives) and unformatted. Makes sense...I need to
> load the raid drivers. I have tried all of the 32-bit XP raid drivers
> on the DFI website and copied the raid drivers out of their 64-bit XP
> install suite thing. When I try to load them into Vista it says no
> drivers found(or something like that).
>
> Am I using the wrong drivers? I see none that are explicity for Vista
> Is it because they are formatted as dynamic disks?
> Am I using the right drivers but loading them improperly?
>
> I tried to search but couldn't find anything. I'm sure I'm not the
> only one with raid on a lanparty UT...Please help
>
>
> --
> bobdole

It seems that there are several versions of the floppy drivers around. I tried about 6 times to load my RAID floppy drivers and kept looking for new drivers via google. eventually I found ones that worked. I have a different mobo, but I'm sure that if you keep at it you will eventually find one that works.

I'll beg to differ, as I was able to use an XP 64-bit raid driver to install
and run Vista x64.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"Dan" <dan@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:uM5qFb2gHHA.4772@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> You need Vista drivers, XP drivers will not work in the 64bit version of
> Vista. That trick only works on the 32bit version.
>
> Dan
>
>
> "bobdole" <bobdole.2pbv2d@no-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
> news:bobdole.2pbv2d@no-mx.forums.net...
>>
>> Vista business x64
>> DFI Lanparty UT 250GB (supposedly 100% 64 compatible)
>> -Marvell sata raid
>> -Nforce3 sata raid
>> 2 320GB sata hard drives
>> ***Striped Dynamic Disk***
>> 80GB blank partition for vista
>> 500GB with some data I was using in XP
>>
>> When it asks for you to select an install partition only 1 drive shows
>> up as 279GB(1 of the drives) and unformatted. Makes sense...I need to
>> load the raid drivers. I have tried all of the 32-bit XP raid drivers
>> on the DFI website and copied the raid drivers out of their 64-bit XP
>> install suite thing. When I try to load them into Vista it says no
>> drivers found(or something like that).
>>
>> Am I using the wrong drivers? I see none that are explicity for Vista
>> Is it because they are formatted as dynamic disks?
>> Am I using the right drivers but loading them improperly?
>>
>> I tried to search but couldn't find anything. I'm sure I'm not the
>> only one with raid on a lanparty UT...Please help
>>
>>
>> --
>> bobdole
>
>

From what I have found Vista cannot be installed onto dynamic disks. I have since reformatted them to basic.

No, it is hardware raid. I have tried it on both the onboard raid controllers on my mobo. (apperantly they both run off the same driver even though one is nvidia and the other marvell?).

Drivers I have tried...(some of these I had to force in and do the unsigned driver thing)
DFI nforce 3 (my mobo specifically) XP 64 ver 5.10
Nvidia nforce 3 XP 64 newest
Nvidia nforce pro XP 64 newest
Nvidia nforce pro Vista 64 newest
Nvidia nforce 4 XP 64 newest
Nvidia nforce 4 Vista 64 newest(5.15 i believe)
The standard vista drivers modified to work with the nforce 4

I have also installed windows xp 64 a few times and tried to launch the install from there. when I load Nvidia nforce 3 XP 64 newest Vista will blue screen on restart. The others all load Vista and says unable to find hard drive the system files are on (or something like that).

Are you guys saying you got nforce raid to work on Vista? Please point me to the drivers you used so I can give them a look. I can't believe Nvidia dropped support for a 3 year old platform. I have stuff that is like 10 years old with official Vista drivers .

Hi,

Mine were VIA and Promise controllers. Nvidia has been pretty sloppy with
driver support throughout the beta run and the release, I wouldn't be
surprised by a lack of drivers for your system.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"bobdole" <bobdole.2pf823@no-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:bobdole.2pf823@no-mx.forums.net...
>
> From what I have found Vista cannot be installed onto dynamic disks. I
> have since reformatted them to basic.
>
>> Were the disks set up with software RAID in XP?
> No, it is hardware raid. I have tried it on both the onboard raid
> controllers on my mobo. (apperantly they both run off the same driver
> even though one is nvidia and the other marvell?).
>
> Drivers I have tried...(some of these I had to force in and do the
> unsigned driver thing)
> DFI nforce 3 (my mobo specifically) XP 64 ver 5.10
> Nvidia nforce 3 XP 64 newest
> Nvidia nforce pro XP 64 newest
> Nvidia nforce pro Vista 64 newest
> Nvidia nforce 4 XP 64 newest
> Nvidia nforce 4 Vista 64 newest(5.15 i believe)
> The standard vista drivers modified to work with the nforce 4
>
> I have also installed windows xp 64 a few times and tried to launch the
> install from there. when I load Nvidia nforce 3 XP 64 newest Vista will
> blue screen on restart. The others all load Vista and says unable to
> find hard drive the system files are on (or something like that).
>
> Are you guys saying you got nforce raid to work on Vista? Please point
> me to the drivers you used so I can give them a look. I can't believe
> Nvidia dropped support for a 3 year old platform. I have stuff that is
> like 10 years old with official Vista drivers .
>
>
> --
> bobdole

Now that's odd (though as others have posted Nvidia has been a little lax on
drivers), but if it's being implemented in HW, Vista shouldn't even have to
see it (in other words, the hardware handles it and vista just should be
seeing a fixed disk).

Joe

"bobdole" <bobdole.2pf823@no-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:bobdole.2pf823@no-mx.forums.net...
>
> From what I have found Vista cannot be installed onto dynamic disks. I
> have since reformatted them to basic.
>
>> Were the disks set up with software RAID in XP?
> No, it is hardware raid. I have tried it on both the onboard raid
> controllers on my mobo. (apperantly they both run off the same driver
> even though one is nvidia and the other marvell?).
>
> Drivers I have tried...(some of these I had to force in and do the
> unsigned driver thing)
> DFI nforce 3 (my mobo specifically) XP 64 ver 5.10
> Nvidia nforce 3 XP 64 newest
> Nvidia nforce pro XP 64 newest
> Nvidia nforce pro Vista 64 newest
> Nvidia nforce 4 XP 64 newest
> Nvidia nforce 4 Vista 64 newest(5.15 i believe)
> The standard vista drivers modified to work with the nforce 4
>
> I have also installed windows xp 64 a few times and tried to launch the
> install from there. when I load Nvidia nforce 3 XP 64 newest Vista will
> blue screen on restart. The others all load Vista and says unable to
> find hard drive the system files are on (or something like that).
>
> Are you guys saying you got nforce raid to work on Vista? Please point
> me to the drivers you used so I can give them a look. I can't believe
> Nvidia dropped support for a 3 year old platform. I have stuff that is
> like 10 years old with official Vista drivers .
>
>
> --
> bobdole

I'm pretty sure that this is never the case. The OS must know how to interface with the controller in order to see the disks. Its even true with non-raid systems but the IDE controllers are all just IEEE complient so you never have to mess with the drivers.

For any one interested, after days of messing around I have found that the x86 windows xp drivers work on vista x86.

There are no vista x64 drivers compatible with the Nvidia 250GB chipset raid device. Nvidia does not plan to release them

Guess I'm gonna have to go with x86 Vista for now. I don't know about you guys but I'll take compatibility and support over performance any day. I'll definatly be looking elsewhere for future products.