RAID problem with ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe

[bluesoujiro]

Hi,

I have a Pentium 4 3.2E ghz and I have trouble installing my two identical Seagates s-ata 120gb (Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ - ST3120827AS) harddrives on the my motherboard asus P4P800-E Deluxe. I'd like to set them as RAID on the intel ICH5R, not on the Promise Controller.

I did exactly what the instruction manuel says. I have IDE configuration on my BIOS set up as follows:

Onboard IDE Operate Mode: Enhanced Mode
Enhanced Mode Support On: S-ATA
Configure S-ATA as RAID: YES
Serial-ATA BOOTROM: ENABLED.

Now, when i reboot the computer, i pressed on ctrl-i to enter Intel's RAID configuration Utility.
I've set up my RAID volume as Stripe, and named it RAID_Volume1.

Now, when i reboot the computer, BIOS just doesn't recognise my RAID_Volume1 as Third IDE master. Actually, it just doesn't anything at all, as if it was gone.
When i go to the Boot tab of BIOS setup, under Boot priority, Intel RAID_Volume1 is on the 3rd Boot Device. So basically, the BIOS should have detected my RAID_volume1, yet it doesn't.

Now when i set back "Configure S-ATA as RAID: No", on the main tab of BIOS setup, i see:

Third IDE Master: ST3120827AS
Fourth IDE Master: ST3120827AS.

So.. at least the BIOS recognise my drives.. but as individually.

Now, putting back to "Configure S-ATA as RAID: Yes", i put on my windows XP, pressed F6, tried to install the RAID and it won't let me because it says i got no RAID to install. Note that my win XP cd does not have SP1. Of course, i intend to update to SP2 once the windows is installed and that my internet is set up.

What did i do wrong? Can anyone please help me out?

[BipolarBill]

Have you ever updated the BIOS?

[Christofori]

Try this (located on http://www.abxzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34558):

"If you plan to use an Intel ICH5R RAID array, click the following link IAA RAID Ed., choose your XP OS, and then on the resulting page, scroll down to the section called Utilities. Then choose the latest version of the download called Floppy Configuration Utility. Once the file is downloaded click on the file and follow the onscreen instructions."

That link should help you get started. The BIOS does not necesarilly have to detect the RAID array in the Boot Settings menu (mine does not). I've just finished an XP installation onto a new RAID 1 array using SATA 120GB drives, and had come across the above information during the process, so I thought it might help you out as well.

// Christofori
Master of the Obvious

[Geforce]

Jumpers on the Hard Drives?

I've just set up the same Raid 1 volume on a ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe with a 3.2 P4 and I had problems, but got there eventually.

The jumpers should be on Master for both hard drives. I can't see much else your doing wrong.

Ps. I didn't have to update my BIOS before I went ahead with the setting up of Raid 1.

Also, if you want the a copy of the floppy I used to set up my Windows (F6 on boot) I'll give you that. I know it can be obtained of the CD, but there are so many different drivers that it just made me confused - so I tried them all until one worked, lol.

Hope you can sort it.