Can anyhone help? KV8-MAX-3 and serial sata drives - can't get XP to detect and load onto the drives

Does anyone know if it's possible to get XP to go onto the SATA raid
array?

When I put the XP CD in it goes so far press f6 but then it doesn't
seem to think there are any drives to load onto.

They don't show up in the bios either.

The only way I seem to able to get it to work is by attaching an IDE
drive. XP goes in ok then and when installed I can see and use the
SATA drives although they still don't show up in the bios for boot
order. I got to thinking it wasn't possible but now I see in PC world
they're selling computers with only one serial drive so it must be.

The system I built is a KV8-Max-3 with an Athlon 64bit 3200 socket
754.

Has anyone else had the same problem and can helpt? All that came
with the board is a floppy with SATA drivers on. I load those but the
drives still don't show up. TIA

TOM

 

Of course. If it wasn't there'd have been an awful lot of unhappy owners
these last few years.

Do you actually hit F6 and load the appropriate drivers?

If you can't see the drives at any point during the POST sequence, the
chances are that you haven't enabled the RAID controller correctly in the
BIOS. I've never played with a KV8, but if it's like pretty much every other
board Abit have ever made, you'll have to enable the appropriate
functionality in the BIOS. If you don't, it won't play.

Once you do get it right, once you've loaded the drivers via the F6 prompt,
you should be able to install WinXP straight onto your array.
--


Richard Hopkins
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
(replace nospam with pipex in reply address)

The UK's leading technology reseller www.dabs.com

 

Yes. I don't have your motherboard but if the bios is similar to the
NF7-S then you need to do a couple of things; Make sure you enable
the Serial ATA Controller. Then get into the Raid Configuration
Utility menu and create your Raid array. (See your Abit manual and
how to do that)

After that you should be able to insert your Windows XP CD and reboot.
Press F6 when asked if you need to install additional drivers and you
will need to insert that floppy with the proper Sata drivers when
requested.

Then it is just a matter of formatting your Raid drive, creating any
partitions you want and installing the operating system.

If you want your Raid drive to be drive C: then I suggest unplugging
any IDE drive that you have in your system before you start. You can
plug it back in after you have installed the operating system.

Ak

 

That's because you didn't press f6 to load the SATA drivers from the
floppy.

 

I have that M/B. What I did to fix that problem was Use SATA 3 & 4.
Leave 1 & 2 empty
I hope this helps

Chucky

 

Hi Chucky

Thanks for that.

I have been trying all afternoon to get XP to load onto the serial
drives. I get to the press f6 and press but then shortly afterwards
it tells me there is no hard drives and aborts.

I've tried every driver on the floppy that came with the board and
still the drives aren't detected. If I load onto a IDE drive and have
pressed F6 during installation the serial drives show up perfectly ok
in winXP disc management.

I'll try giving your advice a go and see what happens. Fingers
crossed.

 

Thanks Richard, but still no joy. I'm ok with the F6 thing and
loading the drivers from the floppy that came with the board but XP
still aborts saying there's no fixed drives. They do show up
perfectly well if I put the system onto an ordinary drive but I can't
see them anywhere in the bios.

I'm gonna try that lead chucky gave about leaving out 1 and 2 see what
happens. Thanks for your help it's much appreciated.

Tom

 

Thanks Alfred - Yes I've enabled the raid controller in the bios but
still no joy. On start up you get an option to press f4 to enter the
Raid but if you press it then it just says there is no discs again.

Chucky apparently has the same board and got round it missing out 1
and 2 and starting at 3 and 4. So I'll give that a go and see what
happens. Thanks very much for your help I very much appreciate it.

Tom

 

Sorry chucky I use the exocet name on another group. Off to try your
suggestion.....)

Tom

 

Then you really can't expect Windows XP to install. :-( If the Raid
Utility says there are no drives then you have check that your drive
cables, serial ATA and power are connected properly. I can see one
drive possibly being faulty but not both.

A long shot - I checked my manual and it says that the Serial ATA
controller only supports Ultra DMA/ATA-100 or higher. What hard
drrives are you using?

Ak

 

If the bios does not tell you that you have functional raid drives
then Windows XP will not install.

I hope that changing the drives over to different connectors helps.

Ak

 

Double check your bios settings:
Sata Raid ROM should be enabled
Onboard Raid Controller should be enabled
While booting press Ctrl-F4 to get into the bios setup for serial ata
raid.

You motherboard has two Sata Raid devices - Via Sata Raid or SIL3114
Sata Raid. Check the bootable add-in device in the bios. I could not
see anything in the manual about the connectors making any difference.

Good luck, I sure you will figure it out and get it working.

Ak

 

Well the drives are two Samsung SP1213C

http://www.samsung.com/Products/Har...es/HardDiskDrive_SpinPointPSeries_SP1213C.htm

and I have now successfully installed XP onto them set up as zero
array, but only by doing the same as Chuck to get around the problem.
ie: unplugging them from SATA 1 and SATA 2 on the motherboard and
connecting them to SATA 3 and SATA 4. Miraculously they showed up
instantly on start up and pressing F4 instead of the usual no drives
it gave me the Raid setup and off I went.

I'm wondering now if possibly there should be some jumper settings on
the drives themselves effectively making them Master drives in order
that they work on SATA 1 and SATA 2 ? Does anyone think this might be
the cause? There is only a small slip of paper with the drives and
for what looks like the jumper pins it says Jumper pin then in
brackets (factory use only) So why they won't work in the Main SAtA 1
and 2 sockets I don't know.

I've quite had enough for today but as you can imagine I'm really
pleased at finally getting the system onto the serial drives and I'm
really grateful for all the help you guys have given me.

Tom

 

I don't think you have Master or Slave drives with Serial ATA.

It might be because your motherboard has two different raid devices,
Via and Silicon Image. Maybe somewhere in your bios you can choose
one or the other.

Abit makes good motherboards and problems usually have workarounds. My
motherboard NF7-S v2.0 only has one raid device - Silicon Image and I
have never been happy with it. Abit had to add a special delay option
in the bios to stop the data corruption with my Sata Maxtor drives.
It has always bugged me and I thought with the latest ABit bios and
Silicon Image Raid drivers it was fixed - I was wrong.

When it works just be happy.

Ak

 

You're probably right Ak ) I may try contacting Samsung or Abit and
ask them but as to whether they will reply or not is another thing. I
may try and find others here who have actually got the same board and
see if anyone made any advancements such as Chuck - but for now the
when it works just be happy philosophy is good. ) Thanks for all
your help.

Tom

 

I'm not sure why you would need to contact Samsung, as they're unlikely to
be able to tell you anything about the specifics of Abit hardware. As for
Abit, they might advise you to read your manual, which is, funnily enough,
what I've just done.

If you have to connect your drives to SATA3/4/5/6 in order to get a RAID
array built, you're using the Silicon Image 3114 controller rather than the
one included in the VIA 8237 southbridge.

As Alfred says, if you want to use the VIA controller, you need to make sure
that the BIOS Integrated Peripherals/Onboard IDE Device/SATA RAID ROM
parameter is enabled. Also, in the Advanced System Setup page, you need to
make sure that the Bootable Add-In Device (assuming this parameter is there)
is set to Onchip SATA RAID.

Once that is done, you will likely have to hit a key combination during the
POST sequence in order to enter the VIA SATA RAID setup utility and create
your array.

Once all that is done, hitting F6 and loading the VIA SATA RAID drivers from
the floppy supplied with the board should get you in business.
--


Richard Hopkins
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
(replace nospam with pipex in reply address)

The UK's leading technology reseller www.dabs.com