GIGABYTE K8NS PRO

[Amor]

I for some reason have been unable to get the drivers for raid etc onto my computer. I've tried using the cdrom that came with this mobo. I've tried using the download from Giga-byte website for the ide raid drivers. I'm sure I am forgetting something that the pros here would consider obvious.

Each time I try to put the floppy into my new comp after I've pressed f6 (win xp for the lose) it says Please insert the disk labeled 'Manufacturer-supplied hardware support disk into drive A: Press enter when ready.' Therefore I must not have downloaded the correct drivers in the correct way. If anyone else remembers what they did, I would be very grateful for whatever help however miniscule you throw my way.

I've researched the FAQ's on Gigabytes site and have been unable to find anything other than their suggestion to download their latest driver. Why would mobo companies not make the driver situation more user friendly? Asus has a more user friendly driver situation once I got the information on what I should do from this site.

Thanks again.

Amo

 

[mechBgon]

So what happens when you do actually press the Enter key at that prompt? Your floppy drive is actually alive and working, right?

 

[Amor]

Thank you MechBgon for that idea. I made sure the floppy drive was working and now I've gotten to the line that reads : \Winxp\iteraid.sys error 18 at line 2108 in d:\spsp1\base\boot\setup\disk c or something similar.

This is at least a step in the right direction. When I set up my asus computer, they had a 'makedisk' option for the floppy. Gigabyte seems to have left me by the wayside (or my abilities or lack thereof have done the same).

The user manual says find the Gigaraid it8218 ata raid controller drivers files under the driver cd title: D:\other\ite_raid\drivers\

"When install Windows xp from HDD in gigaraid ata raid controler, press f6 as xp boots up, then supply gigaraid controler driver by this floppy disk.

There is no specific makedisk option. When I use a quick formatted floppy it does not allow some files to be downloaded because of a lack of an address. When I use the Msdos floppy, it does not allow all the files to be copied there because of 'lack of disk space.' This is driving me crazy.

If anyone knows what files I need at a bare minimum on this floppy, please I beg you tell me which ones they are .

 

[mechBgon]

Times like these, I wish I had broadband so I could download the driver from Gigabyte and see what they're giving you I've got a GA-8VT800-L manual downloading from them right now and if I launch another download, I'll be face-down in my keyboard before they both arrive

Anyway, it might be something I have to tackle tomorrow, but I'll get around to it

Bigger picture: do you actually need the RAID chip? Are you setting up a RAID?

 

[Amor]

I shall be eagerly awaiting your reply then Mech .

 

[nippyjun]

Which raid are you using: Gigaraid, Nvidia Sata raid, or Silicon image sata raid?

Make sure that you have enabled the necessary bios options that match the type of raid that you want.

Then you need to make sure that you have the correct drivers on the floppy to match one of the 3 above choices. Page 78 of the manual tells you how to make the floppy from the installation cd.

 

[mechBgon]

I've got the ITE gigaRAID driver downloaded. It's a self-extracting .EXE file, so I ran it to extract the contents. The total size of all the files and folders is about 7.8MB, but 7MB of that is just a file called NT.RTF, a text file with instructions for WinNT 4.0 users. So delete that NT.RTF file, and the rest of the files and folders will fit on floppy (not that all of the other files are necessary, but why make things complicated ).

That driver would be for the Parallel-ATA RAID controller that's running the two PATA ports down near the bottom of the board.

I just finished downloading the Silicon Image SATA RAID driver from Gigabyte too. Another self-extracting .EXE... extract it, and I get two sub-folders, one for straight ATA mode, one for RAID mode. The contents of either sub-folder will fit right onto a floppy diskette.

Let me add a quick tip: on the ITE gigaRAID, when you extract, you get a folder called DRIVERS. Don't put the whole DRIVERS folder on floppy, put its contents on floppy. That txtsetup.oem file and sub-folders needs to be right in the root of A:\, not A:\DRIVERS, or Windows won't find it. Ditto for the contents of the Silicon Image folders, put their contents on the diskette so that when Windows Setup looks in A:\, it finds txtsetup.oem and the sub-folders. Hope that's not confusing

The Silicon Image drivers are for drives on the SI SATA controller, of course. There's no rule saying you couldn't give Windows Setup the drivers for every flavor of controller and let Windows sort it out (SI ATA, SI RAID, and ITE RAID) but it's only the one that has drives plugged into it that's going to show up for Windows Setup.

Being as most RAID controllers want you to go in and define your drives as an array before they'll let Windows Setup see them, you'll probably want to do that if you're intent on using the RAID controllers for your boot drive. The manual should have all the instructions you need for accomplishing that (I don't have the K8NS Pro manual yet).

 

[Amor]

Mech and Nippy,

Thank you guys very much for your help on this matter. The drivers finally worked for me.

Whew now I don't have to deal with too much more wife aggro.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Building the computer can be fun and trying.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Amor
Mech and Nippy,

Thank you guys very much for your help on this matter. The drivers finally worked for me.

Whew now I don't have to deal with too much more wife aggro.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Building the computer can be fun and trying.

Yeah, computers can put you through a real rollercoaster ride sometimes! :shocked: It works! :heart: It doesn't work! :Q It works again! aaack!