Problem setting up a RAID 0 array on a EPOX 8K3A+ HELP

[SnoopyDog]

Hi

As topic says I am having big problems setting up my two WD Caviar 80GB (8mb cache)

I am setting up the RAID 0 array in the beginning of the boot pressing the Ctrl + H. Everything works fine.

Then booting with the WIN XP installation CD in the CDR, it tells me that I have a bootable CD in, and it starts to load windows. Just fine, I am pressing F6 to load the newest highpoint drivers, which I have downloaded on EPOX homepage.
Just fine it then tells me to press S, to load the drivers. Fine I do that and after that press Enter. Windows are now loading just fine...............but after approx. 10 sec. the sreen turns black and the cursor are blinking in the left corner of the screen.

What the h.ll have I missed out on here????

The BIOS I am using are the 2815 BIOS

The BIOS have been setup to run first boot device as SCSI and floppy and HDD, but with out any luck. Same thing happens....


Please help me

SnoopyDog

 

[nemo160]

i'd reccomend not raid 0ing those hdds
from what i;ve read wd se drives perform better as single drives than in a raid 0
not sure what the problem is thats causing install to fail

 

[yippykiyaa]

I have same problem with Epox 4SDA5+ in Raid 0 with Maxtor D740X, 40 gb drives. A friend said that he thinks that XP cannot find the Raid 0 & assign it to drive C: I was able to load XP to desktop using the HighPoint supplied floppy but after rebooting, it would only load past the BIOS system spec's stopping with the "Load from CD" message. If I used a Win 98 Startup disk, I would get the message that Windows can't find drive C:. If you find a solution, please use the forum with the answer and I will do the same.

 

[SnoopyDog]

Thanks alot guys, for all your help.

Sorry for the late reply, from my side.

The solution was that my SCSI adapter, was still plugged in, and was jamming the hole setup.

Now everything is working just fine and damn that is a fast RAID 0 array, with these two WD Caviar Special Edition 8Mb.

Cheers again.

Snoopydog

 

[Viper96720]

1. Flash to the latest BIOS
2. Backup all of your current data - the creation of RAID-0 will destroy all data on the disks! I advise you to unplug the ribbon cable from any other hard disks on your system which will not be part of your RAID-0 array (this prevents you from accidentally formatting them).
3. To create RAID-0 you need two hard drives. Ideally they should be of identical type - if they are different your RAID-0 array will will be limited to twice the size of the smaller disk and have a maximum speed of twice that of the slower disk.
4. Connect one disk to each Highpoint IDE controller. On my machine, using the disks as Master/Slave on the same controller resulted in very little speed increase. Other people achieve good speed improvements whether or not the disks are on separate controllers. You may wish to experiment - you don't need to reinstall anything if you simply move a disk to the other Highpoint controller - the Highpoint BIOS will successfully detect this.
5. Enable RAID Controller in the Integrated Peripherals section of the BIOS, then Save and Exit.
6. Enter the Highpoint BIOS menu (using Ctrl-H) and use "Create RAID" to create your RAID-0 array. Select the disks you wish to use, a Block Size of 16k for optimum performance in most situations and then choose "Start Creation Process".
7. Set the array as the boot disk in the Highpoint BIOS
Press F6 immediately when the system says "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration" then press S to specify and additional adapter. Insert a floppy disk containing the latest Highpoint drivers at this point . If you are booting from the setup floppy disks, the message "Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration" occurs twice in quick succession. Firstly on a black background, then secondly when the setup really starts (Light blue screen). Press it both times to be sure. You then have to wait while it loads BOTH Disc 1 and 2 before you are asked to press S to specify and additional adapter.