XP Slipstream Installations on Intel RAID - Any Success?
FritzCat66 Apr 29, 2012 7:12 PMI have a DZ68BC mobo, but I presume this applies to all recent Intel Z68 and later boards using similar Intel AHCI/RAID controllers
The problem: Once I've setup a RAID array, how can I install XP Pro (32-bit) to it without a floppy drive to do an F6 driver load? Why won't nLite slipstreaming work?
I'm trying to build an XP slipstream disc using nLite. I've done it before with excellent results, but am not having any luck with it this time. XP Setup never seems to be able to identify a driver, and the installation cannot proceed.
Details:
- Intel DZ68BC mobo, 028 BIOS
- RAID5 array across three identical 500G Hitachi 7K1000.D Deskstar drives (using three of the four Intel SATA II ports)
- Using Intel Rapid Storage utility V11.1.0.1006 under a successful Win7 installation on the same system, I have actually created two arrays across the three drives. Not two partitions, but two whole arrays: one 240G array with a single partition for Win7, the other ~750G array having one 120G primary partition for XP and the rest partitioned as a shared logical drive to be used as data drive D: under either OS. All of these formatted NTFS just fine under Win7.
- Utilizing the V11.1.0.1006 XP/32-bit Installation Floppy drivers downloaded from the Intel site (yes, I've verified they are indeed the 32-bit drivers - the iaStor.inf file [Manufacturer] section says "INTEL_HDC,ntx86", while the 64-bit floppy's .inf file specifies "INTEL_HDC,ntamd64")
- Utilizing nLite 1.4.9.1 (the latest version) and my XP Pro w/SP3 OEM setup disc source to create the slipstream ISO, burned to CD and verified.
- Under nLite, I have of course added the drivers. nLite also allows you to remove the stock XP SCSI/RAID drivers. I have tried it both ways - with and without the stock drivers - no luck either way.
- BIOS SATA controller mode set to "RAID" (of course)
- I can verify under Win7's Device Manager that the controller is returning the device ID as "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2822&CC_0104", which is correct and should match up to the appropriate iaStor.sys driver, also present in the floppy disk folder I'm using as a source for nLite (the long description from the TXTSETUP.OEM file is "Intel(R) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller")
Results: Booting the CD made from the nLite ISO, XP setup starts and of course searches through its built-in database of controllers. The two or three times I've done this previously, it would find the new controller, match it up with the slipstreamed driver, and everything would proceed normally. However, this one never ID's, so the driver never loads, so XP Setup cannot continue.
I have no USB floppy drive, thus I have no way of testing these drivers "manually" using the F6 method, so I simply must slipstream.
Oh, and I tried running XP Setup from Win7 - no dice, even if you run it under XP mode, Win7 simply won't allow it.
And again, the array works fine under Win7.
So, anyone had luck installing XP onto an Intel RAID array without a floppy on these mobos? How did you do it, and what version of the Intel F6 installation files did you use?
-- Fritz from Florida
Message was edited by: FritzCat66 - added more details