Help me to get WinXP to recognise my new SATA RAID drive.

September 3, 2006 11:28 PM

Which of the files in this 4mb zip file (link to website) can I get rid of so that I can fit it all on one 3.5" floppy disk so that the Windows XP installation program will recognise my brand new SATA drive?

So I bought a brand new SATA RAID drive and had a professional install it for me but when I got it home, my copy of WindowsXP Professional (which does not have SP1 or SP2 slipstreamed into it) won't recognise my drive. The setup program tells me that there are no hard drives to install WinXP on and so the setup aborts.

I am assuming that to get WinXP's setup program to recognise my drive, I need to install a 3rd Party RAID driver, something the setup program asks you about when it first starts up and I am assuming that the zip file I linked to is the file I need. But it's 4mb and so there's no way I could fit it all on a floppy disk. So tell me; which files inside the zip could I get rid of to ensure that it'll not only fit on a floppy disk but will also contain the necessary files to allow WinXP to recognise my new drive?

Thanks in advance!

posted by Effigy2000 to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Usually the motherboard manufacturers provide a disk with the raid drivers on it. Is that not lying about?

After looking at the zip file.. unzip all the files except the PDF manual to the root folder of a blank disk..
posted by snarkle at 11:37 PM on September 3, 2006

also.. from the readme....

--------------------------------------------------------
1) Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000/XP Fresh Installation
--------------------------------------------------------
Follow the instructions in this section if you are performing a new
installation of Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000/XP, and you wish to
boot from a device attached to the SiI 3112 controller.


1. Power off the system. Connect the hard drives to the SiI 3112
controller and insert the controller into a PCI slot. Power up
the system.

2. Put your Windows NT/2000/XP CD into the CD-ROM/DVD drive, or
the NT/2000/XP boot diskette #1 in the floppy drive if your
system cannot boot from the CD.

3. Press F6 for third party SCSI or driver installation at the beginning
of text mode installation. Press 's' when setup asks if you want to
specify an additional device, and insert the diskette labeled
'Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATARaid Driver Installation Disk' .

Press 'Enter' and select
'Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATARaid Controller'

4. Press 'Enter' to continue on with text mode setup.

5. Follow the setup instructions to select your choice for
partition and file system.

6. After setup examines your disks, it will copy files to
Windows 2000 installation folders and restart the system.
The setup program will continue and finish the installation
after restart.

7. Wait until Windows 2000 finishes installing devices, regional
settings, networking settings, components, and final set of
tasks, reboot the system if it is required.

8. See instructions in section 4 to verify controller was installed
correctly.

posted by snarkle at 11:38 PM on September 3, 2006

Best answer: You can actually keep the PDF and ditch the subdirectory called GUI. The only files you really need are these:

Si3112r.inf
Si3112.mpd
Si3112.sys
SIISUPP.VXD
SIWinAcc.sys
TxtSetup.oem
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:58 PM on September 3, 2006

Also...

I need to install a 3rd Party RAID driver, something the setup program asks you about when it first starts up

When you first boot from your installation CD, in tiny print at the bottom of the screen it says something akin to, "Press F6 to Install 3rd party controller drivers".

Press F6 and it prompts you to insert your disk. Insert disk with aforementioned files, and you should be good to go.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:08 AM on September 4, 2006