Can't install Win7 with Raid 0 on a K9A2 CF

Question

Motherboard:    MSI K9A2 CF
DDR:            8GB (4*2GB)
Proc:      AMD Athlon 620
HDD's:      2*Hitachi 640GB (same drive models)
So the problem i'm having is that i can't get Windows7 to get installed in raid 0. I bought this set of hardware to do some experimenting with small business server 2008. I've installed SBS2008 in Raid 1, and seemed to work (but i've never crashed a disk to test it). The tests went fine, and since a month or two this PC/Server is doing nothing.
Now i've been trying to get Windows7 installed but can't get it going with a Raid 0 setting (that's why i'm doubting if the RAID 1 with sbs was working correctly).
First problem i'd run into was that my DVD wasn't accepted (missing device driver). I've created a bootable USB disk and seem to work.
The problem starts when i should select the disk.
First, i've setup the following in the RAID-Bios:
I've done it with 1 array, or with 2 array's it doesn't change anything.
In the normal bios (updated last night to the latest version, which actually slows the systems down during the install). I've selected RAID in this screen
RAID (i've selected RAID)
When i get the option to select a drive, it doesn't display any drives so I select the option to add a driver.
These are the drivers i've downloaded:
But when selecting these drivers I've get a negative response
(with or without "Hide drivers that are not compatible......"
When i download other drivers (I actually tried them all) i get some response:
But when i select this driver, it takes several minutes to proces:
But it comes back blank:
When i select in the bios other options (like IDE)
It comes default with a disk:
But this is half of the array (1 drive). When i try to partition it, it fails. So it isn't accessible.
Last thing: i've tested with all 3 available Bios options (IDE, RAID and AHCI) in combination with all (Win7, Vista and WinXP) drivers. But there are no differences.
I understand i made a long post, but normally i just figure it out myself with researching on the web. I have tried everything i can think of. But it seems that:
1. I made an error configuring the raid-arrays (with one big array, the results are the same).
2. I made an error in the bios? (setting should be raid, other settings i should think of?)
3. I'm working with the wrong drivers? I think i'm doing something wrong driver related but can't pin the problem.
4. Or... ?
I'm open to suggestions,  i've run out of option. :(
Thank you.

Answer 1

Quote from: Fredrik on 28-March-10, 23:42:10
'Mostly aimed at galmoer. 
If you don't mind the cat's response, this is perhaps useful:
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=261&threadid=117185
Great link, seems to work. So after trying everything it was just a simple driver error.
I've tried the drivers from 1337 but they didn't work. But the chinese drivers did work:
http://www.rayfile.com/files/edf377e1-ec6f-11de-aad5-0014221b798a/
I don't know how or what. But the RAID console seemed to get 2 disks (2 raid arrays) and installed and formatted correctly from there on.
Installed Win7, booted and all the hardware was accepted.
If anyone has a line to MSI or someone from MSI is reading this: If needed i'm willing to run some kind of debugger if it helps. But otherwise I would suggest checking the drivers offered on the website because the drivers on the MSI website are faulty for some of your users. On the K9A2 they will not work with RAID with Windows 7 64-bit (the official drivers I mean).
Bas to answer your question: I have no particular interest in running a 64-bit operating system. But when it failed to work it became a challenge to get it working. I could have switched to 32bit immediatly but I don't like to give up the first moment something doesn't go as planned, and in the end I had so much time invested I just wanted it to work under 64bit .
Frederik, thanks again for the link, really helpfull. Thank you all for helping and  giving suggestions.