HOW TO install RAID/ AHCI 975x PUE Driver Guide

Question

As below on how to install the matrix driver, there is no 'how to install on a system not already preconfigured with raid/AHCI'. This driver creates a F6 Floppy disc, why? because windows will  not recognise your hard in AHCI mode without the driver installed. This is why we get a reboot with AHCI enabled. It gets to a point then when windows loads with no driver it reboots. If you try to load the driver first, the hard ware has not been enabled so there is nothing to install. Reinstall Windows is the only way.
* 5.  INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE
5.1 General Installation Notes
1.  If you are installing the operating system on a system
    configured for RAID or AHCI mode, you must pre-install
    the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager driver using the
    F6 installation method described in section 5.3.
2.  The 'Intel(R) Chipset Software Installation Utility'
    must be installed on the system after a supported
    Microsoft* Windows* operating system has been installed.
3.  To install the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager,
    double-click on the self-extracting and self-installing
    setup file and answer all prompts presented.
4.  By default, all installed files (readme.txt, help, etc.)
    are copied to the following path:
    <bootdrive>\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager
5.2 InstallShield* Installation from Hard Drive or CD-ROM
Note: This method is applicable to systems configured for
      RAID or AHCI mode.
1.  Download the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager setup file
    and double-click to self-extract and to begin the setup
    process.
2.  The 'Welcome' window appears. Click on the Next button
    to continue.
3.  The 'Uninstallation Warning' window appears. Click on
    the Next button to continue.
4.  The 'Software License Agreement' window appears. If you
    agree to these terms, click on the Yes button to
    continue.
5.  The 'Choose Destination Location' window appears.
    Click on the Next button to continue.
6.  The 'Select Program Folder' window appears.  Click on
    the Next button to continue installing the driver.
7.  If the InstallShield* Wizard Complete window is shown
    without a prompt to restart the system, click the Finish
    button and proceed to step 8. If it is shown with a
    prompt to restart the system, click 'Yes, I want to
    restart my computer now.' (the default selection) and
    click the Finish button.  Once the system has restarted,
    proceed to step 8.
8.  To verify that the driver was loaded correctly, refer
    to Section 6.
5.3 Pre-Installation Using the F6 Method
Note:
      The Steps 1 and 2 can be skipped if you use the F6 Floppy
      disk utility provided by Intel. This utility can also be
      downloaded from the following website. These methods
      are applicable to systems configured for RAID or
      AHCI mode.
http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/Product_Filter.asp?ProductID=1809   
1.  Extract all driver files from the installation package.
    See Section 7.2 for instructions on extracting the
    files.
2.  Create a floppy containing the following files in the root directory:
    iaAhci.inf, iaAhci.cat,
    iaStor.inf, iaStor.cat,
    iaStor.sys, and
    TxtSetup.oem.
3.  At the beginning of the operating system installation, press F6
    to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver.
4.  When prompted, select 'S' to Specify Additional Device.
5.  When prompted, insert the floppy disk you created in
    step 2 and press Enter.
6.  At this point you should be presented with a selection
    for one of the following depending on your hardware
    version and configuration:
    - Intel(R) 82801GR/GH SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH)
    - Intel(R) 82801GR/GH SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH)
    - Intel(R) 82801FR    SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH6R)
    - Intel(R) 82801FR    SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH6R)
    - Intel(R) 82801FBM   SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile  ICH6M)
    - Intel(R) 82801ER    SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH5R)
    - Intel(R) 6300ESB    SATA RAID Controller
7.  Highlight the selection that is appropriate for the
    hardware in your system and press Enter.
8.  Press Enter again to continue. Leave the floppy disk in
    the system until the next reboot as the software will
    need to be copied from the floppy disk again when setup
    is copying files

Answer 1

Well I went for it, RAID that is. I borrowed a 300GB SATA II Seagate Barracuda from work to backup to and got started. I shall layout how I did it for those having trouble.
So my old config was Maxtor SATA II 80 DiamondMax system drive and a Maxtor SATA I 250GB DiamondMax for Data. Now with the 300GB SATA II to backup to and running in IDE mode enhanced with speed disabled in bios. HDTach benchmarking is in above posts for these drives.
I copied all that data I wanted to extra drive and made a boot floppy and copied the files from the 975xPUE CD for the Intel RAID controller.
CDROM:\IDE\Intel\ICH7R\Floppy\32
Now I shut down my system, removed the bachup drive and entered the bios.
*I set back all my setting to default, no overclock.
*Integrated peripherals/Onboard JMB361 mode: Disabled JMicron controller
*Intergrated peripherals/SATA Devices Configuration/SATA Mode/ Set to RAID,
*SATA Port Speed/Disabled.
*Set system to boot from CDrom.
I put in my floppy and the XP CD and rebooted, CTRL +I to enter the Intel RAID setup and first thing I found out was that with my 80GB and 250GB drives in a RAID 0, I was getting 152GB of a logical drive. So I setup the RAID and rebooted.
80GB+250GB=152GB RAID 0 (I have about 200GB backed up, so I going to have to get another drive, SATA II 300 maybe)
Now the system booted off the XP CD and as it started to load, it read the floppy and I DID not press F6. I noticed that just before the setup screen the system loaded the driver automatically from the floppy. And low and behold it recognised my hard drive 152GB and I kicked off the install.
* Note: After Setup had finished formatting the partition, the system loaded the drivers from the floppy again and then started copying files from the CD before restarting to boot from the hard drive. So if you had already removed the floppy, the drivers for the Intel RAID controller would not be loaded and the second stage of install would never get started, blue screen or not recognise you hard drive.
The rest of the install went very quick and I installed all the drivers and NOW for the juicy bits.
Ok so I thought, how am I going to read my backup drive which is IDE/SATA on my system if it is in RAID. So I connected the drive to the Jmicron SATA port 5 enabled the JMicron controller in the bios and set it to IDE.
*NOTE: After I  rebooted the Intel RAID had reverted back to IDE so I had to go back into the bios again and set it back to RAID. When I rebooted I got the Intel RAID slash screen and then the JMicon one showing me the 300GB and asking my to press a button to continue. Quite abit of extra startup time with both enabled.
Windows loaded fine and both my C: 152GB RAID 0 and D: 300GB were there, but the 300GB was showing as a removable device! I know there is a reg fix for that somewhere.
Benchmarking: This is the best bit!
Maxtor Diamond 80GB SATA II and 250GB SATA I = 150GB Logical RAID 0 test with HDTach 3, 8mb test:
           Burst Speed : 320.9 mb/s
           Average Read : 120.3 mb/s
Now that is some difference from IDE enhanced so well worth the effort!
  IDE:        Burst Speed: 215.3mb/s
                Average Read: 59.0mb/s
Now I also tested the Seagate 300GB SATA II drive which is connected to the JMicron controller in IDE mode and the results show that the JMicron does not support SATA II drives but maxes out SATA I: so even if I do buy and extra drive will I be able to add it to the RAID 0 or will I be stuck with SATA I speeds on the JMicrom controller. No doubt I will soon find out.
  Seagate:  Burst Speed: 150.5 mb/s
                Average Read: 50.5 mb/s
Thanks for the tip Insomniac34
Gaucho