More XP/SATA install issues: What am I doing wrong?

Question

Dear all,
Before I begin, I want to say that I've read and re-read the RAID setup FAQ several times.  Please don't tell me simply to read the FAQ.
This is my setup:
K8N Neo Plat
A64 3200 1MB L2 CG Rev.
512MB PC4000 Ballistix
R9800 Pro
2 x 80GB SATA Seagate Barracuda
530W Fortron PSU
This is my second K8N Neo Plat.  I had the following same issue with the first one.  The above setup is all I have connected when I try to install XP Pro SP1.
I first went into BIOS, enabled all appropriate SATA/RAID options (using ports 3/4), exited, setup my RAID O, exited, and went back and set HD Priority to the RAID in BIOS.
That said, I loaded from XP CD, did F6, loaded everything off the floppy, but at the end of the load screen, instead of "Starting Windows", I get:
"Setup either detected multiple disks in your machine that are indistinguishable or detected raw disks. Setup has corrected the problem but a reboot is required.
"Setup cannot continue, press any key to restart"
So, I figure okay, it could be a fluke, so I go back through and load XP again, and this time I get past the blue load screen and am able to setup partition, format, and copy files.  
Upon Reboot, I hit F11 to make sure my RAID will boot.  When it does, however, I get this error instead of the normal XP Setup:
"Windows could not load because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware."
This is where system hangs.  Why is this all happening? I have followed the FAQ word for word, but the stupid thing just will not load from my RAID.
Frustrated.  Please help  
Odie

Answer 1

Hi Odie 812,
I'm no expert on this either, but I have gotten mine working, and there a number of steps I would consider relevant.  It sounds like you've done the first 4 steps perfectly, and so this may be "teaching my grandmother to suck eggs".  You should probably just jump straight to the drivers issue in (5).  
However, I'm going to spell out all the steps for clarity for other users.  I would re-check all stages up to 5 anyway, just to be sure.
1) Check and double check that the settings in BIOS are correct.  That is, you need to set your RAID and SATA array up under "Integrated Peripherals" in at least 3 places:
a) Under "onboard device" the relevant SATA interfaces need to be enabled (either or both SATA 1/2 or SATA 3/4).
b) Under RAID Config, you need to set RAID as "enabled"
c) Under RAID Config, you then need to specifically enable the 2 or more SATA interfaces you are going to use for your array.
2) Make sure that after you have restarted that neither of the 2 drives now appear in the initial "detecting devices" screen.  After this has passes, the NVIDIA RAID config setup should appear instead, allowing you to press F10 and enter setup.
3) set up the array, and make sure it is recognised as "good".
4) Go back into BIOS and ensure the array is recognised and is the first item in the boot list.
[This appears to be exactly what you did to date.  If so, all well and good.]
5) Set up Windows using the appropriate drivers.
Here's where the problem is likely to lie.  I never got a floppy disk with the Mobo and tried to install first using the drivers that came on my CD.  These did NOT work, and Windows just saw 2 unpartitioned HDDs, which it did not want to install to (similar to your comment below).
So, what drivers should you use?  Well, I extracted the IDE drivers from the 4.24 NVidia drivers package (you can extract directly using Winzip) and ensure that all the drivers in the IDE/WinXP directory are copied to a floppy (or CD) for booting at F6 in Windows setup.
However, I have recently found out that the IDE drivers in the MSI 5.03 package appear to be later ones than in the NVidia package.  Som my current inclination would be to use these.
I hope this helps,
David