windows help

[rtotheizzo]

i posted this in the hard drive section as well, but this is also about windows xp

i know this is a lot to read, but i am trying to be as specific as possible so you guys can help me with my problem

please, any help is well apreciated, i really want my computer running again

i am trying to install windows on my pc again, but for some reason it is not working. i have two hard drives (see sig.) together setup in a RAID mirroring format (array 0, raid 1), which is the only format that my motherboard uses for some reason. i recently wiped both of them because it said there was a virus when i tried to reformat, but i searched and used multiple anti-virus programs, and all there was were a couple of adware, which i deleted, but it still didnt work. i went through some of the solutions from the microsoft support website, but none of them worked. now, when i try to install windows, it goes and inspects the computer's hardware, then it goes to a blue screen, labled windows setup, and starts to load setup files, like it would normally. it then prompts a screen that says

this portion of the setup program prepares microsoft windows...... it goes on. it gives me three options, set up windows, repair a windows xp installation using the recovery console, or quit setup.


i want to install windows, so i select set up windows

it then comes up with a screen that says:

setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. make sure any hard disks are powered on and properly connected to the computer..... goes on... then it says, setup cannot continue, to quit setup... thats it.


if i go to the recovery console, it does the same thing as seting up windows ( no hard drive found)

so, what the hell do i do?

 

[djnes]

It sounds like you aren't loading the drivers for your RAID controller, so XP isn't seeing the drives. To eliminate other issues, ditch the RAID crap and try to install XP on one of the drives, as a single normal drive. See how that works.

 

[rtotheizzo]

tried that, but it did the same thing, if i enter the bios settings when the computer first sets up, it wants me to create a raid setup. there is also another menu called the realtek gigabit boot agent configuration menu. it has a couple options, but i dont know which one to pick, would this help at all? there is:

boot ordered by BBS bios, if BBs Bios is present

Network boot disabled, boot local devices

boot the devices ordered in bios setup

and

always boot network first, then local devices

does this help any?

 

[djnes]

Disable all RAID functionality, and set the SATA controllers as normal or standard..whatever your mobo calls them.

 

[rtotheizzo]

how would i do that?

the only option i get is to creat a raid utility/format or whatever. the only setting is some sata bios thing and it only creates and destroys raid formats. i destroyed the raid setup and tried installing windows with the single hard drive and both of them without setting up any raid or anything, and it doesnt work, is there anything wrong with my hard drives or mobo?

 

[hulksterjoe]

just check and make sure the cables are tight... also forgeting about the raid... did you load the sata drives?

 

[rtotheizzo]

no i didnt, but i didnt need to the first time i installed windows, it worked fine, it setup up a mirroring raid automatically and was working fine for about a year

i dont have any floppy disks or cd's for the drivers i think, im pretty sure that it didnt come with any of that for some reason

**edit**

i emailed the manufactuer of the mobo to see if i can get a floppy disk with the SATA driver on it.

should this work, other wise, is there anything wrong with my mobo?

 

[rtotheizzo]

haha bump to top for more help

the company that makes the motherboard (MSI) sent me a link for the sata driver for the mobo. so when it comes up at the bottom when it asks if i need to install a separate driver (f6) i do that, and it says it was unable to load support for the mass storage device i specified. then it asks me to specifiy an additional scsi adapter, cd-rom drive, or special disk controller for windows, including those that has the support disk from a mass storage device manufacturer, press s. when i do that, it says it cannot find the floppy drive even though i have the driver in a cd in another cd drive .

the other problem. getting the driver on floppy disks. the file is about 6.3 mb and a floppy is 1.44, how do i fit that properly so it will actually work (with multiple floppies)?