Problem installing XP on Adaptec 1220SA

[jere39]

Hi guys,

I have two computers, mine and my wife's one.
My PC had a 1220SA with 2 500Gb in RAID1
I decided to buy 2 1000Gb for my computer and a new 1220SA for my wife (to install the 2 500Gb)
I encountered a big problem, when installing XP, after the first reboot, XP tell me :
"Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem"

I have to say I'm not a newbee, I installed my RAID1 w/o any problem, and I loooked the web before posting here, so don't tell me about F6 nor drivers please
I also did the microsoft KB314477 solutions page without success.

Many thanks for your responses !

[einstein9]

have a look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477

[jere39]

Thanks but I said I already did that, and low-level format too, and many other things.

It would be nice to meet someone who had the same problem...

[falther]

Try one and/or two older and smaller (up to 500gb) proper working hdd with that adapter.

Or you could try to set up with old adapter - if that works, then check set up of new adapter.

If the adapter setup allows - you could also try to install xp first on one drive and then
build raid 1 afterwards.

+++

[jere39]

Thanks, I'm going to try with the old adapter.

I already tried to install on one drive but it did the same.

I also put a ghost image of the system into the RAID1 array => same message.

I can boot from another hdd and see my array is ok, adaptec storage manager reports no problem.

I've to say I flashed the same BIOS on 1220SA, and put the same parameters (which all are default)

This morning I found a difference between the two PCs, it'a about boot.ini, the good one has :
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
and the not working one has :
default=signature(46b7c370)disk(11)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

(tried to change the value but didn't work)

[einstein9]

jere39

seems that u have problems with ur boot loader, after rebooting windows cannot find/read the proper windows partition to load the rest of the setup

I remember there was some portable tools/utilities which reads ur HDD OS/Loader even if many OS installed and it scans and rebuilds the boot.ini with the proper values auto. by itself

it also supports multi-OS management and so. the problem is that i don`t remember the name of this utility.
google it u might find it.

[jere39]

Thanks, I'll search for this utility, but XP does find the partition, because he can read the boot.ini !

Yesterday I've tried something :
- Copy \I386 from XP CD to a FAT32 partition on my RAID1
- Disable all SATA ports on the mobo.
- Launch winnt to install XP on the first RAID1 partition (which I'd actived from another XP)

=> Same result : can't find multi(0) disk(0) rdisk(0) Partition(1)\BOOTSECT.DOS after 1st reboot.

So, my conclusion is : XP doesn't know "where he is" while he's copying files during the 1st part of the installation.

I'll try to change the ARC path and see...

I don't find any utility to tell me the ARC path of the partition, do you know something like this ?

[einstein9]

i found few links that might helps u here

http://letitbit.net/download/4703.f429c ... n.rar.html

http://portableturk.com/52033-paragon-p ... 86x64.html

http://www.optimizingpc.com/install/multiboot_bootmanager.html i guess this is the one i tried

http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

try the 3rd. link, and let me know if it helps
if you cannot access windows to repair ur issue, then i suggest to find any bootable CD that has the 3rd. utility and check it.

i remember that i had this problem when i installed winxp & win7 together but solved using this utility

[jere39]

Many thanks einstein !

I tried the third, as I can access XP by another hdd, but doesn't solved my problem.

I also tried to install win7 ==> No problem !

At this point, I can see there is something on my hardware that XP doesn't like...

As I'm tired with this problem, I prefer to install win7, I thank you again guys

[einstein9]

most welcome

[ppumkin]

Win 7 is million times better than XP -
Windows XP installer is stupid - on every stage of installation it flicks and changes drivers and emulation and and changes ini files so after reboot i can 'find' itself again.

You will get same problem trying to install to a USB flash drive.. First isntall screen passes;; after reboot- The same issue as you os got. It reads the USB disk using BIOS ;loads driver but after XP loads the driver it cant find the disk any more and stops.
Sometimes using a USB CDrom and SSD drives on XP install causes something similar- but you can fool the installer inside the installer where the correct drives are.

Stick with 7- better performance

[jere39]

Well, for XP, it was ok on my computer with an ASUS P5K, but KO with the A8N SLI Premium.
That's the only difference.

I tried many ARC Paths, like scsi(x), multi(x)...same issue.

As I've read a guy had the 1220SA on a A8N SLI Premium, I wanted to downgrade the BIOS version, but I'm pissed of with that

You're right, Seven is as faster as XP on an old mobo, great !