Problem installing windows and raid 0 on new pc

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kalleanka

Member
My motherboard: GA-990FXA-UD3
2x hhd's: 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3 SATA-2 7200RPM 32MB

My problem is that, I failed to install windows with RAID 0 hdd's.
Now if I want to try and reinstall to try it again I can't.. Because when I boot from the win7 cd it's like it skips it even tho I press f12 for boot menu and select cd-rom.

So It's 1 goal which I can't reach (install win7 with raid 0).
And 2 problems, Can't reinstall windows.

And, the already installed windows failed because I somehow installed Raid 1 instead of 0. Aka, Right now it's mirrored instead of Striped.

Reason I believe this is because I only have one disk in start menu > computer. and it's just 1tb large instead of 2tb.


This is how I installed win7:
I started with insersting mobo cd-rom and changed sata ports 0-3 to RAID.
and kept 4/5 as IDE. Then I inserted Win 7 ultimate 64bit cd and when it came to partitions I had 2x 9xxgb sized partitions. I clicked "load driver" and inserted mobo cd-rom again and selected marvel drivers.. tried all other drivers already but it said they were outdated.. only marvel raid drivers worked.

Then i installed win7 and ended up with what I think is raid 1.
I never had a choice in bios settings to chose what raid level or striped/mirrored.
 
Look in your motherboard manual on how to setup raid. Raid must be setup in the bios first. After changing the setting to raid in the bios, it usually tells you to boot to the raid utility to actually setup which raid you want. The instructions start on page 81 of the manual but you press ctrl and M to enter the raid utility to set it up.
 
johnb35 said:
Look in your motherboard manual on how to setup raid. Raid must be setup in the bios first. After changing the setting to raid in the bios, it usually tells you to boot to the raid utility to actually setup which raid you want. The instructions start on page 81 of the manual but you press ctrl and M to enter the raid utility to set it up.
Click to expand...

I read that part of manual but There was very little info..
Also I checked out ctrl + m and ctrl + f things you mention.
One of them I couldnt make any changes at all.. Simply no choices.

And other one it said Raid 1. Then I made a change and it got changed to raid 0 + raid 1. but I couldnt make it only raid 0.

Also, If I want to try again.. How do I format the hdd's so they clean and then install win7 again?
 
Last edited:
You have to use the raid utility to set up what raid you need first before trying to install windows. Once you setup the raid you want, you can boot to the windows 7 dvd and install windows. If it finds any existing partitions, delete them and start over.
 
johnb35 said:
You have to use the raid utility to set up what raid you need first before trying to install windows.
Click to expand...

Will try that:)

johnb35 said:
Once you setup the raid you want, you can boot to the windows 7 dvd and install windows. If it finds any existing partitions, delete them and start over.
Click to expand...

I am not able to boot from the cd as long as win7 is already installed... really strange. i do f12 for boot menu and select the dvd and it still skips it for some reason.
 
Windows 7 already installed has nothing to do with being able to boot to the cd. It sounds like you have a different issue there. Go into the bios and select the cdrom as first boot device. If its a genuine OS disk then it will boot up as normal.
 
johnb35 said:
Windows 7 already installed has nothing to do with being able to boot to the cd. It sounds like you have a different issue there. Go into the bios and select the cdrom as first boot device. If its a genuine OS disk then it will boot up as normal.
Click to expand...

Somehow I had managed to format the hdd's before without knowing it.
Was able to reinstall win7.

But first I did as adviced by you and checked out those other raid setup menus (ctrl + f and ctrl + m)..

I couldn't edit anything at all in both those menus.

In the ctrl + m menu, In the selection tab it says RAID MODE: RAID0 RAID1.
I can't edit it.
Then there's also a RAID tab but it's grey and I can't even go to that tab.


Then I guessed, Maybe It's all good, I can't change anything at all, So errr.. If there is only 1 choice than it has to be the right choice?

So I continued to install win7 after that and load drivers and installed raid drivers that I downloaded from my mobos website.

And once again I think I ended up with RAID 1... Same result as first time, only 1 disk with 1tb.
 
All I can tell you is that the manual is self explanatory. Follow it and you should have no problems. If you set up raid 1 the raid utility should show it. Basically you have to delete the raid 1 array and start over. Maybe you can find someone to help you out with this where you live.

However, again, I do not recommend raid 0 for someone not familiar with it. You will need to do backups of some sort quite often. If one drive fails, you will lost the whole array and will have to reinstall windows and all programs. If you do the raid o, then I suggest you buy acronis true image and image the array so if a drive does fail then you can reimage the array and be back up and running within minutes instead of hours.
 
I decided to forget about getting raid 0 because it's so complicated to install.

I need help to do a normal install of win7 instead.

I changed bios settings to default and then reinstalled windows.
In the install I made 2 partitions out of the first hdd (about 440 gb each).
And let the 2nd hdd be 1tb.. so I had in otherwords 1. 440gb 2. 440gb and 3. 1tb.

Then when it was installed and complete I go to "my computer" and find only one disk (c)of size 440gb. Where are the other 2 disks/partitions?
 
Guys, I'm really desperate.
I simply can't figure it out.. I asked all my friends and they think it sound strange and have no idea.

You are my last hope or else I bought new pc for nothing :/
 
Without knowing how you have it setup in the raid utility, its hard telling. You need to go into the raid utility and delete the raid arrays and start over.
 
johnb35 said:
Without knowing how you have it setup in the raid utility, its hard telling. You need to go into the raid utility and delete the raid arrays and start over.
Click to expand...

I just tried and there is no option anylonger to enter any raid utilities like ctrl+f or ctrl+m.... only del for bios and I had set it already to failsafe and it's set for IDE.

I formated pc and rebooted a few times to check if those raid utilities show up when win is not installed but still not.

Then I tried installing win again and still just the first partition showing up where I installed the os.

Also another weird thing is that since I set bios back to default (ide) my usb mouse isn't working so I have to install with just the keyboard.

Any idea what is wrong and what I should do or test?
I'm beggging you!

I can't believe how hard it has to be to have a working computer.
 
If inside Windows, you don't see the remining hard drives or partitions, it usually means they still need to be formattted and assigned drive letters before Windows will see them.

You have to enable raid on the SATA controller in order to get the option to access the raid utility. Did you ever go into the raid utility and delete the existing arrays you made? If not, that is part of the reason why your drives aren't showing up.

It really sounds like you need someone there that is familiar on how to setup raid to help you. Do you have anybody that can help you?
 
kalleanka said:
Then I tried installing win again and still just the first partition showing up where I installed the os.

I can't believe how hard it has to be to have a working computer.
Click to expand...
You need to goto control panel>sysytem and security>administative tools>computer management>storage>disk management to create the partition and format them before window 7 can see and use them.
Hope this will help.
 
Thanks guys!
Got my Partitions to work.

But what do you think is problem with my usb mouse?
It was working before I switched back to default "fail safe" IDE bios settings.

I tried every single usb plug to my computer. None gets the mouse working.
 
Go into the bios and reenable usb mouse/keyboard. also could be labeled and legacy usb. Should be under integrated devices i believe.
 
johnb35 said:
Go into the bios and reenable usb mouse/keyboard. also could be labeled and legacy usb. Should be under integrated devices i believe.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
Got my mouse working :)


So I've got one last gigantic problem left to solve now..
I ain't getting any internet connection on my new computer when I put in the wire :confused:
 
Some more info if it helps :good:

On this old computer my network adapter from device manager is:
realtek rtl8168c(p)/8111c(p) family pci-e gigabit ethernet nic (ndis 6.20)

On my new one it's just: ethernet controller

Also I did in cmd configip/all on my new pc and it only showed:

C:\Users\kalleanka>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : kalleanka-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

C:\Users\kalleanka>


I can't find a driver to download.
Except the RTL Tool from my motherboards website but it doesn't do anything. It's like it installs nothing... makes no changes.
 
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