MSI motherboard problems

A10Pilot3 · Post by **A10Pilot3** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:48 am

Yea I have a MSI motherboard that is going in a computer for somebody else and it won't let me install the RAID drivers off a floppy disk (MSI is weird and you need a RAID set-up even with 1 HDD). It says Non-System Disk and then I have to take it out. Windows XP starts installing and then says no hard disk found. I had the same problem with the first computer I built with a MSI mobo, but I e-mailed MSI and found out to install RAID. But on this computer, it won't let me.

Oh and when I press F6 to install RAID drivers, it doesn't do anything (during XP install)

Any suggestions? Thanks.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 4:16 am

Exclamation Floppyless Raid driver install on XP CD

Alright these instructions are for any board using the OnChip Intel raid or the Silicon Image 3144 chip.
_________________________________

First extract you whole XP cd into a folder on your hard drive, lets just say C:\XPCD
From here go into the SUPPORT then the TOOLS folder right off the root and find a file named DEPLOY.CAB, extract this somewhere and run the setupmgr.exe This is going to create a unattend.txt file for you, choose the options you would like. When you get to the last option it will ask you where to save it and what you want to name it, name it Winnt.sif Save this file somewhere where you can find it you will need it later.

Next copy the files off of the floppy that contains your raid drivers, you will only need the following files to make this work.
_______________________________
TxtSetup.oem -->> The one off the root
iaStor.cat -->> within intel folder
iaStor.sys -->> within intel folder
iaStor.inf -->> within intel folder
_______________________________
SI3114r.inf -->> within silicon\3114
Si3114r.sys -->> within silicon\3114
SIWinAcc.sys -->> within silicon\3114
_______________________________

Take the above files and move them to a seperate folder and set them aside for now.
_______________________________
Now you are going to make some folders off the root of what your cd will be. Off the root make a folder structure like this. $OEM$\$1\DRIVERS\SATA so your path would be C:\XPCD\$OEM\$1\DRIVERS\SATA if you followed my example.
_______________________________
Editing your TxtSetup.oem

Make your TxtSetup.oem file look like this:

code:; This disk include Intel-RAID, silicon-RAID 3112 & 3114, VIA-RAID driver for windows XP
; and windows 2000

[Disks]
disk1 = "Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Driver Installation Disk",Si3114r.sys,\
disk2 = "Intel Application Accelerator driver",iaStor.sys,\

[Defaults]
SCSI = iaStor

[SCSI] ; HwComponent section
iaStor = "Intel(R) 82801ER SATA RAID Controller for Windows XP & 2000"
Si3114r_XP = "Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATA RAID Controller for Windows XP/Server 2003"

[Files.SCSI.iaStor]
driver = disk2, iaStor.sys, iaStor
inf = disk2, iaStor.inf
catalog = disk2, iaStor.cat

[Files.SCSI.Si3114r_XP]
driver = disk1,si3114r.sys, Si3114r
driver = disk1,SiWinAcc.sys, SiFilter
inf = disk1,SI3114r.inf
;;catalog = disk1, Si3114r.cat

[HardwareIds.SCSI.iaStor]
id = "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_24DF&CC_0104","iaStor"

[HardwareIds.SCSI.Si3114r]
id = "PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_61141095", "Si3114r"
id = "PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_288510F1", "Si3114r"
id = "PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_047AA0A0", "Si3114r"
id = "PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0478A0A0", "Si3114r"
id = "PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0479A0A0", "Si3114r"
id = "PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_90181695", "Si3114r"
id = "PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_F642270F", "Si3114r"
id = "PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_100415BD", "Si3114r"

[Config.iaStor]
value = "", tag, REG_DWORD, 1b
value = "", ErrorControl, REG_DWORD, 1
value = "", Group, REG_SZ, "SCSI miniport"
value = "", Start, REG_DWORD, 0
value = "", Type, REG_DWORD, 1

[Config.Si3114r]
value = ProblemDevices, "", REG_SZ, ""
value = ProblemDevices, "Maxtor 4D060H3 DAK05GK0", REG_SZ, "MaxMode = UDMA-5"

Now go to your I386 folder and open a file named TXTSETUP.SIF add the following lines under the proper sections:

code:add the following line under [SourceDisksFiles]
iaStor.sys = 1,,,,,,_x,4,1
Si3114r.sys = 1,,,,,,_x,4,1

add the following line under [HardwareIdsDatabase]
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_24DF&CC_0104 = "iaStor"
PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_61141095 = "Si3114r"
PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_288510F1 = "Si3114r"
PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_047AA0A0 = "Si3114r"
PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0478A0A0 = "Si3114r"
PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_0479A0A0 = "Si3114r"
PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_90181695 = "Si3114r"
PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_F642270F = "Si3114r"
PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_100415BD = "Si3114r"

add the following line under [SCSI.Load]
iaStor = iaStor.sys,4
Si3114r = Si3114r.sys,4

add the following line under [SCSI]
iaStor = "Intel(R) 82801ER SATA RAID Controller for Windows XP & 2000"
Si3114r = "Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATA RAID Controller for Windows XP/Server 2003"

Now open up your Winnt.sif we made earlier and add this in the appropriate location:

code:add the following lines under [Unattended]
DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
OemPnPDriversPath=Drivers\SATA

Now we will need to put the drivers in the folders, place all of the drivers you copied off of the floppy into the $OEM$\$1\DRIVERS\SATA directory including the TxtSetup.oem file. Also copy the drivers to the I386 folder as well as the Winnt.sif file. Make sure you saved your work on the TXTSETUP.SIF file and that it is still in the I386 folder.
_______________________________
Making your cd bootable again, follow this link and read the instructions, you don't have to use the same burning program they used, I used Nero and it turned out fine.

I got this from the ABIT mobo forum, it was posted by a guy named "Rice"

You might give it a try saying as you would copy the CD files to your HDD, therefore bypassing the F6 issue. Hope this helps

A10Pilot3 · Post by **A10Pilot3** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 9:19 am

um, yea.

There's gotta be an easier way. It's not like they make motherboards that won't allow you to put XP on them. I've pressed F6 like 20 times really fast, held it down, and still it just keeps installing XP. It's like it doesn't recognize my keyboard, but I can ctr alt del back to reboot and I can get into CMOS.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 9:29 am

hum... sounds like it is auto-detecting your keyboard... If you are using a USB keyboard you might want to try a PS2 keyboard if you got one handy. don't think that matters because your keyboard works... That is really weird A10... I've always had F6 work fine for installing RAID drivers.

A10Pilot3 · Post by **A10Pilot3** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 9:32 am

I have a PS/2 keyboard, and that's what I've been using. Dell Enhanced Multimedia Keyboard. It has drivers, but I've never had to install them before with XP, and haven't had a problem with installation before either.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:08 pm

There may be a function lock. My Logitec has a key that turns on and off the function keys.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:20 pm

Yeah, try the F-Lock key, that could possibly be alot easier than the solution i found

A10Pilot3 · Post by **A10Pilot3** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 1:08 pm

There is no F-Lock, just Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock (what's Scroll Lock?)

Post by **Apoptosis** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 1:20 pm

It makes a blue LED light up on my keyboard and it looks cool... but if you want a better answer read below!

The Scroll Lock key has appeared on the keyboards of IBM personal computers since the original 83-key PC/XT and the 84-key AT layouts, and remains on the 101-key and greater "enhanced" keyboards currently in use. The Scroll Lock key wasn't on the original Macintosh keyboards but appears on the Mac's "enhanced" keyboard.

The main intent of the Scroll Lock key was to allow scrolling of screen text up, down and presumably sideways using the arrow keys in the days before large displays and graphical scroll bars. You can see where this might have been handy in the DOS era, when screen output typically was limited to 80 characters wide by 25 rows deep. For some types of programs, spreadsheets being the obvious example, it's still handy now. In Microsoft Excel, Scroll Lock allows you to scroll a spreadsheet with the arrow keys without moving the active cell pointer from the currently highlighted cell. In Quattro Pro, another spreadsheet program, Scroll Lock works in a similar manner, although in contrast to Excel it's not possible to scroll the active cell pointer completely off the screen.

Other programs use Scroll Lock for special functions. It's said (although I haven't personally verified this) that the Linux operating system as well as some early mainframe and minicomputer terminals employed Scroll Lock to stop text from scrolling on your screen in command-line sessions – pausing the scrolling, in effect. The ancient DOS adventure game “Rogue” (one of my all-time favorites) used Scroll Lock to scroll your character’s movement through the ASCII dungeons on the display. I'm told some computers in the late 1980s used the Scroll Lock key to halt the scrolling of the boot-up messages that appeared when you started the computer. This last use may be apocryphal, as I could find no examples of computers that displayed this behavior. The point is, Scroll Lock sometimes does something besides make that little light light up.

A10Pilot3 · Post by **A10Pilot3** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 1:59 pm

Is there any way I can put the hard drive in my computer and install Windows XP on it, and then install the RAID drivers and put it back in the other computer or wouldn't that work?

The problem is that the motherboard won't detect the hard drive, and that's why I can't install Windows XP, but even if I installed XP I still don't think it would detect the hard drive, it needs those stupid RAID drivers.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 2:08 pm

okay... it can't be this hard... Let's try to solve this from the bottom up...

#1 the floppy cable is correctly installed
#2 the floppy drive is confirmed to have power
#3 the Floppy IDE Header is enabled in BIOS
#4 the SATA BIOS option is set to Enhanced
#5 the SATA RAID function in the bios is Enabled
#6 the BIOS is set to boot off CD-ROM then HDD0
#7 Boot the system with no disc in the floppy then insert when files start to load

If all the above are found to be true could your floppy drive be bad? Try a known working floppy drive from another system or a spare that you have around.

We will figure this out...

P.S. windows wont detect the hard drive till the raid drivers are installed for the southbridge. so the hard drive really isn't the "problem"

Post by **Illuminati** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 3:52 pm

I just want to verify from you that you are waiting long enough after pressing the F6 key to install the raid drivers. From my experience, it doesn't install the drivers right when you press F6. You have to wait until the setup process is loaded, then it will look for the floppy disk at the appropriate time. Basically if you get to the point where you choose what hard drive partition to install and it is not the correct RAID GB size, then you have a problem.

So basically, I just wanted to make sure you know that the raid driver is not installed right when you hit F6... you have to let the setup program finish loading first... Hitting F6 at the right time just tells the setup program to load the drivers at the appropriate time.

Let me know if this fixes your problem.

A10Pilot3 · Post by **A10Pilot3** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 4:36 pm

Illuminati wrote:I just want to verify from you that you are waiting long enough after pressing the F6 key to install the raid drivers. From my experience, it doesn't install the drivers right when you press F6. You have to wait until the setup process is loaded, then it will look for the floppy disk at the appropriate time. Basically if you get to the point where you choose what hard drive partition to install and it is not the correct RAID GB size, then you have a problem.

So basically, I just wanted to make sure you know that the raid driver is not installed right when you hit F6... you have to let the setup program finish loading first... Hitting F6 at the right time just tells the setup program to load the drivers at the appropriate time.

Let me know if this fixes your problem.

Didn't know that, I'll try waiting. Then I'll try Apop's ideas if that doesn't work. I'll let you know in a little bit, I have to get a quick game of C&C Generals in

A10Pilot3 · Post by **A10Pilot3** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 11:20 am

oops, I just noticed this should be under the AMD motherboard forums.

I got it too work, I just had to wait like Illuminati said.

Now, trying to overclock this beast is impossible. I can change the multiplier (AMD Mobile 2500+) but it doesn't matter, it's always stuck at 14 when I boot-up. For some reason I can't set the ratio on RAM either, it's either 266, 333, or 400. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:12 am

What kind of experiences are you having with them? I have the ASUS a8V, love it for its stability, but the lack of a working PCI lock maxs me out at about 22o FSB. Seems you need to RMA it for a rev 2.
but the ASUS board's problem seems pretty minor to some of the other 939 boards I'm reading about. ABIT, Gigabyte, and MSI have all had fairly serious issues with their new socket 939 boards so far.

A10Pilot3 · Post by **A10Pilot3** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 9:14 am

The board was an MSI with a 2500+ M processor, and you couldn't change the multiplier (well you could but it wouldn't boot that way), MSI replied with "Desktop boards are made for desktop processors, please get a desktop CPU" or something to that effect

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