Question Win XP cd boot repair - Raid problem f6? Fix.

[Bob Bott]

I noticed a 2007 post advising a floppy boot for F6 in the repair (Xp CD boot..R.. Not recognizing HD) probably due to RAID array interference. Exactly what is on the floppy boot to satisfy F6 and exactly, step by step how do you make this floppy. Is it from the XP installation CD or from the motherboard CD installation used to set up the RAID array. Also would it be easier to delete the RAID array in the bios then repair XP. I m using only one HD now.

 

[TerryLaze]

You don't use a floppy boot unless your PC doesn't boot up any other way,if your's is booting up with the CD then you press F6 when the installation ask if you want to load up any special drivers it will then check the floppy to load the driver you will have to find the raid driver for XP on your motherboard's website unzip it and copy the files to the floppy.
If you are not using raid anymore I would delete the raid from bios and then install XP from the beginning that way it probably wouldn't even need any special driver.

Since most people don't even have floppies anymore they came up with slipstreaming,this is the act of incorporating drivers right into the windows installation iso.

 

[Bob Bott]

TerryLaze thanks for your reply. Perhaps I should write down exactly what I did so there is no misunderstanding. I needed to restore my xp os without losing any data. I set firing order in the bios to have my system boot up from the CD drive. I had my win xp installation CD in that drive, booted it, and when appropriate I pressed R to restore. I was then told that the HD was not recognized and told to press F6. Then it said to put in a boot up floppy. While the CD is still in use in the CD drive. I do have a 4" floppy drive installed but I do not have the floppy disk asked for. I am not too sure how to make one. I think I need to make up an OS boot floppy from the Winxp CD. I also have a RAID array installed on my Asus otherboard. There is a chance that my winxp bootup cannot see the HD because of that array set up. Perhaps the floppy boot disk must be made from the info on th CD that came for the motherboard. So I am asking - from what CD, winxp CD or mothrboard CD do I make the ffloppy and how do I make it?
I recently discovered that my bios is not recognizing my HD even though I can see and use some programs on it. I do not think the HD is installed wrong because of this. I suspect RAID to be the problem but I do not know.for sure or how to get my BIOS to see the HD. I am only running one HD.

 

[TerryLaze]

What kind of raid was it? There is the copy kind where all files are on all disks and where you don't gain any speed and there is the split kind where it splits up everything between all disks and that's how you gain speed.
With the second kind of raid I hope it's obvious why you can't repair XP without loosing any data...you don't have all the data to begin with.

If it really is asking for a boot floppy you would have to follow the guide of the raid manufacturer ,if it was integrated on the motherboard then they should have instructions on their website,normally you just make a standard dos boot disk and install the raid drivers on it and that's it.

 

[Bob Bott]

Thanks again. It is an older Asus MB with a CD setup disk for RAID 0, 1. I had a Dos boot disk for windows but need to make a new one cause its lost. Can you explain how I can make a new Dos boot disk for WinXP Pro perhaps using the Win XP Pro installation CD. Maybe there is an easier way to make one?

 

[Bob Bott]

I still cannot figure how my HD is booting up and I can use certain programs but the bios doesn't recognize my SATA HD. I checked the connection from the HD to the motherboard and all is good there. I even deleted the RAID array but that left me in the dark...windows did not boot up. I reinstalled the RAID array and Windows did boot up with no changes to the programs that did not function. I think if I can get the bios to see my HD the problem will be solved and I can restore my Win XP drivers. What say you?

 

[TerryLaze]

What is your mobo model?
Where did you un- and reinstall the raid from?

Here is a video on how to bind in your raid drivers into the windowsXP installation,it doesn't need a boot disk it just needs the files on a floppy.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXEUN1YFevw

Here is a guide on how to slipstream drivers into the installation iso so you don't have to worry about floppies.

Installing Windows XP With F6 AHCI/RAID Drivers From USB Only

How to install Windows XP with builtin F6 floppy drivers for AHCI/RAID disk using USB thumbdrive only.

www.prime-expert.com

You have broken your raid by using only one disk and that's why you can only run some programs, the rest in on the other disks of the raid array.

Your bios does recognize your HDD,that's the only reason you can boot into windows,the windows installation on the other hand was not made by your motherboard maker but by microsoft and microsoft only used the most common drivers, if your hardware(sata) needs a different driver from what microsoft included you need to provide it via floppy.

 

[Bob Bott]

Asus KV78? not at home now so not sure of exact model # but it is close. I can supply that later if needed. During computer boot up I entered the RAID array by hitting "tab". There I had 5 choices, one was to delete RAID array, One was to put it back automatically. Can't remember the other three right now probably cause I didn't use them plus my personal memory looses some ram the older I get. I think I am down to 4mb. Thanks so much for the video - that sounds like a very welcomed answer . I will look at it but not apply it till I get home....if I still remember where I live. I will get back to later. My deepest appreciation for your help.

 

[Bob Bott]

I have already viewed this video some time ago in my quest to fix things. The first instruction written in red on a blue screen was difficult for me to see it also didn't stay visible long enough for me to read it. The rest of the video was quite long providing some nice relaxing music. I started to fall asleep watching it and almost missed the end. I had the same visual problem reading it. So I passed it up then but I will try to really scrutinize it for the answer when I get home. I will get back to you later. Thank you again for your help.

 

[TerryLaze]

I have already viewed this video some time ago in my quest to fix things. The first instruction written in red on a blue screen was difficult for me to see it also didn't stay visible long enough for me to read it. The rest of the video was quite long providing some nice relaxing music. I started to fall asleep watching it and almost missed the end. I had the same visual problem reading it. So I passed it up then but I will try to really scrutinize it for the answer when I get home. I will get back to you later. Thank you again for your help.

You can easily find tutorials in article form with the same info.

Future proof » Tim’s F6 driver guide

www.tim.id.au

(Pressing down the right hand ctrl button and scrolling the mouse wheel will give you magnification wherever you are in windows,just in case your eye sight is going as well )

 

[Bob Bott]

Back at the ranch. Yes I am having problems focusing also headaches no doubt from that as well as nerve piches in neck vertebrae (C drive/spine) that are being treated often with epidural, nerve blocks and radio eblasion.. Tomorrow I go for my eye exam and first pair of specs in my life - its about time. Thanks for the mouse move magnifyer tip.
I ran WD DLG DIAG Test results - Drive #1 SCSI, 1+0 stripe/RAID0. Also ctrl F on boot up showed FAST BUILD (tm) Utility 2.01 (c) 2002-2005 Promise technology Inc.. showing I am running SATA assigned to array 1 UDMA, RAID mode.
I have read much of that article at the bottom of the video and have consulted my Asus K8V SE FAST BUILD guide where I am insructed how to make the floppy, hopefully, needed to satisfy the F6 request.. I need to rest - my headache increases trying to read and write for more than a little while. I will get back with the results a.s.a.p. Need to sign off before my head explodes.

 

[Bob Bott]

I am back but not with celibratory sentences of solution. Although I wss busy with the eye doctor and work and etc., I did put in much time last night and early this morning try a fix. I made a boot floppy for F6 as described in my Asus mobo book to handle the Raid array. I also viewed and reviewed the video and followed the Proceedure as best I could trying to stay awake. I will have to repeat the process with a fresh mentality to be sure but I was not successful. The boot floppy was recognized (screen showed in video) but my HD was not. In the beginning of the boot up as shown in the video, F6 was pressed as soon as it showed up at the bottom of the screen. The next possibility not shown in the video was to press F2? if a repair was also needed. I tried it many ways - pressing F6 and the F2. I also just ran it with F6 pressed. In any event the final screen concluded there was no HD. I still need to give it another try.
In the written direction noted under the video you posted, mention was made of possibly pinning the SATA driver so that it would act as an IDE drive. Winxp pro repair loves IDE drives, it was originally made to fix them before the RAID array/SATA scenario came to be. I shopped around for pin placement info but, found different results for different pinning but no specific IDE mentioned. I need to rest again but will get back to posting later or tomorrow sfter looking and trying. Thank again for being there!

 

[TerryLaze]

I ran WD DLG DIAG Test results - Drive #1 SCSI, 1+0 stripe/RAID0.

As I said since my second reply...you have had raid0 that writes files to different disks,you loose one disk and the data is gone there is nothing to fix here.
Your windows still works because whoever set this up was smart enough to install windows normally and then set up the raid array for everything else.
You are getting into windows be happy about that and go from here,just re install anything you need.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels#RAID_0

RAID 0 (also known as a stripe set or striped volume) splits ("stripes") data evenly across two or more disks, without parity information, redundancy, or fault tolerance. Since RAID 0 provides no fault tolerance or redundancy, the failure of one drive will cause the entire array to fail; as a result of having data striped across all disks, the failure will result in total data loss.

 

[Bob Bott]

I would agree with you if not for the fact that all was working fine until I ran one of those ASC maintenance programs. After it was done I noticed things like, my recycle bin was loaded with 84 files and they were frozen there, couldn't be restored, copied, deleted or anything else. My START command bar wss hidden and many but not all programs were not running, especially any virus programs like megabytes. I was blocked from installing any other file repair programs because of a bad installation file.
I guess I should post help to jumper pin my SATA drive so it acts like a IDE HD.
Can you suggest where I might post that. I thank you for call your helso far.p

 

[TerryLaze]

You can't make a sata drive look like an ide one.
Ide drives have jumper pins because they get daisy chained on the same cable and have to be configured to either relay the signal or terminate it,each drive has a little graphic on it that shows the jumper layout for master/slave or cable select so you have to look it up on your drive.

 

[Bob Bott]

Ok. I only thought it possible because the artcle, location posted under the video, mentioned that SATA could be pinned so it looked like an IDE but did not show how. Thats why I asked.. The writer was very knowledgeable and supplied an abundance of info.
If after reading my last post as to when my problem started you have no other suggestions I will that you once again for your errors to help.

 

[TerryLaze]

If you are referring to this it's not something on the sata drive, it's a motherboard specific bios setting where you tell the bios that the sata port is actually a ide port and to treat it as such.

Windows XP still requires drivers for some early SATA controllers even if you set them to IDE mode. If the shiny new SATA drive isn’t showing up in your dusty old P4 box, check the board manufacturer’s site for an F6 driver.

You mention ASC maintenance programs,never heard the term,what program did you run?

 

[Bob Bott]

I guess you missed my last 2 ago or so posts. I did find instructions to make the F6 floppy in my mother board instruction book. I was not sure of how to respond to the xp cd boot up cause i wanted to use F6 as well as, I believe F2 - to repair my OS. I will have to go try one at a time rather than hitting F6 then F2 when asked during the same xp cd boot up. I was not successful the first attempt. I am seeking to do 2 things - enter the RAID drivers so Win sees the Hd and repair Win xp.
I cannot find the link to that article posted describing 4 ways to get XP to see the HD. The writer made a definite comment about the pins changing how winXP sees the HD. At least that is what I remember, really pretty sure but I can be mistaken.

ASC = Advanced System Care by Iobit. Running this caused all my problems with my PC.

 

[TerryLaze]

Yeah if you don't put back all disk that made up the raid array there is nothing to repair.
You ran Advanced System Care when you already broke the array right? It flagged all the partial files for the operating system which is why they showed up and why you cant do anything with them,they are not all there.
That is why your attempts fail,the raid driver you run with f6 (or f2) expects to find a whole array to recognize it as a disk it can't see a single disk as an array.


Either you put all the disks of the array back and clone the installation to a different disk that is not in an array,a simple ide or sata disk.
Or you just start over with a fresh installation on a simple ide or sata disk.

 

[Bob Bott]

I have the CD that sets up the RAID array - I used it to make the F6 boot floppy that has the files (two .exe files) needed to get XP to see the HD. I followed the instructions in the Asus gide book to create this floppy. I do not know if this created floppy has "all disk" you mentioned. If it doesn't how do I get all the files from the Asus disk and where do I put them?

I think you are onto something. Here is a history of how I set up my PC if it helps:
When I first set up the PC, years ago, it had one IDE HD and Winxp pro OS. In time I determined that the HD reported weak (WD diag program revealed this) and got a new SATA HD. I couldn't find an IDE HD at the store. I installed in my PC next to my IDE HD and copied it over, removed the IDE HD and moved the SATA HD over to where the IDE was. There was no problem running it. In time I even used the set back date feature of XP without a hitch. I do not think I ever repaired the OS neither from the accessores/repair avenue nor Win CD boot up . Ran I started up my PC I noticed a quick screen showing "RAID"..

F2 is the key to push if I want to run repair from Xp installaton CD. I need to have XP revognize my HD as well as Repair my HD. Not too sure how this is done - seperately or together. The XP Install CD asks for both. First F6 then a second later F2. I did exactly that to no avail - HD was not detected.

 

[Bob Bott]

More health problems stopped me from continuing here until now. I was able to find the HD I used to clone the one now giving me trouble so its format time for the problem hd and then copy over from the one I just found. I needed to copy It over before It wore out back when. It still had one more live giving run on It.
It was interesting trying to figure out a fix but a rescue when I found the HD. Just in time I needed it for work. MUCH THANKS. For all your help and ideas!