new build with raid

dwils15 · 01-05-2008, 01:19 PM

Hi, I have built several machines, but this is my first with raid. I have had a lot of bad luck with this machine. a little history...It originally had an intel board with raid support built in. The first board never worked, the replacement was an open box and had a bow in it causing it to short when i tried to turn it on, the 3rd board (asus) had a bad floppy controller. The board I now have doesnt have any raid support, so i bought an add on raid card. I have two 80gb hds and need to set them up in a raid 0 so i can install windows xp. Ive also gone through 3 power supplies, and 2 sets of ram with this machine. I just seem to have bad luck getting non working parts for this machine.

I finally got the raid to setup, but when i try to install windows I get an error message at the very beginning saying that "INF file txtsetup.sif missing or corrupt, status 2." I have tried 5 different retail and (known working) burned xp disks, with sp1 and sp2, home and pro.

Eventually I gave up and just installed xp on one disk and then plugged the second disk into the sata raid card just for the hell of it.

Can anybody tell me if its possible to set up a raid0 with an add on card on a board that doesnt natively support raid? If I bought a 3rd hd and had windows on one hd and made a raid0 with the other 2, will that work. I always set up 2 partitions anyway, so windows is on one by itself, and data is on the other, so i can keep windows on one hd and put the data on the raid0. Will this work? Any help is appreciated. I have been working on this build on and off for 3 months now and im sick of this machine. Thanks in advance.

**godspeeed** · 01-05-2008, 01:27 PM

normally the motherboard should come with a floppy that you would put in at the beginning of the setup. I had a an ABIT and I had about 10 different raid drivers available and they would all work.

Maybe check this url here

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads....2.1_Beta.html

dwils15 · 01-05-2008, 01:56 PM

Thanks for the quick reply. As i stated this board doesn't have raid built in like the first 3 boards i went through. I just have a pci express add on sata raid card. The card came with a cd that can only be read within windows. The card has a bios on it that allows me to configure a raid configuration, but after i configure it, and try to install windows, i get that error message.

After the post, i see a black screen while the windows dvd is being read, and then when the normal windows blue installation screen would appear, i just get a black screen that says

"INF file txtsetup.sif is missing or corrupt, status 2. Setup cannot continue. Press any key to restart."

**godspeeed** · 01-05-2008, 02:27 PM

Quote:

My installation is a XP Pro with SP2, and for some reason, the XP Pro with SP2 boot up disk gave me this error. I popped in an XP Home setup disk and had no problems. From what I was able to gather from the newsgroups, the problem likely wasn’t with my installation media - instead, it’s a “feature” included with SP2. Way to go Microsoft!

Quote:

try Creating new XP setup disks using this utility at Microsoft’s website Wow, this might be the first time I’ve ever found one of Microsoft’s support pages to be useful

Quote:

Txtsetup.sif is a setup information file (sif) used primarily for text mode setup (as the name implies). It can be used for other things however, such as the windows pe startup (the end of text mode and the beginning of Gui Mode is windows PE after all). After text mode is done the file has no purpose; it is not copied to the windows installation. Since it is not used by windows, it has no role in functions such as system file protection (SFC). It also is not digitally signed, so you can modify it without issues.

You can use txtsetup.sif to include 3rd party drivers on the xp cd, modifying the minimum requirements to install windows, add files to your install, add or delete registry hives, and more.

So.........sounds like the cd you were booting from has got a scratch, or you disk/ lens is dirty.

And I also doubt that your pc would report any errors because of a faulty power supply. Usually just has strange power issues, like not sarting, crashing early on, shutting down unexpectedly. As far as your system hanging on boot up....

Sounds like something has gone corrupt. It may be hard to believe but it does happen. Do you have an alternate HDD to try??? If the alternate hard will boot or install windows than we have narrowed our problem to either being softwre or the HDD. If still no boot then we know its a harware problem outside of the hardrive. When the pc boots up, how much memory is recognised by the BIOS? And how are you soo sure Ram is intact?? I've blown half a stick of ram before(at it looked perfectly fine to me)-- an older pc that would boot and only recognise 48mb ram.

SO as you have stated, your Windows cd is not booting correctly, and your system will get past the stat up page...... So thinking that the cd is in perfect condition, and the HDD is also in perfect, spyware/antivirus corruption free, then I'd say lets start simple....

Check to make sure all power cables are fit snuggly, some MOBO's have that smaller 4 prong connection that seems to come loose easily, especially if you like to mod around in the case. But I doubt a faulty power supply would casue any of these symptoms. -Raje www.pcreview.co.uk

Sorry for only taking quotes its just that Ive never encountered that problem before.

dwils15 · 01-05-2008, 03:41 PM

thank you. i made the floppies and all went well until it asked for the windows cd. I inserted the cd and then a page displayed the following message:

"Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer.

Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program.

setup cannot continue. To quit setup, press F3."

Both hard drives have power and are connected to the sata raid card. In the cards bios, both drives appear as being part of a raid0 configuration. The only problem I can think of, is that when the windows installation first starts, it asks for any 3rd party raid drivers. When I choose this option it requires a manufacturer's supplied floppy for the raid card. The card only comes with a non-bootable cd, no floppy. It is a Best Connectivity brand card, model Sil3132 .

Thanks again.

dwils15 · 01-05-2008, 06:05 PM

update:
i was able to boot with the floppies, then boot with the windows cd. i copied the files for the sata raid card onto a floppy and installed the driver when requested during the windows installation. The only problem is that even though the raid cards bios shows the 2 drives in a raid0 array, when windows asks where to install, i am given the option of 2 separate hard drives. Windows also asks where to install itself before it asks for the raid cards driver.

dwils15 · 01-05-2008, 06:12 PM

... also, after windows cd installed, and the raid driver installed, the computer restarted to finish the windows installation. if i leave the cd in at the restart it give the previous error of a 'missing or corrupt inf file txtsetup.sif, status 2'. If i take the disk out at this point (in dos) it said 'disk read error. press ctrl+alt+del to restart.' and it just keeps saying that everytime i restart. If i leave the windows cd in, it gives me the

**godspeeed** · 01-06-2008, 06:40 AM

Quote:

If i leave the windows cd in, it gives me the

what happens?

dwils15 · 01-06-2008, 09:10 AM

didnt realize my post was cut off.

... if i leave the windows cd in, it gives me the previous error "INF file txtsetup.sif is missing or corrupt, status 2. Setup cannot continue, press any key to restart."

I have now gone through that entire process twice, and have gotten the same results.

I believe the problem is that when windows asks where to install, I am given the option of 2 separate hard drives to choose from. what is strange is that the raid card's bios shows the hard drives as being configured in raid0. When windows asks where to be installed it shows the address of both hard drives. They are both on the raid card, with separate ids. It gives me the option of installing on hd 1 or hd 2. I would assume that if they were in a raid array it would show up as one hd.

01-05-2008, 01:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
dwils15 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 6 OS: winxp sp2, mac osx 10.4.11	new build with raid Hi, I have built several machines, but this is my first with raid. I have had a lot of bad luck with this machine. a little history...It originally had an intel board with raid support built in. The first board never worked, the replacement was an open box and had a bow in it causing it to short when i tried to turn it on, the 3rd board (asus) had a bad floppy controller. The board I now have doesnt have any raid support, so i bought an add on raid card. I have two 80gb hds and need to set them up in a raid 0 so i can install windows xp. Ive also gone through 3 power supplies, and 2 sets of ram with this machine. I just seem to have bad luck getting non working parts for this machine. I finally got the raid to setup, but when i try to install windows I get an error message at the very beginning saying that "INF file txtsetup.sif missing or corrupt, status 2." I have tried 5 different retail and (known working) burned xp disks, with sp1 and sp2, home and pro. Eventually I gave up and just installed xp on one disk and then plugged the second disk into the sata raid card just for the hell of it. Can anybody tell me if its possible to set up a raid0 with an add on card on a board that doesnt natively support raid? If I bought a 3rd hd and had windows on one hd and made a raid0 with the other 2, will that work. I always set up 2 partitions anyway, so windows is on one by itself, and data is on the other, so i can keep windows on one hd and put the data on the raid0. Will this work? Any help is appreciated. I have been working on this build on and off for 3 months now and im sick of this machine. Thanks in advance.

01-05-2008, 01:27 PM	#2 (permalink)
godspeeed I helped the forums. Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Canada Posts: 298 OS: Win 7 RC	Re: new build with raid normally the motherboard should come with a floppy that you would put in at the beginning of the setup. I had a an ABIT and I had about 10 different raid drivers available and they would all work. Maybe check this url here http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads....2.1_Beta.html __________________ Nietzsche: God is dead 1887 God: Nietzsche is dead 1900

01-05-2008, 01:56 PM	#3 (permalink)
dwils15 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 6 OS: winxp sp2, mac osx 10.4.11	Re: new build with raid Thanks for the quick reply. As i stated this board doesn't have raid built in like the first 3 boards i went through. I just have a pci express add on sata raid card. The card came with a cd that can only be read within windows. The card has a bios on it that allows me to configure a raid configuration, but after i configure it, and try to install windows, i get that error message. After the post, i see a black screen while the windows dvd is being read, and then when the normal windows blue installation screen would appear, i just get a black screen that says "INF file txtsetup.sif is missing or corrupt, status 2. Setup cannot continue. Press any key to restart."

01-05-2008, 03:41 PM	#5 (permalink)
dwils15 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 6 OS: winxp sp2, mac osx 10.4.11	Re: new build with raid thank you. i made the floppies and all went well until it asked for the windows cd. I inserted the cd and then a page displayed the following message: "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program. setup cannot continue. To quit setup, press F3." Both hard drives have power and are connected to the sata raid card. In the cards bios, both drives appear as being part of a raid0 configuration. The only problem I can think of, is that when the windows installation first starts, it asks for any 3rd party raid drivers. When I choose this option it requires a manufacturer's supplied floppy for the raid card. The card only comes with a non-bootable cd, no floppy. It is a Best Connectivity brand card, model Sil3132 . Thanks again.

01-05-2008, 06:05 PM	#6 (permalink)
dwils15 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 6 OS: winxp sp2, mac osx 10.4.11	Re: new build with raid update: i was able to boot with the floppies, then boot with the windows cd. i copied the files for the sata raid card onto a floppy and installed the driver when requested during the windows installation. The only problem is that even though the raid cards bios shows the 2 drives in a raid0 array, when windows asks where to install, i am given the option of 2 separate hard drives. Windows also asks where to install itself before it asks for the raid cards driver.

01-05-2008, 06:12 PM	#7 (permalink)
dwils15 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 6 OS: winxp sp2, mac osx 10.4.11	Re: new build with raid ... also, after windows cd installed, and the raid driver installed, the computer restarted to finish the windows installation. if i leave the cd in at the restart it give the previous error of a 'missing or corrupt inf file txtsetup.sif, status 2'. If i take the disk out at this point (in dos) it said 'disk read error. press ctrl+alt+del to restart.' and it just keeps saying that everytime i restart. If i leave the windows cd in, it gives me the

01-06-2008, 09:10 AM	#9 (permalink)
dwils15 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 6 OS: winxp sp2, mac osx 10.4.11	Re: new build with raid didnt realize my post was cut off. ... if i leave the windows cd in, it gives me the previous error "INF file txtsetup.sif is missing or corrupt, status 2. Setup cannot continue, press any key to restart." I have now gone through that entire process twice, and have gotten the same results. I believe the problem is that when windows asks where to install, I am given the option of 2 separate hard drives to choose from. what is strange is that the raid card's bios shows the hard drives as being configured in raid0. When windows asks where to be installed it shows the address of both hard drives. They are both on the raid card, with separate ids. It gives me the option of installing on hd 1 or hd 2. I would assume that if they were in a raid array it would show up as one hd.