reformatting alienware laptop, trouble with raid driver

ahdrum · 13-03-2007, 09:15 PM

My new alienware laptop came with vista, and it sucks so I am installing XP on it. It has a raid 0 on it, so i need to install the raid driver before installing xp. It wants the driver from the A drive, but it is a laptop without a floppy drive. Does anybody know how i can successfully install the raid driver?

donkey42 · 13-03-2007, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahdrum

how i can successfully install the raid driver?

can you retrieve the drivers from the vista instalation or have you already formated the drive

Off Topic:

to get rid of vista

can you find the drivers on the net ?
can you burn the downloaded drivers to CD / DVD on another machine ?

ahdrum · 13-03-2007, 04:50 PM

i have the driver, i am just not sure how to load the raid driver while setting up xp when there is no floppy drive....alienware had to do it, so im guessing there is a way.

donkey42 · 13-03-2007, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahdrum

m guessing there is a way.

yeah v v easy, just burn the drivers to a CD / DVD on another system

Off Topic:

when XP asks for the drivers, remove the XP CD and insert the CD / DVD you burned, then replace XP CD in the drive

Edit: most common burning software is Nero

ahdrum · 13-03-2007, 06:52 PM

i got it to work with a usb floppy drive, luckily my bios supports it. thanks for the info anyway though.

ahdrum · 13-03-2007, 09:07 PM

actually, it didnt work. It worked at first, but after it completed formatting, it asked me to put in the disk for the RAID driver, then press enter. It was already in there, so i pressed enter, and it didnt work. I tried this several times and it didnt work. I started everything over and it did the same thing. I decided to call alienware, but aparently they are not allowed to sell the XP disks anymore, only Vista

. Anyway, the tech guy there said that another customer had a similar problem and by replacing the external floppy with a well-recognized brand it worked perfectly. right now I have a Dynex (or something like that), and it was suggested to get an NEC or sony external floppy. Think it will work?

donkey42 · 14-03-2007, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahdrum

it was suggested to get an NEC or sony external floppy. Think it will work?

you don't need a floppy,just burn the driver to a CD / DVD on another system and replace the XP CD with the driver CD when prompted by the XP install, then enter the path to your CD drive (usually D:\path\to\CD) then insert the XP CD when driver installation has finished

ahdrum · 14-03-2007, 02:53 PM

just to clarify, you can do this in the Pre-OS setup right?

donkey42 · 14-03-2007, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahdrum

just to clarify, you can do this in the Pre-OS setup right?

yeah, on another system (a different PC with a CD / DVD writer installed & working) are you familiar with burning files to CD / DVD's ?

ahdrum · 14-03-2007, 09:53 PM

are you kidding me?

ahdrum · 14-03-2007, 09:54 PM

i decided to make a slipstream cd of windows xp with the raid driver included on the cd. We will see if it works.

donkey42 · 15-03-2007, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahdrum

i decided to make a slipstream cd of windows xp with the raid driver included on the cd. We will see if it works.

good luck, i have never integrated drivers while slipstreaming an XP CD, just find a good how to: on the net

ahdrum · 15-03-2007, 05:32 PM

good news! it worked out great, no problems at all. Here is the tutorial i found:

Slipstream Tutorial

donkey42 · 15-03-2007, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahdrum

Slipstream Tutorial

great, i've also added that url to my bookmarks, and will pass it on if i think it will be useful

Edit: BTW: thankies

ahdrum · 15-03-2007, 08:03 PM

sounds good, thanks dude

13-03-2007, 09:15 PM	# 1 (permalink) Top
ahdrum Geek Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 60 Times Helpful: 1 Status: Offline	reformatting alienware laptop, trouble with raid driver My new alienware laptop came with vista, and it sucks so I am installing XP on it. It has a raid 0 on it, so i need to install the raid driver before installing xp. It wants the driver from the A drive, but it is a laptop without a floppy drive. Does anybody know how i can successfully install the raid driver?

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13-03-2007, 04:50 PM	# 3 (permalink) Top
ahdrum Geek Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 60 Times Helpful: 1 Status: Offline	i have the driver, i am just not sure how to load the raid driver while setting up xp when there is no floppy drive....alienware had to do it, so im guessing there is a way.

13-03-2007, 06:52 PM	# 5 (permalink) Top
ahdrum Geek Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 60 Times Helpful: 1 Status: Offline	i got it to work with a usb floppy drive, luckily my bios supports it. thanks for the info anyway though.

13-03-2007, 09:07 PM	# 6 (permalink) Top
ahdrum Geek Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 60 Times Helpful: 1 Status: Offline	actually, it didnt work. It worked at first, but after it completed formatting, it asked me to put in the disk for the RAID driver, then press enter. It was already in there, so i pressed enter, and it didnt work. I tried this several times and it didnt work. I started everything over and it did the same thing. I decided to call alienware, but aparently they are not allowed to sell the XP disks anymore, only Vista . Anyway, the tech guy there said that another customer had a similar problem and by replacing the external floppy with a well-recognized brand it worked perfectly. right now I have a Dynex (or something like that), and it was suggested to get an NEC or sony external floppy. Think it will work?

14-03-2007, 02:53 PM	# 8 (permalink) Top
ahdrum Geek Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 60 Times Helpful: 1 Status: Offline	just to clarify, you can do this in the Pre-OS setup right?

14-03-2007, 09:53 PM	# 10 (permalink) Top
ahdrum Geek Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 60 Times Helpful: 1 Status: Offline	are you kidding me?

14-03-2007, 09:54 PM	# 11 (permalink) Top
ahdrum Geek Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 60 Times Helpful: 1 Status: Offline	i decided to make a slipstream cd of windows xp with the raid driver included on the cd. We will see if it works.

15-03-2007, 05:32 PM	# 13 (permalink) Top
ahdrum Geek Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 60 Times Helpful: 1 Status: Offline	good news! it worked out great, no problems at all. Here is the tutorial i found: Slipstream Tutorial

15-03-2007, 08:03 PM	# 15 (permalink) Top
ahdrum Geek Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 60 Times Helpful: 1 Status: Offline	sounds good, thanks dude

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