Just made an account to say thanks as I've now managed to install Xp x64 Pro on an Asus Rampage 4 Extreme motherboard with RAID enabled as well on an SSD too! Actually I finished this a month ago, but for some reason your forums didn't send me an activation link so I just gave up then. Now I found out that that email address I put in didn't even work! hahaha, I did a couple test emails to it and it bounced back saying it failed. So now I've registered with an email that will take emails and not bounce back.

Yeah I even had to contact Asus tech support to help me install XP x64 Pro, haha - but in the end I was the one who found the answer to it! Yeah I even read through all 30 pages on this, I think I was on page 24 or 26 that I managed to find(or rather worked out) a solution.

Long story short, it would seem that XP was not designed to ran on newer Intel chipsets due to some limitation or something(I can't where I read this, probably in one of these posts or something or externally somewhere) and that even with F6 floppy discs, it says it won't accept. So the drivers aren't dodgy, its XP that is throwing a fit about it. I thought it was dodgy/crappy drivers, but I now believe it could just be that XP is simply too old for new hardware.

Now if I didn't come late to the PC gaming scene, nor had I have this much fondness over XP, I would have just installed windows 7x64 Pro and be done with it. But nope - I *had* to dual boot XP and 7. XP for nostalgia GUI interface and to play/run older software/games that either won't run in 7, run in 7 but not properly or does run in 7 properly but rather run it in XP for better performance since there's less stuff running the background. Unfortunately(or I've yet to test out the remaining possible solution drivers), it would appear SLi is completely disabled(yes even dual-SLi which is what I was going after - well the only SLi solution for XP anyways as Tri-SLi and Quad-SLi is limited by XP's core system(actually XP can just do Tri-SLi but nVidia decides to not enable it) - which is unfortunate but they still managed to get the 7950GX2 in SLi under XP - but that was awhile go and was shotty at best, or so I read) for XP as it's old stuff so that means no SLi option for nvidia control panel for my two 770s.... I wonder if ...no AMD dropped support for XP after the 7000 series, so no chance there will be CF support for nVidia's 700 series equivalent gen cards, which are the R9 200 series. Oh well.

Oh yeah and your driver pack doesn't support(or include) IRST so when I switched the RAID mode from RSTe to IRST in BIOS, XP would BSOD.

But yeah, below are my comments to the few stuff I've read through.
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Sure, here's the steps I took:

1: Have BIOS set Intel SATA controller to IDE, had Blu-ray drive on the same controller. Nothing on ASmedia's SATA controller. Also have the *only* SSD connected to that Intel controller as well.
2: You should have only the drive you want to install XP in and the optical disc drive (ODD) connected(I think I also connected the SSD to SATA0 and the ODD to SATA1 - can't quite remember), all other drives disconnected.
3: Install XP x64 SP2 Pro as usual. I had already slipstreamed SP2 and all, minus the remaining 2k3 updates, XP x64 updates after SP2 into it.
4: Once XP x64 is fully installed and you are able to boot into desktop, do the necessary modifications so that XP is SSD friendly, follow this link(not loading for me for some reason - might be down or forum is deleted; but I printed the stuff out a few years ago) for further information. Just make sure you do everything that's there before you restart. That's if you just installed it onto a SSD. If not then you can ignore this step.
5: After going through a few days with Asus Tech support, I found out there was a way to install the RAID/ACHI without needing to F6 FDD or slipstreaming - as this failed for some reason. This pretty much explains this step for me so I don't have to repeat. But of course you can also use this method to install the RAID driver and enable RAID instead of ACHI.
6: ???
7: Done, after this step, I would go on to install windows 7 for a dual boot system.

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #4

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Although the way you had chosen has nothing to do with the topic of this thread (you didn't integrate any textmode driver)

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Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #4

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1. >Here< is a working link to a copy of the guide about how to "Make XP Pro SSD friendly".

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Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #4

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You forgot to mention, which Intel AHCI driver you had installed at least.

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Zitat

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c) For all users with an Intel AHCI/RAID system from ESB2 or ICH7R/M up (incl. X79, 8- and 9-Series Chipsets):

For all these users, who want to get XP (32bit) installed in AHCI or RAID mode, I recommend to download and integrate this modified v11.2 RST driver (the regular Intel RSTe driverpacks will not work for all users):
>Universal 32bit Intel RST textmode driver v11.2.0.1006 mod+signed by Fernando< (>MIRROR<)
Here is the link to an appropriate 64bit textmode drivers for all Intel AHCI and RAID Controllers from ESB2 and ICH7R/M up (incl. X79, 8-/9-/100-Series Chipsets):
>Universal 64bit Intel RST textmode driver v11.2.0.1006 mod+signed by Fernando< (>MIRROR<)
Note: These are the latest and probably best conventional Intel RST drivers, with added HardwareIDs of all officially not supported Intel AHCI and RAID Controllers (ESB2, ICH8/9/10, X79, 8-Series, 9-Series and 100-Series Chipsets)

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Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #4

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What is the difference between >this< and >this< guide (besides the 32/64bit architecture of the used AHCI driver)??

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Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #4

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Zitat von TheNewGuy1 im Beitrag #1

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Zitat von Fernando

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Zitat von azdave

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Question is: How does one get them to be AHCI so one can Dual Boot when installing Windows 7? - Or is that only possible via a fresh XP install and slipstreaming?

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The usual (and safest) way to get Windows XP installed onto a HDD/SSD running in AHCI mode is to set the Intel SATA Controller within the BIOS to "AHCI" before starting the XP installation and then booting off a Windows XP CD with integrated Intel AHCI driver (example: v11.2.0.1006). Nevertheless it is possible (but may end with an unbootable system) to switch the SATA mode from IDE to AHCI from within a running XP.
This is the way how to do it:
1. Download the "Universal 32bit Intel RST textmode driver v11.2.0.1006 mod by Fernando" (you find it within the start post of this thread) and unzip it into a separate folder of your PC.
2. Boot into Windows XP in IDE mode.
3. Open the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" section of the Device Manager and search for the Intel SATA Controller, where your system drive is connected (may be actually named "LynxPoint-LP SATA Controller" or "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller").
4. Right click onto the Intel SATA Controller, which is managing your XP system drive, and chose the following options: "Update Driver Software" > "Browse my Computer..." > "Let me pick..." > "Have Disk".
5. Navigate into the folder containing the unzipped modded "Universal 32bit Intel RST textmode Driver v11.2.0.1006", click onto the file named iaAHCI.inf and choose the device named "Intel(R) 9 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller DEV_8C82 (added by Fernando)".
6. Disregard all warnings you get and install the driver.
7. Enter the BIOS while rebooting, set the Intel SATA Controller to "AHCI" and save this new setting.
8. Reboot.
9. If you are lucky, you will now boot into Windows XP running in AHCI mode.

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- post #230: Says drivers aren't compatible with this hardware...

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This message is absolutely correct and foreseeable, when you try to install an Intel AHCI driver for an Intel SATA IDE Controller. Both devices have completely different DeviceIDs. Nevertheless the user has to force the installation of this "wrong" driver, if he/she wants to get the correct one after the reboot and the switch from "IDE" to "AHCI" within the BIOS.

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Yeah, I remember this one, I just had all these short comments on a notepad txt file, thinking someday I might return to this forum to thank the guy. Well that day is today(or rather yesterday because I posted it yesterday).

There was an windows error that wouldn't let me install it for some reason. It just says that, error window and wouldn't proceed to install. I can't exactly remember how I solved that or if this was to do with another driver and not the ones you provided or it was the drivers you provided but I somehow found a way to get it installed! haha, damn brain cells gone dead.... -.- I knew I should have explain this sentence more in my txt file!

Is there anything else you would like me to answer/comment on?

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #6

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1. The Windows XP Setup message

Zitat von Windows Setup

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The file iaStorA.sys is corrupted

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indicates, that you had integrated
a) a driver, whose architecture didn't match the architecture of the OS (either you had integrated a 32bit driver into XP x64 or vice versa you integrated a 64bit driver into the 32bit variant of Windows XP), and
b) a driver, which has never been offered by me for the XP/XP x64 integration (none of my offered driverpacks contain a file named iaStorA.sys) and
c) a driver, which cannot be integrated into Windows XP/XP x64 CD, because none of the "Enterprise Edition" Intel RST drivers named iaStorA.sys contain the required file named TXTSETUP.OEM.[/li]

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If it was a), it wouldn't even let me install it into my USB FDD if I chose 32-bit driver instead of 64-bit, and yes I even attempted to see if I could install the 32-bit driver for the F6 thing, but it won't even let me install it onto my USB FDD. For b), yeah well then in that case most of the tries were from the motherboard driver disc and manufacturer's driver download page. And for c), If it cannot be integrated, then how come nlite allowed it so?

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #6

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2. The Windows XP Professional Setup message

Zitat von Windows Setup

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Insert the disk labeled: Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology Enterprise Driver into drive A:

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indicates again, that you had inserted a wrong (not XP compatible) driver.

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So you saying the drivers that were given to me from the manufacturer's driver download page and the ones from the disc are not XP compatible? Which means there weren't any drivers for XP 64-bit to start with! False advertising! I would have bought a different motherboard if this was the case, actually it would have been too late to change now anyways - got the board in 2013 and it's only in 205 that I have managed to gather all the necessary bits and pieces for my build.

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #6

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Can you please post the version number?

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Yes yes, if this is what you think. ☻

I thought you didn't mind pictures/screenshots to illustrate things? And apparently my screenshot was too big for your taste! hahaha, imagine someone coming in with 3840x2160 screenshot from their UHD display! I'll crop(the important parts) the same screenshot here, for those who like seeing pictures as illustrations(hope you don't mind Fernando!):


Hm, which reminds me, I should have referred Asus Tech support to here, where I got the working driver for RAID/ACHI. Hmmm, that also got me thinking - if you didn't change anything in the driver - just left it as is(but not sure how you still manage break the digital signature seal of Intel if you didn't change anything), then how come your driver worked whilst the ones provided by Asus, didn't....? This is the aftermath and just wondering....very mysterious, don't you say...?

Yeah I realized I posted in the wrong section, but it was still relevant in that those were the drivers that finally got XP x64 working under ACHI and RAID.

Here's a for you, from me!

Sorry, didn't realize you replied! - guess I haven't subscribed to my own thread! Well I have now! Was checking to see if you did manage to reply to my last post whilst I got some notifications from the other thread, and you did.

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #10

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Zitat von TheNewGuy1 im Beitrag #9

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Hmmm, that also got me thinking - if you didn't change anything in the driver - just left it as is(but not sure how you still manage break the digital signature seal of Intel if you didn't change anything), then how come your driver worked whilst the ones provided by Asus, didn't....?

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The ASUS drivers you had tried didn't work, because the required correct DeviceID of your on-board Intel SATA RAID Controller (DEV_2826) is missing within the related driver information file named iaStor.inf (resp. iaStorAC.inf).

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[INTEL.NTx86.5.2]  
;server 
%PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2826&CC_0104.DeviceDesc% = iaStorA_inst, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2826&CC_0104 
 
[INTEL.NTamd64]  
;server 
%PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2826&CC_0104.DeviceDesc% = iaStorA_inst, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2826&CC_0104 
 
diskId1 = "RSTe Installation Disk"  
;server 
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2826&CC_0104.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) C600 Series Chipset SATA RAID Controller" 
 
 

Here, I've uploaded the 64-bit XPx64 drivers, that I downloaded from the Asus website, in the attachment that you can inspect for yourself and then tell me what's wrong with it, if any problems that's causing it to not work when I upload it via F6 FDD when asked during windows installation or integrated:

And here are the hashes for the zip file:
MD5: ebe87045239ca252aeca00fc5caf76f5
SHA256: 8a9f2a719d7a215b66bbd22e5cbe4c4c1ac483337e65aef4a730117c8a358b06

Or if you don't trust my upload, you can always go onto the Asus website, type in Rampage VI Extreme, go to download section, pick XP 64-bit as OS and download as driver and select SATA and it would be the latest one - v3.0.0.3011.

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #10

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This is what I did with all of my "mod+signed" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers:
1. The missing HardwareIDs of all supported Intel SATA AHCI/RAID Controllers have been added to the related .INF and .OEM files of the driverpack.
2. At least the complete driverpack got a new digital signature (not really requred for Windows XP).

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Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #10

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By the way: Since you succeeded at least with the installation of Windows XP x64 onto your X79 system running in RAID mode, I added the prefix "Solved" to the thread title. This may be a good hint for other users with a similar problem.

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Sorry, that one was IRST not RSTe which is the bigger 250MB download. Here I've attached the RSTe version. In the previous post, I attached IRST. But you can still inspect both. Seeing how it wasn't extracted, I am thinking what I did was try to run IRST drivers whilst the BIOS setting for Intel SATA controller was set to RSTe and not IRST. Or maybe it would have done the same thing anyways.....hahaha, I'm not about to go through that again to find out - I've had enough headaches for one windows XP installation! XP

Hashes:
MD5: a2ed76c121a06ac146f28596fbd279a8
SHA256: def3281d4d1302f559b6c6da8296f8049346915ad2e8bbd77134d5c8424a2da3