ASUS A8V-Deluxe Raptor install questions....

HawgsHead · Jan 15, 2005, 03:19 AM

I'm gonna install another Raptor tomorrow.I have a few questions.1st.What drivers do I use?The one on the WD website?I mean for a RAID 0???Second,which hook-ups on the board do I use.The ones high up or the ones lower down???...Thanks guys!..And please tell me anything else I need to know also.

farkas · Jan 15, 2005, 03:45 AM

Hi there HawqsHead,

You might wanna get your hands on the latest BIOS for this board, and make yourself a bootable disk to put the BIOS flasher and ROM file on it by checking here. http://www.asus.com/support/download...xe&Type=Latest

You can also probably do this from your current windows installation with Asus update, just get the latest BIOS revision manually 1st, as their servers sometimes do not find the lates BIOS'es when you are updating straight from internet, and make sure you have the A8V Deluxe, and not the A8V-E Deluxe, wich might have a different BIOS and such. Adjust accordingly if so.

As for your RAID set up, use the connectors that are nearer to the VIA VT8237 chip (high up), as you will have much better bandwith available if you set up your drives as RAID. The promise controller is still nice and fast but trust me, it's faster on the VIA controller (There are plenty of benchmarks to prove it and disprove this, but I'm talking from experience).

The other reason is if you OC, and your AGP lock has issues, then the promise controller is OC as well !!!!

You will need to make a driver disk for the installation of Windows wether you use it as simple SATA or SATA RAID, because the VIA chip is not detected as a NATIVE serial ATA (even if it is I think). You can make yourself a slipstream of WinXP with these drivers with nlite.

Get the latest SATA drivers from VIA directly here : http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2, pick your OS, then IDE, RAID & SATA, then at the bottom of the list, pick VT8237 Integrated.... click on the image on the bottom to start the download.

This file is a zip, and it will contain the latest drivers (for the F6 prompt when installing Windows) as well as the GUI (VIA DriveStation) for managing the SATA interface in Windows (Which might let you convert your 2 drives to RAID without re-installing XP, but I recommend fresh install)

This should get you started. Any more questions, feel free to ask again.

Regards

PS : I doubt Western Digital has SATA/RAID drivers, but if they do, I would 1st use the ones from VIA or Promise directly, depending on which controller you use. Asus's drivers come 2nd, cause they are usually 2 to 3 revisions old or older. Sometimes they are not that old, but for hard disk controllers and Video cards of any brand, I would use manufacturer drivers always 1st.

HawgsHead · Jan 15, 2005, 04:12 AM

BIOS 009 is allready installed....thank you!

Jan 15, 2005, 03:19 AM	#1
HawgsHead Rest In Peace Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Danville Virginia.The United States of America"In the God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob We Trust" Posts: 2,012 Rep Power: 0	ASUS A8V-Deluxe Raptor install questions.... I'm gonna install another Raptor tomorrow.I have a few questions.1st.What drivers do I use?The one on the WD website?I mean for a RAID 0???Second,which hook-ups on the board do I use.The ones high up or the ones lower down???...Thanks guys!..And please tell me anything else I need to know also. __________________ Rig specs to the left in the boxes....X-Box 360 w/Hitachi 42" HDTV....If Darwins theory of evolution is true then why are monkeys still monkeys?It takes much more faith to believe in Darwin's theory over the Genesis account of creation.

Jan 15, 2005, 03:45 AM	#2
farkas IT Support Specialist Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre, Québec, Can Posts: 175 Rep Power: 0	Hi there HawqsHead, You might wanna get your hands on the latest BIOS for this board, and make yourself a bootable disk to put the BIOS flasher and ROM file on it by checking here. http://www.asus.com/support/download...xe&Type=Latest You can also probably do this from your current windows installation with Asus update, just get the latest BIOS revision manually 1st, as their servers sometimes do not find the lates BIOS'es when you are updating straight from internet, and make sure you have the A8V Deluxe, and not the A8V-E Deluxe, wich might have a different BIOS and such. Adjust accordingly if so. As for your RAID set up, use the connectors that are nearer to the VIA VT8237 chip (high up), as you will have much better bandwith available if you set up your drives as RAID. The promise controller is still nice and fast but trust me, it's faster on the VIA controller (There are plenty of benchmarks to prove it and disprove this, but I'm talking from experience). The other reason is if you OC, and your AGP lock has issues, then the promise controller is OC as well !!!! You will need to make a driver disk for the installation of Windows wether you use it as simple SATA or SATA RAID, because the VIA chip is not detected as a NATIVE serial ATA (even if it is I think). You can make yourself a slipstream of WinXP with these drivers with nlite. Get the latest SATA drivers from VIA directly here : http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2, pick your OS, then IDE, RAID & SATA, then at the bottom of the list, pick VT8237 Integrated.... click on the image on the bottom to start the download. This file is a zip, and it will contain the latest drivers (for the F6 prompt when installing Windows) as well as the GUI (VIA DriveStation) for managing the SATA interface in Windows (Which might let you convert your 2 drives to RAID without re-installing XP, but I recommend fresh install) This should get you started. Any more questions, feel free to ask again. Regards PS : I doubt Western Digital has SATA/RAID drivers, but if they do, I would 1st use the ones from VIA or Promise directly, depending on which controller you use. Asus's drivers come 2nd, cause they are usually 2 to 3 revisions old or older. Sometimes they are not that old, but for hard disk controllers and Video cards of any brand, I would use manufacturer drivers always 1st. __________________ K8N DLX (s754) A64 3200+ Thermalright XP-120 Corsair CMX512C2 X 2 1GB total Asus X800XT PE with ATI Silencer 4 rev 1 120Gb Sea SATA + 120GB WD PATA + 80GB WD PATA Last edited by farkas; Jan 15, 2005 at 04:05 AM.

Jan 15, 2005, 04:12 AM	Thread Starter #3
HawgsHead Rest In Peace Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Danville Virginia.The United States of America"In the God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob We Trust" Posts: 2,012 Rep Power: 0	BIOS 009 is allready installed....thank you! __________________ Rig specs to the left in the boxes....X-Box 360 w/Hitachi 42" HDTV....If Darwins theory of evolution is true then why are monkeys still monkeys?It takes much more faith to believe in Darwin's theory over the Genesis account of creation.