[shattered]

Setup:
- OEM Vista 64 bit
- QX6700
- P5N32-E SLI
- 8800 GTX
- 2x Raptor 150gig
- 1x Caviar 320gig
- 2gig Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800mhz
- LG Media Drive (IDE)

Problem:
Upon installing Vista, I get to the screen where it asks me which hard drive to put it on. I have a selection between the three aforementioned drives. I choose to partition the 320gig drive and create a 25gig formatted partition. A warning message appears at the bottom for both Raptors stating, "This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk - Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's BIOS." No message appears for the Caviar, until you attempt to hit the "next" button. It then says," Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation." Even when I choose not to partition any drives, I get the same error message.


My BIOS is set up as follows:
Primary IDE - LG Media Drive
SATA 1 - Raptor
SATA 2 - Raptor
SATA 3 - Caviar

Priority for booting is: 1) hard disk (Caviar 1st, then SATA 1 Raptor followed by SATA 2 Raptor)
2) CDROM
3) Removable

My goal is to install Vista on the 25 gig partition created from the 320gig Caviar drive.

If more information is needed, please don't hesitate to ask.

[shattered]

After unplugging the two Raptors, Vista Installed on the Caviar. The 25 gig partition, however, is the only HD that shows up now under "my computer." The other ~280gig of the Caviar does not show up. After plugging the two Raptors back in, they don't show up either.

I have downloaded the latest Forceware drivers from Nvidia. I have downloaded the RAID controller from Asus. I don't know what else to do.

[kris23]

are the drives properly formatted? they wont appear in windows untill they are, but they should be detected in the BIOS

[PangingJr]

Originally Posted by shattered

It then says," Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation."

check out this Microsoft's article

SYMPTOMS

When you try to install Windows Vista, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• The hard disk on which you want to install Windows Vista is not listed.
• You cannot select a hard disk partition on which to install Windows Vista.
• You cannot format a hard disk partition or partitions.
• You cannot set the correct size for a hard disk partition.
• You receive the following error message:

Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation

CAUSE

This problem may occur because of one of the following reasons:

• Windows Vista is incompatible with a mass storage controller or a mass storage driver.
• A mass storage controller or a mass storage driver is outdated.
• The hard disk on which you want to install Windows Vista is a dynamic disk.
• A data cable in the computer is loose, or another hardware issue has occurred.
• The hard disk or the Windows file system is damaged.
• You tried to select a FAT32 partition or another type of partition that is incompatible with Windows Vista.

> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927520

[bali50]

I had a problem with my XP/Vista dual boot too. Mine was re. a parition on a SATA drive. But I don't think that's all that relevant. What's actually important is that what eventually worked for me was a solution that was VERY hard to find on the net, and was something that Microsoft could easily have resolved by mentioning it on the same page as their ridiculously vague 'criteria' message. That is, as I eventually (after many hours over the course of a few days) learnt, that I had to set my 2nd partition as an 'active' partition before Vista would install. i did this using Acronis Disk Director, where after XP was installed, I flicked the 'active' partition over to the empty partition where Vista was to be installed. There can only be one active partition on a hard drive, and I felt it a bit of a risk to flick it over as I didn;t know for sure it would work and I might end up with a laptop that wouldn't boot up at all. But it worked PERFECTLY after that. Whether this is the solution for you, I can't tell. But I will say that only ONE posting out of maybe a total of a hundred or so that I must have read on the internet ever mentioned this 'Active' requirement to me. And s it did work for me, i'm doing my bit back to the community and letting others know that this is at least one other potential solution. Good luck and I hope anyone who reads this gets there in the end.

[Dyre Straits]

Originally Posted by shattered

After unplugging the two Raptors, Vista Installed on the Caviar. The 25 gig partition, however, is the only HD that shows up now under "my computer." The other ~280gig of the Caviar does not show up. After plugging the two Raptors back in, they don't show up either.

I have downloaded the latest Forceware drivers from Nvidia. I have downloaded the RAID controller from Asus. I don't know what else to do.

Sometimes you may need to go to the Disk Management app and Activate the HDDs.

Right click on Computer;
Select Manage;
Click Continue if prompted;
Select Disk Management from the selections.

You 'should' see all the drives connected here and may have to 'initialize' any that aren't showing up in Computer.

And, as mentioned previously, you do need to make sure the drives are properly formatted.

Good luck!

[Ferret_Style]

When i installed my system with my raid setup (run 2 80 gig Sata II drives in Raid 0) i had to supply the disk for both vista and XP. Then they would detect right for installation. Vista gave me tons of errors before i realized i needed the Sata raid drivers (dum me)

[WardenWolf]

Check to ensure your RAID controller is not enabled, or if it is, that the array is set to Bootable. If it still doesn't work, enable it and set it as bootable. Previously, Vista could SEE my non-bootable mirror array, but it couldn't install to it. Setting it to bootable changes something in the way the BIOS handles RAID (and on some motherboards, the way it handles SATA in general).