[CDsDontBurn]

So, i go to do a clean installation of Vista 32bit sp1 from winXP sp3 on my sister's computer.

MSI NF4 Neo4-F (rev.3), x2 4200+, 2GB DDR400, 320MB 8800GTS, Creative Audigy 2zs, 2x 74GB raptors (RAID 0), 250GB WD (storage)

everything starts to load up just fine, i enter the product code and everything, and then it takes me to the screen asking me which HDD i wish to install vista on. So, i select the 135GB (or w/e) sized partition of the Raptors in RAID 0. It says at that point, "Windows is unable to install to the selected location. Error 0x8007000d."

So, after that I thought it may have been a missing RAID driver issue (this is my first time installing an OS to a pair of RAIDed drives), and off I went to MSI's website to d/l the RAID drivers. The RAID drivers though are for that of win2k and winXP. I d/l and extract the files to my flash drive and try again with the windows installation. Again, i got the same error, "Windows is unable to install to the selected location. Error 0x8007000d."

I did some googeing on this but didn't find out much. The only thing with the most information relative to what i was doing that I was able to come across was this thread from c|net. this guy seems to be just installing windows to a spare HDD and in a winXP vista dual-boot configuration.

The vista disk i have comes from an ISO image I obtained through Microsoft as a student at my school. So, I don't have an original disk to use. This ISO image already came with sp1 integrated into it.

Any ideas?

[Mousey]

It'll definately be the HDD I'm sure of that much, tried the standard Different HDD/Different Cable approach?

I've had a similair problem before but at the install screen, goes for like 30 seconds then i get an error code but that was a partially unreadable DVD (Curse you lazyness).
Try partitioning your sister's HDD Again or formatting it, sometimes there's low-level file corruption that stops windows installing.

[craig5320]

I have similar issues installing vista/win7 from my dvd drive, but the issues is the dvd drive drivers some issue with my asus board, I have to install from a USB hard drive which I extract the .iso to and it will install off there.

So if you can try and install off a bootable USB drive.

[Tipstaff]

Originally Posted by Mousey

It'll definately be the HDD I'm sure of that much, tried the standard Different HDD/Different Cable approach?

I've had a similair problem before but at the install screen, goes for like 30 seconds then i get an error code but that was a partially unreadable DVD (Curse you lazyness).
Try partitioning your sister's HDD Again or formatting it, sometimes there's low-level file corruption that stops windows installing.

This pretty much nails my response (although the low-level format I think you can skip), however I have a few suggestions:

- delete, and then recreate the RAID array again (if it's a RAID0 setup, do the stripe size at either 64kb or 128kb)
- delete the RAID setup, and try installing Vista on just 1 drive. If you get by that same screen you can try setting up the RAID again (with the same recommend stripe sizes I just mentioned)
- try installing Vista without inputting the key, being sure to pick the version you have so that you can activate it once you have Windows installed
- if you have one, try another DVD drive. Be sure to use an IDE optical drive, and not an SATA one
- I can't remember for sure, but doesn't that machine allow for activating multiple RAID setups? Such as that you can have both an IDE RAID and SATA RAID setup working at the same time? If so, see if you can turn off the IDE RAID.
- When installing Vista, be sure to disconnect the WD hard drive, as well as any card readers (such as USB ones) you may have hooked up.

[RE III - Frankie]

Last time I had an issue installing Vista/ Windows 7 I found after searching and trial and error that the only way that actually worked was replacing the hard drive. Form my own experience with installing windows on spindle hard drives is that they only last for up to 4 maybe 5 high use installs if you're lucky. I found I've had to replace a hard drive around about the third installation on each hard drive. Come SSD's that will probably end.

[CDsDontBurn]

Originally Posted by Mousey

It'll definately be the HDD I'm sure of that much, tried the standard Different HDD/Different Cable approach?

I've had a similair problem before but at the install screen, goes for like 30 seconds then i get an error code but that was a partially unreadable DVD (Curse you lazyness).
Try partitioning your sister's HDD Again or formatting it, sometimes there's low-level file corruption that stops windows installing.

all 3 HDDs are fine. i can try my non sp1 copy of vista. but the license for that is on my machine. idk if that will cause an issue with MS.

idk why not having formatting the drives would cause any issues.



oh, and theres more info i didnt say i forgot to mention. her OS is coming from winXP sp3, which i did mention. but the other Raptor i put in for installing vista in RAID 0 format, came from my computer. that drive did have vista installed on it. with my exprience installing windows and working at EVGA, it wouldnt matter if both drives had different OSes because setting up RAID 0 alone would delete the information on both drives ,and then theres the forrmatting process of installing windws. but, i'll format both drives just for peace of mind.

[CDsDontBurn]

Originally Posted by craig5320

I have similar issues installing vista/win7 from my dvd drive, but the issues is the dvd drive drivers some issue with my asus board, I have to install from a USB hard drive which I extract the .iso to and it will install off there.

So if you can try and install off a bootable USB drive.

i have an external USB IDE HDD enclosure, but i dont think its bootable. but even if it was bootable, im not familiar with that method of installing windows...

[CDsDontBurn]

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

This pretty much nails my response (although the low-level format I think you can skip), however I have a few suggestions:

- delete, and then recreate the RAID array again (if it's a RAID0 setup, do the stripe size at either 64kb or 128kb)
- delete the RAID setup, and try installing Vista on just 1 drive. If you get by that same screen you can try setting up the RAID again (with the same recommend stripe sizes I just mentioned)
- try installing Vista without inputting the key, being sure to pick the version you have so that you can activate it once you have Windows installed
- if you have one, try another DVD drive. Be sure to use an IDE optical drive, and not an SATA one
- I can't remember for sure, but doesn't that machine allow for activating multiple RAID setups? Such as that you can have both an IDE RAID and SATA RAID setup working at the same time? If so, see if you can turn off the IDE RAID.
- When installing Vista, be sure to disconnect the WD hard drive, as well as any card readers (such as USB ones) you may have hooked up.

- i'll go ahead and recreate the RAID with 64kb clusters.

- i'll try the installation of vista on a non RAID setup.

- is there a check mark somewhere to not activate wndows? i'm not familiar with vista installations. this would be my 2nd time ever to install vista, and this is my first windows install on RAID

- she has two DVD opticals, both are IDE

- yes, thats true. i have the primary IDE disabled, and only the secondary enabled for the opticals. SATA RAID is enabled only for SATA ports 1 & 2 where the two raptors are installed.

- i'll go ahead and disconnect that other HDD and the card reader as well.

[CDsDontBurn]

sorry about the multiple posts, but i cant do multi-quote from my hone

[Tipstaff]

There's 2 things during the install. There is a checkbox that you can tick, but it's only relevant to activating, or rather having Windows try or not to try activating Vista once the desktop is up and running. The other thing is to not input a key (of note to others, this is also possible in XP SP3 now, and Windows 7). Depending on the disc you will either have to choose the OS you are wanting to install, or it will install the one you actually have a key for (depends on whether a certain file is on the disc or not). Will either of these help you out? It's really about skipping certain checks the installer will make to the disc, and it may be enough to get you by the error.

A couple things you could try: 1) Use the other Vista disc you mentioned, but during the install don't input the key, and see if it asks you to manually pick which OS you have. If you get by the section that keeps crashing then all you really need to worry about is if it will accept your key once things are installed. Of course, if it works, then you'll also know the other disc is crap. 2) Try making a copy of the DVD, and use that copy to install things instead.

Last thing: even though Vista is "supposed" to have the drivers for the N4 SATA RAID you might want to grab the latest set, and use those. Just in case you didn't know, Vista sees USB drives, so you can put the drivers onto a USB pen drive, and load them up that way instead of making yourself a floppy. Makes things a whole lot easier.

[CDsDontBurn]

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

There's 2 things during the install. There is a checkbox that you can tick, but it's only relevant to activating, or rather having Windows try or not to try activating Vista once the desktop is up and running. The other thing is to not input a key (of note to others, this is also possible in XP SP3 now, and Windows 7). Depending on the disc you will either have to choose the OS you are wanting to install, or it will install the one you actually have a key for (depends on whether a certain file is on the disc or not). Will either of these help you out? It's really about skipping certain checks the installer will make to the disc, and it may be enough to get you by the error.

A couple things you could try: 1) Use the other Vista disc you mentioned, but during the install don't input the key, and see if it asks you to manually pick which OS you have. If you get by the section that keeps crashing then all you really need to worry about is if it will accept your key once things are installed. Of course, if it works, then you'll also know the other disc is crap. 2) Try making a copy of the DVD, and use that copy to install things instead.

Last thing: even though Vista is "supposed" to have the drivers for the N4 SATA RAID you might want to grab the latest set, and use those. Just in case you didn't know, Vista sees USB drives, so you can put the drivers onto a USB pen drive, and load them up that way instead of making yourself a floppy. Makes things a whole lot easier.

i don't quite recall an option that asked me which version of vista to install. just the place where it asked for the product key and something activating windows....

i checked MSI's website for a set of vista drivers, but there were none that i saw. only drivers for win2k/winXP were available there. so, getting the "newest drivers" is really getting drivers too old for vista.

[Zelig]

Vista & nVRaid - installation guide and troubleshooting • nForcersHQ.com

That has pretty much everything you need for an nVRaid installation of Vista.

[CDsDontBurn]

alright, so i finally got windows vista installed!!

BUT! i used the installation disk that i used for my computer! it seems that the disk i intended on using is some how corrupt, which was previously mentioned that this was a possibility. the problem with this is that the install disk i used is is pre-sp1*, which means that the product key i intended on using i can't use AFAIK. because of this, the product key i obtained for the sp1 version of vista will not work with the pre-sp1* disk i used. currently i'm installing sp2 on the machine and (hopefully) this will update the product key logs and allow me to use the sp1 key i intend on using.

Like tipstaff suggested earlier, i unchecked the option to enter the product key at the beginning of the vista install and then select the version of vista i want to install. i did this with both disks. the sp1 disk i intended on using gave me a different error this time (i forget what it was). the pre-sp1* disk installed windows successfully the on the first attempt.

*i have slipstreamed sp1 into this disk, but the keys it recognizes appear to be pre-sp1 only.

[CDsDontBurn]

and it worked! Windows is now activated with her product key!

[craig5320]

great news! good work.

[CDsDontBurn]

thx craig . i really appreciate the input you guys gave me here to point me in the right direction. I never would have thought it was the disk i created from that ISO image that was bad.

so yea, windows is installed and everything. i got her drivers installed except for one....i have no idea what it is either. she just has her gfx card and her audigy card in there. i removed the wLAN card after i dropped cat5e cable throughout the entire house. so, there's nothing else. in terms of drivers, everything i can think of is already installed: chipset, display, network, audio. the only thing i can think of is the CPU drivers for AMD. but, i remember seeing a "Processors" section in the device manager. although, i will admit that i never expanded that option. even still though, if it were a CPU driver issue, the "unknown device" would be listed under the "processor" section and the "processor" listing would have an exclamation point over it.

other than that, it's working fine. i just gotta finish installing all of the vista updates and other software and she'll be good to go!

[Tipstaff]

Is there any device ID for that unknown? If so, does it show a VEN_xxxx&DEV_xxxx listing, or is it showing up as an ACPI listing?

[VioMeTriX]

after rereading your post many times, it seems very highly that that unknown device is the cache on your hard drive going bad...have had it happen on many hard drives myself, and once it starts going bad it is read as a new device. the hard drive will work...but not at max efficiency.

[CDsDontBurn]

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

Is there any device ID for that unknown? If so, does it show a VEN_xxxx&DEV_xxxx listing, or is it showing up as an ACPI listing?

i do rmember seeing something like that. i will post back later what that is.

[Tyrsonswood]

could be the game port on the audigy card

[CDsDontBurn]

alright, here are the screenies from that one unknown device.