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Need some help setting up a raid 0 array on a SOYO KT880 DRAGON 2 MoBo. I downloaded the manual but cant seem to find any information on selecting 0 or 1 array for the vt8237 raid controller. The manual says it supports 0 or 1 on both raid controllers. Is there a second raid bios? Im sure I can set it up on the sata 3-4 ports or the IDE 3-4 ports but would rather use the 8237(sata1-2). The ALI controller seems to be pretty new and most other motherboard manufacturers use the 8237. Any help would be appreciated greatly

The manual states on Page 83...

To use SATA1 and SATA2 as RAID controller, please do the following
steps
1. Go to CMOS setup�� SOYO COMBO FEATURE

2. Then set the “ONBOARD SATA 1,2” to “SATA”.

3. Go to the CMOS setup��BOOT CONFIGURATION SETUP��
BOOT DEVICE PRIORITY.

4. Set the “First Boot Device” to “SCSI Card”

5. Install the VIA Serial ATA driver, see driver installation
instructions below


VIA 8237 Serial ATA Driver Installation SY-KT880 DRAGON 2

Install VIA 8237 SATA during OS Installation
Install driver during Windows XP installation

1. Set the folder options to “show hidden files and folders”, check
Microsoft help for more info on how to set this option.

2. Go to “d:\raid\vt8237\driver disk\SATA” directory, (assuming that
your CD-ROM is drive d) copy all the files and folders to a floppy
disk. Some files are hidden, so step #1 must be done.

3. Windows XP will start to inspect your hardware configuration.

4. Press “F6” when the message “Press F6 if you need to install a third
party SCSI or RAID driver….” Appear. below

5. Press S key to specify additional devices when the Windows XP
Setup window appears.

6. Insert the floppy disk containing driver, then press Enter to continue

7. In the following window of device type, please select “VIA 8237
SATARaid controller for windows XP ” to continue.

8. Win XP will prompt you that a message that the driver is newer than
the default driver, press S (use the driver on floppy) to continue.

9. The following interface will list the devices to be installed, in which
“VIA 8237 SATARaid SATARaid controller for windows XP”
item should be included. (If users want to install other devices, press
“S” at this time.) Press ENTER to continue Windows XP setup.


Hope that helps out.

I got all that imfo from the pdf I downloaded from soyo. My problem is how do you choose raid 0? Nowhere in there does it tell you where to create the array for the 8237 only the ali. I dont want to run raid 1, so where do I tell it to install Windows on a raid 0?

you need to set "Onboard Sata 1 & 2 to raid" in the Combo feature screen.

On most RAID controllers, a RAID Controller BIOS screen comes up briefly during POST when it detects the drives connected to it, and you have the option of pressing a key to enter the controller BIOS menu. You usually create your arrays in there.

I guess there is two raid bios, one for the 8237, and one for the ali controller. Has anyone used a mobo with the ali? I have never ran a raid setup till now so I dont want to use a controller that hasnt been out very long. I know on most mobos that use award bios, there is a raid menu that opens whey you hit the tab key. You would think that the manual would give some idea how to set up the array on the 8237(block size and cluster). It goes into great detail on the array for the ali controller but nothing on the via. Guess I will have to just play around a little. Im under the impression that after I enter the bios and turn sata1-2 on, set them to raid, and set the scsi as the first boot device then reboot, Im going to get some kind of option to set up the array before I install the OS. Thanx for the help

Originally posted by Key Keeper
..... Im under the impression that after I enter the bios and turn sata1-2 on, set them to raid, and set the scsi as the first boot device then reboot, Im going to get some kind of option to set up the array before I install the OS. Thanx for the help

That's what the manual says should happen.

There is two bios for the riad controllers. After the post screen it asked me to hit tab to enter the 8237 raid controller window, from there I was able to select raid 0. It wouldnt let me into bios till it had a drive or array recognized. There is no way in the normal bios to select raid 0 or raid 1 for the 8237. After I set up the array, I was then prompted to set up the bios. You would think there would be something in the manual that would mention that a drive or array had to be detected be for you could enter the bios. This thing is smokin fast! Now I have to tinker with the fsb and pci/agp devider