Gigabyte GA-K8NS, GA-K8NSC-939, GA-K8NE, GA-K8N ULTRA-9, GA-K8NS ULTRA-939 Manual

...

0 (0)

Table of Contents

Configuring SATA Hard Drive(s) (Controller: nVIDIA nForce4-4X; nVIDIA nForce3 250/Ultra; nVIDIA

nForce2 MCP RAID) .....................................................................................................................		2
(1)	Installing SATA hard drive(s) in your computer ..........................................................................	2
(2)	Configuring SATA controller mode and boot sequence in BIOS Setup ....................................	3
(3)	Configuring RAID set in RAID BIOS .............................................................................................	5
(4)	Making a SATA controller driver disk ..........................................................................................	8
(5)	Installing SATA controller driver during OS installation ............................................................	10
(6)	Configuring a bootable RAID array with Microsoft Windows 2000 ........................................	13

Configuring SATA Hard Drive(s) (Controller: nVIDIA nForce4-4X; nVIDIA nForce3 250/Ultra; nVIDIA nForce2 MCP RAID)

To configure SATA hard drive(s), follow the steps below:

(1)Install SATA hard drive(s) in your system.

(2)Configure SATA controller mode and boot sequence in BIOS Setup. (3)* Configure RAID set in RAID BIOS.

(4)Make a floppy disk containing the SATA controller driver.

(5)Install the SATA controller driver during OS installation.

Before you begin

Please prepare:

(a)Two SATA hard drives (to ensure optimal performance, it is recommended that you use two hard drives with identical model and capacity). If you do not want to create RAID with the SATA controller, you may prepare only one hard drive.

(b)An empty formatted floppy disk.

(c)Windows XP/2000 setup disk.

(d)Driver CD for your motherboard.

(1) Installing SATA hard drive(s) in your computer

Attach one end of the SATA signal cable to the rear of the SATA hard drive and the other end to available SATA port(s) on the motherboard. (If there are more than one SATA controller on your motherboard, you may check the name of the SATA connector to identify the SATA controller for the connector. For example, SATA0_SB/SATA_SB is controlled by the SATA controller on South-Bridge.) Then connect the power connector from your power supply to the hard drive.

"*" Skip this step if you do not want to create RAID array on the SATA controller.

SATA Hard Drive Configurations (nForce series) - 2 -

Gigabyte GA-K8NS, GA-K8NSC-939, GA-K8NE, GA-K8N ULTRA-9, GA-K8NS ULTRA-939 Manual

(2) Configuring SATA controller mode and boot sequence in BIOS Setup

You have to make sure whether the SATA controller is configured correctly in system BIOS Setup and set BIOS boot sequence for the SATA hard drive(s).

Step 1:

Turn on your computer and press Del to enter BIOS Setup during POST (Power-On Self Test). If you want to create RAID, select IDE Function Setup under the Integrated Peripherals menu and then press ENTER (Figure 1). Change the SATA Primary Master RAID and SATA Secondary Master RAID items to Enabled (Disabled by default) (Figure 2). Skip this step and leave the two items to Disabled by default if you do not want to create RAID.

Integrated Peripherals

	IDE Function Setup		[Press Enter]		Item Help
	On-Chip Primary PCI IDE		[Enabled]		Menu Level}
	On-Chip Secondary PCI IDE		[Enabled]
	USB Host Controller		[V1.1+V2.0]
	USB Keyboard Support		[Disabled]
	USB Mouse Support		[Disabled]
	Serial-ATA 2(Internal PHY)		[Enabled]
	AC97 Audio		[Auto]
	On-Chip LAN(nVIDIA)		[Auto]
	Onboard Serial ATA		[Enabled]
	Serial ATA Function		[RAID]
	Onboard 1394		[Enabled]
	Onboard LAN Control		[Enabled]
	Onboard LAN Boot ROM		[Disabled]
	Onboard Serial Port 1		[3F8/IRQ4]
	Onboard Serial Port 2		[2F8/IRQ3]
	Onboard Parallel Port		[378/IRQ7]
	Parallel Port Mode		[SPP]
x	ECP Mode Use DMA		3
higf: Move		Enter: Select	+/-/PU/PD: Value	F10: Save	ESC: Exit	F1: General Help
	F5: Previous Values		F6: Fail-Safe Defaults		F7: Optimized Defaults

Figure 1 (This BIOS setup screen is captured from GA-K8NSNXP-939, BIOS ver.: D24)

The BIOS Setup menus described in this section may not show the exact settings for your motherboard. The actual BIOS Setup menu options you will see shall depend on the motherboard you have and the BIOS version.

IDE Function Setup

IDE RAID	[Enabled]	Item Help
IDE Channel 0 Master RAID	[Disabled]	Menu Level}
IDE Channel 0 Slave RAID	[Disabled]
IDE Channel 1 Master RAID	[Disabled]
IDE Channel 1 Slave RAID	[Disabled]
SATA Primary Master RAID	[Enabled]
SATA Secndry Master RAID	[Enabled]

higf: Move	Enter: Select	+/-/PU/PD: Value	F10: Save	ESC: Exit	F1: General Help
F5: Previous Values		F6: Fail-Safe Defaults		F7: Optimized Defaults

Figure 2

- 3 - SATA Hard Drive Configurations (nForce series)

Step 2:

Later, select Hard Disk Boot Priority under the Advanced BIOS Features menu. In the Hard Disk Boot Priority submenu, select the model of the SATA hard drive onto which you intent to install Microsoft Windows 2000/XP (Figure 3).

Hard Disk Boot Priority

1. CH2 M.	:	S_ATA1-ST3120026AS	Item Help
2. CH3 M.	:	S_ATA2-ST3120026AS	Menu Level }}
3. Bootable Add-in Cards
			Use <h> or <i> to
			select a device, then
			press <+> to move it
			up, or <-> to move it
			down the list. Press
			<ESC> to exit this
			menu.

hi: Move	PU/PD/+/-: Change Priority	F10: Save	ESC: Exit
		Figure 3

Step 3:

Set First Boot Device under the Advanced BIOS Features menu to CDROM to boot from CD-ROM drive after system restarts (Figure 4).

Advanced BIOS Features

}	Hard Disk Boot Priority	[Press Enter]	Item Help
	First Boot Device	[CDROM]	Menu Level}
	Second Boot Device	[Hard Disk]
	Third Boot Device	[CDROM]
	Boot Up Floopy Seek	[Disabled]
	Password Check	[Setup]
	Flexible AGP 8X	[Auto]
	Init Display First	[AGP]

higf: Move	Enter: Select	+/-/PU/PD: Value	F10: Save	ESC: Exit	F1: General Help
F5: Previous Values		F6: Fail-Safe Defaults		F7: Optimized Defaults

Figure 4

Step 4:

Save and exit BIOS Setup.

SATA Hard Drive Configurations (nForce series) - 4 -

(3) Configuring RAID set in RAID BIOS

Enter the RAID BIOS setup utility to configure a RAID array. Skip this step and proceed to Section 4 if you do not want to create RAID.

Step 1:

After the POST memory test begins and before the operating system boot begins, look for a message which says "Press F10 to enter RAID setup utility" (Figure 5). Hit the F10 key to enter the RAID BIOS setup utility.

NVIDIA RAID IDE ROM BIOS 4.22

Detecting array ...

Press F10 to enter RAID setup utility ...

Figure 5

Step 2

The Define a New Array screen is the first option screen when you enter the NVIDIA RAID setup utility. (Figure 6). You can press the TAB key to highlight through options. The following below is an example of RAID 0 array creation.

Step 3:

In the RAID Mode field, use the UP or DOWN ARROW key to select a RAID mode. The supported RAID modes include Mirroring (default), Striping, Stripe Mirroring, and Spanning.

Step 4:

If RAID 0 is selected, you can manually set the striping block size. In the Striping Block field, use the UP or DOWN ARROW key to set the Striping Block size. The KB is the standard unit of Striping Block size. We recommend you leaving it to the default setting--Optimal (64K). The size range is from 4K to 128K.

		NV I D I A	R A I D Ut il it y Ma y 10			2 00 4
		- D e f i n e a N e w A r r a y -
R A I D M o d e : M i r r o r i n g				S t r ip in g Bl o c k: O p t im a l
F r e e D is ks				A r r a y D i s k s
L o c	D i s k M o d e l N a m e			L o c	D i s k M o d e l N a m e
1 . 0 . M S T 3 1 20 0 2 6 A S
1 . 1 . M S T 3 1 20 0 2 6 A S			[g ]	A d d
			[g ]	A d d
			[f ]	D e l
[ F 6]	Bac k	[ F 7] F in is h	[ TA B] N a viga t e		[ h i ]	S e le c t	[ E N TE R ] P o p u p

Figure 6

- 5 - SATA Hard Drive Configurations (nForce series)

+ 10 hidden pages