Kelvin,
I suggest you, reinstall the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility
from the motherboard CD and then the Raid driver from the motherboard CD.
Follow the following procedures:

Disable the SATA Raid Function in the BIOS. Install a single hard drive to
SATA0_SB port. Install WinXP to this single drive using the F6 option and
the floppy disk having the drivers for the non-Raid drivers (from the
motherboard CD - floppy build). Once WinXP is finished loading run the
'Express Install' function on the motherboard CD. This will load all the
default drivers.

Now enable the SATA Raid Function in the BIOS. Re-install WinXP using the F6
option and the floppy disk having the Raid drivers (from the motherboard
CD - floppy build).

This should clean-out all the suspect drivers and put your system back on an
even keel. Don't forget to format your other hard drive when you finally get
around to connecting it, the Raid partition on it is also suspect.

This should give a PC with two Raid sets, one on the Intel SATA and the
other on the Silicon Image SATA.

Let me know how it works out.

Jeff

"Kelvin" wrote in message
...
well, i did some more test... here's the scenerio. i have two
drives...one is the western digital 200gb which i will refer to as the wd
drive from now on...the other is the seagate 400gb which i'll refer to as
seagate from now on. i installed xp w/ the wd drive connected to the
intel sata controller, everything works fine and is stable. when i try
to install xp w/ the seagate connected to the same controller, same port,
using the same cd and same sata controller drivers it crashes all the
time. now i can install the same seagate drive connected to the sil 3114r
controller, which is stable and fine, but when windows start up and i
install the intel sata controller driver, it gives me an error. according
to the event viewer, aarich.sys is the cause of the problem. i've
experienced this before when trying to run partition magic and it would
tell me the aarich.sys is causing errors. i've tried different versions
of the drivers for the adaptec embedded hostraid controllers. none will
work. at times i'm able to install xp onto the seagate using the intel
controller, but once it's done installing it either hangs or will not boot
at all. now you're think, why not just put both drives on the same
controllers. well, i'm actually looking to get 4 more sata drives... one
more 200gb same as the wd, and 3 more 400gb same as the seagate. so i
need all the controllers to work. also, i want to put the windows install
on the seagate raid so i need the intel driver to work in windows. much
appreciated for all your help so far.
"Jeff French" wrote in message
news:HmmPd.64918$eT5.46476@attbi_s51...
Kelvin,
I think I ran across what probably happened to your Raid array. Intel had
upgraded the 6300ESB driver so that it is compatible with both the ICH-5
and ICH-6. In doing so, older arrays made with the older 6300ESB driver
will not work with the newer driver. Could that driver you installed from
'Gateway ?' have been the upgraded version? I don't know if migrating
back to the original driver would have even been an option but I'm
willing to bet you got caught in the middle. You did the right thing by
swinging your SATA drives onto the Silicon Image controller. You can also
run your ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drives from this controller if you use a
Silicon Image chip based IDE-SATA converter on the back of the
CD/DVD-ROM.
To answer your question.....
Yes, you're right, you'll need a floppy disk with SCSI support drivers on
them for your SCSI CD-ROM. Visit Bootdisk.Com and download a good Win98
bootdisk, at the bottom of the website you'll find "Modify your custom
bootdisk to boot from a SCSI CD" follow that link to the next page and
follow the instructions to include the files within the 'scsiboot.exe'
file highlighted. I've been using these modified boot floppies for years.
Perform the F6 option while installing WinXP to load your SCSI controller
drivers. Make sure you have your SCSI devices configured properly before
you start and don't forget to check twice all the connections and
terminator, this particularly true for U320 SCSI.
My last PC had only SCSI devices and that is why I chose this motherboard
to migrate some of my SCSI devices (hard drives and tape backup). I've
now got about all my devices converted to SATA (hard drives, DVD-RW, and
DVD-ROM). My next project is using a Silicon Image 3124-2 PCI-X board to
attach some new faster SATA-300 hard drives. My other PCI-X slot is
already filled with a Firewire-800 card and prior to WinXP SP2 was really
working at great speeds. Thanks to WinXP SP2 the speed is about halved.
This board invites the owner to experiment with all the IDE, SATA, SCSI,
and Raid combinations. It's a shame there isn't better support from
Gigabyte.

Have a Good Day!
Jeff

"Kelvin" wrote in message
...
thanks for ur help jeff. anyhow, here's my situation. i'm aware of
those steps. i did install windows xp successfully once. however, i
recently just bought a seagate 400gb drive, i have it hooked up to the
hance rapids controller (previously thought was the adaptec hostraid
controller) and windows install. once it's done installing it crashes
after awhile. it would continue to reboot until i shut the machine off.
i found the problem and apparently aarich.sys is the cause. anyhow, now
i'm using the sil 3114 controller and things are good again. anyway,
thanks for the info jeff. cleared up that little mishap. one more
question, is it possible to boot from a scsi cd-rom and install windows?
or do i need to get a dos bootdisk and install the u320 dos drivers?


"Jeff French" wrote in message
news:MldPd.64403$eT5.61183@attbi_s51...
Kelvin,
I kept scratching my head over this one. As I have stated, I'm not
familiar with this Raid (Hance Rapids - 6300ESB SATA Raid) because I
don't use it. I have my SATA DVDs connected to these connections and
use the Silicon Image Sil 3114 controller for my SATA hard drives.
On the motherboard CD in the BootDrv directory are all the floppy
installed drivers. Click on Menu.exe. This will bring up a 'Command
Prompt window' with a menu of all the drivers available. Place a
formatted floppy disk in your floppy drive, at the prompt, enter 'G'
(Hance Rapids Raid), and then 'return'. The Hance Rapids Raid drivers
will be loaded onto the floppy disk. When finished the Menu will
return, simply enter '0', the 'Command Prompt window' will disappear.
Check your floppy disk and you should find the following files and
directory:

HRAIDSK1
TXTSETUP.OEM
WIN32 - DIRECTORY
AARICH.CAT
AARICH.SYS
ADHRAID.CAT
ADHRAID.INF
OEMSETUP.INF

'Enable' the 'SATA RAID Function' in the motherboard BIOS. Connect your
two SATA hard drives to the SATA0_SB and SATA1_SB connections, then
install WinXP. Use the F6 option early in the installation process and
place the floppy disk made above to load the Hance Rapids Raid drivers.
I think you know the rest of the process (about using 'Ctrl S' to bring
up the Adaptec SATA HostRaid Controller utility to configure your hard
drive array).

I hope you find this information useful.

Good Luck
Jeff