I have new Dell XPS 630i and wanted to set it as a Raid 5 system with 4 x 500 GB drives included in the array.  To do that I had to buy a controller card (Adaptec 5404).  The card was successfully installed, DETECTED by the motherboard bios and selected as the HD Boot device.  During the install of Windows XP, specifically during the “Format” process Windows does not seem to be communicating with the drives through the card (no ACTIVITY lights) and completes in under 2 minutes (way too short in my opinion), during the loading of the setup files (and 5405 Drivers) there is lots of activity on the lights!

The problem seems to be that once the startup files are loaded and the computer reboots for the first time during the setup, the Windows Splash Screen comes up but the loading bar never moves and then I get a error message “Check for viruses on your PC, Remove any installed HD’s or HD Controllers, Check your HD to MAKE sure it is PROPERLY configured and terminated. Run CHKDSK /F to check for HD corruption and then restart your computer. Technical Information: ***STOP: 0XF78A524, 0X0000034, 0X00000000, 0X00000000”.  The problem seems to me that Windows is not formatting the drive so when the computer reboots it does not recognize the C: Drive as an operating system.

Anyone out there have any advice??