From the Techsupport forum link;
2.2. Open the .EXE file using WinZip and extract all files to a folder you will be able to find later for Step 11. This will create a subfolder (eg. "Disk1") containing, among other things, Setup.exe.
(Although the IAAR EXE file is self-extracting, assuming you do not yet have Intel RAID enabled on the mobo, you cannot run it. The downloaded "iaar353_enu.exe" tool will report "Incompatible hardware" and will not run. This is why you need WinZip.)
Note: if you get the error...
"Incompatible hardware. This software is not supported on this chipset."
...it means something went wrong The IAAR software is not seeing your ICH5R chip as an ICH5R: you missed a BIOS step, a floppy step, the SATA drive on the ICH5R is not working, or your mobo does not have an Intel ICH5R chip. You can try reinstalling the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility but that is unlikely to help.
For the ICH5R to identify as a RAID controller instead of as a normal ATA controller, ALL of the following conditions MUST be met:
(a)the ICH5R must be in RAID mode in the BIOS, and
(b)the Intel BootROM must be enabled in the BIOS, and
(c)at least one SATA drive must be attached to the ICH5R.
Once you enable RAID mode in the BIOS and attach a SATA drive, the ICH5R stops looking like a standard ATA controller and starts looking like a RAID controller. And once that happens, you need RAID drivers to run it. If the RAID drivers have already been loaded at OS install time, you are set. Otherwise you are stuck in what we call a "chicken-and-egg" situation:
Unless the ICH5R identifies as a RAID controller, the Intel Application Accelerator RAID Edition driver software will not install. You will get an "Incompatible Hardware" error.
But unless the IAAR is already installed, you cannot boot an existing OS on an ICH5R which is in RAID mode.
(Note to our friends around the world:
If you have never heard of a "chicken and egg" situation, it relates to a very old saying, "Which came first... the chicken or the egg?" If the egg came first, then how did it get there without there being a chicken? If the chicken came first, then how did it get there without there being an egg?)
PITFALLS:
Mistake 1:
Let\'s say you installed an OS to a SATA drive running on your Intel ICH5R chip, set to RAID=No. Intuitively you would think all you need to do to enable RAID would be to set it to RAID=Yes and BootROM=Enabled in the BIOS, then boot and install the IAAR. Wrong!
If you try this, boot will begin as usual, but a few seconds after the black Windows XP screen, an error will occur. If you had "Automatic Restart" enabled in the Control Panel, the system will continuously reboot. Otherwise you will get a BSOD with the following error:
"A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
***STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF7C84640, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)"
This is occurring because your HDD is now on a RAID controller but the system has no driver for that controller. The only way out is to go back into BIOS and disable Intel RAID again.
Mistake 2:
If instead you boot your SATA HDD, on Intel, in ATA mode, into Windows and then attempt to install IAAR, it will not install. Whether you run the self-extraction .EXE, or the Setup.exe, in both cases you will get the following runtime error,
"Incompatible hardware. This software is not supported on this chipset. Please select \'Yes\' to view the Readme file for a list of supported products. Refer to section 2 titled \'System Requirements\'."
So the IAAR will not install if the ICH5R is not set to RAID mode, yet you cannot set it to RAID mode --and boot-- unless the IAAR is already installed.
Mistake 1 + Mistake 2 illustrate the chicken-and-egg problem.