PCI cards in General DO NOT ENUMERATE properly or install without CHIPSET DRIVERS (F6 mass Storage Drivers) Being installed FIRST.:emotion-3:

There are 2 fiiles at the link you want the one that is 156K

http:/downloads.dell.com/folder00575768m/9/drvr_sas_dell_perc8-1dv4h_win7_x64_whql_setup_zpe.exe

'"Windows Setup could not configure Windows on this computer’s hardware" installation error on a Windows 7-based or a Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer'.

This is not cookie cutter you must extract the drivers and point to them on a USB storage device unzipped.  EXE OR ZIP is not F6 READABLE.

1. Go to another computer that has an internet connection and click the link below to download the PERC driver for your hard disk drive (either 32-bit or 64-bit):
   
2. Save the downloaded driver to a DVD or USB flash drive or an external hard drive that can be taken to the PC that you're installing Windows to.  Its an exe rename it .zip and extract the 4 files.
   
3. Next, start the installation of Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 and watch for the Load Driver option. You will see this option on the Where do you want to install Windows? screen in the lower right corner.
4. Connect the USB flash or external drive to the computerthat you're installing Windows or take the Windows DVD out of the drive and put the driver DVD into the drive. (You will put the Windows DVD back into that drive after the driver is loaded)
5. Click Load Driver, (clicking this option checks removable media for storage controller drivers) 
6. Once the driver is loaded, continue with the Windows setup.

The Advanced Drive Format hard drive will be recognized and Setup will continue as expected.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?DriverId=1DV4H&productCode=precision-t3600

 http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER00575768M/9/DRVR_SAS_Dell_PERC8-1DV4H_Win7_X64_WHQL_setup_ZPE.exe

Rename this EXE to PERC.ZIP

then extract the 4 FILES to diskette or USB flash drive and F6  point to them.  In windows 7 you "load drivers" from usb flash drive.

DELL HV52W

The Dell Driver package says:

Title: SAS RAID: PERC H310/H710P Adapter for Precision Workstations,

==========================
Supported RAID Controllers
==========================
This download supports the following controllers

LSI MegaRAID: MegaRAID SAS 9240-4i/8i,MegaRAID SAS 9260-4i/8i/16i,MegaRAID SAS 9261-8i,MegaRAID SAS 9280-4i4e,MegaRAID SAS 9280-8e,MegaRAID SAS 9280-16i4e,MegaRAID SAS 9280-4i4e,MegaRAID SAS 9265-8i,MegaRAID SAS 9285-8e,MegaRAID SAS 8704EM2,MegaRAID SAS 8708EM2,MegaRAID SAS 8880EM2,MegaRAID SAS 8888ELP

LSI HBA:LSI SAS3041E-R,LSI SAS3041X-R,LSI SAS3080X-R,LSI SAS3081E-R,LSI SAS3442E-R,LSI SAS3442X-R,LSI WarpDrive SLP-300,9212 4i4e-R spec,9211-8i/4i-R spec

www.dell.com/.../dell-perc-h310-spec-sheet.pdf

Firstly I am aware that you require a driver in order to use the sas controller.

Secondly F6 drivers do not exist with Windows 7 I am sure you mean load drivers.

Thirdly why would you rename a .exe file to a .zip file? that doesn't make any sense

surely you would just extract the files and then transfer to usb....

Lastly the drivers you have provided simply do not work. Whenever I go to load a driver, doesn't matter what one it is a error screen appears telling me to load signed drivers and the hard disks do not appear...

I will try this the resolution you posted tommorow and will post back results

The raid controller has f6 drivers(Mass storage) that must be unzipped to the root of a cd or floppy or usb flash drive. Which drivers depends on whether you are using the onboard INTEL controller or the H310/H710 SAS controller.   If that is the controller you have to initialize the raid container CTRL R bios format before installing the f6 drivers.  

This package provides the driver for Intel C600 SCU Storage Controller and is supported on Precision T series running the following Windows Operating system Windows: Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 (32/64-bit).

http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER01066332M/3/RSTe_f6_X5W2D_A02_ZPE.exe

 http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=0TM0H&

The F6 driver is 156K in 4 files.

DRVR_SAS_Dell_PERC8_Win7_X64_A01_setup-0TM0H_ZPE.exe

File Format:Hard-Drive

Dell Spare Part Number (PN): HV52W.

Windows Explorer supports native viewing of CAB contents. Users can 
also use WinZip to examine the contents of the cab. Optionally 
Microsoft provides a couple of tools via the Windows XP Service Pack 2 
Support Tools to examine the cabinet files. Extraction tools (CabArc 
and Extract) are available from Microsoft at the following location:

www.microsoft.com/.../details.aspx
FamilyId=49AE8576-9BB9-4126-9761-BA8011FABF38&displaylang=en. 

- CAB Management Tool from Microsoft 
 Using CabArc to extract the driver contents and maintain directory 
 structure:
 CabArc.exe -p x *.* 
 (e.g. C:\CabArc.exe -p x C:\ *.* C:\drivers\) 

- Extract Utility from Microsoft
 Once you are in the directory where you want to extract, enter the 
 following command: extract /Y /E 

Precision T3600 DRIVER CAB VERSION A00 FGP4N

Hi there I have tried installing the DRVR_SAS_Dell_PERC8_Win7_X64_A01_setup-0TM0H_ZPE.exe

I have extracted the contents to a usb drive

during the windows installation I select the drivers to load

The installation then scans and I am greeted with the following error:

To continue installation use the load driver option to install 32 bit and signed 64 bit drivers

No matter what driver I throw at this thing that's the same message I keep getting and cannot progress through the windows installation.

This means we need to look for a WHQL signed version.  

Dell PERC H310/H710P Adapter Controller Driver

for Precision Workstations and is supported on Precision Tx600 series

You also have to PRE Configure in BIOS CTRL R

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN299153

There are 2 versions X86 and X64

DRVR_SAS_Dell_PERC8-NY8FH_Win7_X86_WHQL_setup_ZPE.exe

DRVR_SAS_Dell_PERC8-1NDRW_XP_X64_WHQL_setup_ZPE.exe

DRVR_SAS_Dell_PERC8-6MJ1H_Vista_X64_WHQL_setup_ZPE.exe

the 40 meg file is not the file the 156K file is. there are 2 files on the page.

Hard-Drive

http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER00575782M/9/DRVR_SAS_Dell_PERC8-6MJ1H_Vista_X64_WHQL_setup_ZPE.exe

Hi slowly making progress I managed to configure a RAID-1 array

I then got the Windows installation to detect the hard disks with the drivers provided.

However the machine restars goes to boot and I am greeted with a Windows failed to start error.

The machine is set to ATA and Legacy boot in the BIOS and the Raid array is configured as the boot device.

Any ideas?

Many Thanks

Still having problems chaps, I have tried allsorts of settings changing the sata operation in the bios, numerous reinstall of Windows 7 and same problem.

I have setup raid-0 and initialized both drives

loaded the DRVR_SAS_Dell_PERC8-NY8FH_Win7_X86_WHQL_setup_ZPE.exe

Windows installs fine

I then reboot the machine and the boots you see the windows logo attempt to load and the machine restarts.

How do I get this to boot? :)

Try to create up to date Windows 7 Installation Media with USB 3.0 support and updated Storage Controller drivers:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/f/3524/t/19999620