Can't get my HDDs in Raid to appear in Fresh Vista Install.

Hello,

I'll try and explain my situation as best as I can.

I have an:
Intel 975XBX Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13GHz
2GB Ram
1x250 GB HDD in SATA
2x250 GB HDD in Raid



I had my PC running Windows XP MCE, I inserted my new VISTA DVD and formatted my C:\. Then when I tried to install Vista onto the newly formatted C, I kept getting an error stating This partition is not windows-compatible".

I then checked some forums who told me to unplug my Raid drives and then have just my C show up in the list and then install Vista that way. So it worked and I Installed Vista. I then ran windows update and got all my updates including the Raid Driver update. I plugged the power back to my two HDDs but they will not show up.

I checked in my bios to confirm if Raid was selected or not. It was not so then I switched the setting from SATA as IDE to SATA as RAID. But when I do this, windows will not boot, I get stuck in a perpetual cycle; just as windows is going to start to load, my PC reboots.

I did not format my F:\ (the two HDDs in Raid) as I had moved files there to store during the installation. I am worried now because these files are important pictures, music, resumes, etc.

Does anyone know what I can do, or what I haven't yet done to get my two HDDs in raid to work again?

Thanks in advance.

 

Anyone?