Raid Problem

OK so I am fixing yet another friends PC. It has a Gigabyte GA-7N400 PRO2 motherboard and 2 Maxtor IDE 80Gb's in a RAID configuration. It is causing an error on start up: lsass.exe - System Error "Security Accounts Manager initialization failed because of the following error: The handle is invalid. Error Status: 0xc0000008. Please click OK to shutdown the system and reboot into Safe Mode, check the event log for more detailed information. so I was going to go to the recovery console and replace the SAM file. But when I try to do this it doesn't recognise any HD's? It does in the BIOS, so I am a bit miffed. I can't get into Windows or safe mode due to this error. Can anyone help me regarding the XP disk not seeing the HD's? much appreciated (I should also add I don't know much about RAID at all)

nobody has any ideas then?

Here's Microsoft's solution:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=316751
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Here's Pretty much the same procedure posted as a solution at TechSpot Forum:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-4…0xc0000008.html

Using any XP Home or Professional installation disk ( can be borrowed from someone else if you don't have one ) boot from the CD.
When asked, go to the recovery console.
Follow the instructions to log into your windows installation. The administrator they are referring to is the built-in administrator user account. By default there is no password unless you gave it one.
At the C:\Windows command prompt type the following instructions:

cd system32\config
ren sam sam.old
(if the system cannot find this file, don't worry, just continue)
copy c:\windows\repair\sam

Reboot.

You can do either of the above without making any special considerations for your RAID array, since Windows treats the array as if it is a Single Drive.

Best Regards

Yes I have already found all of the above, but I don't think you read my problem. I cannot get into the recovery console because it says there are no hard drives there when I hit R in the Windows XP menu when I boot off the disk. This happened to me with another RAID system before and thats why I put it down to that, maybe I am wrong. It reads the HD's OK in the BIOS and loads them if I try to boot to windows, but only goes as far as the logon screen due to the other problem I face. Why is it not reading the HD's when booting off the XP disk? These are ATA drives and not SATA

You correctly point out, and I realize that I referred to a "solution" that could work only if your Windows was recognizing the Hard Drives. It is "possible" that you could use a bootable Linux CD. (Bart PE for instance) If when booted from the Linux CD bootable OS, you could then "see" the Windows hidden files, you could theoretically, copy the SAM file from:c:\windows\repair and place it in c:\windows\system32\config. - Problem solved. If you are unable to do the above, then one expert that I've consulted recommends that his firm routinely goes the route of Repair installation of Windows for this type of problem, (note: you must also install your RAID controllers from Floppy Drive during the process) Sorry I don't have a better magic bullet. Best Regards