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2 Intern
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109 Posts
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210954
January 27th, 2015 00:00
AW17 R2, old raid? Need new BIOS.
Being bored, and looking at the initial bios now that its on the website, while looking at the BIOS structure for the AW17 R2 Bios version A00, I have to ask being a new machine, why did the engineers use "Intel(R) RAID for SATA - v10.0.0.1046"?? We have M.2 cards and this BIOS will not support proper TRIM support, nor proper RAID support with these cards. Since the M.2 looks to be Sata3 based and not PCIe based, why the decision to use a RAID OROM that's from 2010??? Can we get at least a v13 raid orom without modifying the BIOS and voiding warranty for BIOS A01? This is using HM87 Express and therefore, 12.8 and lower isn't even properly supported!! Otherwise, we can't use proper RAID with the m.2 cards without definite data loss.. Thanks.
Update: M18X R2 BIOS A11, RAID Orom is v11.6.0.1702....
AW17 R1 BIOS A14 has v12.0.0.1783
AW18 BIOS A10 has v12.0.0.1783 also
So, why does AW17 R2 have v10.0.0.1046?? Possibly just an oversight? Can this be passed on to a Dell Engineer? This makes no sense and it won't allow us to use our M.2 drives in a proper and SAFE RAID without 13.0 or higher. Thanks again!
Alienware-Joe
671 Posts
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January 27th, 2015 09:00
Hi,
Thank you for spotting that.
I'll go ahead and take that feedback and pass it on to our engineers, I'll see if I can get an answer to this.
LordZog
2 Intern
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109 Posts
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January 27th, 2015 10:00
Thanks!
Alienware-Joe
671 Posts
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January 30th, 2015 08:00
I'm still waiting for a response, I'll keep you posted though.
LordZog
2 Intern
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109 Posts
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January 31st, 2015 01:00
Thanks Jose
Alienware-Joe
671 Posts
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February 2nd, 2015 14:00
Have you gotten any response or have they contacted you yet?
LordZog
2 Intern
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109 Posts
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February 2nd, 2015 21:00
No, I haven't received anything. The website still shows the first released BIOS as well, A00.
Alienware-Joe
671 Posts
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February 4th, 2015 15:00
I went ahead and talked to them one more time,
It seems they might be releasing a new BIOS version up until March, almost near April.
They already have a copy of this thread's link, so hopefully they will check these things up.
Thanks for the feedback.
LordZog
2 Intern
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109 Posts
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February 5th, 2015 00:00
Thanks for letting me know. My concern now is, what do we do till then if we want to raid our cards? TRIM won't be supported as soon as we make an array. The Intel Rapid Storage software that's on Dell's site is 13.1, and we MIGHT see an update in March?... I'm actually quite shocked and disappointed that these machines give us the "best" specs available in a laptop format, but the internal BIOS is using outdated ORom's limiting us in some features, and even the best speeds.. I haven't checked the others in the BIOS and now I'm afraid of what I might find. :( (Like the Video ORom and such)..
EDIT: Go ahead and considered this fixed. I've gone ahead and updated all the EFI modules myself for my BIOS. Now to just figure out to unlock the RAID option since the ORom is there, but no option to raid in BIOS. A removed feature? Why!? Thanks!
LordZog
2 Intern
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109 Posts
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February 19th, 2015 03:00
Sorry to bump this, but it seems A02 has Rapid Storage 13.2.0.2134 now. But, we need an option to enable this.. Can you ask them why this was disabled? Being an Aptio V Bios this is an easy fix with the Ami software, but for us, we can't just unlock this option yet. Thanks!!
LordZog
2 Intern
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109 Posts
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March 5th, 2015 21:00
Hate to bump this, but any news on a RAID 0 option? Looking in the Intel rapid storage software in Windows, the ports are properly seen, just can't create a RAID array and the OpRom is in the BIOS so this option is already there, just no option to enable it..
Also, Intel Rapid Storage is useless installed unless your using RAID, but its been pre-installed by Dell, this is why I thought the BIOS was just an oversight as the OpRom was installed also...
I have 4 512GB SSD m.2s installed but I would love to enable RAID 0 on the system to get more speed.
Thanks!
Jason Hong
7 Posts
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March 9th, 2015 02:00
Do you know when they will update new BIOS with Raid 0 ? I just order new 17 today ! They said can not do Raid 0 and a lot problem with 180 W apdepter - try to switch 240W or 330W !
LordZog
2 Intern
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109 Posts
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March 9th, 2015 21:00
As of this moment, there is no publicly available BIOS with Raid support for the Echo line (The current AW laptop line).
Adapter makes no difference sadly, I have a 180W and a 330W... :(
Why Dell hasn't released anything for RAID is unknown to me. I am waiting for one more tool from a friend then I will do it myself if needed.
LordZog
2 Intern
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109 Posts
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March 9th, 2015 22:00
The XP941 m.2 SSD won't work, it's PCIe based, only sata based work. The EVO 850 will work fine. And you only need to change adapter if you're using a 980m.
Jason Hong
7 Posts
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March 9th, 2015 22:00
Thank you for your rely ! I already try to call dell about M.2 SSD but they really don't know Samsung XP941 or Plextor will work on new Alienware 17 r2 or not ! But i checked all website look like it doesn't work ! So I think to get Samsung EVO 850 MZ-N5E250BW SATA III 250gb ! Do you think that ok for speed ? Do I need to replace 240w apdepter from dell ?
Jason Hong
7 Posts
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March 9th, 2015 23:00
Ok thank so much ! What your memory speed ? Do you think Cossair 1866 and 2133 MHz will work both on Alienware ?