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rupert_hollom

10 Posts

142104

January 23rd, 2008 16:00

XPS 420 SATA RAID and drive failing

I have recently bought an XPS 420 with 4GB RAM, and an Intel SATA RAID controller with a pair of 320GB drives in RAID 1 configuration running Vista Home premium
 
Sometimes the machine claims that one of the drives has failed, but (on the recommendation of a Dell support technician) I can go into the Intel Matrix Storage Manager software and mark the drive as active (or similar wording) then all is OK for a while, sometimes a number of hours, sometimes days and then it all happens again.
 
I was informed by Dell that this was a driver issue, can someone confirm this and also what Dell is doing to sort this issue out as the machine become very slow when the array is being rebuilt.  Is it possible that the drives are failing but the software can bring them back online for short periods?
 
If this is a known issue, I am rather disappointed that it wasn't flagged up when ordering the system.
 
Any pointers or info on this would be appreciated.
 
THanks,
Rupert.
 

TRCrook

4 Posts

March 5th, 2008 09:00

I've just come off the phone with a dell technician who has this time decided to send me out a pair of new hdd's. I don't know whether these will be the Seagate ones as previously mentioned, but I was assured the same issues I've been experiencing with the Samsung HDD's & Dells RAID configuration would not apply to these new hdd's.

 

My question is has anyone else had the replacement hdd's for longer than a fortnight, & if so has replacing the hdd's resolved the problem?

nigelwill

32 Posts

March 5th, 2008 10:00

I was sent Seagate drives to replace my Samsungs so I re-installed from the Dell Vista DVD. This time, I setup the array as a RAID 1 mirror to give some protection against failures.

In the first 2 days, the PC crashed twice with a RAID error and had to re-build the array. Since then, it was OK for about 7-10 days (although I didn't use it much). But it has locked up twice in the last 3 days and had to be hard-reset.

So although it is behaving better than before, it is far from being fixed.

TRCrook

4 Posts

March 5th, 2008 10:00

How about not setting up a RAID array at all & having 2 separate 320's? Will that ensure stability? I know its not what I paid for, but all I want really is a working PC.

 

I bought this to replace a less than stable PC I built over 5 years ago, I just want a PC that I can trust to run, without the need for constant maintenance, is it so much to ask?!

 

Or get Dell to send me a single 500Gb in replacement for the 2x320's (which I can run without an array), coupled with a refund worth 140gb!

Shootyz

6 Posts

March 5th, 2008 12:00

Latest update for me is that I upgraded to the latest intel chipset drivers from the intel site and everything was ok for about 2 weeks, not that I was using my PC that much but I've now had 2 hangups ( solid blue HD light ) in the last few days. No errors on the Samsung drives though and I can reboot into Vista say once before it hangs again, then I go through the process of not being able to boot at all even to safe mode, it seems to hang after the RAID bios display. If I leave it long enough it looks as if a recovery process kicks in because I couldn't load windows and that reverts things to normal.

Im eagerly awaiting a response from Dell to this thread.

nigelwill

32 Posts

March 5th, 2008 13:00

That's interesting, until now I'd assumed the problem was with the Vista drivers for the Matrix controller, but it seems to affect XP Pro also. As I said above, mine seems to be more reliable in RAID 1 mirror than the original stripe configuration and can work fine for 10 straight days..... but then it will die 3 days running!

didfra

7 Posts

March 5th, 2008 13:00

Maybe it could help...

I use a RAID1 config with 2 samsung HD501LJ (500Go) under win XP pro.

until now i have had a lot of RAID1 failures through the ich9r controler.

10 days ago i tried to populate the third sata port with an other hd501LJ to see what's happened.

SATA#0 --> HD501LJ (RAID1)

SATA#1 --> HD501LJ (RAID1)

SATA#2 --> HD501LJ (NON-RAID)

SATA#3 --> OFF

SATA#4 --> CD/DVD

 

And ............. no failure since this test!!

 

 

DELL-Chris M

Community Manager

 • 

54.2K Posts

March 5th, 2008 16:00

All,

The new firmware (R180581.exe) to fix the raid errors is in testing. When we have validated the fix, we will post the file. I have no ETA on a release date.

.Redeye

1 Message

March 7th, 2008 18:00

I bought my XPS 420 (dual Samsung HDDS) and have been running a RAID 0 setup.  I have had exactly these issues with a message saying that 'A drive in a RAID 0 volume is failing' and have had to rebuild by array and restore everything 2 time (as advised by the XPS tech people).  I have just started getting this message and one of the HDDs is marked as an error occurred.  I assume this would be the same sort of problems everyone has been describing in this thread..

So, should I just wait for the patch and mark the drives as normal via Intel Storage Manager or do I need to rebuild the arrays again?

Disco74

2 Posts

March 8th, 2008 09:00

Hi Guys

This might be old news but I thought I would share anyway. I bought my XPS 420 IN January. I too have had lots of problems with my raid 0 config failing. After lots of phone calls to Dell and rebuilding my system 3 times they finally decided that it could be a harddrive failing. They sent out a tech guy with one western digital hdd (i did have two samsungs) and he changed out the hdd that kept getting the error on it. After a bit of a chat with the guy he told me that 95% of the time he had to fix a xps 420, it was to replace the hdd's. He then went on to say that Dell know what the problem is. Apparently its the intel matrix software. He said that you can load the intel matrix drivers ok but it is the actual software part that is the problem. He also said that the problem is being worked on and there should be a new version out this month sometime. He proceeded to fit the new hdd and reload everything. He installed the intel matrix drivers but not the actual software and (touch wood!) everything has been fine with my PC for the past week.

Hope this is of some help to all the people that have been mugged off by Dell so far!

Shootyz

6 Posts

March 9th, 2008 21:00

Had another 2 hangups/solid drive lights this weekend, noticed though that if you leave your PC alone for quite a while, say hour plus you get control back, your drive is marked errored but you can just mark it normal and

 continue on as normal, there must be a time out going on somewhere with the errored drive. If you reboot while the PC is hung it leads to all sorts of problems so some patience may save a RAID rebuild.

 

Regards the post above with one Western Digital drive being installed, my mate got his 420 replaced recently and it came with 1 Western digital drive and 1 samsung installed, will have to see if he has the Matrix software installed. 

Seajayshome

31 Posts

March 9th, 2008 22:00

I noticed that too... if you do reboot, and it gets stuck on the windows vista startup black screen (with the 'cylon eye'), you can leave it there and eventually it will do the same, and windows will start up, allowing you to mark as normal and do an array rebuild - it just takes longer to get there (mine took 3 hours instead of the 45 minutes or so it takes if you leave it going while you're logged in).

TRCrook

4 Posts

March 10th, 2008 09:00

To update - i've installed the new Seagate HDD's but in a non-RAID configuration - i'm fed up of the problems & will just sit it out until the manufacturers of this farce come up with an Intel Matrix console that actually works. If this doesn't happen by the end of the month (3 months after purchase) I will be seeking a satisfactory replacement - i'm afraid this isn't good enough, you can't expect to sell a PC that DOESN'T WORK & get away with it.

Onyx_08

6 Posts

March 12th, 2008 19:00

Three weeks straight running with the Seagate Barracuda Gen. 7200.11 and RAID 0 - no drive errorrs or system hangs. I have been running a couple of heavy design projects with intense use of the computer and everything has been optimal! (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign - high res images for print press)

But I must say that i don't sleep well knowing the history of the XPS420 and its drives; I do not put too much faith into luck - wish that DELL could post a comment on what the problem really is - not just guessing and hoping we "the customers" will solve it for them!? I know there is a "fix" soon to be released - but what is this fix and what/how does this resolve the issues stated on this message board? Does it only apply for the Samsung Drives og is it good for ED and Seagate as well. I would say that over one month is too long solving a problem that should have been found before the box was released!

This is my first DELL - and I can assure you all that I will NEVER again by any product from Dell this being private or professional. Might be the fact that I live in Norway and the customer support here is of a lower standard than the rest of the world but I got one word, that is APPOLING! And the fact that they sell a product with a system flaw of this magnetude is beyond comprehension and clearly shows a lack of respect for their customers.

The time I have spent on the the 420 both configuring, diagnosing, reinstalling, support call ques etc. has cost me well over twice the price I payed for this "beta box."

I just really hope there are some out there who has gotten a working system!

...and sorry for the LONG post - just needed to blow some steam as I find this to be plain silly.

 

SatanR1

4 Posts

March 12th, 2008 21:00

Onyx, I agree with everything you have said .... as I am in the same boat, design projects ... websites etc.

 

It's a joke, and it really winds me up that comanys this big choose to ignore the customers!!

didfra

7 Posts

March 13th, 2008 05:00

I full agree with you !!

i work in a consulting company, and this story with DELL will make them lose a lot of customers.

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