Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
10 Posts
0
142104
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.
yann.r
20 Posts
0
March 29th, 2008 05:00
To All :
Updated New Intel Matrix Storage Manager, v.7.8.0.1012, A16, is availableHERE(Nothing new here. my mistake)Samsung HD501LJ 500GB Lead Free SATA2 HDD firmware CR100-13 has been made officially available by Dell HERE
Regards,
Yann
Seajayshome
31 Posts
0
March 30th, 2008 17:00
For some reason there appear to be two releases...
The original A00, R180581 release:
http://support.euro.dell.com/support/downloads/format.aspx?releaseid=R180581
and another A01, R182525 release:
http://support.euro.dell.com/support/downloads/format.aspx?releaseid=R182525
They appear to both have the same firmware update (CP100-13 and CR100-13) though?
Deci
1 Message
0
March 31st, 2008 16:00
I have the same problem which started last week. I phoned Dell XPS support which installed the Intel and the Samsung driver fix and for a while it was all good. However, this morning the RAID array is failing again. Has the fix fixed your computers?
This is my first computer in 6 years and so I'm not sure what I should do next.
brl21
10 Posts
0
April 1st, 2008 07:00
I have been having the same issues with my xps 420, purchased a few months ago. First RAID 0 error occurred this weekend after I transferred some photos from my digital camera.
I have been having other problems with random freezes for the past couple of months, mostly just on desktop, sometimes in games. I have tried everything I can think of to fix both problems. Updated BIOS to A03, updated chipset, updated every driver. I thought the BIOS updated had resolved the freezing issue but it returned a couple of weeks later.
For the RAID error I attempted to install the samsung firmware update only to find out that I actually have seagate hard drives installed (which is weird seeing as everyone seems to have samsungs as standard) I really dont want to do anything that is going to wipe my HDDs, especially as rebuilding the RAID/ formatting/ replacing the hard drives doesnt seem to work! Updating the Intel controller software to 7.8 also, and again that did nothing to help.
Does anyone know if there is a similar firmware update for the seagate hard drives, or any other solution I can try? I think it is a real shame that Dell released this system with so many problems - I have owned other Dells in the past and was very happy with them, particularly their reliability. Making the step up to XPS I expected Dell to provide me with an even more reliable system, or atleast one that has been thoroughly tested first! I just hope that they will address the RAID issues for all their hard drives makes - IT ISNT JUST THE SAMSUNG HARD DRIVES THAT HAVE THIS PROBLEM!!! :smileysad:
brl21
10 Posts
0
April 1st, 2008 09:00
It seems that the make of the hard drive has nothing to do with the problem. Dell need to produce a universal fix for the 420 - there is no point providing a firmware fix for just samsung drives as many people either have since swapped these out, or didnt have them in the first place! With these issues being so common in the xps 420 this is something that seriously needs to be addressed - I'm not talking a recall or refunds, but some kind of patch or update that actually resolves these issues with random freezing/ RAID failing and so on. The 420 is a new system that Dell seem set as using as a 'flagship' for their site - in advertising and selling these systems Dell need to step it up and iron out these kinks or stop selling them!
Can a Dell representative let us know if any other fixes are in development for the non-samsung HDDs?
Does anyone know if there are any seagate firmware updates out there that might help? Any help would be much appreciated!
Message Edited by brl21 on 04-01-2008 02:12 PM
nigelwill
32 Posts
0
April 1st, 2008 09:00
I've had the 420 since Janauary and have been having the same problems. Like you, I have updated every bit of software, but the problem persists. Dell support seem to be unable to resolve the problem, and most recently have suggested that it is the Samsung drives that are at fault. But my drives were swapped out for Seagate and I re-installed with a RAID 1 mirror, but again, the problem persists.
So yes, I am extremely disappointed that Dell has released a premium XPS PC with such a common problem and do not seem to be doing anything about it.
nigelwill
32 Posts
0
April 8th, 2008 22:00
Well the problem continues with no sign of a fix from Dell, now they have my money, they just don't seem to care. I actualy had an e-mail from Dell earlier asking me to rate the XPS 420. I was honest, without being abusive, but I doubt it will appear on the website! Shame I wasn't able to give 0 star rating for reliability!
Any fix for Dell XP420 with Dell supplied Seagate drives? Hello.... Anyone? (Is this thing on?).
PSYCHOOO
14 Posts
0
April 9th, 2008 00:00
lol, it might sound funny but change them to samsung through supprort and then apply the fix.
Regards, fix working so far.
Gregg B
brl21
10 Posts
0
April 9th, 2008 06:00
yann.r
20 Posts
0
April 9th, 2008 08:00
Hello Nigelwill,
Have you been able to give a try to the new A04 Bios?
Dell XPS 420 System BIOS - A04
Not sure this is intented to solve HDD issues...
brl21
10 Posts
0
April 9th, 2008 10:00
nigelwill
32 Posts
0
April 9th, 2008 10:00
RetRoe
23 Posts
0
April 10th, 2008 07:00
Well y'all had Samsung drives and then some of ya that had them replaced with Seagate? I can't relate because I just went into Device Manager and looked and guess what came in my Dell XPS 420? Neither of those! Mine states it's running: WDC WDC3200AAKS-75VYA0 which is a Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB HDD. Gee, I wonder why Dell loaded it with this particular drive when y'all say your came with Samsung drives?
I only have a single drive so obviously no RAID array here. But I have not noticed any freezing or lockups so far. Also, obviously I'm not upgrading firmware on my drive unless I find a reason to do so. And my BIOS is A03.
If I wanted to add another HDD, I don't know, but I don't think I'd be able to run it in a RAID array now unless I wanted to reformat and reinstall Vista. So for now all is good.
nigelwill
32 Posts
0
April 10th, 2008 10:00
I've done all the upgrades including the BIOS. No idea if it has made a difference yet, it can work for 5 days in a row then crash twice in an hour!
But I will post back in a week with any good/bad news!
MVick71
8 Posts
0
April 10th, 2008 10:00
Way, way back on page 10, I got the raging hump with my XPS's inability to manage my RAID1 disks, so I broke the RAID (just an aside, if you have RAID 1 and you do this, you don't need to reinstall. You get 2 disks with the same data. Just blow away the 2nd disk).
I've now been running with bog standard single disks (admittedly, not whatI really wanted) and everything has been fine for 2 months now.
Just thought I'd let you all know.