Cannot use Intel Rapid Storage Technology to "Accelerate," MSATA drive disappears.

Bster131

Here is Dells Whitepaper on IRST

en.community.dell.com/.../dell-whitepaper-intel-responsiveness-technologies-setup-guide.aspx

This will give you step by step instructions.   For Rapid start to work a 8192 hibernate partition will need to be created on the mSATA drive. Be sure that you have configured the system for Smart Response before creating the hibernate partition.  So you will need to follow the directions for Smart Response first and then Rapid Start.

If you continue to have problems please shoot me a private message with the service tag of the notebook.

TB

Hello Terry, thanks for the quick response.  Unfortunately I cannot even get Smart Response going.  You can see in my original post, it errors out.  The Dell tech (Manpreet) who helped over Chat states that I may have to reseat the MSATA card.  I am worried I am going to strip the chassis where all the small screws go as the back cover has been removed many times at this point (previously a Dell tech came to replace the wireless card and the antenna ).  If you have any other suggestions please let me know.  Thanks!

So at the suggesting of Dell Chat, I reseated the MSATA drive even though it is screwed into the motherboard and there is not way for it to get lose:

http://i45.tinypic.com/2dri1c4.jpg

I then went to the command prompt and used the DISKPART command to CLEAN and OFFLINE the disk to reset it.  Once I ran the CLEAN and OFFLINE command, the MSATA once again disappears:

http://oi46.tinypic.com/syo5yv.jpg

I would now like to return this laptop.  It has been opened up by the Dell tech multiple times and by myself as well, two of the screws on the back cover are now stripped out and I've spent more time troubleshooting the laptop that actually using it.  Dell technical support on the forum, over the phone, and through Chat have been very professional ,but I am disappointed in Dell and their QA process for refurbished laptops.

Bster131

From the factory the MSATA drive is set up to be a cache drive via Intel Smart Response.  The MSATA drive should only be seen in device manager.  If IRST is set up correctly, the MSATA drive should never show up in “my computer”.  If a drive was set up correctly to start with and the settings in the Intel software are changed it can make things complicated to get everything working correctly again.

I have sent you a private message, please reply when you get a chance and I will be happy to research possible options.

TB

I'm having the same issues, has a resolution been found to this problem?

Many thanks

Stuart

Stuart

What problems are you having with IRST? If IRST has been configured correctly from the factory the MSATA drive will be set up as a cache drive to speed up system performance.  The MSATA drive should show up in the BIOS and in device manager but if IRST have been set up correctly you should not see it at all under "Computer".

I may be able to help but I am not sure what you are trying to accomplish with IRST.   Have you noticed that the MSATA drive isn't cached and you are trying to configure it so that it does become a cache drive, or do you want to set up the MSATA drive as additional storage or as a boot drive?

TB

Hi Terry,

Please see my post attached detailing my problem. I'm trying to accelerate my 500GB drive using my SSD drive as a cache. but get errors when trying to select the drive I want to accelerate. 

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19500588.aspx

In device manager the are 2 disk drives showing, a "Hitatchi HTS545050A7E380" and an "Intel raid 0 Volume"

I had the dell support guys remote in to my machine today. They uninstalled and reinstalled the IRST software to ensure they are the latest version.They also split my SSD in to 2 partitions (11GB and 19GB) but this still hasn't resolved the issue.

They are currently posting me recovery disks (as none came with my machine) and they want me to do a factory reset. I'm not convinced this will solve my problems though.

Thanks

Stuart

Stuart

Since a raid 0 array is showing up in the device manager it looks like a cache has been created sometime in the past but has been corrupted and is now inaccessible.

If you are able to open IRST, and click the Acceleration button what does it read,  Does it give the current Status.  What options do you have under Acceleration Configuration?  Does it show any accelerated devices?  If it does show accelerated devices are any shown as Inaccessible.  Do you have an option to disassociate any accelerated devices?

If any accelerated devices are listed and they are listed an Inaccessible you will need to disassociate it.  Please have your data backed up before doing so. This will return the MSATA drive to a blank non accelerated state where you can use the IRST software and create a new cache.

Having recovery media sent out to you is a good step and are likely going to be needed. If possible take a screen shot on how the accelerate screen in IRST looks on your system and post it here and we can go from there.

TB

Hi Terry

I can oper IRST but after selecting enable acceleration I get the following selection box:

Once I select OK, it makes the SSD drive a cache drive but I then get the following error "An unknown error occurred while an operation was in progress. The operation could not be completed" 

When I got to the Acceleration tab, it states that no device is accelerated and if I try to selcet a drive I get the same erro. 

I will post some screen shots of my actual  PC shortly.

Regards

Stuart

Esswgee

Did you try the 18.6 GB partition, that is the size of the hibernate partition that Dell generally formats at the factory?  Do you get the error when choose the 18.6 GB partition.

Have you upgraded any of the drives in the system?   I checked your other post, is this description of your system?

Hi

I have just received my Inspiron 14z ultrabook with 32GB SSD and 500GB SATA HDD straight from the Dell Refurb Outlet.

The reason I ask is that on the screen shot that you provided it is currently showing a drive over a terabyte in size and a 64 GB sized SSD drive.  If you have added or changed disks without disabling acceleration you may need to follow the steps below.

• Boot to Bios (F2)

• Change Sata operation to AHCI

• Save settings and Exit

• As soon as the system boots up tap the F8 key to go into Advanced options

• Choose option Repair my computer

• Wait for 3 – 5 minutes on the black screen until the system shows up recovery options

• On System Recovery option click next

• On user name / password option click next (if password has been set for primary user please enter the right password)

• On System Recovery Option screen ------> Select Command Prompt

• At Command prompt type in Diskpart

• Type LIST DISK  You should see 2 Disks listed like below

o Note down the right DISK number for the next steps. On some systems the Msata HDD would be either Disk 1 or Disk 0

• Type SELECT DISK 0 (Whichever is mSATA drive)

o It should say DISK 0 is selected

• Type Clean

o This should clean the mSATA HDD

• Type OFFLINE Disk

o This should make the Disk Offline

• Type EXIT

• RESTART

• On Restart go into BIOS (F2) and change SATA back to Intel Smart Response Technology

• Click save and exit  and Restart

• Option Rom should pop up – Press Ctrl + I

• Press R to disable acceleration and 6 to Exit

• Boot into Windows Normally

After this, try to accelerate the drive and see if you continue to get the errors.

TB

Hi Terry,

I used another persons screen shot as I couldnt get mine to work. In Windows 8 When I go in to the advanced options I do not get a "repair my computer option". I only get the following:

System Restore

System Image Recovery

Automatic Repair

Command Prompt

UEFI Firmware Settings

Startup Settings

Cheers

Stuart

If you are using Windows 8 media it may read Automatic Repair.   Please shoot me a private message, just click on the link in my name and then click start conversation.  In the email please include the service tag of the notebook, and a read out on what was shipped with the system if you have one available so I can verify what system model, software and hardware.

Thanks

TB

Terry,

Thank you for your support. I re installed windows and the drivers and ran diskpart during the install. It is all working fine now.

Best Regards

Stuart