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Dell XPS 8500 32GB MSATA factory configuration
I just purchased a refurbished DELL XPS 8500 desktop with a 2TB hard drive and a 32GB MSATA SSD, but I'm not certain the hard drives were configured properly from the factory. In the BIOS, the machine is configured for AHCI. The machine came with Windows 8, which is installed on the 2TB drive (C drive, labeled OS) and nothing is on the 32GB drive (K drive, labeled DATAPART1); the SSD is empty showing 29.7GB of available space. The machine is in it's factory state with nothing else installed.
Is this 32GB SSD configured properly for caching?
I've tried to looked in the Intel Rapid Storage Technology, but the interface is not installed on the machine. If I try to install newest version of the Intel Rapid Storage Technology from either Dell's XPS8500 driver site and Intel's site, in both cases I get a warning that the AHCI driver that will be installed is older than what I currently have installed with the option to install the driver or not install the driver. If I do not install the driver, the installation stops without installing anything. If I do install the driver, Intel Smart Response Technology is installed, but upon reboot Windows will not start and I have to restore the machine to it's original state. I've tried changing the BIOS to use RAID and then tried the install again, but I get a similar warning, this time stating that the RAID driver that will be installed is older than what I currently have installed; I did not try to continue with the install after I got this RAID warning due to my experience when I had AHCI set up. I have since reverted by to AHCI as it was the factory default.
Also, I have two additional questions:
I with want the SSD to cache, or boot the OS, so I looked into installing Windows 8 onto the SSD, I unplugged the 2TB drive and booted the machine, but I could not get the Windows 8 Recovery disk provided by Dell to run when the 2TB drive was not present. Is this because I'm using a Recovery disk and not a true Windows 8 disk, or is this a limitation of the system?
I noticed that I was not provided with a sticker with my Windows 8 key; I know how to determine the key and have already done so. I was curious if this is correct, or if Dell just a mistake and didn't give me the key?
DELL-Rajath N
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1.8K Posts
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March 22nd, 2013 02:00
Hi ekeown,
I appreciate your efforts to configure the mSATA SSD. You will need to format the SSD by following the steps that I have provided in the following post:
http://dell.to/YHvNS8
You will need to download and install the IRST application from our drivers download web site, change the SATA Operation setting in BIOS to RAID and enable acceleration.
The 2TB hard drive contains the recovery partition that the recovery disk accesses to restore the system to factory defaults and hence the option could not be used without the drive.
Windows 8 Product Key is stored in the motherboard BIOS and it would be read automatically by the Windows installation.
Please let me know if you need further assistance.
ekeown
3 Posts
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March 22nd, 2013 07:00
Thank you Rajath!
Your instructions allowed me to properly set up IRST and enable acceleration, this was exactly what I needed.
Mlang2000
4 Posts
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March 31st, 2013 18:00
I just went through this exact same thing with a Windows 8 machine. Why did Dell ship these XPS 8500's without the mSATA properly configured and without the IRST installed?
I attempted to download and install the IRST from Dell's site & got the warning that the driver that will be installed is older than what I currently have installed. I trusted Dell's site, installed it and ended up in a boot loop and lost everything having to do a refresh. It took me another 4 hours of installing all my software all over again.
I want no chances of losing everything again so I want to make sure I have this 100% correct...
I'm keeping the OS installed on the 2TB drive and I've also added a 2nd 2TB drive.
1. I need to format the mSATA as a Hibernation partition as described here:
http://dell.to/YHvNS8
2. After doing that, I can safely download & install the IRST version
PV 11.5.0.1207, A00 from Dell's site?
3. Will I still get the warning about it being older than what I have?
4. Then I need to boot into the BIOS & change AHCI to RAID?
5. There is no chance of losing everything again...right? Where did I go wrong the first time? Was it all because the mSATA was not formatted with a Hibernation partition? If there's any chance of losing it all again, I won't even bother.
Thank You
Mlang2000
4 Posts
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March 31st, 2013 19:00
One more thing...
I couldn't initialize the mSATA because I had already set it up for readyboost thinking that's what it was for. But I was able to format it again and create the hibernation partition. I'm wasn't sure if it was setup as MBR or not, but there's a greyed out "convert to GPT" option so I think I'm OK there.
Looking forward to confirming my next steps with no chance at a refresh again...
Thanks!
ekeown
3 Posts
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March 31st, 2013 20:00
It is unfortunate that Dell didn't format these drives properly, my only thought it too many people complained that the msata didn't show up when they looked at their drives, as once you have this set up properly it is no longer listed in Windows Explorer. The positive was that Dell was very quick to assist and provide me with clear instructions to resolve the issue.
All the steps you have are correct. Install the latest IRST package from Dell, and you will still get the warning, but because you formatted the drive for a hibernation partition and switch over to RAID before Windows boots you will be fine and not stuck in a boot loop, at least per my experience.
I did not lose anything when i did it, but I didn't have much installed after having to already refresh to get out of the boot loop.
Good luck. I hope all of this works out for you and I'm glad my question may possibly help someone else out, as I was couldn't find anything about this problem.
Mlang2000
4 Posts
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April 1st, 2013 07:00
ekeown,
Thanks for the reply. I may need to have a couple drinks before I try this again. :)
Since we apparently bought identical machines from the Dell Outlet, I thought I'd see if you're experiencing a couple other odd things that I am. First is the Num Lock is always off after a reboot even though it's set to on in both the BIOS and the registry. Second is the event log is filled with errors every time this machine shuts down & boots up. You can view this from control panel (viewed by icons) - performance info & tools - advanced tools - view performance tools in event log. This is what I get:
I'm hoping it's caused by booting without the mSATA , but I don't know...
Thanks!
Venkat14
3 Posts
0
August 17th, 2013 13:00
I had a similar configuration as the person who initiated this thread. My dell machine is a XPS8500 Windows 8, with 32GB MSATA . I followed the instructions posted by Rajath but messed up the install. On a hind sight installing IRST version 12 for XPS 8500 is a mistake. But even after uninstalling v12 and installing v11 is not working. Appreciate you assistance.
Here are the steps followed
1. Since my computer came with a healthy partition of the MSATA drive (showed as K drive 29GB normal partition), I only did steps 7 through 9 on the link http://dell.to/YHvNS8
2. After changing MSATA to hidden hibernation partition the K drive was not showing up anymore on Windows Explorer
3. I went to dell drivers and software and searched for irst. Found the latest version 12.0.0.1083.A00
4. Downloaded and installed it on the default folder C:\Program Files\Intel\Inter(R) Rapid Storage Technology. Rebooted the system as prompted by the installer.
5. Opened up IRST. The main status page showed my 2TB SATA and 30GB SATA SSD functioning normally. A green tick mark next to them. I don't see any option to enable
6. Rebooted to get into BIOS set up. Navigated to Advanced tab -> Onboard Device Configuration -> SATA Mode. Changed it from AHCI to RAID. Saved the configuration and rebooted the system
7. First I saw a blank screen with just mouse pointer for a very long time. I rebooted the system, changed BIOS setting for SATA back to AHCI and restarted. Everything worked fine. Start menu came up in 10 seconds. Rebooted the machine to go to BIOS again, changed AHCI to RAID and this time the booting went through successfully.
8. Tried lauching IRST to get an error message as "An unknown error occurred while running this application. If the problem persists, please restart your computer pr try reinstalling the application"
9. Restarting the computer didn't help. Same error. Now I realized the version 12 is not for XPS 8500. So I uninstalled IRST and reinstalled PV 11.5.0.1207,A00
10. After installation when I restarted the computer (note the BIOS set up is RAID now), got a blue screen with error message " :( Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We're just collecting some error info, and then we'll restart for you." . This error was persist for every restart.
11. Went to the BIOS and changed RAID to AHCI. Now the restart was successful. But IRST won't launch. Every time I start IRST, getting a message IAStorUI stopped working.
Not sure what to do next. Please assist.