Boot Vista Raid ON or Raid Autodetect/ATA in BIOS (dimension 9200 or XPS 410 - A How To

Excellent!  Thank you Bill :smileyhappy:

Scott: I have had an error message which from the Intell Matrix Storage Manager after my computer had rebooted. I also had a "your computer just recovered from a serious error" message. Have been on Dell support for two days. I had this error message on an original computer I purchased in December. It ultimately crashed and I had to send it back to Dell for an exchange. This is now happening on my recently received exchange computer.  I am not an expert computer guy but it would appear the issue is what you have described. We ran full diagnostics and the Hard drives appear to function. I am writing to you since you and I have similar computers and I was hoping if you can advise if I am having a similar issue and what would be my best course of action. Thanks for your help.   I have XPS 410, Intell Cor 2, 2.66 ghz. 

Sleeplessinportand, right now there is not one clear cut answer for everyone who is experiencing this problem.  It is important to note that you should first ensure your BIOS is updated to the latest one.  If you type in your service tag under updates, you should also notice that there is a firmware update for the Phillips DVD drive.  You should first do these two things and see what happens.

 

If the errors persist, the simplest solution (in terms of getting rid of the error messages) would be to  change your BIOS parameter from raid on to autodetect.  However, that doesn't work for everyone since some folks don't want to reinstall their OS or they are using a raid array and don't want to lose it.  However, if you don't use raid and don't mind losing it, as well as reinstalling your OS, this should work fine.

 

The other solutions are more advanced and I don't take credit for writing them.  They were presented by ChandlerL and dcgtls (two different solutions) presented by two different forum members.  I thought it was very important to keep their posts noticed.  That's why they have been reposted here at the top of the Vista forum.  Please note that the thread presented by dcgtls was the most recent.

 

Even though Intel has not presented a definitive answer/solution for the problem, they have at least noticed the problem (FINALLY).  You can see their post below:

 

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-025783.htm

 

In regards to Intel, a critical BIOS update is supposed to be coming soon.  Apparently, Intel has now discovered issue(s) that casue kernel blue screen of deaths (BSOD) and possible data corruption with multi-core processors.  It is not known when the update will be posted but it is expected to be sometime in the near future.

 

 

Scott-I just recreated this error again-it is trigured by my opeining itunes and downloading updated podcasts on my end

I am not currently using any of Apple's software on my Vista drive due to the many compatibility issues that have existed up to this point.  However, you might want to take a look at this link:

 

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305042

 

Aside from the topic of Intel chipsets and Raid, you must be very careful about the type of software you put on Vista.  It's still a new OS and there are many things that don't work too good with it right now.  I would strongly suggest that you download and install the following:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx

 

This Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is a handy little tool, not just for people with XP that are thinking about Vista BUT also current Vista users.  It is not perfect and may overlook some things, but it's still a handy tool to use.  You can scan you system for programs that are not compatible with Vista.

Update...I have previously posted the workaround solutions that two other forum members created.  Since that time, I just wanted to share a few things.

 

On 04/11/07, I decided to reformat my system since I no longer needed to run a dual boot with XP/Vista.  This time, I did not do anything too special.  First, I ensured the BIOS was updated to the latest edition (as of 04/11/07) "and" that I had the new firmware update for my Philips DVD drive (the likely culprit for all these issues).  Then I changed my BIOS setting from autodetect to raid on in the Sata Operation folder.  My hard drives remain on Sata ports 0 and 1.  My DVD rom and DVD+-RW remain on Sata ports 2 and 3.  I continued with the setup of a raid 0 array as well as the reinstallation of Windows Vista.  No more problems :smileyhappy:  This may not work for everyone, but I wanted to share my experience.  I have not received any error messages since this last reinstall and everything seems to be working great.  Good luck to everyone else.

I've got a Dell XPS410 with xp, with a vista upgrade DVD.  Will this same fix work for me?  I have gotten the same STOP error message when using RAID / Auto Detect, which is necessary for the Vista installation CD (otherwise it fails)

 

So, yeah, will this fix work in my case also?  Thanks!

Chad, my suspicion is that the firmware for my Philips DVD drive did more to fix the situation versus the BIOS update.  So even though you've got an XPS 410, I guess the question is what type of optical drives to you have?  If you have a Philips DVD drive and update the firmware like I did, hopefully you will have a simlar (positive) experience.  Good luck.

Unfortunately I keep checking the forum when I'm at work and away from my computer.  I know I"ve got a 16x DVD+/- RW, so we'll see.  I'll update everything first to make sure I don't need to take the drastic step of changing registry files!  Thanks.

Scott, Is there any advanage in performance in having the following Sata ports setup?

 

I now have 2 hard drives and 2 cd/dvd drives. They are hd1 on Sata 0, cd/dvd drives on Sata port 1 and 2, with hd2 on Sata port 3.

I am thinking about switching them so the 2 hd,s are Sata port 0 and 1, with thw cd/dvd drives on Sata port 2 and 3.

 

Any benifit in doing this?

 

Thanks,

 

Robert

 

XPS 410 Intel Core duo 2 E6600 2.4 GHz
2 GB Dual channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667 MHz
256 MB nVidia geforce 7900 GS
Dell 24 inch UltraSharp™ 2407FPW WS Flat Panel
320 GB Serial ATA
Integrated 7.1 channel audio
Dell AS501 10W Flat Panel Attached Spkrs
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium OS

Robert, from what you're describing, it seems to be working the way you've got it.  However, if I recall, the manual does state that 2 hard drives should be on Sata ports 0 and 1 (and that's how they are on my system).  My DVD rom drive and DVD+-RW drive are on Sata ports 2 and 3.  However, I know some folks have switched the optical drives from Sata 2/3 to Sata 4/5 as part of the "fix" with the raid issues.

 

I would suggest placing your hard drives on Sata ports 0 and 1 as they are supposed to be.  As far as your optical drives, I would try them on 2 and 3.  Then if you have any raid problems/issues, move your optical drives to Sata ports 4 and 5 (still leaving the hard drives on 0 and 1).  Don't forget to switch on/off the appropriate switches in your BIOS for each Sata port once you plug everything back in. 

 

Regards,

Scott

 

I made the changes. Everything seems to be working well enough, but at least I think its right now. Thanks for the help.

 

Robert

 

XPS 410 Intel Core duo 2 E6600 2.4 GHz
2 GB Dual channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667 MHz
256 MB nVidia geforce 7900 GS
Dell 24 inch UltraSharp™ 2407FPW WS Flat Panel
2x320 GB Serial ATA Hard Drives
Integrated 7.1 channel audio
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium OS

While I don't have the exotic system everyone else is posting about, I still have an issue Dell is wanting to punt me to 'the manufacturer' about.

 

My simple Dimension E520 came with a single hdd, Vista installed. I wanted it just to play with vista so i could at least manuever when calls came in where I work. After playing a little while, I decided I wanted to make the machine dual boot.

 

Thus the RAID on feature reared it's ugly head. Dell support tells me I have no RAID controller though when i boot to vista it says the single hdd is controlled by intel 82801. BIOS says RAID on. I did  a diskpart/shrink to free up space for XP, but when i boot to xp disk am unable to satisfy F6's request for a driver. then get blue screen stop and reboot.

 

If I change BIOS to SATA auto, xp setup sees my extra drive and can install fine. when I boot after that, I go into xp. I think you might know the rest of the story.

 

any ideas other than turning off RAID on and reinstalling everything from scratch? Dell tells me this isn't a configuration issue

 

Thanks,

Ken

Scott: And others-I just want to report back that the problems I was having with the Vista Raid issues which were also effecting ITunes video issues have been resolved since I updated the latest Intel Storage Manager drives posted a few days ago on Dell's support sight. I anticipate this may solve some of the ongoing problems. Scott-Itunes is now officially compatable with Vista. Thought you would want to know. Thanks for all your help.

Thanks for the post and glad to hear the latest version of Intel Storage Matrix Manager seems to have solved the issues.  My PC has been running solid ever since I did the firmware update.  Later, I did perform all the other suggested fixes (including the Sata port changes) but not sure it was really necessary in my case.

 

As for Itunes, yes, I see that Apple has now posted Vista compatibility.  Unfortunately, it looks like Quicktime remains incompatible.  I tried Quicktime a couple of months ago and had big problems with video freezes.  I seem to recall trying Quicktime Alternative too, also with problems. 

 

I think I'm going to stay away from these Apple programs until there is official certification for Quicktime.  Right now, my system is working flawlessly.

 

Again, glad to hear you are not having any more Vista Raid issues :smileywink: