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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.
alex3305
13 Posts
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January 23rd, 2008 18:00
Some people also report that their HDD will stop functioning after a while, while others don't complain a bit.. :S
Appearently there is currently no fix for the driver problems, so *still waiting*
yann.r
20 Posts
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January 23rd, 2008 18:00
paulbeattie87
241 Posts
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January 23rd, 2008 18:00
As for Dells action, driver issue or not that has nothing to do with you. In the UK it makes no difference whats causing the fault the bottom line is the machine is faulty. The consumer is then entitled to a repair within a reasonable time usually considered two weeks or a replacement, failing that a refund.
Best thing for you to do is to contact Dell and get them to fix the problem, make sure you back-up your data now. Not sure what laws there are in your country but I'm sure there will be ones covering faulty goods. Going to Dell are really the only way this can be sorted.
mtempelm
39 Posts
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January 23rd, 2008 20:00
Message Edited by mtempelm on 01-23-2008 05:00 PM
Message Edited by mtempelm on 01-23-2008 05:03 PM
paulbeattie87
241 Posts
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January 23rd, 2008 21:00
paulbeattie87
241 Posts
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January 23rd, 2008 21:00
I would have hoped Dell would have taken ownership of the fault and ensured it was corrected quickly.
mtempelm - Yup Dell should have good reporting procedures in place, it certianly looks like a faulty batch of motherboards more than anything else. The controller Dell use in the XPS 420 is a high quality Intel chip used in nearly all of todays high performance and every expensive motherboards.
yann.r
20 Posts
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January 23rd, 2008 21:00
Message Edited by yann.r on 01-24-2008 12:34 AM
Message Edited by yann.r on 01-24-2008 12:36 AM
nigelwill
32 Posts
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January 23rd, 2008 21:00
Message Edited by nigelwill on 01-24-2008 12:00 AM
mtempelm
39 Posts
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January 23rd, 2008 21:00
paulbeattie87
241 Posts
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January 23rd, 2008 22:00
Not good I just bought one from Dell in the UK and they come form Ireland...
Keep posting, Dell liaisons on here should spot this thread and flag up if everybody who is experiencing problems has their machine is from Ireland. Good thing about the service tag is Dell can tell what batch of boards were used, which computers are affected by it and inform users/support agents that the computer may have a faulty motherboard.
mtempelm
39 Posts
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January 23rd, 2008 22:00
yann.r
20 Posts
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January 23rd, 2008 22:00
One sticker below the case says "model : WL-138G V2"Message Edited by yann.r on 01-24-2008 01:45 AM
rupert_hollom
10 Posts
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January 24th, 2008 07:00
Tony4052
11 Posts
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February 1st, 2008 11:00
Built in Ireland and Im in England
Tony
mtempelm
39 Posts
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February 1st, 2008 12:00
For what it's worth.....
I ended up sacrificing the recovery partition and chose to bypass the entire RAID configuration thinking that was the ultimate source of my problems. Made the necessary changes in the RAID controller setup and in CMOS to configure the two 500GB drives independently as C: and D:. I did not like the reinstall process from the system recovery CD/DVD's as it was difficult to pinpoint all the specific drivers, system apps, etc. So I decided to revert back to the original config from the factory.
I re-enabled RAID0 by reversing the steps mentioned above and did a full system restore from a system image I had done earlier before all the problems began. The restore process repartitioned the two 500GB drives as one C: along with the 15GB recovery partition D:.
I did this last weekend and since then have been installing one application at a time and the system has been very stable. No unexpected shutdowns or errors on the RAID startup screen when booting. It seems logical that the unexpected shutdowns more than likely corrupt the RAID setup; thus one causes the other.
I'm hoping that rebuilding the system may have resolved my issues. Time will tell.
Mike