Anyone else set up RAID0 or RAID1 on an XPS420?

And I don't mean from the factory, I mean from scratch with a clean OS
install. For the few who might be interested in attempting this, I'd like
to suggest that you upgrade your BIOS version to version A04...

.....while you still have an OS installed on the machine.

(*The BIOS flash has to be executed from the Windows environment.)

This was quite an adventure using a USB floppy drive.

"S.Lewis" <> wrote in message
news:Jb_2k.1600$...
>
> And I don't mean from the factory, I mean from scratch with a clean OS
> install. For the few who might be interested in attempting this, I'd like
> to suggest that you upgrade your BIOS version to version A04...
>
> ....while you still have an OS installed on the machine.
>
> (*The BIOS flash has to be executed from the Windows environment.)
>
> This was quite an adventure using a USB floppy drive.
>
>
>
>
>


Apparently not an isolated incident. Using the latest BIOS version as well
as the latest version of the Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver and apps
also appears to be a common thread:

http://www.dellcommunity.com/support...&q=XPS420+RAID

Stew

"WSZsr" <> wrote in message
news:484eec8a$0$7718$...
> So Stew - what is the issue and is there a fix?
>


Right now I've had no luck in setting up RAID1 with WindowsXP Pro on the
machine (my original intent). I do currently have a clean install of WVHB on
a RAID1 set up; and I must add that the clean install of Vista is quite a
bit more responsive than the factory image was.

General fixes are - at this point - BIOS flash (version A04) and the latest
version of the Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver (ROM 7.6.1.1001 for the
ICH9R) and the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Application (v8.2).

Also, if one happens to have some of those first 500gb Samsung HDD's, you
might need either a firmware upgrade or a drive replacement (I have twin
Seagate 320gb's).

Most of the threads I found over on the Dell community forums were regarding
RAID0 configurations w/loss/degradation of drives/arrays, weird blue screens
during installs etc.

It appears the Intel Matrix softwares/hardware are a bit dodgy at best.

I contrast the installation against my current primary machine (ASUS board,
with a lowly SiS 655FX chipset), in which the Win XP Pro RAID1 install was
so seamless as to be completely boring.

FWIW......


Stew

i still dont understand the problem.
are you not hitting f6 and inserting a floppy with the proper drivers...
it should work.

mind you i have not worked on a xps420 yet.

as a general rule, i do not like raid products that are using SCSI type
drives of some nature, either regular or serial (SAS)
trying to do raid with SATA or PATA is flirting with disaster. unless
you are just doing raid 1, mirroring, which is harmless.
but i feel the downside with raid 0 or 5 using pata/sata is not worth
the aggrevation. esp when you have a problem with a drive.
just my 4 cents.

S.Lewis wrote:
> "WSZsr" <> wrote in message
> news:484eec8a$0$7718$...
>> So Stew - what is the issue and is there a fix?
>>
>
>
> Right now I've had no luck in setting up RAID1 with WindowsXP Pro on the
> machine (my original intent). I do currently have a clean install of WVHB on
> a RAID1 set up; and I must add that the clean install of Vista is quite a
> bit more responsive than the factory image was.
>
> General fixes are - at this point - BIOS flash (version A04) and the latest
> version of the Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver (ROM 7.6.1.1001 for the
> ICH9R) and the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Application (v8.2).
>
> Also, if one happens to have some of those first 500gb Samsung HDD's, you
> might need either a firmware upgrade or a drive replacement (I have twin
> Seagate 320gb's).
>
> Most of the threads I found over on the Dell community forums were regarding
> RAID0 configurations w/loss/degradation of drives/arrays, weird blue screens
> during installs etc.
>
> It appears the Intel Matrix softwares/hardware are a bit dodgy at best.
>
> I contrast the installation against my current primary machine (ASUS board,
> with a lowly SiS 655FX chipset), in which the Win XP Pro RAID1 install was
> so seamless as to be completely boring.
>
> FWIW......
>
>
> Stew
>
>

"Jay B" <> wrote in message
news:484ef4be$0$11602$...
>i still dont understand the problem.
> are you not hitting f6 and inserting a floppy with the proper drivers...
> it should work.
>
> mind you i have not worked on a xps420 yet.
>
> as a general rule, i do not like raid products that are using SCSI type
> drives of some nature, either regular or serial (SAS)
> trying to do raid with SATA or PATA is flirting with disaster. unless you
> are just doing raid 1, mirroring, which is harmless.
> but i feel the downside with raid 0 or 5 using pata/sata is not worth the
> aggrevation. esp when you have a problem with a drive.
> just my 4 cents.
>


Jay,

I'm feeding (WinXP) the drivers off of a USB floppy drive (which is enabled
in the 420's BIOS).

I've already had Windows XP Pro SP2 installed successfully on this machine
on a single-drive (320gb) configuration w/no issues. As it's an "extra"
machine at the moment, I've had opportunity to wipe/crash/re-install it more
than a few times - just to become more familiar with it.

The WinXP RAID install via USB floppy requires that you not use the F6
install, but rather wait for the "S" device driver install once the drives
cannot be located. XP does not acknowledge the F6 prompt in my current
configuration.

Worse, I can successfully install the ICH9R/10R SATA RAID controller driver
at the "S" prompt from the USB floppy, but then XP formats and wants to
access the floppy again with a simple "enter" for the contents of the A:\
drive, and then will not acknowledge "enter" being pressed at all (even
though all other keyboard function is fine).

I may temporarily install an internal floppy simply to see if the results
are any different. I've also had various BSOD's at different points of the
WinXP RAID install attempts.

Also, I generally agree with you regarding SATA/PATA RAID configurations. I
consider RAID0 to be completely overrated. I use only RAID1 on my desktops -
as much for fun as necessity.

As usual, thanks for your input.


Stew

Hi!

> It appears the Intel Matrix softwares/hardware are a bit dodgy at best.

If you want RAID that is reliable and fast, I would strongly suggest a
"real" add-in RAID controller card. Adaptec and HighPoint Technologies both
make some very nice ones. They're not as cheap as "fake RAID" solutions, but
they are reliable, trouble free and fast.

If that's not going to work, or isn't an option, a cheaper choice would be a
SATA add-in card with something like a Silicon Image chipset on it. I've had
reasonably good luck with those.

William

"WSZsr" <> wrote in message
news:484fc32f$0$31736$...
> Stew,
>
> I've had a similar problem with slipstreaming SP3 and a Dell XP Pro SP2
> CD. The XP Pro SP2 CD boots and loads the appropriate SATA driver but
> adding SP3 breaks it and adding SATA drivers via F6 will not work on my
> XPS 410 of XPS M1330.
>
> I found an official Dell XP Pro SP3 iso on bittorrent and tried it. It
> works perfectly so that tells me that there is something a bit hinky with
> the Dell Xp Pro SP2 CD or with SP3.
> If you want to try the official Dell XP Pro SP3 CD, let me know and I will
> mail you a copy.
>
>


Thanks, sir. I might take you up on that. Shoot me some mail when you can:

stew1960ATbellsouthDOTnet

Legally by the COA, I should actually try putting XP Home on it instead but
at this point it's just for testing purposes anyway and not in actual use.


-Stew