Precision M2400 Owner's Lounge

The Intel Matrix Storage Manager is the software Intel makes available for motherboards with supported chipsets that have RAID capabilities, typically through the ICH7, 8, 9 series of controllers. It basically "monitors" the hard drive sub system. One thing though is you can do RAID functionality through it if you set your BIOS correctly and your system supports mutiple drives. Typically you configure RAID through a BIOS utilty on the controller, but the ISM allows you to monitor the RAID sets, make some minor changes to it, notifies you of drive failures, rebuilds and such.

In a system with a single drive and the BIOS set as SATA or some such, not RAID, you do not need this software.

Typically only see this on high end gaming laptops with two drives or in most newer Intel based motherboards for desktops...

Shawn

 

On my E6400, before I installed the Intel Matrix storage driver my audio would stutter, now it works flawlessly.

Greg

 

The joy of Windows.

Let's install a driver that has nothing to do with another peice of hardware and lo and behold... it fixes the other problem. But don't ask about the original issue.

Shawn

 

As you'll note on the previous page, I did the same thing.... and I did so after reading about many others having the problem due to issues with vista's default drivers not reliably accessing certain sata devices.

So yes, there is a reason behind it.

 

I've requested an RMA from Dell, they've advised it will take ~2 weeks due to part shortages. A overly verbal L2 tech said they've having numerous complaints about the M2400, so I'm not alone.

Per a previous comment, the Intel SATA drive does appear to fix the sound issue but slows the machine boot time down to a crawl. Dell also said to make sure the audio drive is installed before the modem driver, but that doesn't appear to make a difference.

Aside from a new BIOS (A03) which is said to:

Fixes/Enhancements
------------------
1. Fixed Wi-Fi Catcher hang issue on certain systems.
2. Fixed device reporting issues in DCP.

And a new Bluetooth driver set, there have been no driver updates since August.

 

Good news...

The latest Precision M2400, Intel Storage Drivers from http://support.dell.com (Intel_Matrix-Storage-Manager_A03_R190228.exe), resolve the boot slowness issue. They have to be manually installed via the device manager but post reboot - the sound issue is good and the system is notably faster.

Issues with BSOD, fan noise and docking problems are resolved with the latest BIOS (M2400A03.EXE).

We'll see how things go over the next ~24 hours.

 

Is this a Wndows-based BIOS installer?

Should I upgrade before I reinstall Vista or after?

 

The BIOS installer starts in windows, does something, then reboots to flash the BIOS, then reboots back into windows. I would guess it doesn't matter when you do it.

 

Yeah, there are no major updates in the bios - you can do it at any time, and from my experience doesn't help with any of the problems discussed here (touchpad, audio, etc - the update appears to be the same on the E6400)

 

Here we go...

I've disabled the ambient light sensor but each time I boot, the screen resets to full brightness. How do I get it to remember the setting?

Secondly, I'm about to do a fresh install because I don't want all the bloat. Is there a way to install individual things like the webcam app? Will I need things like the connection manager?

I'm assuming I can just install only the drivers for certain things but how do I then control them or change settings?

Any help would be appreciated.