Need help with RAID and drivers after HDD replacement

This is my first Alienware laptop so forgive me if there's a lot I don't know; I really need some help here.

Just two months after I got the M17x R4, one of my HDDs died. Called Dell and they swapped out the faulty hard drive for a new one and the service engineer asked if I wanted a RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration. I asked for the former since I didn't want to get only 466 GB out of my 1 TB space (will probably only make the switch to RAID 1 when I get hold of two 1 TB HDDs), plus I don't store important data on my laptop. So the guy does what he needs to, then reloads the OS for me. But now, when I start up, I see this screen:

Intel (R) Rapid Storage Technology - Option ROM - 11.6.0.1702
Copyright (C) 2003-12 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

RAID Volumes:
ID Name Level Strip Size Status Bootable
0 Volume0 RAID0 (Stripe) 128KB 931.5GB Normal Yes
1 Dev_Cache RAID0 (Cache) 128KB 29.8GB Disabled No

Physical Devices:
ID Device Model Serial# Size Type/Status (Vol ID)
0 WDC WD5000BPKT-7 WD-WX71A92K2570 465.7GB Member Disk (0)
1 WDC WD5000BPKT-7 WD-WX41E72LD515 465.7GB Member Disk (0)
3 SAMSUNG SSD PM83 S0XLNSACC38378 29.8GB Cache Disk (1)

Press CTRL-I to enter Configuration Utility.......

Could someone please explain why I'm seeing this screen and how do I fix the problem here? Not sure if this will help but I now see two 'Unknown Devices' under Device Management. They weren't there before.

I'm also seeing a different start-up screen. When my laptop was brand new it started up with a black screen with a ALIENWARE text logo. Now it starts up with the huge Alienware head with red eyes (the default wallpaper you get when you first log into your user account) and has a red bar at the bottom of the screen. It also comes to a loading page with the Windows 8 logo. Then there's a long black screen before it takes me to the sign-in page. Does anyone know how I can get back to the start-up screen I initially had?

I'm also seeing the Microsoft .NET Framework error: Unhandled exception has occurred in your application when I try to use the Alien Command Centre I downloaded from Dell. This is not the CC I remember having on my laptop before the HDD replacement and seems to be an outdated version. AlienRespawn is also no longer functional due to corrupted/missing recovery partitions - what is up with this?

I'm also being asked to update drivers for the STMicroelectronics 3-Axis Accelerometer and COMPAL Embedded System Control. Tried to automatically update the drivers but there weren't any to be found.

My specs follow the stock configuration from Dell. I can't remember them off-hand at the moment but I'll update if anyone needs the info.

It'd be great if anyone could tell me what's wrong and how I can go about fixing it. Thanks.

 

Hi there, I can help a little.

The disk config looks fine. What you are seeing is the two HD's 'joined' in a RAID array and an SSD cache to speed them (it) up. The first screen is the RAID BIOS screen, if you never saw it before then it was probably mis-configured originally, I have seen some come out of the factory like this!

The other screen you see with the alienhead and progress bar is the main BIOS screen. I don't know enough about win8 but I'm guessing you might not see it the same way if diferent win 8 options are selected in the BIOS (UEFI/Fastboot?).

The accelerometer driver is on the dell drivers site and is one of the unknown devices, the engineer should not have left until there are no unknown devices. That's the end of their responsibilities as far as a reinstall goes.

CC problems are quite common after a reinstall and for win 7 you must wait until windows update has finished patching the .NET framework - sounds similar.

Hopefully one of the dell reps or someone with win 8 will jump in to offer some advice as to the settings you need to get back to the original startup (and the compal error)

 

Uhh, wait a second. Can the R4 have a RAID 0 array and a cache drive on that RAID array? I guess if the mSATA were setup like that in Windows only it would be alright, but it seems like the BIOS is detecting the mSATA as part of the same RAID array as the two hard drives. Very confusing. But if you do have a RAID array, the screen that's showing up is just part of POST telling you it's booting to the RAID array.

OP, your system does boot to Windows like it should, right? I wouldn't worry about the Alienhead screen at startup. It could have been changed with a BIOS update. The Alienware logo being the previous start screen, and the Alienhead being the new one, or vice-versa. Mickey is correct about the .NET error though. It is common in our Alienwares and I have found it to be caused by three possible things: Alienware Command Center, Alienware OSD, or AMD Catalyst Control Center. All three use .NET for their UIs. Windows update usually takes care of the error once it updates .NET. If it's asking you for a specific .NET, then you can always check if you have that version installed by looking in Programs and Features in control panels. If you don't, you can search for it and download it from Microsoft.

 

Yup, you can cache a RAID array: Chipset Software — Intel® Smart Response Technology User Guide

I have no RAID configured so mine comes up with that screen saying 'non-RAID drive'.

 

In terms of the alienware written text being replaced with a alienhead the engineer installed windows under legacy mode (non UEFI). If thats not a big issue for you then dont worry about it.

I run UEFI you will get the alienware text logo upon boot up. The text at the start only shows if your using the IRST (intel rapid storage technology / cache SSD) or a raid partition I think.

You will have to clean install if you want the faster BIOS mode enable (UEFI = fast/secure boot and alienware text bios screen).

 

Thought that would be it. UEFI is not an option for me without a bunch of work (no iGPU) so I've not tried it.

OP: Start up the IRST interface in windows and see what it says.