confused on how Intel RST works on my 17...

Ok, so on my 18.. i open up the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver and I can see plain as day that my 80GB mSATA is set up for Cache... I can then select Automatic or Maximum performance.. etc..

On the 17, which comes with a 60GB mSATA, and just one 768 GB drive instead of the two in RAID0 on the 18, there was no RST driver even installed! And when I downloaded it, it installed but the area that appears on my 18 where you can configure the cache drive isn't there.... what gives?

how do I make sure caching is setup on this machine?

 

Hi, sounds like someone messed up - unless there is a hardware problem

Couple of things to check:

Is the RAID bios active, you see a config screen before the alienhead bios screen?

The disk drivers should be Intel RAID.

There is no IRST driver, it's all in firmware and invisible to the OS. If you see the SSD in explorer then it's been formatted and from what I learned recently from another user is that if the cache drive is partitioned and formatted IRST will not allow it to be used for acceleration. If this is the case use disk manager to wipe the drive and it should then become available.

Good luck .

Chipset Software — Intel® Smart Response Technology User Guide

 

Ok, I think I know the problem... when I recently had DELL go thru and re-flash the BIOS they must not have re-enabled RAID for the SATA and so yes, it's not set up that way.. it's set to HATA

Now here's the rub.. I went and set it to RAID in the BIOS just now, and it gave me a warning that windows might not boot up properly and low and behold... windows wouldn't boot up with the change over to RAID .... so now I'm stuck.. not sure what to do, shall I call Dell? Or is there an easy fix to this? The computer tried to re-boot 3 times and repair, etc.. no luck. Keep going to the blue screen.

Am I stuck with having to re-install windows and all my software from scratch to get this to work now? If so I'm gonna be pissed at Dell.

 

Cra*! This is usual behaviour when windows is installed with the RAID bios switched off. When windows switches to the RAID driver it bombs.

I did see a fix a long time ago that involved some file movements (after putting the bios back to AICH) but all I know is that re-installing windows in the correct mode is the guaranteed fix. During the win install, at the disk config screen you should see the Intel RAID driver selected and can continue.

Looks like you are going to be pissed (rightly so) at Dell

 

Thought a bit more about this. Will it start in safe mode while the RAID bios is active? If so you might be able to install IRST (which installs the disk drivers) and restart normal. Might get you out of a hole.

Also a long shot but boot from the win cd and try a windows repair option.

HTH

 

ok, thanks for the idea.... I will contact AW support and discuss this with them. I don't want to risk all of the software installed on there., it would literally take a day to re-install it.

I wonder if at this point I can do anything useful with this SSD of this won't work? I dont even see how I can use it as a boot drive at this point.

sigh

 

How comfortable are you with registry editing? If you think you can do it, here's how you can fix the booting problem. I'm assuming HATA is equivalent to ATA or IDE mode. I don't have my alienware 17 yet so can't confirm this.
1) Set the mode back to whichever mode worked originally (AHCI or ATA/IDE, etc.)

2) Let windows boot up, once it's booted up, go to the desktop if you're on windows 8.

3) Once on the desktop press Windows Key + R to open a run command

4) type regedit and press enter or click ok

5) The registry editor will open. On the left double click "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" to expand it

6) Now look for the "System" folder and double-click it to expand it

7) Double-click the "CurrentControlSet" folder to expand it

8) Double-click the "Services" folder to expand it

9) Click on the "msahci" and look the the right

10) There should be an entry called "start". Right-click it and click Modify

11) In the value data box, type 0 (it is probably 3 by default)

12) Now look for a folder called "iaStorV" and "iaStor" in the same list you found the "msahci" folder. You will do the same thing to these folders with the "start" entry. Change the value to 0 on both of the start entries in both of these folders.

13) That's it for registry editing. RESTART the computer (don't click shut down and turn it on, in Windows 8, restarting is different from just shutting it down) Before you let windows boot, go to the bios and change the mode to RAID

14) Let windows boot and everything should be fine.

Sorry for the long post, most of the steps are just expanding folders in the registry editor. Hope this helps.

 

They 'should' be able to use the restore partition to recover the windows installation but of course you loose all your installed stuff

By changing the boot order (in BIOS) you could use it as a boot drive but you'd be into a full new windows install anyway so it's no better than getting it fixed properly.

If it won't start in safe mode then you can let dell fix it. They may know some way to get around this since it's a common problem.

Good luck tomorrow, let us know how it goes

 

ssj92... everything was going well until step 9... there is no such folder... there are other ms one's but not that one.. any other ideas?

windows 8.1 not pro edition here.

 

what if I buy the $39 Alienrespawn system backup option... and back up the entire system... will that work? I've got a 1TB external drive I can use for it... just not sure if it's a viable option.

 

Not going to help I'm afraid. All you'll do is make a copy the bad config.

What ssj92 posted looks like what I saw as a fix. I reckon all AW will do is return it to factory state but at least you don't have the pain of windows and drivers install....

 

Okay skip 9 and do the other two folders. Mine doesn't have msahci either but has the other two folders.

 

Well, I have iaStorV and iaStorAV as well as iaStorA and all are already set to 0 for start...

So there's nothing to change as per the instructions above...

 

I haven't tried the safe mode idea yet.... but as for Dell, the gal was useless... just wanted to have me do a full re-install of everything... some 80GB of games and steam stuff... sigh.

 

Alright, let's get some stuff cleared up then before anything else.

So you're running Windows 8.1 Core. You have already installed the Intel RST drivers, but just don't see the caching option that you get on your 18 right? And both iaStorV and iaStor's start entry value is already set to 0.

So when you got your computer, what was the default drive mode set (AHCI, RAID, IDE)? Also what is the mode on your 18 set to?

 

Yeah, when widows gets messed up they often opt fot the 'easy' option. If they want you to install it then keep them on the phone all the time. Do not accept a call back situation, they need to be there to answer any questions you may have.

Fingers crossed for a safe mode fix!

 

Yes...

This computer is set to AHCI, and my 18 (which btw has actual RAID0 for two 768GB drives is set to RAID

 

and how do I know if I have RAID disk drivers anyway? is that just the RST 12.9 download I did earlier?

 

Basically to get caching work we need RAID mode working. And you said when switching to RAID, it gives a bsod and restarts right?

 

yes, it then tries to "Repair windows" and fails and then asks me what I want to do... I can "continue to windows" which fails, restart etc.. I have to do a shut down and restart with F2 to get back into AHCI on bios to get it working again

btw, Im getting a bit lost, what is this safe mode method?

 

The disk driver in device manager will state 'Intel RAID' for the correct driver. IRST will install the corr one but only if the bios is in the correct mode (RAID)

 

Okay this should work (make sure you're back to AHCI so windows boots):

Go back to the registry editor and go to the "iaStorV" folder.

This time double click the folder to expand it.

You should see a StartOverride folder. Right-click it and delete it. Now restart again, before letting windows 8 boot, go to the bios and switch to RAID and see if that works.

 

I don't see anything about RAID in device manager, looking at all of that stuff...

LITEONIT
SDHC
WDC WD7500xxx

 

If that does not help then what I was suggesting is to put the bios into raid. Then you need to tap a key (I do not have win 8 and I've read that it can be tricky to get safe mode - research needed) as it boots. Windows will start in a minimal driver load and you just might be able to re-install the IRST in safe mode getting the correct driver?

 

Did all that... took a while doing the black spinning balls then blue screen... then black screen with spinning balls... the blue screen... then preparing automatic repair ... now waiting on result... no luck.

 

now I have the option to restart or do advanced options... Trouble Shoot... Use a Device, Contune or Turn off PC.

Hey, I don't mind giving you my phone via private message if you want to chat btw.

 

It's under storage controllers:

 

Ok... ok... I do not have the RAID listed..

I have Microsoft Storage Space Controller... do I need to download something?

 

I can use skype if you'd like. Here's another thing to try:

Go to device manager, right-click the first device which should be your computer and click add legacy hardware.

choose "install hardware manually"

show all devices > next

have disk > look for the iaStor.inf file in the intel rst folder you downloaded. If you don't have it or you used the setup file, then download the zip file from the download page by click this sentence. Once you do that, try restarting again and just like before, change the mode back to RAID before booting.

 

I'm afraid all that confirms is that the problem is software (and the bios mode). It will show raid when the bios is set correctly AND IRST is installed. Unfortunately it's a 'chicken and egg' problem.

We need a win 8 expert for the safe mode thing since MS have made a lot of changes. Under 7 all I select is 'safe mode with networking'. I only had win 8 for about 15 mins, hated it and rolled back!

Edit:I'll wait out ssj92 since he knows what he is doing and I'll only confuse things

 

ok, going to try skype with ssj92 see if I can get anywhere with this as he seems to know as much as anyone on Windows 8

 

Safe mode on windows 8 is tricky. You actually have to do it through windows itself. It is no longer available as pre-boot unless you modify a few things. I'm going to try skype and hopefully we can get this resolved.

 

Good luck man, you do know you're going to be my go-to man when I see this again

 

I sent you my skype via Private message... there's two names I think will reach me... let me know if they work.

 

Woo! We got it working! In addition to the registry setting, all we had to do was go to safe mode to let windows 8 install the driver, then format the msata ssd through command prompt's disk clean utility. Then just setup the acceleration feature through the intel rst program!

Hope that helps anyone else that ever comes up with this scenario and doesn't want to reinstall.

 

Ok, this kid was a genius... back in the 80's and early 90's I was knee deep in computing and knew my way around a PC/Apple ... but have since become disattached ... he walked me thru various trouble shooting and we finally worked it out with the safeboot (as per the advise of our friend from the UK), and after a bit patience got it working.

I'll let him give you the dirty details (for anyone else who encounters this) as I'm sure I'd screw them up.

 

Excellent news. Glad I could add some useful input.

I had one of those guru guys working for me running 3rd level support. As long as I kept the punters away from his desk (interesting life outlook ) the work was just awesome!

Rep to ssj92