Hello there.

First thank you for your site. I browsed a lot to learn about bios modding and yours is the one that made things clear enough to allow me get started.

As for Intel RAID :

Until now I sticked with microsoft driver in AHCI mode but now I want to set up RAID1.

I was stuck with microsoft driver because with intel's I ran in a bug with hybrid sleep that was causing BSOD on wakeup 90% of the time. Obviously that's no more an option if i want to go RAID. But that specific bug was only fixed in 12.0 release which is clearly not made for ICH10R. (Actually I suspect that whole SCSI filter thing to be the solution to that exact problem).

On top of that, that's 3Gb HDD I want to setup in RAID so I think i'll need to update OROM anyway to support them (original version of provided driver was matrix era). I'll double check that ASAP.

All put together I suppose my best bet is 12.9 or 13.2 OROM with matching drivers. But no one seems to have tried/succeeded this mod on a X58 chipset and everywhere I look in the website, you warn against that.

So is there any major reason not to do so ?
If I can get things up and running, will I then risk stability issues or, worse, data integrity issues ?
As far as I remember Intel RAID is pure software... So wouldn't newer OROM and driver fully convert the whole Intel RAID thing to a newer one ?

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #2

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@ feit:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

Zitat von feit im Beitrag #1

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On top of that, that's 3Gb HDD I want to setup in RAID so I think i'll need to update OROM anyway to support them (original version of provided driver was matrix era).

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At least an Intel RAID ROM v10.5.x.xxxx or higher will be required to get >2 TB sized RAID members detected.

Zitat

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I suppose my best bet is 12.9 or 13.2 OROM with matching drivers. But no one seems to have tried/succeeded this mod on a X58 chipset and everywhere I look in the website, you warn against that.

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BIOSes of mainboards with an X58 chipset usually have only limited space for an update of the Intel RAID ROM module. The latest Intel RAID ROM module, which can be inserted into X58 chipset mainboard BIOSes without any problem, is v10.1.0.1008, because its uncompressed size is just 85 KB. All newer Intel RAID ROM versions hava an uncompressed size of 119 or 120 KB. Unfortunately the Intel RAID ROM v10.1.0.1008 is not able to handle >2 TB sized RAID volumes.
So the question is not, if you should insert an Intel RAID ROM of the v12.9 or v13.2 series (by the way: I do not recommend any of them for your system). The question will be: Will you be able to get any Intel RAID ROM properly running, which is able to detect >2 TB RAID volumes?
If you really want to create a RAID1 array consisting of 2x3TB HDDs (you wrote about 3GB), I recommend to prepare at least 3 different variants of the latest mainboard BIOS:

1. a modded BIOS containing the original Intel RST RAID ROM v11.2.0.1527 (this version supports > 2 TB RAID volumes, but may not properly work due to the space problem within the BIOS),
2. a modded BIOS containing the original Intel RST RAID ROM v10.1.0.1008 (this version should work, but doesn't support > 2 TB RAID volumes) and
3. the original BIOS (for the emergency case)

As first step I recommend to flash the modded BIOS containing the Intel RAID ROM v11.2.0.1527 and to set the Intel SATA Controller to "RAID" after having done that. If you should be able to enter the Intel RAID Utility v11.2.0.1527 and to create the RAID array, everything is fine for you and your future RAID1 system.

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Sadly that would leave me with the hibernation problem. And lots of power wasting and useless noise...
Maybe v11.2.0.1527 module along with modded v12+ drivers might solve the problem. Still you warn also against that kind of configuration. Is it an option ? Even sub-optimal.

I successfully prepared a set of ROM with ~120Kb module versions and everything went fine so I think size won't be problematic.

For the tests i'll work with blank disks and temporary out-of--RAID OS disk, everything else disconnected. So no worries.
And of course I have a backup rom ready, and even a backup controller as mainboard also includes a marvell.

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #2

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Zitat

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If I can get things up and running, will I then risk stability issues or, worse, data integrity issues ?

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The worst thing, which may happen, is, that you cannot create or get access to the RAID array, but a reflash of a working BIOS will solve the problem.

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I have time to try. What I fear is bad surprise once my data is on the raid array.

That's good news ! I think I will give their luck to modded 12.9 and 13.2...

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #2

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Zitat

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So is there any major reason not to do so?

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Yes, the Intel RST(e) RAID ROM modules of the v12 and v13 series have not been designed at all by Intel for their X58 chipset systems. (...)

Zitat

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As far as I remember Intel RAID is pure software... So wouldn't newer OROM and driver fully convert the whole Intel RAID thing to a newer one ?

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The Intel RAID is not a pure software RAID. That is why I recommend to create the RAID array after having flashed a BIOS, which contains a newer Intel RST RAID ROM version than the original BIOS with its outdated Intel MSM RAID ROM module.

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... and that's the bad news ! It will probably don't work at all if different hardware components are in the way.

I will know for sure soon. I'll send you results for your database.

Thank you for your answers !

That's worth a 10 minutes test to know at least if system will start (which I doubt).

If I end with that option I'll be extra cautious and run a kind of endurance test for a while I suppose.

Zitat von feit im Beitrag #3

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Maybe v11.2.0.1527 module along with modded v12+ drivers might solve the problem. Still you warn also against that kind of configuration. Is it an option ? Even sub-optimal.

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I shouldn't have gone that fare while preparing the mod...

I've got the exact same results as terralysis (Request for RAID OROM for Asus P6X58D Premium)
Basically as soon as I switch to RAID mode in setup I can't get past the intel RAID init (stalled screen with blinking cursor). That with any version from v11.2.0.1527 and upward.
I didn't try v10.1.0.1008 as it would solve nothing.

Actually I figured out now that many people already bumped into that issue, I should have figured that sooner....

By the way

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag RE: Request for RAID OROM for Asus P6X58D Premium

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There is a general space resp. compression problem with the OROM modules of X58 chipset mainboard BIOSes.

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