530s machines! (Finally)

December 30, 2007 14:11 by TheLostBrain

7/18/08 Update Begin

Finally back from the Honeymoon and guess what! The wife's pregnant! Woohoo! :)

How about we celebrate with another release! ;)

New AllRaid packages available for Dell's 1015 bios releases!

(Released for Vostro 200, 400 and Inspiron 530/530s)

(Skipping the 1014 "Vostro only" release unless someone specifically requests it.)

Enjoy! ;)

Another quick announcement! There is BETA release for the new Vostro 410!
While the modification on this bios was just as clean and straight forward as
the others please keep in mind this is BETA BETA BETA! I don't anticipate any
issues at all but I have a no way of testing this one myself as I do not have a Vostro 410!
If you flash to this bios and you have success please post here! Who will be the
first brave soul to try her out? ;)

7/18/08 Update End

4/11/08 Update Begin

New AllRaid packages available for Dell's 1013 bios releases!

(Released for Vostro 200 and 400)
(Most current Inspiron release from Dell is currently 1012)

Enjoy! ;)

4/11/08 Update End

3/18/08 Update Begin

New AllRaid packages available for Dell's 1012 bios releases!

Also, if any of you are currently running say... a Vostro 200 bios on an Inspiron 530 or vice versa, etc. please let me know.
I know hypothetically this should work as the hardware should be exactly the same between machines.

I may do some testing on this and if it does prove to be the case than you'll most likely start seeing a single unified AllRaid release rather than one for each system, etc.

This would allow everyone to have the most up-to-date feature set regardless of which machine you have.

3/18/08 Update End

3/1/08 Update Begin

New AllRaid packages available for Dell's 1011 bios releases!

You may notice that there are only 1011 AllRaid packages for the Vostro 200 and 400. This is simply becuase I can't seem to find a 1011 bios for the Inspiron 530/530s on the Dell site. If you have a 1011 bios for the 530/530s please shoot it over to me and I'll patch it and post it here as well.

Other notes:
1) Made some changes to the file names and directory structure inside the packages to make things simpler.
2) Replaced the awdflash command line switches with the ones that TM posted
(No more MAC address getting reset!)

Also, all of the original 1010 packages have been redone to reflect the new filename/directory structure changes and the corrected awdflash command line switches.

3/1/08 Update End

So, let me guess... You've purchased a Dell Vostro 200/400 or Inspiron 530/530s with plans to run Raid 0 or Raid 5...Only find out after it arrived that it only supports Raid 1, eh?
But then you say to yourself... "This thing's got an Intel ICH9R... and that controller supports Raid 0, Raid 5, etc. what the heck!?"

What the heck indeed... Well, you've come to the right place. Below you will find bios updates for your system that will re-enable the full Raid capabilities of your ICH9R.

While the update process is very simple and safe I still highly recommend that you take the time to read all the instructions and disclaimers before attempting it.

If you have any questions or comments be sure to post them here, etc.

Let's get started.

Please keep in mind that you'll need to reinstall windows if you go from No Raid to Raid 0, etc. - Otherwise you'll just bluescreen upon startup after making the switch.

(Keep in mind that simply flashing the bios to include the full raid support will not make your current windows installation unusable. It's when you actually go into the bios and change the "SATA Mode" BIOS option from IDE to Raid and/or re-define your Raid Containers in the Intel Raid Configuration (CTRL-I at bootup)... now you'll get the bluescreen when attempting to boot up into your existing XP Installation.)

To get started you'll need two things:

1) The AllRaid package itself:

Vostro 200
AllRaid-Vostro-200-1010.zip (493.37 kb)
AllRaid-Vostro-200-1011.zip (496.82 kb)
AllRaid-Vostro-200-1012.zip (As of 3/18/08 there is no 1012 bios for the Vostro 200 line on Dell's site! If you have one let me know.)
AllRaid-Vostro-200-1013.zip (496.97 kb)
AllRaid-Vostro-200-1015.zip (500.09 kb)

Vostro 400
AllRaid-Vostro-400-1010.zip (493.37 kb)
AllRaid-Vostro-400-1011.zip (496.10 kb)
AllRaid-Vostro-400-1012.zip (As of 3/18/08 there is no 1012 bios for the Vostro 400 line on Dell's site! If you have one let me know.)
AllRaid-Vostro-400-1013.zip (496.99 kb)
AllRaid-Vostro-400-1015.zip (500.25 kb)

Inspiron 530/530s
AllRaid-Inspiron-530+530s-1010.zip.zip (493.39 kb)
AllRaid-Inspiron-530+530s-1011.zip (As of 3/1/08 there is no 1011 bios for the Inspiron 530/530s line on Dell's site! If you have one let me know.)
AllRaid-Inspiron-530+530s-1012.zip (496.22 kb)
AllRaid-Inspiron-530+530s-1015.zip (503.62 kb)

BETA BETA BETA Vostro 410
AllRaid-Vostro-410-BETA-103.zip (491.60 kb)
Not for the Faint of Heart! This is untested BETA! While it's unlikely... it could fry your machine! If you're concerned please read through the more recent (>7/18/08) posts below to see if anyone's already successfully flashed to this release.

2) The Windows F6 driver disk:

Intel-raid-f6-driver-disk-32bit.zip (200.34 kb)
(Use when installing a 32bit OS)

Intel-raid-f6-driver-disk-64bit.zip (228.36 kb)
(Use when installing a 64bit OS)

The details of how to flash are available in the included "readme.txt" file but a quick overview:

NOTE: Like any bios update DO NOT turn the power off during the update process! All the usual "I will not be held responsible” jargon applies here! So in other words… If your machine dies in direct relation to running any of this I won't be held responsible

Now then....

After extracting the AllRaid package you'll find two batch files:
WINFLASH.BAT
DOSFLASH.BAT

The first (WINFLASH.BAT) will attempt to flash your bios right from within Windows using the Dell Winflash utility. This is very easy and I've successfully used this method multiple times from XP. Running the batch file will bring up the flash window were you will confirm that you want to continue with the flash... you can opt to backout at this point if you wish. (As for Vista... When I attempted to run it from Vista it says something about "Load driver failed"... So I'll have to assume at this point that Vista is not supported by this version of WinFlash. Please leave comments if you find out different, etc.)

You'll run the second (DOSFLASH.BAT) if you're flashing from a clean dos boot. Please keep in mind that as soon as you run this it will IMMEDIATELY begin flashing the bios... so don't run it until you're ready.

If you decide to flash from DOS you may want to check out my walkthrough on making a DOS bootable flash drive! ;)

That's pretty much it! You've now got support for all of the Raid options available to the ICH9R chipset (Raid 0, 1, 5, 0+1). Please keep in mind that Raid options shown in the Intel Raid Configuraiton (CTRL-I at bootup) are governed by the number of drives you have installed in the system. So with only 1 drive installed you'll not see an option for any Raid. With 2 drives you'll see Raid 0 and Raid 1... and with 3... you get the picture.

Please keep in mind that in order to access the Intel Raid Configuration (CTRL-I at bootup) you'll need to change the "SATA Mode" BIOS option from IDE to Raid. Doing this will cause your current XP/Vista installation to blue screen at bootup...but you can set it to verify the available raid options and then simply set it back to IDE until you're ready to reinstall Windows, etc.

One last tip... When reinstalling Windows be sure to use that F6 Driver Disk and when prompted be sure to choose the option that has ICH9R Raid in it... I think it's the last one in the list? You'll know if you chose the wrong one because you'll get a bluescreen when it attempts to reboot midway through the reinstallation.

Also!!!! Keep in mind that if you define a Raid 0, 5, or 0+1, etc. configuration... you do NOT want to update to a more recent DELL bios release!!! Remember, the Dell released bios does not have support for those raid types and I can only imagine that flashing to it would then break your raid containers, etc. If a new bios is released that you want just shoot me an email... I've got the modification process down to a simple science so I can do it pretty quickly and then just repost here, etc.

That should do it! Have fun with your new raid support! Please post any questions comments right here so others can benefit, etc.

-TheLostBrain

One of the Vosto 200's at work with Raid 0 configuration:

3/19/08 - RECOVERD COMMENTS
(Recovered from Google cache! Thank God for Google!)

January 9. 2008 06:01

Is it possible with further work you can change other settings like memory voltage? being limited to 1.8v is frustrating. New memory moduals require anywhere from 1.9 to 2.2 or more volts.

jeff

January 9. 2008 11:03

Sweet! that turns the Vostro 200 into something of a bargain given the new years price promotions Dell are currently running. I'm now very tempted!

James

January 9. 2008 16:07

Did you enable AHCI in the bios?? Would be nice.

John O

January 9. 2008 16:27

>> Did you enable AHCI in the bios?? Would be nice.

All I've done at this point is simply swap out the the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Option Rom... I *may* be able to "enable" it though.. will need to take a look tomorrow.
Will let you know.

TheLostBrain

January 9. 2008 17:03

It would be super awesome if you could enable AHCI!

Btw, is there anything in this BIOS limiting the memory to 3.5GB? I've installed 4 2GB DIMMS. The BIOS sees 8GB of RAM, but Vista 64 and Linux still only see 3.5GB of RAM.

oh yes!

January 12. 2008 17:52

>> It would be super awesome if you could enable AHCI!
>> Btw, is there anything in this BIOS limiting the memory to 3.5GB? I've installed 4 2GB DIMMS. The
>> BIOS sees 8GB of RAM, but Vista 64 and Linux still only see 3.5GB of RAM.

Didn't have much luck at enabling the AHCI at this point...but will try again as I have time.

As for the RAM limitation you're seeing... Unfortunately this appears to be a limitation of the Vostro itself (4GB Max on Ram :/) ... and it looks like others out there are experiencing the exact same problem with windows only showing ~3.5GB. Check the following link (Once you have the page up...hit CTRL-F and search the page for: 8gb )

forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php

TheLostBrain

January 12. 2008 21:52

Congrats for the work you've done!

One thought, a bit unrelated. I think the Vostro 200 and 400 have the same hardware, the difference appears to be only in what the Vostro 400 can handle, CPU wise. So I wondered if it's possible to flash a Vostro 200 with the 400's bios to allow quad cores to work on the 200.

Does this seem likely do you think?

Dan

January 13. 2008 12:16

Nice work. Thx

Nicola

January 14. 2008 01:48

We assumed that we could use RAID 0 with Vostro 400 - but Dell tells us that this is not possible - so your work-around seems very agreeable as we need to save time when working with Vista, and this is just my problem!

How can I upgrade the BIOS when using VISTA? I have done it OK on 1 XP machine with no problem. But as you say - the BIOS update on VISTA does not work. I have tried to start the machine with DOS Start-up Disks for XP, ME, 96 and Dos6.1 with no success. It cannot find the files I have put on Z on the bootable CD.

Any hint would be much appreciated!

Anders

January 22. 2008 11:24

Really appreciate the work you put into this!

I have a question regarding loading the Matrix Storage Manager with P6 off an XP Pro Install disk. I plan on ordering an Inspiron with the 12-1 card reader rather than a floppy. The readme file for the Matrix prog says "* Note: For Windows Vista you can use a floppy, CD/DVD or USB.". Will a USB flash card not work with XP here, or how about a USB floppy drive?

Jason

January 23. 2008 03:14

Question:
I have a question regarding loading the Matrix Storage Manager with P6 off an XP Pro Install disk. I plan on ordering an Inspiron with the 12-1 card reader rather than a floppy. The readme file for the Matrix prog says "* Note: For Windows Vista you can use a floppy, CD/DVD or USB.". Will a USB flash card not work with XP here, or how about a USB floppy drive?

Answer:
Yeah, sucks but XP is limited to Floppy for F6 driver loads. You can try a USB Floppy but I've not had much luck myself with it. I actually initially tried using a USB Flopply to do one of the machines at work and it just hung after starting to copy off of it. You may have better luck though. FYI: I actually wound up reading up on how to add the F6 driver directly to XP SP2 CD itself and then it just worked w/o the need to specify an F6 disk.

TheLostBrain

January 25. 2008 07:27

Amazing, simply amazing. I now have RAID 0 when I was starting to give up hope! You truly deserve major kudos on this one TLB!

Now....being greedy here...why does this BIOS report 4G of memory, yet even 64 bit OS's report no more than 3.25? There has to be an advanced setting *somewhere* right?

*crosses fingers*

Anyway, excellent work! Off to get some shut-eye

Joel

January 28. 2008 20:07

AWESOME!!!! Works perfect under Vista Business in my inspiron 530, was able to set up a raid 0 with 2 hd in a breeze. Before this I was about to return the system since I was pissed at how dell cripples the bios. Now there are 2 things that I would die for if you can implement:

1) Option to raise the Fsb to 1333 mhz (so my quad core can run at 3.00 ghz.
2) Addressing of more than 4 gb in the bios, I hate dell for not allowing this when the chipset is perfectly able to!

For any of these 2 things you'll get my longlife admiration! Thanks!!

Inaki

Inaki

January 30. 2008 12:03

Tried to run the firmware updater from within windows on a new vostro 400. It says that the firmware versions are the same, and will not proceed. Any thoughts? I'm trying the dos version as we write this.

bob

January 31. 2008 06:43

Great work !

May i ask you if you can allow some overlocking option in a modded bios for VOSTRO 200 ?
My e4400 can do better than running @ 2ghz but dell bios are killing us.

The FOXCONN G33M original bios allow it, but will it work on G33M02 ? I don't know...

sebby

January 31. 2008 09:20

Bob,

Were you successful getting the bios update through DOS? I haven't set up a RAID on an Inpiron yet, but I did setup one without and went through all the updates on Dell's site including the newest BIOS and got a message like you did. All the machines built after late Dec have the 1.0.10 bios installed and I think that'll be a problem trying to get this modified bios with the same ver. number to load. Again, interested to hear if it worked loading through a DOS boot. Thanks.

Jason

February 4. 2008 13:22

Notify me when new comments are added

Jason

February 4. 2008 14:19

Tried this bios update on a brand new Vostro 400. After flashing and reinstalling win XP Pro cannot get the onboard network card to connect to anything. It will repair and get an ip but will not work otherwise, also when you install the chipset utility from Dells website none of the usb ports seem to work leaving your system useless a reinstall of windows is necessary. Do you know of any way to reflash the bios back to the original 1.0.10. I have tryed several different ways and it tells me that it cannot flash because bios is the same version, any help would be appreciated as this computer is now a paper weight.

Rich

February 4. 2008 15:19

Rich,

Did your Vostro come from dell with BIOS version 1.0.10 installed? If so, how did you get the modified version to load? You should be able to reflash the dell version back the same way unless Dell packages the files in a way that's different. I've got a new Inspiron on it's way to me FedEx now, but im hesitant to mess with this raid bios unless I can go back in case of problems.

Mike, do you know a way to remove your modified bios and replace if necessary as in Rich's case? Thanks

Jason

February 5. 2008 10:59

Bob and Rich, did either of you solve your flashing problems? If so please post how you got it to flash with same version numbers. I'd appreciate it, thanks.

Jason

February 5. 2008 22:04

TLB, can you also post a bios flash file of the original Dell 1.0.10 that will work to reset back to the orignal over yours. Currently the file dell supplies won't let you reflash if it detects the same version number. This would be great to have in case the machine goes wonky like in Rich's above. Much appreciated!

Jason

February 5. 2008 23:47

Joel,

Try loading the NIC drivers from Dells site:

ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R159293.EXE

Let us know if this works.

I'm not sure if a one can reflash Dell's bios back on under DOS as the application is different than TLB's.

btw: other than the NIC not working is everything else working with your RAID and Windows?

Regards

Jason

February 6. 2008 01:36

If you use the floppy and flash via dos, you should be able to overwrite the same version. This worked for me going from DELL 1.10.0 to TheLostBrain's version, so I would assume the reverse is also true.

I also cannot use the onboard NIC after flashing. TLB, how did you get this to work?

Joel

February 6. 2008 06:11

Thanks for the NIC fix Mike. The problem that many of us are having is that the bios flash won't work if our machines were already loaded with 1.0.10 from Dell (anything built since late Dec). Running the flash updater through windows just gives a message that the version is the same and will not flash. That's the reason people starting flashing in DOS. Is there a workaround to make your modified flash file work through windows in this circumstance? Thanks

Jason

February 6. 2008 06:54

Rich, could you give us an update on your USB problem? Did you resolve it?

Jason

February 6. 2008 08:02

New update on the NIC issues that DOS flashers have been experiencing! Read the "2/1/08 UPDATE" update at the top of this page.

-TheLostBrain

TheLostBrain

February 6. 2008 18:43

Rich, thanks for the update!

Jason

February 6. 2008 19:27

Hi TheLostBrain

Can you check or do you know if flashing the inspiron 530 bios with the foxxconn g33m motherboard bios will enable 8gb memory support? The motherboard looks exactly the same as the one in the inspiron.

Enabling 8gb support on the inspiron would be amazing, as I already overclocked my quad core q6600 via the bsel mod (really easy!) now running at 3.0 ghz and got raid 0 thanks to you. All I need is more memory, 3gb is not enough!.

Huge thanks

Inaki

Inaki

February 6. 2008 20:23

The USB issue I was experiencing was a install problem, I did another clean install and everything is OK. No more problems with USB, so go ahead and flash away.

Rich

February 6. 2008 20:45

Well the good news is the Inspiron I ordered showed up today with 1.0.7 installed, so I won't have any issues doing a windows flash of the RAID bios. The question is do i want to . I really need to know if anyone is experiencing the USB failure after installing the Intel chipset from Dell's site after a clean XP Pro install with RAID bios. Rich hasn't posted back about his USB breakdown and there is no way to email him on here. If I get hung up with the thing I can't reflash to Dell's 1.0.10 to fix the USB because the application would allow reflash of same version. Rich's USB issue may not be at all related to this new bios, but his configuration is setup exactly like mine and it's got me worried. I feel like im at the poker table ready to go all-in and i'll either end up with cool RAID setup Inspiron or a $900 paper weight. Ghe.

Jason

February 7. 2008 17:00

No Soup For You!

Well I ran into a problem. The WinFlash won't flash the bios, it says "The BIOS Bin file was not for this system!" I did look again at the case, it is an Inspiron

img444.imageshack.us/img444/9862/biosas8.jpg

Anyone know what the problem might be? Thanks

Jason

February 8. 2008 06:16

Regarding the 2/1/2008 MAC address update, I hit this problem when flashing from DOS. However, it is possible to re-program the MAC address back to it's original setting using a linux utility called ethtool.

I used the Dell supplied bootable Ubuntu 7.10 DVD to boot into linux and used some 'ethtool -E' commands to update the NICs EEPROM. I don't have the exact commands to hand but I may be able to dig them out.

February 8. 2008 14:08

Help!!

I had everything working perfect on my inspiron 530 until I decided to update the intel matrix software application to the latest version. After it finished it asked me to reboot, which I did, and then windows vista crashes upon loading. I also can't get to a freaking system restore because when I insert the vista installation dvd and go to the repair system option the idiot starts looking for an installed operating system and hangs in there looking for the operating system. I can't access the option to load the raid drivers for the hard drive because I have to wait until it finishes searching for the op. system. I left it searching for a long time to see if it would stop but no luck so far. Does anybody have a solution for this??

Thanks!!

Inaki

February 8. 2008 17:00

This is interesting. As I was searching around the Dell forums I came across posts suggesting that the Inspirons and Vostros at some point as late as last month (see link) came with at least RAID 1 support from Dell. I checked and no RAID options are in any of Dell's purchase configurators now, although some do option for 2nd HD. I'll be happy just to get a RAID 1 going on this since the modified file here won't work for me. I PM'ed some people on Dell's forums about their setup and if anyone here knows how Dell was running the RAID 1's please let me know. Thanks

www.dellcommunity.com/.../message

Jason

February 9. 2008 08:36

More Problems!!!

This has become a nightmare. I reinstalled vista 32 bit business on the Inspiron 530 after it wasn't booting, took the time to reinstall all the software + all the updates, after several reboots of everything going OK I rebooted one last time after installing the Zune software for my Zune player and I can't get into Windows by any means (no safe mode, etc). WORSE I CAN'T EVEN GET TO RUN THE RESCUE DISK FROM THE VISTA DVD BECAUSE it throws a BSOD with code 0x0000C1F5. CAN'T DO ANYTHING!!!

The only way to bypass this BSOD and be able to install something is by changing the option from sata to ide in the bios, but then I would have to wipe everything clean and I have data that I want from the hard drives!!!. Is there a way to reflash the bios and see if this will go away? Anybody have any ideas??

Thanks

Inaki

February 9. 2008 17:27

Bios 1.0.11 released. So update from 1.0.10 is possible.
Please update the package.

Frank

February 11. 2008 05:08

thanks for your work. is there anyway to unlock any overclocking features on this board?

simspot

February 11. 2008 19:04

Thank you for your work.
Can you share how you modified the bios file?
Did you just replace the Intel Raid module with a full version? Is there any other modifications for other modules?
Where did you get the full RAID module?

Roger

February 22. 2008 20:28

I had the same problem as Jason - "The BIOS Bin file was not for this system!"

Technosquid

February 23. 2008 19:10

Thanks for this BIOS. I received four Vostro 400 and really needed to use RAID 0 in two of them. Since they came with BIOS 1.0.10, the only way to update to All-RAID was to do it in DOS. In the first one I use the usual method and everything worked OK, included the expected MAC address change to FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF. I update the second one removing the /cc switch in awdflash, and even so MAC address was deleted. RAID and BIOS worked OK. So I guess /cc is not guilty, or at least doesn't carry all responsability. I wish to see All-RAID 1.0.11 very soon! Thanks again.

Darven

February 24. 2008 22:18

To everyone with the problem getting Vista to recognize over 3.26 GB: I updated my x64 Ultimate Vostro 400 to SP1 today and it now recognizes the full 8 GB that I'd installed.

Howard

February 24. 2008 22:46

Well after getting all excited about Vista reading the full 8 GB... It's only reporting it in system info, it's still only utilizing 3.26. Stupid Dell!

Howard

February 28. 2008 16:15

Unlocking overclocking options would bring this BIOS to new levels of coolness making the Vostro 400 one bad ass system at a great buy.

Joe

February 28. 2008 20:47

Anyone tried the DOS patch and also fixed the MAC address? Is it the permanent solution? Or that means, after it changes to FFFFFFFFFF, every time I install Windows, I'll need to configure the MAC manually?

Thanks

February 29. 2008 13:38

Hi we have a Vostro400 which we have had quite a lot of problems with. We therefore updated the bios - and later had one of the disks replaced. Now that we have to do a "clean install" we would like to run Raid 0 - but we cant do it with the bios from Dell. We then found your post and thougt this is what we need. But unfortunately we the new bios will not accept your "raid-bios" since it finds that is is newer ie. version 1011 - and your version is 1010. Dell finds that this is entirely our own fault since we want to use the Raid on the machine??? Do you know of a way to force a bios-downgrade? Will it be possible for you to upgrade the new bios to support Raid 0. I have attached the new bios and changed the filetype from .exe to .ex_. Thanks in advance /Bo.

Bo Glode

March 1. 2008 14:54

OK guys, I have resolved the NIC Card reset (FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF) issue! You may want to change the command line in DOS_Update.bat to be the following:
@ECHO OFF
awdflash bios.bin /cc/cd/cp/py/wb/sn/E
I tried to open the DELL BIOS update package and found those parameters they use. It's a little different from TheLostBrain's. I tried this DOS update and it works well. My NIC still contains the default MAC Address. =)

Enjoy!!!

March 2. 2008 10:31

Awesome work TM!

Everyone here send some major kudos to TM for finding and testing the correct command line switches!

I've been so busy with work lately that haven't had time to test, etc. so this is a major help!

I'll be releasing the new 10.1.11 bios with full raid support tomorrow afternoon/night... and will be sure to include the fixed dos_update!

Thanks again to TM!

TheLostBrain

March 3. 2008 01:45

No problem, TheLostBrain

After running your BIOS patch, I am enjoying RAID 0 and now going to buy another HDD to be my RAID 5. =) Thank you for that too.

And I guess for those people who run into the limitation of 3.26GB RAM, I think even though 32 bits Vista SP1 can report full 8GB, theoretically they may still be able to use 3.26GB (as you may see in Performance tab in Task manager saying 3.26GB still... So I am not sure it's really using PAE)... I don't know. Perhaps you guys want to try 64 bits Vista which shouldn't have this 32-bit memory address limitation?

See:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946003

As a result, I don't think any BIOS update will be able to help on this issue then, guys.

March 3. 2008 20:46

i'm vostro 200 bios is 1.0.10
i want go to bios full raid 1.0.10 .
but no opertion
are you now bios full raid 1.0.11?
i very very thank you

cloud

March 3. 2008 23:51

New AllRaid Packages available for both the new 1011 bios and the original 1010 release as well!

Have fun!

TheLostBrain

March 4. 2008 07:56

o~~~~ no
new vostro 200 bios error
"bios binary file check sum error"
plese age

cloud

March 4. 2008 12:38

Interesting... Hmm... I'll take a look first thing tomorrow while at the office (No Vostro's here at home).

TheLostBrain

March 5. 2008 10:47

Hi,

I have a Vostro 400 with 1.0.10, I boot from a usb stick but get the following error when I run dosflash.bat:

"bios image file check sum error"

I have tried allraid-vostro-400-1011.zip and allraid-vostro-400-1010.zip but both give the same error.

Any ideas?

March 5. 2008 20:06

Excellent work, TheLostBrain!!! my vostro 400 is in production... I can't wait

1. RE: "You can try (to install XP F6 driver loads using) a USB Floppy but I've not had much luck."

-- See this, "Using a F6 Driver with USB Floppy, This is the fix for using USB Floppy drives for F6 drivers in Textmode":

www.msfn.org/.../F6-Driver-USB-Floppy-t82711.html

2. RE: "DELL's only address 3.25GB of RAM in a 64bit OS"

-- See this, "Warning for potential Vostro 400 customers":

boardreader.com/.../...stro_400_custome_58479.html

3. As far as this thread comprises installation instructions, it's become hairy...
- what version do I want to flash?
- does it depend on the bios version that is installed?
- from where, dos or windows?
- what can go wrong, MAC, USB?
- how do I fix those things?
- how can I roll back the bios flash?
- does it depend on the bios version that is installed?

4. I want to upgrade the RAM when my Vostro arrives. DELL wants $70 to add a gig of PC2-6400 DDR2 800mhz.
- why does vostro come with 800mhz ram... is it really going to run noticeably faster than 667mhz?
- ram runs dual channel. read a user recommend to install 2x2gb to eave room for more ram in a future 64 bit OS after the addressable ram constraint is resolved.

Thanks again,

James

james

March 5. 2008 20:45

waiting new bios vostro 200 1.0.11

cloud

March 5. 2008 22:09

I would like to flash my bios to enable RAID0 but I don't understand the last tip with the F6 driver disk.
Indeed I would like to make a ghost of my current disk, then enable raid0 and at last put the ghost image. I don't know when I have to use the F6 driver.
Can you explain a little more this tip.
Thanks
Cyril

I'm using a vostro 200ST with vista at home and the same with xp at work

Cyril

March 6. 2008 05:04

Cyril,

I guess you mean this:

2) The Windows F6 driver disk:

Intel-Raid-F6-Driver-Disk.zip (200.34 kb)

I'm no expert, please, someone correct me if I am wrong, but, this is the driver for the disc controller that enables RAID. during your new windows install, you'll be prompted to press F6 to install any drivers that might be needed for the windows installation to continue; at which point you should press F6 and insert the floppy containing the unzipped "Intel-Raid-F6-Driver-Disk".

Regards,

James

james

March 6. 2008 09:16

New news...read above. Updates tomorrow.

TheLostBrain

March 6. 2008 09:49

I'm currently working with someone @ Dell Executive Escalations (emailing michael @ dell dot com will get you a call back) to figure out what the true reason the RAM is limited to 4GB (and only 3.25-3.5gb is actually usable.) My bet is that there's no memory remapping option in the BIOS. The Intel Bearlake chipset on the Vostro 400 supposedly supports 8GB of RAM according to SiSoftware Sandra.

I recommend anyone who has a gripe with this issue to email michael@dell.com

Giorgio G.

March 6. 2008 11:05

Giorgio G:

Yes, no memory remapping, as stated in, "Warning for potential Vostro 400 customers." I think they are afraid of what the public would do with all this low-cost computing power... remember, this is an election year!

James

james

March 6. 2008 11:34

Excellent work we succeeded downgrading the bios from Dells version 1.10.11 to your 1.10.10. All we had to do was to perform the downgrade from Dos. After that following your instructions RAID 0 is finally up and running. However this was before the tip from TM hence we have mac-address ff-ff-ff-ff...

Question: Will an upgrade using the new update from TM set the correct mac-address (it is only set from Windows now!) or is there another way to set the mac-address in cmos?

Question: Will updating the bios from 1.10.10 to 1.10.11 be possible without having to reinstall the machine?

Great work by the way

/Bo.

boglode

March 7. 2008 03:16

Ugh. I can't find anything that will allow me to mod the BIOS (1.0.11 image file.) All the BIOS tools out there seem old / outdated.

Giorgio G.

March 7. 2008 22:44

Excuse me for my ignorance, but what's the difference between this bios and the raid option already in the factory bios? (I haven't tried it yet). Thanks.

Derek

March 8. 2008 05:04

In the factory bios you only have access to raid 1 (mirroring). This bios allows you to use raid 0 and raid 5 if you have 2 or 3 disks
cyril

Cyril

March 8. 2008 10:05

Ok, finally got 'em all up again.

Have fun.

TheLostBrain

March 10. 2008 07:22

Hey...

I have a Vostro 400 which suffered HDD mechanical failure last weekend. Dell support sent me a new factory imaged drive which I've finally got everything re-installed and configured. (All the software that we already owned but did not come pre-installed on the machine - QuickBooks, Office, etc.)

Thankfully, we had our critical files backed up to a network drive (which gets mirrored to an offsite location nightly).

Now, the question I have, is it possible to implement a RAID 1 without wiping the contents of the drive? I already have the drive Imaged (using Acronis). Can I use that Image restore after the RAID array is created? I have a feeling that won't work.

Any help/advice in this situation is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Kris

March 11. 2008 23:26

Kris
yesterday i made several attempts to implement RAID0 on my computers:
this is my conclusion:
if you're on windows XP the ICH9R driver should be the good one so you can just activate RAID0 or 1 and then put your image on the volume.
If you're using vista, the driver which is pre-installed on dell systems is not the good one so before making the image you have to update the driver. If you've already done the image, you need to restore it with the IDE conf, then update the driver, then make the image, then change to raid conf and at last put your image on the volume. More complicated with vista isn't it? (but it's only due the pre-installed driver's version)
hope it will help cause I didn't sleep much last night...
one last thing: if you want to use raid 1 you don't have to use lost brain's bios update because dell's bios already allows raid 1.

Cyril

March 12. 2008 11:57

Cyril

Thanks for that information! I am using XP Pro and only wanted to do plain vanilla raid 1 mirroring.

Thanks again!

Kris

March 13. 2008 23:09

Really appreciate all the work everyone has been doing to get this working. A shame Dell isn't.

All the comments added make it a bit confusing whether all the problems encountered are solved in the update at the top of the page dating 3/1/08 (and thus in the programs I can download above).

I read the MAC issue is solved, I am not sure about the USB issue (and to be honest, I don't understand if this is a problem with a USB disk drive or also with USB sticks and if this is a problem when using Windows after updating the bios or only at applying this bios update).

I read somewhere there is a problem with an host controller, maybe that's why dell disabled the raid0 option?
Perhaps that's why Kris said to have the correct driver?
How do I know if I have the correct ICH9R driver? I let my computer update, and I have in system management 2 different ICH9 Host controllers (2port controller2-2926 date 5-2-2007, driver8.3.0.1011 and 4 port controller1-2920). How do I update them (driver update update in this screen?) and do I have to back them up and install them after bios update?

Finally, I have just 1 dvd player/burner. Can I put a ghost image back (from DVD) instead of making a complete new install? If so, when can I insert the cd with the F6 cd (I am running Vista). Do I first put the ghost image back, get that dvd out, put the F6 cd in and then reboot?

Thanks in advance.

Wim

March 14. 2008 20:44

Thanks for updating the AllRaid packages, re-flashed the bios no problem.

One thing is you should post a link to the 64-bit F6 driver disc files, as the one linked above won't work for 64-bit Windows installs (well I tried Vista 64 and it didn't like it, finally found a 64 bit driver disc on the Intel site). Let me know if you need a zip of the 64-bit driver files.

March 15. 2008 12:19

Vostro 200 Raid 0 128kb stripe, up and running well without a hitch.

Bios 1011 DOS Flashed
Vista Business

Sweeter than dutch apple pie.

You have made the crippled walk again, many thanks.

John O

March 17. 2008 19:38

From the notes of the 1012 BIOS release, it looks like they've fixed the problem for memory mapping for up to 4GB.

Baktash

March 17. 2008 21:08

There has been a new BIOS release for the 530

support.dell.com/.../download.aspx

Lee

March 17. 2008 21:31

Looks like the 1012 bios was just posted for the Inspiron 530. Any chance you can update your bios with this? http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/530_1012.EXE

Baktash

March 18. 2008 16:48

>> If I updated my 530 with the 1012, will i lose raid0 function? I have the moded bios that runs raid0

Yes. I've tried this myself in the past and it will list your logical raid drives/containers as "invalid".

I was able to simply flash back and nothing was harmed however.

I will be doing the 1012 at some point today/tomorrow.

TheLostBrain

March 18. 2008 18:37

If I updated my 530 with the 1012, will i lose raid0 function? I have the moded bios that runs raid0

kung pow

Tags: vostro 200, vostro 400, inspiron 530, inspiron 530s, raid, bios, hack, modification
Categories: Tech
Actions: E-mail | Permalink | Comments (150) | Comment RSS RSS comment feed

Comments

April 2. 2008 08:25

"the bios bin file is not for this system!" when you click on update.

kung pow

April 2. 2008 12:10

Comments recovered from Google Cache! Thank God for Google!

TheLostBrain

April 2. 2008 13:32

Woah!! Comments just got wiped out! (All 75 of 'em!)

If you had questions, etc. just post them again.

Question:
Has anyone successfully flashed the allraid bios 1012 in a 530?
Winflash doesnt work and i must be doing something wrong in Dosflash as i cant get it to work as i did with the 1010

Answer:
Are you getting any errors, etc.? What's it say when you try to flash from both win and dos based flash methods?

TheLostBrain

April 2. 2008 18:07

I actually called to complain with the DELL tech support last week for the 4GB memory issue and they called me back with a promise to release a new version of the BIOS because they admitted that the current version of the BIOS doesn't do well for memory mapping over 32 bits. Very impressed that they actually do what they said, in just a week time frame.

Thank you again TheLostBrain for releasing the great BIOS!!!

April 3. 2008 00:59

I installed the Dell 1012 bios and vista 32 bit is still seeing only 3.25 GB of ram.

I tried using this modified bios, but it wouldn't let me flash it in vista (btw in order to flash in vista, you must unzip the file first).

I will try using the dos method tommorow.

Has anyone gotten the OS to see over 4GB of ram? I have 6GB installed and 6GB shows up in the bios, but only 3.25 in vista. I think I will be using my downgrade rights and getting 64bit XP.

Russ

April 3. 2008 11:53

I am using the new BIOS from dell. The bios sees 6GB, but Vista still uses only 3.25. I tried enabling awe with no luck.

Russ

Russ

April 3. 2008 12:37

you can get it 'see' more than 4GB with the new BIOS from dell.

simspot

April 5. 2008 11:33

Anybody gotten the Vostro 200 to see > 3.3GBs from within Windows/Linux?

JoseQ

April 6. 2008 19:02

Nevermind. I used the flash drive with a newer version of dos and it worked just fine. Sorry for the false alarm.

Gary

April 6. 2008 20:26

Hey TheLostBrain, thanks for all your hard work. I'm trying to get the new 1012 to install on my 530 using a hard drive I formated with an old version of dos but it just says "The File Size does not match!" and errors out. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,

Gary

April 7. 2008 03:19

how do i splice the f6 files onto an xp install disc? i do not have any form of a floppy at my disposal.

derek

April 7. 2008 04:13

pt2.

i think i might have hit all the possible hurdles anyone could possibly conceive of while trying to do this.

1. my bios version is already 1012 so i cannot winflash the bios to allraid. getting error message that cannot flash same version bios.

2. i don't have a floppy drive so i had to resort to creating a boot disc to boot into dos for a dosflash, and i had to slipstream the raid controllers into the winxp cd for the impending install.

3. boot disc created and booted into dos but cannot launch dosflash because the file was not found (ntfs/fat issue?).

4. all the references on the net indicated that sp2 should also be slipstreamed into the winxp cd in addition to the drivers. hit a mountain of error messages when trying to do this. Eventually gave up on slipstreaming sp2 and just stuck with the raid drivers. now i cannot even test if the CD generated works.

net movement on this issue: 0
time spent: 5-6 hours

am i full of fail or what.

great edu though and alot of helpful comments.

derek

April 7. 2008 10:20

the full raid update in the 10.0.11 is for full rade 10.0.10 i cant find the new one

Brian

April 8. 2008 00:32

This is great. Finally had time to set everything up after the 1012 flash on the Inspiron 530. It is now running 3 x 320GB harddrives in a RAID 5, Wish this sucker had more SATA ports. The bios obviously sees the 2 missing ports, but they're nto on the motherboard, so sad, hehe

Baktash

April 8. 2008 00:53

Question:
the full raid update in the 10.0.11 is for full rade 10.0.10 i cant find the new one

Answer:
It was just a typo in the winflash.bat file. I've update it to reflect the proper version number. Thanks for catching that.

-TheLostBrain

TheLostBrain

April 8. 2008 00:54

Hey, odd request, but can you pick through the Vostro 400 BIOS and add the microcode that allows it to support the C2Q Q6600 CPU to the allraid BIOS?

JoseQ

April 8. 2008 01:56

Very happy to report, the allraid 1012 bios for Inspiron installed well on a Vostro and I can now see all 8 gigs of RAM from CentOS 4 32-bit!

JoseQ

April 8. 2008 02:43

Question:
It says i can not overwrite the bios with the same version

Answer:
Hmmm... Do you have a Vostro 200?

TheLostBrain

April 8. 2008 03:34

I installed the 1012 release on a Vostro 200 succesfully. I'm installing OS to verify memory remap...

JoseQ

April 8. 2008 03:36

it says i can not overwrite the bios with the same version

brian

April 8. 2008 13:02

I updated to the 1012 release because I thought it was supposed to fix the issue with windows seeing less than 4gb. Now my bios shows 4gb but windows still shows only 3.25. Also, I didn't get a chance to use the F6 utility, was I supposed to run that in DOS or only when reinstalling windows for RAID0?

James

April 8. 2008 14:16

yea i have a dell vostro 200 and it says i can not install the same version bios

Brian

April 8. 2008 15:36

current progress...

so, i gave in and got a floppy 3.5" drive hooked up. the dosflash seems to have worked. booted into dos and typed in "dosflash" at the cmd prompt. got a little graphic come up that made it look like something happened. rebooted and in bios changed the setting for "integrated peripherals" from ide to raid. rebooted and at the dell splash screen tried to hit <ctrl-I>, nothing happened. went into boot menu and booted from the xp cd. pressed f6 to load 3rd party drivers and chose the ICH9R raid. after the xp install preloaded all the drivers i got the prompt to hit <enter> to continue xp install. computer is frozend. attempted the xp install a handful more times. no cigar. i gave up.

my question is...how do you know if the "AllRaid" bios flash was successful or not???

derek

April 11. 2008 09:23

Dell 530 came with 1012 bios already installed. If i run winflash it throws an error of same version and wont install. Any insights?

Code187

April 13. 2008 12:43

Ooops... Dell 530 here....I already have v1012 so I can't Winflash to same version. Tried to Winflash back to 1010 but that was a no go.

So... this leaves a DOS flash from a floppy as the only option? System does not have a floppy but I can cobble one in as I have had to do before.

Can a USB Flash drive be used as a floppy with current AllRaid download?

Thanks! Great work!

Muad Dib

Muad Dib

April 13. 2008 15:31

Duh...
Never mind! It was right in front of me, just too late at night to be alert.

Creating and booting from flash drive works like a charm!

Thanks!

Muad Dib

April 13. 2008 22:40

Great work! I'm running the Inspiron 1012 BIOS with your patches on my Vostro 400, for reference, with absolutely no problems. A friend has the Inspiron 530, and we compared the mobos, and they both had the *exact* same revision and model information printed on the PCB. So cross-flashing is NO problems!!!

Now it occurs to me that since the Foxconn G33 spec'd in these systems technicall supports 10/100/1000 (gigabit) ethernet, it *should* be possible to enable it on these machines via microcode update.

Any thoughts?

Keep up the awesome work!

Politbureau

April 14. 2008 14:40

Had a chance to fiddle with my system, thought I would summarize my results...

- Inspiron 530 BIOS works 100% on Vostro 400
- 1012 BIOS (mostly) fixes 4GB RAM addressing issue
- New packages do not affect MAC address
- The Q6600 that came with my Vostro was a G0
- Bsel "single piece of tape" mod works 100%
- My Q6600 runs at 3GHz no probs - 6h of Prime so far
- Q6600 + 4GB RAM + 8800GT + 2x Raptors is no probs for PSU
- Vostro needs 1 more PCIe x1 slot...

Cheers to LostBrain for the great work!

Politbureau

April 16. 2008 19:26

I have an inspiron 530 - I've been running your bios Vostro 400 1.0.10. I just upgraded to your inspiron 530 1.0.12

Raid 5 still works and no issue with MAC address
Inspiron 530 E6650, 2gb pc2-6400 RAM, 3x320 sata drive, stock powersupply, 8600GT video card.
Windows XP -SP2

Thank you, You ROCK!
Any other updates?

Titus

titus

April 18. 2008 21:15

Dell just released Vostro Bios version 1.0.13 ...

Arthur

April 20. 2008 13:10

Just updated my Vostro 400 to 1.0.13 and Vista x64 is showing/utilizing the full 8GB of memory. Good stuff!

Howard

April 22. 2008 16:47

New AllRaid packages available for Dell's 1013 bios releases!

(Vostro 200 and 400)

Enjoy!

TheLostBrain

April 23. 2008 07:49

Fantastic

Imaged my system using Acronis to usb disk

flashed with you 530 1012 bios.

Set to RAID 0

Created striped volume

Restored OS using universal restore which picks up the RAID drivers.. all done within an hour.

Nice one, thanks

Yours
Phil

phil

April 23. 2008 11:08

Is there a RAID bios for Dell SC440. Can it be created?

Greg

April 23. 2008 22:42

I just ordered a 530 with a Q6600, intending to use it with Xen and/or VMWare with VT extensions enabled. I saw on another forum that this BIOS also supports enabling VT extensions, but don't see anything on this page - can someone confirm that it will make it possible to enable VT.

Glen

April 26. 2008 05:22

I just placed an order for an Dell 530 a couple of days ago. With the latest BIOS update, does it address the problem with utilizing more than 3.2GB of RAM?

I saw Howard post saying his is recognizing and utilizing all 8GB. Is that true across the board?

Thanks to everyone for their help!!

Ryan

April 26. 2008 21:37

Nothing to do with lost brain's great work but is someone facing the same issue as me during the boot sequence (in the raid menu)?
disk 1 "error occurred(0)" (in red)
disk 2 "Member disk(0)" (in green)
I have 2*500 Go (Samsung) in RAID 0 mode (but i think it would be the same in raid 1 mode). My system is a Vostro 200

Cyril

April 30. 2008 02:42

I have a problem with flashing with this Allraid BIOS 12.
My system is 530 with Q6600 and current bios is 10 and Vista Home Premium.

I downloaded the package: AllRaid-Inspiron-530+530s-1012.zip
After unzipped, launched the Winflash.bat then click Update, I was informed with a dialog box saying "The BIOS bin file is not for this system."

Any bright idea?

Thanks,

Vince

May 3. 2008 04:48

I have a vostro 400 and i want to just run raid1, but after i add the HD and enable raid, i just get blue-screens and restarts. I can't seem to install the driver when not in raid mode. What do I need to do?

john

May 8. 2008 14:09

Has anyone tried the Vostro 1.0.13 bios on a 530?

Jay

May 9. 2008 21:17

Is there anyway to apply the Windows F6 driver disk: Intel-Raid-F6-Driver-Disk.zip ahead of time on a working IDE single drive vista 32 OS, remove the drive, configure a two new drives as a RAID1 pair, and image (ghost, acronis, etc) over the old IDE vista image over to the RAID pair without a new OS rebuild ?

I'm just looking for a way not to have to rebuild the OS from base.

Thanks

Brad

May 17. 2008 19:11

While i do not have a RAID configuration on my machine and i am only running 1 drive, I currently have an Inspiron 530 using a Vostro 200 BIOS, so yes, I believe you should be able to release one update package. The motherboard in the 200 is the same as the 530 as far as i know.

Kevin

May 21. 2008 11:58

I didn't need to reinstall VISTA after setting INSPIRON 530 to RAID. Followed this link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976/en-us
Simple registry tweak that allows the raid drivers to start.

Mark Wilton

May 21. 2008 12:18

Any chance on making a bios for inspiron 531/531s?

Come on, show us AMD people some love!

To be able to stripe with this system would be friggin' awesome!

Thanks

Steve

May 24. 2008 02:44

Holy... It makes a huge difference! Double our write!

josh C

May 25. 2008 10:23

For those that are complaining that Vista or XP isn't seeing all 4gig of ram, 32bit Vista and XP(what most Dell's ship with) can't see more then 3.2-3.5gig of memory and no amount of bios tweaking will change that. Now if your running a 64bit OS and it's still not seeing all the ram then there's a problem.

And I just want to say for the BIOS, I can't wait to get 2 or 3 Raptor drives running in a RAID 0 To bad I'm already on BIOS 1012, it makes updating a pain.

Psygnosis

June 6. 2008 14:53

Hi, many thanks for your worK.
I would like to flash my Vostro 400 with "AllRaid-Vostro-400-1013.zip" but my bios is already in 1.0.13 version and flash program doesn't want to flash the same version or an older version.

Do you have an idea for my case ?

Thanks

stoopa

June 6. 2008 17:01

Question:
I would like to flash my Vostro 400 with "AllRaid-Vostro-400-1013.zip" but my bios is already in 1.0.13 version and flash program doesn't want to flash the same version or an older version. Do you have an idea for my case ?

Answer:
You'll need to use the DOS based flash method. It will flash regardless of the bios version, etc.

TheLostBrain

June 7. 2008 00:33

Do you think unlocking some of the overclocking features would be possible even if you had the time to spend on it?

Thanks,

Paul

June 9. 2008 20:46

I just got an Inspiron 530 and it has the 1013 bios on it. I'm guessing I shouldn't just try to use the 1012, haha, but any idea when a 1013 for Inspiron will be out?

Casey

June 16. 2008 05:35

Hello

Having read through all of these comments and feedbacks I am impressed by everyone's helpfulness. I just took delivery of vostro 200 with twin disks assuming that setting up a raid was easy. Looking through what you have all said, it's not quite like that as I have to wipe drive c and reinstall windows (the instruction book implies to me that you can set up raid through intel software but having defined the discs as raid the option in setup this option still does not come up on the program list). So here is my question - speaking as a relative novice and fearful of creating a bloomer:

a) is the easier and simplist thing to start again and just wipe drive c and set it up the disks as raid?
b) can anything go wrong that would want to make me regret this?
c) are there better safety alternatives (such as making an image backup and installing that afterwards).
d) there has been lots of mention of flash bios upgrades but is this necessary. The machine is a week old.

Thanks in advance.

Geof

June 20. 2008 21:19

I have the Inspiron 530 with 1.0.10 bios. When I try to use winflash to flash the allraid 530 1012 bios, I get the following error "the bios bin file was not for this sytem!" then it says "no operation" and closes.

Carlos

June 21. 2008 11:07

I haven't been able to confirm yet with Dell whether the 410 will finally support RAID 0 out-of-box. Have you found out this info yet? If so, are you already working on a BIOS that enables AllRAID?

Chad

June 22. 2008 12:15

new 1.0.13 bios out for Inspiron
just wondering if you are going to update

asfww

June 24. 2008 10:10

Could you please include a summary of new/total features in the readme file? it would really help out. Also has the memory voltage been unlocked yet? thanks

Kurt

kurt

July 1. 2008 06:53

there is a new bios 1.0.14 for vostro 200. request update

Christoph

July 3. 2008 06:35

Hi:
Thanks for all your works. for the 8G memory,I use ramdisk4G which can findout the rest of memory but for 32bit system it's only use 3.2G, I put all my virtual memory on the ramdisk, the system seem fast.by the way I overclock my E2140 from 1.6 to 2.66 then my system can watch HD movie. but the power is another issue. 250W for vostro 200, pluse raid0 + overclock + 8G memory . the power supply running in veryhigh temp, anyone can tell me, do you have the same problme with me.
what's your guys power. can i put Q6600 in put my system with 250W power supply .
want overclock version of bios .
as many people asking for the overclock version of biso.
please take a time to make one. I guess overclock is much quick way to imporve the system then raid.
thanks

Black Ops

July 6. 2008 00:06

Hey

I recently bought a pci-e sata card and a WD mybook to run Linux and windows XP from for my inspiron 531. The problem is that when I hook the card and the esata drive up its not showing in the bios or from the boot menu. Can I use your bios for the 530 on my 531 and does the bios allows booting from esata drive and if not is it a restriction by dell not to allow booting from pci-e esata devices.

Any thoughts or ideas would help.

Thanks.

unutoofast

July 6. 2008 01:33

Having just bought a Vostro 410, I can state conclusively that it still only supports RAID 1.

Do you have any plans to produce a BIOS update for the 410 to enable RAID 0? The current BIOS revision is 1.0.1.

Al

Al Barclay

July 8. 2008 23:51

Is there any chance you can hack the bios for the Vostro 410 that was recently released?

Thanks

Brien

July 18. 2008 13:37

Hello,
Dell has published released 1013 Bios for the Inspiron 530.
It would be great if you could make the modfications on that one

http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/530_1013.EXE

Thanks a lot.
Oliver

Oliver

July 18. 2008 15:18

This all seems pretty straight forward, thanks for the time you've put into this and for consolidating the results/questions. I picked up an Inspiron 530, is it feasible to run a 4 disk RAID 5 with 8gb of RAM on Windows Server 2008? (gee, what do I plan to do with this...)

NullReference

July 22. 2008 13:06