AHCI & RAID Option ROM Modules

tenfoldinaus · June 1, 2015, 2:59pm

Thanks again for all your help,

I will keep all of that information on file for future reference,
also on a side note, my bios does not have a setting to change between rst and rste, so god know what its on

Fernando · June 1, 2015, 4:06pm

Yes, not all system and mainboard manufacturers offer this BIOS feature, but you can use the (modded) RST(e) RAID ROM modules and drivers v12 series nevertheless.

Fernando · June 9, 2015, 4:57pm

@ all:
Update of the Start post
Changelog:

new: Intel RST(e) RAID ROM v14.0.0.2234
Notes:
This Intel RAID ROM module has been primarily designed for the upcoming Intel 100-Series Chipset RAID systems, but will support Intel 8- and 9-Series Chipsets as well.
Thanks to SoniX for the source files.
removed: Intel RST(e) RAID ROM v14.0.0.2209 (previous version from the same v14.0 branch)

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernandoi)

SoniX · June 12, 2015, 11:32am

OROM IRSTe SATA RAID - v4.2.0.1036
OROM IRSTe sSATA RAID - v4.2.0.1036
SCU OROM not found.

OROM_IRSTe_v4201036.rar (52.9 KB)

Fernando · June 12, 2015, 12:29pm

Update of the Start post

Changelog:

new: Intel RSTe RAID ROM v4.2.0.1036
Note:
This Intel RST “Enterprise” RAID ROM module can only be used with DEV_2826 Intel SATA RAID Controllers. It has been designed for the newest Intel C600+ Series Chipsets like X99. Thanks to SoniX for the source file.

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernandoi)

plutomaniac · June 29, 2015, 1:01pm

EFI RST RAID 14.5.0.2241 (SataDriver Thread)
OROM RST RAID 14.5.0.2241 (OROM Thread)

EDIT 01/07/2015 20:11 → Previous file was corrupted. Check HERE and redownload.

Fernando · June 29, 2015, 10:58pm

@ all:
Update of the Start post

Changelog:

new: Intel RST(e) RAID ROM v14.5.0.2241
Notes:
This Intel RAID ROM module has been primarily designed for the upcoming Intel 100-Series Chipset RAID systems.
Thanks to plutomaniac for the source package.
new: ASMedia 106x AHCI ROM v0.97
Notes:
This seems to be the newest ASMedia AHCI ROM module, which is compatible with nearly all ASMedia 106x AHCI Cotrollers DEV_0611 and 0612.
Thanks to lordkag for the file.

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernandoi)

Fernando · July 14, 2015, 6:07pm

Update of the Start post

Changelog:

new: Intel RSTe RAID ROM v4.3.0.1018
Note:
This Intel RST “Enterprise” RAID ROM module can only be used with DEV_2826 Intel SATA RAID Controllers. It has been designed for the newest Intel C600+ Series Chipsets like X99. Thanks to MerlinX for having found the source BIOS.
Since I have ripped the OROM myself from the AMI Aptio V BIOS, I do hope, that it will work.

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)

Falco75 · July 17, 2015, 5:38am

First,

Hello everybody since I’m a new member of this forum.

Then, I need some help with a specific procedure, Fernando.
I have an Asrock X58 Extreme mainboard with 2 Vertex2 120Gb SSD in raid 0 and performance has really degraded,
so stumbled here and saw the magnific work for enabling trim in raid 0 also for old mainboards.

The Intel RAID ROM bios, here, is 8.xxx.
I tried to mod one of existing bios files from asrock with MMTOOL, inserting the .bin file of the newer raid roms, but with no luck, since I always get a “ROM Space is not enough” message.
Maybe I’m doing something wrong - should not be deleted the old raid module from the original bios image file, before loading the modded/new one?
Please help.

Best Regards
Giuliano

PS: I managed to clear the supposed PCI rom entry of the old intel raid bios rom, 8086/2822, and replaced with the thinnest of all - 10101008 - but compressed.
Should I try to flash?

Fernando · July 17, 2015, 8:06am

Falco75:
Hello Guiliano,
welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

Due to the space problem within the BIOS of many X58 chipset mainboards it is not possible to update the Intel RAID ROM module to any version, which is bigger sized than 85 KB.
That is the reason, why the Intel RAID ROM v10.1.0.1008 is the latest one you can get into the BIOS of your mainboard.
I just tested it with the BIOS X58EX_2.90: It is no problem to simply replace the original Intel RAID ROM by the "TRIM in RAID0 modded" Intel RAID ROM v10.1.0.1008.
There is neither a need to remove the old one prior to the insertion of the new one nor to compress the new one before going to insert it.

Good luck while flashing the modded BIOS and enjoy the TRIM in RAID0 feature with your old system!
Dieter (alias Fernando)

Falco75 · July 17, 2015, 1:52pm

Thank you,

procedure has been successful.

Now I’m gonna find the drivers and - finally - enable TRIM

Fernando · July 17, 2015, 2:12pm

I recommend to install the Intel RST driver v11.2.0.1006 (although it doesn’t 100% match the Intel RAID ROM version of your BIOS).

Have you ever had disabled TRIM?

Falco75 · July 17, 2015, 2:17pm

I already installed the 10.1.0 version,

anyway, trim is enabled

Should take some time, now that is enabled, to “optimize” the SSDs after years of Trim disabled?

Tested with CDM, speed (expecially Write speed) is still not good

Fernando · July 17, 2015, 2:25pm

Ok, this is a good decision as well.

Tip: Trigger TRIM. This can be done either by the Windows "Optimizer" (only available for Win8/8.1/10) or by a tool like Anvil’s Storage Utilities.

Falco75 · July 17, 2015, 6:05pm

Ah, thanks,

I remember this utility from a long time ago!!

Congratulations for your expertise and experience.

PS: I can confirm a speed boost of around 70/80% - from 200-250 with 300 peak to 400-450 and 500 peak.
Great

Chico_Salvador · July 31, 2015, 5:30pm

Dear Fernando,

You seem to be doing an amazing job here. Thanks for your time on helping everybody finding solutions to their issues.
I actually don’t know if my question is pertinent or even if a solution is possible, but here I go:

I previously owned a Dell Inspiron 14z 5423 that had the “Intel Rapid Storage” option in the SATA control options of its BIOS. The performance with iRST was really, really good and I thought I’d like to take advantage of that with my new rig.

I have recently changed laptops and my system is as follows:

Avell Custom Computers (www.avell.com)
Intel Core i5 4200m @2.50GHz
Intel series 8 Chipset Family
8Gb Kingston Dual Channel
NVidia Geforce 750M
1TB HGST HDD @7200rpm
32GB mSATA Samsung card
Insyde H2O Bios version 3.7

What I understand until now:

- The 32Gb eSATA card is visible in the BIOS and it is working
- The BIOS only gives me IDE and AHCI support
- I have recently upgraded to Windows 10
- The bios gives me an option to use Intel Smart Start technology, but I’ve never had one single good experience with it whenever I tried using it before
- I’ve installed the Intel drivers and Intel Rapid Storage software, it identifies both the HDD and mSATA but it does not give me the option to Accelerate (obviously because I cannot set up the RAID array without the BIOS option).

The question: is it possible to utilize a custom BIOS ROM that would give me the RAID option so I could create the array between the storage units to enable iRST?
If not, is there any other RAID-like software that could give me the same benefits?

Thanks for your attention!

Chico Salvador

Fernando · July 31, 2015, 6:30pm

@ Chico Salvador:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

No, this is not possible, because your new laptop obviously doesn’t support any RAID features. Furthermore you would need at least 2 HDDs or SSDs for the creation of a RAID array.
By the way: The missing RAID option is the standard for laptops. Your previous Dell Inspiron was an exception regarding the Intel RAID support.

There is the option to create a Software RAID from within Windows, but such RAID array requires 2 similar sized HDDs/SSDs as well.
Since you obviously want performance, I wonder why you haven’t bought a laptop with a fast SSD instead of a Hard Disk Drive. An SSD running in AHCI mode has a better access time and is nearly as performant as a RAID0 array.

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)

Falco75 · August 2, 2015, 4:25am

Would like to make an addon:

in Windows, assuming you are using win10 pro,

you can create a raid 0 or raid 1 using software raid; (supposing that this function has been keeped from win7/win8.1)

however, it cannot be done if one of the devices involved is the boot device.

Anyway,as I can see, you have a mSATA boot device (very small) and a 1Tb storage unit;

even if you could be able to make up a raid,
you would have a weird 64Gb volume with strange performance.

Should change everything on the storage side, and pick up a 256Gb SSD.

bye

dmgary · August 9, 2015, 10:31pm

Hi Fernando,

My motherboard is MSI Z77A-GD65 (chipset Intel® Z77)
Last bios 10.11 includes :

Intel Raid 11.5.0.1582
Intel ME 8.1.50.1456

You can upload newer versions because I have this trouble ?

1.

2. MMTool

After loading BIOS –> Replace –> Link Preset Vendor only 8086,282a

modified bios does not allow to load mainboard .

BIOS Z77A-GD65
-----------------------------

Help me ?

Fernando · August 9, 2015, 10:51pm

@ dmgary:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

to 1. Regarding the update of the Intel ME Firmware you should better post your problem into >this< thread.
to 2. Regarding the wrong DeviceID DEV_282a, which is shown instead the correct DEV_2822 by the AMI Aptio MMTool, there is nothing to worry about. All mainboard manufacturers have always entered the "282a", when they inserted an Intel RAID ROM into a mainboard BIOS for a Z77 Chipset mainboard. Nevertheless the inserted Intel RAID ROM works fine with all DEV_2822 Intel SATA RAID Controllers.

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)