ASRock P55 Deluxe3 -> RAID broken with v12.9.0.2006 ROM?

[Nuc_eoN]

Hi Fernando and thanks for your answer!

@Fernando

This is what I thought many years ago, because I couldn’t believe, that the Intel SATA AHCI Controller of Intel Chipsets from 5-Series up do not need and use any Firmware resp. Option ROM module. Later on I realized, that the Intel RAID ROM module has indeed no impact at all on a system, which is running in AHCI mode

Now this info really changes everthing and I am pretty surprised it is that way. I do still have some remarks though:

@Fernando

According to my knowledge only Award/Phoenix BIOSes (and maybe some non-UEFI AMI BIOSes) of older mainboards do contain a discrete Intel AHCI ROM module, whereas the AMI UEFI BIOSes of the newer mainboards (with an Intel Chipset from 6-Series up) just contain an Intel RAID ROM, but no Intel AHCI ROM module.

In this quote you say "from 6-series up", while in the above post you mention "from 5-Series up". This info is pretty crucial for me having a 5-Series controller. Also you mention "AMI UEFI BIOSes of the newer mainboards", which is again confusing since I’ve got a legacy BIOS but probably already got the AHCI module hardcoded (don’t I?).
My educated guess would be that the change starts from Intel 5-Series, since that was a big change compared to the ICH - ICH10 line-up. Maybe you should display the information similar to this this:

• ICH - ICH10 controllers -> seperate AHCI and RAID module in BIOS
• Intel 5-Series and up -> AHCI module probably hardcoded into BIOS, only RAID module available as Option ROM

This is at least my understanding for now.
Also, I have noticed there is no guide how to identify and replace a pure AHCI module (for those users with ICH - ICH10) in [Guide] AMI (non-UEFI) BIOS Modding - Otherwise I would have already checked if my legacy AMI BIOS doesn’t contain the AHCI module after all.

@Fernando

Actual BIOS files do not contain any separate AHCI ROM module, because such BIOS module resp. Firmware is not required anymore. The Intel SATA AHCI Controller of the mainboard is not supported at all by the RAID ROM module. That is the reason why users with an AHCI (non-RAID) system will not benefit from an update of the RAID ROM version.

Good edit for sure! However you mention "Firmware is not required anymore" (Since when!?) but there is no mention of those poor ICH - ICH10 (?) users which do indeed have a seperate AHCI module. Maybe the infos from above should also be incorporated into this sentence.

@Fernando

Due to the relationship between the AHCI/RAID drivers and the related BIOS OROM module versions the AHCI/RAID functions and features are limited by the oldest component of them. Users may even not be able to get the newest AHCI/RAID drivers installed as long as the BIOS contains an absolutely outdated RAID ROM module version.

@Fernando

Although I do not believe, that the updated Intel RAID ROM module has harmed your system, you can reflash the original BIOS without any disadvantage. As long as you are running your Intel SATA ports in AHCI mode, the Intel RAID ROM module within the BIOS doesn’t matter at all.

Hm, after processing all this new information, I’m actually more confused than before:
Assuming the AHCI module is hardcoded into my BIOS and I do not have any advantages of updating the RAID OROM in my non-RAID system, I conclude that the IRST driver isn’t even necessairy for non-RAID systems - since meaning not to update the RAID OROM means not being able to update the IRST driver under windows either… I conclude that it doesn’t matter if I have v9.xxx or v12.xxx of IRST installed on my Windows system, since it doesn’t affect AHCI anyways and does bring neither performance or stability improvements or improvements at all.

Considering that, the table you have given in post Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? at the bottom, would make no sense, since there cannot be a "Recommended AHCI driver" considering AHCI (non-RAID) is totally unrelated to IRST.


I’m so confused I nearly cry, please help out with some insider infos Fernando!!

Thanks in advance!
Also merry Christmas und einen guten Rutsch!

Nuc!eoN