update intel rom to newer version

BIOS/UEFI Modding BIOS Modding Guides and Problems
1

Hi Fernando. I have a small problem I have older Asus P5Q3 Deluxe board. I recently upgraded my drives and want run 2x4Tb drives in RAID 1. I have latest INtel RST driver in WIn 7 64. The problem is that core of raid driver is probably part of bios. During boot it identifies like Intel Matrix Storage 8.00.1038 ICH10R. Unfortunately that rom doesnt support more than 2 TB drives so I need update this bios part of Intel Raid drivers somehow so I can make RAID 1 with 4tb drives. Is there some way how update that ROM part of Intel raid controller to newer version. Asus dont have any update for bios. MY bios is AMI v 2105. AM totally new in rom flashing so i have no clue how to do that and what I need and if its even possible with my motherboard. Thank u in advance for some kind of info

david

2

Hello David,
welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

For the support of >2TB sized HDDs runnng in RAID mode an Intel RST RAID ROM v10.5.x.xxxx or higher is needed. Currently the BIOS of your mainboard contains an old Intel MSM RAID ROM v8.0.0.1038.

This is what I suggest to do:

  1. Read the start post of >this< thread and follow the instructions.
  2. Open the latest BIOS v2105 for your mainboard with the AMI MMTool and replace the currently inserted Intel RAID ROM module by the Intel RST RAID ROM v11.2.0.1527 according to >this< guide.
  3. Make a backup of your RAID partitions.
  4. Enter the BIOS and set everything to “DEFAULT”.
  5. Flash the updated BIOS into the BIOS Chip of your mainboard.
  6. Power off the computer for 1 minute.
  7. Start the computer, enter the BIOS, set the SATA Controller to “RAID” and save this BIOS setting.
  8. Restart and hit CTRL+I while booting.
  9. If you can enter the Intel RST RAID Utility v11.2.0.1527 and see your RAID1 array as being healthy, everything is fine. Reboot, enter the BIOS and restore your previous BIOS settings.
    If you should not be able to enter the Intel RAID Utility or if it should not show your RAID array correctly, I recommend to reflash the original BIOS.

Good luck!

Regards
Fernando

3

Hi Fernando,

Thank u very much for info. I downloaded MMtools and last official bios update which is same as I have in board now (ami 2105) . So I loaded bios into MMtools but now I have problem I dunno which version and what pci rom module I should insert into bios ? I donmt know what version of it ( from your pages) is compatible and working with my board …

cheers
david

4

I have already given the answer to that question. Please look into point 2 of my last post.

5

Ah Sorry …I didnt realize u already recommended exact vertsion in your post. I replaced Pcio option rom vendor 8086 device id 2822 with new one as from your guide. Now I try to flash it and will see :slight_smile: Just question . I have one 4 tb drive with data …if new rom will work fine is possible make raid 1 without trashing existing drive with data or data on both drives will be clear after added to raid 1 ?

6

I don’t know - just wait and see, what happens.

By the way: You have started the thread within the wrong Forum section ("AHCI/RAID Drivers" instead of "BIOS Modding"). I will move it into the correct section.

7

Hi Fernando, unfortunately things dont look good. I succesfully flashed bios, than I entered bios setting and enabled raid. restarted - everthing went good, raid controller showed in post in updated version of raid buit problem is after i enabled raid in bios, I cant enter BIOs setting by pressing DEL and cant even enter ezflash utility to restore bios to previous version. Simply after I see raid in POST - after that i got just black screen… is there any way how can i restore bios if I cant actually enter bios setting and cant enter ezflash utility ?

UPDATE: i disconnected all drives, so intel rom prolly automatically disabled itself when no drives detected, then I have been able eneter bios setting again and reflashed back to original unchanged bhios using EZFlash utility, then reconnected drives and everything is okay now but looks like that Intel Rom version v11.2.0.1527 is uncompatible with my board :frowning:

8


did you try with ctrl + i ?

9

@ davidmara:

It’s a pity, that you didn’t succeed to get the Intel RAID ROM v11.2.0.1527 working. Fortunately you were able to recover your former RAID configuration.
Your experience trying to update the Intel RAID ROM verifies the BIOS modding results of some other users with a rather similar ASUS ICH10R mainboard (look >here<). The problem seems to be the size of the Intel RAID ROM (no go with OROMs >100 KB uncompressed). This would mean, that the Intel RAID ROM v10.1.0.1008 probably is the last version, which will flawlessly work with your ASUS board.
As a consequence I suggest to replace the old Intel MSM RAID ROM v8.0.0.1038 of your BIOS by the newer and better RST RAID ROM v10.1.0.1008 (size: 85 KB uncompressed). I am pretty sure, that this OROM version will work fine with your system. Only big disadvantage: This way you will not get the support of > 2TB HDDs, because a RAID ROM v11.5.x.x.xxxx or higher would be required.

10

Hello Fernando. I am trying to run a raid 1 on a Dell Optiplex 960 with two 3 TB Western Digital Blue hard drives. Whenever I try to configure the raid in the Intel Matrix Storage Manager, it only allows 746.5 GB of space. It is running version 8.5.2.1002 and has the most up to date bios (A18). Is it possible to update the RST rom on this computer?

Thanks,
Ed

11

@edmunddiggle4 :
Hello Ed,
welcome at Win-RAID Forum!
Only newer Intel RST RAID ROM modules from v10.6 up do support > 2 TB sized RAID Volumes. The best choice would be v11.2.0.1527 (provided, that your BIOS is able to load such a big sized Option ROM module).

It may be possible, but it is difficult to do with a Dell BIOS.
Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)