HPE510t and RAID 1 - configure RAID after OS already installed?

[bp1266]

Just recently took delivery of a new HPE510t (yes, with Sandy Bridge; I'll deal with that later) that I ordered with two drives in a RAID 1 array.  After my 6-8 hours of installing development, production and office software, configuring network printers, drives, etc. I checked everything over and that's when I discovered that RAID1 was not activated and there's no option for it in the BIOS screens, although I do have the option to set drive emulation mode: AHCI/IDE/RAID.  But I'm not sure what "drive emulation" mode means and if I switched it to RAID, would it work?

Spent 4 hours chatting with online support and talking on the phone with both Tier 3 Software and Tier 2 Hardware Specialists trying to determine how to enable the RAID1 array without having to reinstall the OS (Win7Pro) and all of my software.  They told me it couldn't be done and would send me my recovery discs. It's now 9 days later and I still haven't received them; the support person on the phone today said it could be 2-3 week before I get them.  And no, there was no D: recovery partition, either.  Not sure if it was corrupt or just never installed.  I'm SOL on that front.

But in the meantime... please help!  Do I have to start over, installing RAID1 myself during OS install and then spending the day reinstalling and re-configuring everything on my machine?  Intel Matrix Storage Manager is nowhere to be found on the machine (I don't think RAID was enabled during OS install at the factory). 

In th eBIO

Is there any way to force install the RAID drivers/options/etc. after the OS is installed?  This is a primary work machine and I can't afford spending another day re-configuring everything after I manually install the OS again.

p.s. I have a case # and have talked to some support folks, so they're working on trying to help me out, just wondering if it's a lost cause and I'm doomed to have to reinstall the OS myself and fix HP's error.

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

You can order recovery media at this link in case your order got lost.

What mode is the hard drive controller set to in the bios? RAID, ACHI or IDE  Your PC may not boot if you change it to RAID mode as the wrong drivers might not load.  See this Microsoft FIXIT article.  You might also want to use this software; Intel Storage Manager  Intel Rapid Storage Technology download

When it is set to RAID then you will be able to access the RAID setup menu at boot time.  Then you can setup RAID paring for your hard drives be sure that your second hard drive is empty as RAID 1 will duplicate everything from hard drive 0 to hard drive 1.

[bp1266]

Thanks, Big_Dave, for your help.

Right now the hard drive controller/emulation is set to AHCI.  If I understand your suggestions correctly, I *can* change the emulation mode to RAID but I need to modify the registry to enable the RIAD drivers in the OS, first.  correct?

What I don't understand is this statement: "Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:

HKLM...Msahci or IastorV"

It looks like it's saying to set one of the keys to 0.  But which one?  Everything is currently set up as AHCI... does that mean I should set the iastorv value to 0?

And w.r.t. Intel Rapid Storage Technology ... it doesn't seem to have the i7-2600 "Sandy Bridge" chipset listed.  Unfortunately, that's what's in my system... Will the software even work?

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

Change the bios hard drive controller mode to RAID and save. Now try to boot up. If you get the error then go back into the bios and revert the the change and save. Boot up normally.  Now try the below FIXIT patch.

Just clicking on the MRFIX icon should do the patch update. Then boot into the bios and change the hard drive controller mode to RAID and save. You should be able to boot normally. If that works then look under Programs for an Intel Storage Management program. Otherwise, when you boot up, crtl-atl-i should get you into the Intel RAID setup facility where you can setup your raid pairs. 

I converted from RAID to AHCI.  I am sure that you know that the Intel issue with the Sandybridge chip has to do with sata ports.

[bp1266]

> I am sure that you know that the Intel issue with the Sandybridge chip has to do with sata ports.

Yeah, I know that.  What I'm potentially worried about is installing the Intel Storage Management software when it doesn't specifically say that it supports my particular chipset.  It only looks like it covers up to the I5 series of chip.  My chip I7-2600 is a 2nd gen I7 series chip.

[Big_Dave]

Burn a set of the HP Recovery Disks.  It will take three DVD+R media. Don't use r/w media.  Backup your data in case something goes poorly.

[Hanspuppa]

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bp1266 wrote:

Just recently took delivery of a new HPE510t that I ordered with two drives in a RAID 1 array.  After my 6-8 hours of installing development, production and office software, configuring network printers, drives, etc. I checked everything over and that's when I discovered that RAID1 was not activated and there's no option for it in the BIOS screens, although I do have the option to set drive emulation mode: AHCI/IDE/RAID.  But I'm not sure what "drive emulation" mode means and if I switched it to RAID, would it work?

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Hello bp1266, You want see a Raid1 in the BIOS. You would only see the option for IDE, AHCI, RAID. This would need to be set to Raid for the Raid array to be available.

You can enter the Intel Raid Utility by pressing the ctrl and the i key at the same time, after the HP Logo screen disappears, and this should allow you to enter the Intel Raid Utility.

If the system was set up in a Raid1 array, it probably is. You can verify this by entering the Intel Raid array Utility, where you can see the status of the Raid array.

However I would not make any changes in the Raid1 array. If any changes are made, the Raid1 array will be broken and all the data on the array will be lost.