Dell Bios / Intel RAID Option ROM / Laptop

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August59
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Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 5:43 am

Can a Dell Bios be modified to chande the Intel RAID Option ROM?
History - Dell M4400 Bios "A19" has the "Intel RAID Option ROM v8.0.2(??) which is activated if the SATA Mode "IRRT" is chosen in the bios. If "AHCI" is chosen then the Option ROM is not activated. Dell has blocked the access to the Option ROM configuration during boot up and it cannot be modified with the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. Dell has also set it to RAID0 - Striping from what I have been told and not to RAID1 as most people think, but it is set to only use the "Dell Recovery partition" (I believe this only applies to the laptop). Have been told that this bios file is enormous from a bios prospective, but not sure what it has to do with the problem.
Problem - Since the RAID setup with IRRT is essentially blocked by Dell via the bios. Typically you should at least be able to use the Intel software and change the mirror "update" from "striping" to "manual" and thus avoid the problem - There are performance drops and latency issues due to the laptop continuosly looking for a hard drive to "mirror" to.
I believe this issue applies to the Dell Latitudes, Precision Workstations and the X600 as well. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

P.S. - I would have attached the "A19" bios file for the M4400, but it is over (2.82mb) the size limit.
edwin
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It's been tried and so far nobody succeeded.
edwin/evasive

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