Dell XPS: How to enable Intel's RST CTRL+I option when booting?

[chuck1000]

I have a Dell XPS L521X notebook. It came with a 64GB mSata drive and a 1TB mechanical drive. There was a CTRL+I option to get into the Intel RST Legacy Option ROM. The drives were configured for RAID and the 64GB mSata drive was being used as the cache drive.

The 1TB drive failed so I had to replace it. In the CTRL+I config menu, there was an error about mismatched cache so I deleted the RAID set, thinking that I would be able to re-enable it afterwards. I rebooted and have not seen the CTRL+I option since!

I installed a fresh copy of Windows and am able to setup the mSata drive as an RST cache drive, by setting the SATA mode in the BIOS to "Intel Smart Response Technology".

This method for enabling the Intel RST acceleration only allows you to use a max of 32GB on the cache drive. I want to go back to the original Dell RAID config that used the entire 64GB mSata drive. It also seems that this method uses software RAID (RST drivers) and the original used hardware RAID.

Things to note...
- under the original Dell config, the mSata drive did not show up in the Device Manager (as expected with hardware RAID)
- under the new config, the mSata drive does show up in the Device Manager

Things I've tried...
- booting with blank, unpartitioned drives
- removing the battery, and the CMOS battery (to completely clear the BIOS settings)
- various partitioning schemes as noted in several forums (like creating a small, OEM partition on the mSata drive)
- booting in "AHCI" and "ATA" sata mode then back into "Intel Smart Response Technology" mode
- flashing the BIOS with the latest version, flashing with the oldest version (that I could find)
- booting without the mSata drive, then with it connected again

There doesn't seem to be any way to trigger the Intel Option ROM to start showing the CTRL+I option again so I can reconfigure the hardware RAID setup.

Any ideas on how to re-enable the CTRL+I option or to recreate the original RAID info on the mSata drive?

Thanks,

 

[Dufus]

CTRL+I is used for legacy option ROM. If using the UEFI driver instead then RST options are part of the BIOS setup.

If you are using legacy then check for a BIOS option, maybe under CSM, such as "Force BIOS" and toggle this to show legacy option ROM messages and of course that you are booting with RAID not AHCI.

 

[Berryracer]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought any RAID on a laptop is a software RAID even though setup through BIOS, it still uses the CPU to do all the caching or RAID operations as opposed to a dedicated RAID card. That's the reason I don't do RAID 0 on my Alienware 18 because I notice my system is actually slower in RAID 0.

Example, creating an image of my C: partition using Macrium Reflect takes 42 seconds on a single SSD setup but if they were in RAID, rather than that time taking less it actually takes 1 min / 33 seconds.....

 

[VeryCharBroiled]

on my gigibyte board the ctrl-I menu doesnt pop up until I set the drive mode to RAID in the BIOS.

sorry if you mentioned that in the OP, Im off to work.

 

[Berryracer]

on my gigibyte board the ctrl-I menu doesnt pop up until I set the drive mode to RAID in the BIOS.

sorry if you mentioned that in the OP, Im off to work.

in my Alienware 19, CTRL + I doesn't work if I am in UEFI boot, what I'd have to do is press F12 at startup to get the boot men options, then I can choose Rapid Storage Technology to set the mSATA SSD as a caching device.

 

[chuck1000]

Thanks for the replies.

berryracer, you may be right about the hw/sw raid. Not sure. Either way isn't my concern though.

I would still like to restore the original config because it allowed the full 64GB mSata for the cache. Setting it up through Windows only allows a max of 32GB.

More Info:

The BIOS setup for this Dell model is pretty simplistic. There aren't many options. These are the only BIOS settings that seem to have to do with this issue (all of the available options are in [brackets])...

SATA Operation = Intel Smart Response Technology [ATA, AHCI, ISRT]
Legacy Boot --> allows you to select boot order
UEFI Boot --> no options

Add Boot Options = Auto [First,Last,Auto]
Load Legacy Option Rom = Enabled [Enabled,Disabled]
Boot List Option = Legacy [UEFI,Legacy]

I've tried all combinations of the above. If the Load Legacy Option Rom = Disabled then it can't find any drives in UEFI or Legacy mode.

Most of the docs for similar models show that its as simple as changing the SATA Operation mode to "Intel Smart Response Technology" and then the CTRL+I option to get into the Intel SRT option ROM becomes available.

Not so in my case.

berryracer, my F12 Boot Menu doesn't show any ISRT options. It shows Hard Drive, mini SSD, and Network. Under the original Dell RAID config it didn't show the mini SSD option.

Still stumped.

 

[Berryracer]

Thanks for the replies.

berryracer, you may be right about the hw/sw raid. Not sure. Either way isn't my concern though.

I would still like to restore the original config because it allowed the full 64GB mSata for the cache. Setting it up through Windows only allows a max of 32GB.

More Info:

The BIOS setup for this Dell model is pretty simplistic. There aren't many options. These are the only BIOS settings that seem to have to do with this issue (all of the available options are in [brackets])...

SATA Operation = Intel Smart Response Technology [ATA, AHCI, ISRT]
Legacy Boot --> allows you to select boot order
UEFI Boot --> no options

Add Boot Options = Auto [First,Last,Auto]
Load Legacy Option Rom = Enabled [Enabled,Disabled]
Boot List Option = Legacy [UEFI,Legacy]

I've tried all combinations of the above. If the Load Legacy Option Rom = Disabled then it can't find any drives in UEFI or Legacy mode.

Most of the docs for similar models show that its as simple as changing the SATA Operation mode to "Intel Smart Response Technology" and then the CTRL+I option to get into the Intel SRT option ROM becomes available.

Not so in my case.

berryracer, my F12 Boot Menu doesn't show any ISRT options. It shows Hard Drive, mini SSD, and Network. Under the original Dell RAID config it didn't show the mini SSD option.

Still stumped.

I would post this question on the Dell forums bro on NBR