e6400 matrix management + external drive issues

Hey guys, so I've been tinkering with the e6400 that I bought off Dell Outlet the other day. I've noticed that when I start or restart my computer with an external drive plugged in (whether it be an actual drive or a flash drive) the Dell will hang at the Intel Matrix Management screen, and give no indication of anything happening. What I usually have to do then is to turn off the laptop and unplug whatever drive was there.

Any ideas why this happens, and if I can change it somehow? I've seen people mention changing the BIOS to ACHI instead, but I'm not sure if that's a related issue.

And in case it matters, Device Manager says my drive is a WDC WD1600BJKT-75F4T0. Is that a Western Digital drive? Thanks!

 

I'm sure this is IRRT (Intel Rapid Restore Technology) at work. This was the default SATA setting on my E6400 and I saw the same problems.

IRRT assumes that you want to make a backup copy of the internal HDD when it detects and external HDD being connected.

Change the BIOS setting to AHCI and I think the problem will go away.

WDC WD1600BJKT is a Western Digital 160GB 7200RPM Scorpio Black. Model number + Google = details.

John

 

I'm experiencing the same issue as the OP, but when I switched from IRRT to AHCI, I get a BSOD just before it is supposed to boot into windows. FWIW, I am running Vista Ultimate.

 

I had the same issues, I found that if I change the boot order (place the USB after the internal HD) the issue goes away (removing it from the boot list also works, but you will not have the option to boot USB unless you re-enable it). You will have to select F12 and select USB in the future if you want to boot from a external drive, but unless you need to do this all the time it should not be a huge issue.

 

I also has the same issue and had to go into BIOS and change the default boot order.

Also changed the SATA mode from IRRT which was giving me stability issues to ATA and now everything seems to work smoothly.

 

I always put the internal HDD first in the boot order in order to reduce startup time. Otherwise there is a delay while the computer works down the boot order.

John

 

Does the OS have to be reinstalled after switching modes? I have tried switching from IRRT to AHCI and ATA and still get the BSOD.

 

Was that a factory installation of the OS or your own installation?

I successfully changed from IRRT to AHCI while running the Dell XP factory installation. I think Dell had manually added the required drivers for the different modes. It can be done. This Microsoft KB article relates to enabling AHCI. There's also this thread in another forum. I haven't tried ATA to see if it also works.

Others have reported the BSOD when changing mode.

John

 

This was my own installation. Do you know if there are any performance differences between the different modes. Basically I am curious if it is worth the effort to switch the modes.

 

I don't think there's much difference in performance between the different modes. It is more a case of how well everything works. IRRT is the Intel Rapid Restore Technology which (I think) makes an external HDD connected via eSATA into a RAID mirror drive. AHCI + Intel Matrix Storage Manager allows an eSATA HDD to be plug and play and easily removable. It has also been reported this combination reduces burning problems with the optical drive (which is SATA). Some people have reverted to ATA because of other issues such as crackling audio.

Are you using / planning to use eSATA?

John