XPS 15 (L521X) Intel rapid storage issues

Hi,

Thanks in advance to all of your suggestions and help.

I just received my xps 15. I check and did not see neither intel rapid start or storage installed and not sure if it is running. I went ahead and install the rapid START, by changing to IRST in Bios, then make a 8GB partition in 32GB SSD for hibernation, and seemingly running ok. Did not see any speed increase on startup but..

however, after installing the rapid storage driver from intel, I could open up the program, but there is no ACCELERATE TAB. There is no information on which drive is accelerated so, probably I did not do this correctly.

I have windows 8 installation cd so I can do a custom clean install if I need to reset the RAID option or whatever else I may have to do.

Any inputs from you guys will be really helpful. I tried googling and it is a landscape of confusion out there, and I just need to be led by one clear voice now!

Thank you again in advance


PS: On another note, the Wifi issues seems to be slightly corrected. If i sit on my bed, 3 feet from the airport express, I constantly get good down speed (30-40mbs) as comparable to my SS9. Funny thing is, if I sit on my table, which is diagonally from the router, the speed is reduced. I can live with it, but this is just FYI for whoever is interested.

 

You may need to reinstall with iRST enabled in BIOS, dunno.

But, go over here and grab the PDF for more info on how-to set it up ... Dell Whitepaper: Intel Responsiveness Technologies Setup Guide - Direct2Dell - Direct2Dell - Dell Community

 

Thank you! I will try it again, though I remember that I did it once and it did not work. Not sure why.

I saw this in another post somewhere
"11. Type DISKMGMT.MSC in the Windows 8 apps search and run.
12. You should see the main system drive split into 3 partitions. Right click the (C) partition and shrink the volume. I just used the settings it generated for me.
13. Go back into the Intel Rapid Storage Technology program and you should now be able to accelerate the drive.
14. In DISKMGMT.MSC right click the (C) volume and unshrink back to its normal size. It should generate the right settings for you.

Voila, this should have the drive accelerated and working correctly. "

My limited knowledge does not allow me to understand what THIS does, do you think this might be a way?

 

Tapper, I don't know any reason you would need to reduce the partition size on the HDD, you sure that excerpt was not talking about a system with the OS on an SSD?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

I attached the full excerpt below and pretty sure that it is the HDD+SD setup. I tried it nonetheless and I just ended up with another partition with no way of "unshrinking" it, and it did nothing. Bummer.

So I just did a clean install again. I kept the IRST option in BIOS and tried to load the f6 IRST driver at installation, but it did not work, so had to switch back to AHCI in BIOS to proceed with the installation. However, nothing has changed, and my IRST program shows only 4 tabs, and none of them is the ACCELERATE TAB, no information that says any of my drive is accelerated.

Nonetheless, everything is quite speedy enough for me, and I just decided to use the msata drive as a second storage drive until I switch the HDD to SSD. Bummer that this IRST technology stuff is not working, but too tired to be tinkering around with the machine. At least the Wifi is fine so far.

Exceprt:
" So after upgrading to Windows 8, I was having real trouble getting the Intel Rapid Storage and Intel Rapid Start systems working. It's taken me two days to figure out, but I've finally done it, so I'll list the steps (some were borrowed from a previous poster a while back in this thread) in case anyone else doesn't feel like pulling their hair out while attempting to get this working.

1. Download Windows 8 to a bootable USB (I used the Windows 8 upgrade assistant program to do it).
2. Download the Intel Smart response Sata drivers from the Dell website, make sure you get the driver for Windows 8 64bit. extract the contents to a usb drive.
3. Boot into BIOS, make sure that Sata mode is set to Intel Smart Response Technology and that UEFI is enabled. Disable the legacy boot option.
3. Boot to USB in UEFI mode. Begin setup of Windows 8. I used the advanced option for a clean install here.
4. Setup can't locate a drive to install on, this is where you need the USB drive with the Intel Smart Response Sata drivers that you downloaded and extracted. Browse to the f6flpy-x64 folder and load the drivers. Windows should now show you all the existing partitions on both the HDD and the mSATA drive.
5. Delete all existing partitions on system drive ( 480ish GB) and any partitions that exist on SSD ( 30 GB).
6. Select the system drive and let Windows install.
7. Install the Dell Windows 8 drivers that you need from the dell site.
8. Reboot.
9. Install Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver software from the Dell site.
10. Reboot.
11. After the computer starts, switch to the desktop view, after a while you should see the Intel Rapid Storage Technology icon appear in the taskbar. You can enable drive acceleration at this point, and if you want to make use of the Intel Rapid Start system, make sure you choose the 18.6GB option instead of the full disk capacity one.

This is where I started getting problems. The mSATA drive created the partitions and all seemed well there, but the drive wouldn't accelerate. I would either get an error, or Windows would crash. now to solve this problem:

11. Type DISKMGMT.MSC in the Windows 8 apps search and run.
12. You should see the main system drive split into 3 partitions. Right click the (C) partition and shrink the volume. I just used the settings it generated for me.
13. Go back into the Intel Rapid Storage Technology program and you should now be able to accelerate the drive.
14. In DISKMGMT.MSC right click the (C) volume and unshrink back to its normal size. It should generate the right settings for you.

Voila, this should have the drive accelerated and working correctly.

Now, If you want to use the Intel Rapid Start system:

1. Type DISKPART into the Windows 8 app search and run the program, the command prompt should pop up.
2. Type "LIST DISK" without quotations. It should show you present disks, the main HDD, the mSATA and any USB drives if you have them inserted. The drive we are interested in is the mSATA which should be the one showing 11GB in size.
3. Type "SELECT DISK #", where # is the number of the disk corresponding to the mSATA drive 11GB in available size.
4. Type "CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE=8192"
5. Type "SET ID=84", if if doesn't accept that command try "SET ID=D3BFE2DE-3DAF-11DF-BA40-E3A556D89593". Which command it accepts is based on how the mSATA card is formatted. Both commands perform the same function, which is to mark the 8GB as a hibernation partition.
6. Type "EXIT".
7. Reboot into bios and you should now see the Intel Rapid Start option is no longer greyed out and the settings should be enabled.
8. Boot back into Windows and install the Intel Rapid Start driver software from the dell drivers page.

Everything should now be set up and working correctly. Hope this helps anyone having a problem. "

 

OK I am just posting it here for future references. I was having problems setting up the RAPID STORAGE as i do not have the acceleration tab available and could not set up acceleration on my HDD.
I have managed to install both Rapid Storage and Start on the XPS 15, with the help of Dell Support (thanks!)

-Make sure BIOS is set to Rapid Smart Response Technology/RAID
-Make sure to have a copy of the Intel Smart Response Drivers (RAID) drivers on USB (f6 drivers, not the .exe file)
-Make sure you have the chipset driver for the HM77 motherboard
-Boot using DVD or USB
-Delete all partitions on both SSD and HDD
-If Installer cannot detect HDD, then use USB to install the IRST Drivers
-Proceed through installation until you are finally on desktop
-IMPORTANT: First is to install the CHIPSET drivers for your HM77 motherboard
-RESTART
-Followed by installing the Intel Rapid Storage Software (the utility exe now)
-RESTART
-Set up your IRST using the program and you will be all set

Next is Rapid START
-if Intel Rapid START software doesn't install with error "your system is not compatible etc etc"
-Open Command Prompt (admin)
- Type DISKPART
- Type "LIST DISK" without quotations. It should show you present disks, the main HDD, the mSATA and any USB drives if you have them inserted. The drive we are interested in is the mSATA which should be the one showing 11GB in size.
- Type "SELECT DISK #", where # is the number of the disk corresponding to the mSATA drive 11GB in available size.
- Type "CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE=X" - X is size equal or greater than your RAM. 8Gb: X= 8142
- Type "SET ID=84" for MBR or "SET ID=D3BFE2DE-3DAF-11DF-BA40-E3A556D89593" for GPT mode. Which command it accepts is based on how the mSATA card is formatted. Both commands perform the same function, which is to mark the 8GB as a hibernation partition.
- Type "EXIT".
- RESTART and F2 to go into BIOS. You should now see the Intel Rapid Start option is no longer greyed out and the settings should be enabled.
- Boot back into Windows and install the Intel Rapid Start driver software from the dell drivers page.

Just a FYI post.