Latitude E6430 BIOS Intel Option ROM unlock RAID0

[bradleybaldwin1]

Hello all!

The new Dell Latitude E6430 BIOS comes with a "neutered" Intel RAID Option ROM that only allows RAID1 Mirroring. Since it's a business oriented machine, it's designed for reliability, hence the neutered RAID1 option only. I've been doing lots of research, but can't seem to find a way to modify the option rom, or upgrade it to the latest available, etc. My intent is to enable RAID0 with dual SATA III 6gb/s SSDs for ultra performance. I've researched it, and the controller definitely supports it. Any Advice?

[Jim Mathews]

I purchased the E6530 with the intent of doing the same thing. I installed a Corsair Neutron GTX 480 internally and another in a drive bay caddy from NewMods (great fit and exact case contour and color) to replace the DVD. The Mobile Intel QM77 Express Chipset does support Raid 0 and the drive bay is SATA3(6Gb) but your correct, Intel has only enabled the option for Raid 1. I met with Intel at the CES in Las Vegas to do some research for a project involving the 2011 socket but couldn’t resist the opportunity to ask for a contact that could help with unlocking the BIOS to allow RAID 0. Long story short the contact explained Intel and Dell don’t want users, even enthusiasts, setting up a Raid 0 volume with a member disk that is “a removable drive” on a laptop. He explained/hinted if I gave it some thought it shouldn’t be too difficult to “figure out.” I’ve tried everything short of modifying the BIOS. I just don’t know how to do it. I didn’t get the impression his hint involved that deep of a mod. I’ve tried everything from installing RST every imaginable way prior to the OS to even creating the Raid 0 volume on a my Dell Precision 6700 (same Q77 chipset) then swapping the drives to the E6530. Bottom line RST sees something in the BIOS that limits it’s functionality to “Rapid Restore Technology” rather full functioning iRST. I guess we are not alone in that I’ve found more than a few other threads in the last couple of months with others trying to do the same thing. I don’t want to break any site rules by saying I’m willing to donate at least “a case of beer” or whatever! if someone is willing to take the time. My M6700 is lighting fast with two SSD’s in RAID 0 but I need wheels to make it portable compared to the E6530.

[xsmile]

Do you still need any help with that?

I found a rather easy way to flash a modified BIOS. It involves parsing module "SetupPrep" with donovan's Universal IFR Extractor and unsetting the BIOS Lock bit property in NVRAM using the tool setup_var. Afterwards you can use Intel's fptw to dump, modify and rewrite your BIOS.

EDIT:

Confirmed RAID0 working on a Latitude E6440. All you need to do, is to examine SetupPrep for the RAID0 setting and enable it with setup_var. No need to flash a modified BIOS or modify the OPROM.

Thanks to Atonus for testing.

[Frimlaw]

EDIT:

Confirmed RAID0 working on a Latitude E6440. All you need to do, is to examine SetupPrep for the RAID0 setting and enable it with setup_var. No need to flash a modified BIOS or modify the OPROM.

Any chance you could elaborate on the process? I'm looking to enable RAID0 on an E6420 and any info you could provide would be very helpful (especially if it prevents me from turning my Latitude into a brick).

Thx,
-Frimlaw

[xsmile]

Hi Frimlaw,

Atonus posted our email conversation at techinferno. I believe it was this post, but I cannot check it, as the forum is offline right now.
If it's the wrong post, look at the last few pages. It will be there.

Feel free to ask, if you have any questions about the particular steps.