Curse

awmiscool · May 09, 2008, 07:08 PM // 19:08

After about.. oh, 8 months of owning my computer, im just now deciding to ask: Why does my pc tell me that my AHCI BIOS is not installed when i boot my pc up? And one more thing, after the little Dell bar loads, something about Control+C to run SAS configuration comes up, anything i need to be doing? Or can i leave it alone?

The Way Out · May 09, 2008, 07:28 PM // 19:28

Do you mean AHCI (Advance Host Controller Interface)?

Also, AHCI and SAS kind of relate to each other. They both concern themselves with SATA drives (both communication with and configuration of). Your systems RAID is probably found under SAS.

If you don't know what you are doing and don't feel confident playing around with both, I would stay away from them if everything is working.

Having said that, you will get sick gains if you flash the firmware on both and configure RAID and maximum throughput on your drive(s).

Anyway, I hope I helped. Later!!!

awmiscool · May 09, 2008, 07:29 PM // 19:29

Yeah, i meant AHCI, just typed wrong in my rush. How/what is flashing the firmware and where do i configure the RAID stuffs

The Way Out · May 09, 2008, 08:06 PM // 20:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by awmiscool

Yeah, i meant AHCI, just typed wrong in my rush. How/what is flashing the firmware and where do i configure the RAID stuffs

Most advanced hardware (like your BIOS or hardware controllers) have onboard instructions that may be upgraded. The way they are upgraded is through a process we termed "flashing". Back in the old days, we had to solder ROM chips off and on boards in order to upgrade instructions. Now, we can just flash over them (kind of like a formatting the memory clean and then programming the memory... err... ROM).

The process has been really simplified from what it used to be like. However, the same rules apply. You have to ensure that you have the correct firmware for your hardware devices. If you attempt to flash the wrong firmware to a device, you can end up with some serious problem (most flash utilities are intelligent, though, and know you are f*ing up, but not all!!!)

~!

It is always good to backup your current setting, and most utilities are run from a USB drive (on newer systems... floppy if your system is older). Firmware upgrades are just like any other upgrades that are released. They address and fix glitches, bugs, and add enhancements/support for your devices. Contrary to what many people tend to advise in this forum, it is important to have the newest upgrades/updates (they say if it isn't broke don't fix it!)

!!!

Having said all of this, it sounds like you don't need to play around with these settings. If your system is running fine and you are pleased with it's performance, I would suggest leaving these specific settings alone. This is mainly because if you were to attempt to change things, you may end up f*ing your partition structure and hosing your OS in the process. If you don't have the technical know how, I tend to advise people to stay away from playing with SATA or RAID bios configs.

Snograt · May 09, 2008, 08:13 PM // 20:13

If you have to ask, don't do it!

Forgive me if you know this already, but a basic guide to RAID.

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. (Well, it did originally - the phrase is a bit out-of-date now, so it's probably been backronymmed.)

It involves running 2 or more HDDs in an array for either better performance, better security, or both.

RAID 0 is a STRIPED array. What this means is that, when you save a file, it is broken into lots of little bits, half of which are stored on one disk, the other half on the other. Because the bits are written simultaneously, this improves write speed significantly.

RAID 1 is a MIRRORED array - every file is written to two separate disks, therefore each disk is an exact copy, or mirror, of the other. This is great for data security because if one disk fails, your data is safe on the other.

The next most common is RAID 0+1 which is a combination of both. It needs 4 disks minimum and is a MIRRORED STRIPE array. Faster and more security, but damn expensive. There's also 1+0 which is slightly different (though I'm buggered if I know what the difference is)

Those are generally the only RAID arrays supported on standard home computers - another old standard is JBOD - Just a Bunch Of Disks - where you would have a load of cheap, low-capacity disks and get the system to treat it as just one, great big drive.

That's RAID.

AHCI makes SATA RAIDs work better.

The end

[Hoo boy - I'm lucky I only got one intermediate post in the time it took me to type that!]

lakatz · May 10, 2008, 03:20 AM // 03:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snograt

If you have to ask, don't do it!

QFT... If you've only had your system eight months, your service contract is still good even if it's only for a year... so get someone out to your home to fix it per the agreement.

Quaker · May 10, 2008, 06:37 PM // 18:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by awmiscool

Why does my pc tell me that my AHCI BIOS is not installed when i boot my pc up? And one more thing, after the little Dell bar loads, something about Control+C to run SAS configuration comes up, anything i need to be doing? Or can i leave it alone?

If you're not running RAID it doesn't matter. If you wanted to use RAID, you would, perhaps, need to install the AHCI BIOS, which may simply be a matter of enabling it in the main BIOS, or may require a driver. You would also need to run the SAS config to tell the system what drives are being used in the Array and what type of RAID it is.

But, again, if you're not planning on using RAID, you can ignore it.