Dell blows goats

I bought a Dell Dimension 5150 - stupid, stupid decision.

The motherboard has an ICH7R controller. If you look up this piece of
hardware, it's pretty good.It offers RAID 0 and 1 (and 5 and 10 if you
have four drives), using Intel's wonderful "Matrix" technology.

But no, Dell has crippled it, so that only RAID1 is available.

Why would they do this?? What possible saving could they make? I mean,
they've already paid Intel for the part, right? AFAICT there's only one
ICH7R ...

There is a BIOS update for the 5150, but it does not suddenly allow
RAID0. Might it be possible to hack a new BIOS which used the ICH7R to
the full?

(Or have I got this all totally wrong, and although the BIOS reports an
ICH7R it's not actually capable of RAID0? I don't understand how that
could be the case.)

Ho hum,

CC

Oh, and the damn thing has no WoL either ...

Previously magnate wrote:
I bought a Dell Dimension 5150 - stupid, stupid decision.

The motherboard has an ICH7R controller. If you look up this piece of
hardware, it's pretty good.It offers RAID 0 and 1 (and 5 and 10 if you
have four drives), using Intel's wonderful "Matrix" technology.

But no, Dell has crippled it, so that only RAID1 is available.

Why would they do this?? What possible saving could they make? I mean,
they've already paid Intel for the part, right? AFAICT there's only one
ICH7R ...

Very simple: So they can offer better functionality with this
or another hardware. It may well be that Dell believes
thet you need to buy a "server" in order to get RAID5 and 10
and a "high-performance gaming machine" to get RAID0.
Since you have neither (thinks Dell), you do not get
RAID0/5/10. Simple.

One of the reasons capitalism is so great: You pay what the
vendor thinks they can get away with.

There is a BIOS update for the 5150, but it does not suddenly allow
RAID0. Might it be possible to hack a new BIOS which used the ICH7R to
the full?

If it has a separate BIOS, getting a version from Interl may or may
not work. In the worst case it will leace the controller
BIOS unflashable, thus killing the controller.

(Or have I got this all totally wrong, and although the BIOS reports
an ICH7R it's not actually capable of RAID0? I don't understand how
that could be the case.)

Maybe they bought defective chips very cheap. But that would
surprise me.

Ho hum,

CC

Oh, and the damn thing has no WoL either ...

Well, the only real advice is not to buy Dell and to spread the
word on that...

Arno

Arno Wagner wrote:
Previously magnate wrote:
I bought a Dell Dimension 5150 - stupid, stupid decision.

The motherboard has an ICH7R controller. If you look up this piece of
hardware, it's pretty good.It offers RAID 0 and 1 (and 5 and 10 if
you have four drives), using Intel's wonderful "Matrix" technology.

But no, Dell has crippled it, so that only RAID1 is available.

Why would they do this?? What possible saving could they make? I
mean, they've already paid Intel for the part, right? AFAICT there's
only one ICH7R ...

Very simple: So they can offer better functionality with this
or another hardware. It may well be that Dell believes
thet you need to buy a "server" in order to get RAID5 and 10
and a "high-performance gaming machine" to get RAID0.

Or they dont want to bother with the support hassles of
RAID0 and the case doesnt allow 4 drives for 5 and 10

Since you have neither (thinks Dell), you do not get
RAID0/5/10. Simple.

One of the reasons capitalism is so great: You pay
what the vendor thinks they can get away with.

Mindlessly superficial.

There is a BIOS update for the 5150, but it does not suddenly allow
RAID0. Might it be possible to hack a new BIOS which used the ICH7R
to the full?

If it has a separate BIOS, getting a version from Interl may or may
not work. In the worst case it will leace the controller
BIOS unflashable, thus killing the controller.

(Or have I got this all totally wrong, and although the BIOS reports
an ICH7R it's not actually capable of RAID0? I don't understand how
that could be the case.)

Maybe they bought defective chips very cheap.

Very unlikely indeed. Much more likely to be the above.

But that would surprise me.

Ho hum,

CC

Oh, and the damn thing has no WoL either ...

Well, the only real advice is not to buy Dell
and to spread the word on that...

Or decide that what they chose to offer makes sense.

magnate wrote

I bought a Dell Dimension 5150 - stupid, stupid decision.

Yes, dells arent aimed at 'people' like you.

The motherboard has an ICH7R controller. If you look up this piece
of hardware, it's pretty good.It offers RAID 0 and 1 (and 5 and 10
if you have four drives), using Intel's wonderful "Matrix" technology.

But no, Dell has crippled it, so that only RAID1 is available.

Why would they do this??

They've got enough of a clue to realise that RAID0
makes no sense in that type of system, and that 5 and
10 arent viable in that box because it cant take 4 drives.

What possible saving could they make?

Quite a bit on support costs.

I mean, they've already paid Intel for the part, right?

There's more costs involved than just that with an operation like Dell.

AFAICT there's only one ICH7R ...

There is a BIOS update for the 5150,
but it does not suddenly allow RAID0.

Presumably because they decided that RAID0 makes no sense.

They're right.

Might it be possible to hack a new BIOS which used the ICH7R to the full?

Probably. It would have made a lot more sense to have
downloaded the manual for that system before buying it
and not bought it if you didnt like the config its got.

(Or have I got this all totally wrong, and although the BIOS
reports an ICH7R it's not actually capable of RAID0?

Unlikely.

I don't understand how that could be the case.)

Yeah, very unlikely.

Ho hum,

CC

Oh, and the damn thing has no WoL either ...

Again, you should have check the manual before buying it if you want that.

You may be able to return it, Dell has a pretty generous return policy.

If they try to fob you off, rub their nose in the fact that they
didnt make it clear that you couldnt do RAID0 and that you
require that and tell them that you will **** them over in the
small claims court if they dont give you a full refund.

magnate wrote:

Subject: Dell blows goats

Hehe

Arno Wagner wrote:
Previously magnate wrote:

I bought a Dell Dimension 5150 - stupid, stupid decision.


The motherboard has an ICH7R controller. If you look up this piece of
hardware, it's pretty good.It offers RAID 0 and 1 (and 5 and 10 if you
have four drives), using Intel's wonderful "Matrix" technology.


But no, Dell has crippled it, so that only RAID1 is available.


Why would they do this?? What possible saving could they make? I mean,
they've already paid Intel for the part, right? AFAICT there's only one
ICH7R ...


Very simple: So they can offer better functionality with this
or another hardware. It may well be that Dell believes
thet you need to buy a "server" in order to get RAID5 and 10
and a "high-performance gaming machine" to get RAID0.
Since you have neither (thinks Dell), you do not get
RAID0/5/10. Simple.

I don't think that's a satisfactory answer. If they advertise that it
has an ICH7R controller, then they're effectively advertising that the
system has the functionality of the ICH7R controller. To do otherwise
is like advertizing a system with a gig of ram, then shipping a system
with two 512 meg sticks and only one ram slot on the motherboard. Or
advertising a 2GHz CPU system, and shipping it with the CPU locked down
at 1 GHz. If you allow that crap it will be impossible for anybody to
shop for a computer.

timeOday wrote:
Arno Wagner wrote:
Previously magnate wrote:

I bought a Dell Dimension 5150 - stupid, stupid decision.


The motherboard has an ICH7R controller. If you look up this piece
of hardware, it's pretty good.It offers RAID 0 and 1 (and 5 and 10
if you have four drives), using Intel's wonderful "Matrix"
technology.


But no, Dell has crippled it, so that only RAID1 is available.


Why would they do this?? What possible saving could they make? I
mean, they've already paid Intel for the part, right? AFAICT
there's only one ICH7R ...


Very simple: So they can offer better functionality with this
or another hardware. It may well be that Dell believes
thet you need to buy a "server" in order to get RAID5 and 10
and a "high-performance gaming machine" to get RAID0.
Since you have neither (thinks Dell), you do not get
RAID0/5/10. Simple.

I don't think that's a satisfactory answer. If they advertise that it
has an ICH7R controller, then they're effectively advertising that the
system has the functionality of the ICH7R controller.

Nope.

To do otherwise is like advertizing a system with a gig of ram, then shipping a system
with two 512 meg sticks and only one ram slot on the motherboard.

Nope, nothing like it.

Or advertising a 2GHz CPU system, and shipping it with the CPU locked down at 1 GHz.

Nope, nothing like it.

If you allow that crap it will be impossible for anybody to shop for a computer.

Dell allow the customer to return a system that they
find they dont like the detail of when it shows up.

AND anyone with a clue checks the full manual online
before buying anything that costs anything like that too.

magnate wrote:

I bought a Dell Dimension 5150 - stupid, stupid decision.

The motherboard has an ICH7R controller. If you look up this piece of
hardware, it's pretty good.It offers RAID 0 and 1 (and 5 and 10 if you
have four drives), using Intel's wonderful "Matrix" technology.

Do they say that it is supposed to support RAID 0 and 5 and 10? If not then
what lead you to believe that these capabilities were supported? In any
case there is no current production version of Windows or Linux that does
not support RAID 0 out of the box so I don't see where you've lost anything
unless you want to boot from RAID 0 for some bizarre reason.

But no, Dell has crippled it, so that only RAID1 is available.

And told you so up front.

Why would they do this?? What possible saving could they make? I mean,
they've already paid Intel for the part, right? AFAICT there's only one
ICH7R ...

Are you sure it's an ICH7R and not an ICH7?

There is a BIOS update for the 5150, but it does not suddenly allow
RAID0. Might it be possible to hack a new BIOS which used the ICH7R to
the full?

(Or have I got this all totally wrong, and although the BIOS reports an
ICH7R it's not actually capable of RAID0? I don't understand how that
could be the case.)

Ho hum,

CC

Oh, and the damn thing has no WoL either ...

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)