Intel® Matrix Storage Manager
Production Version 7.5.0.1017
Release Notes


April 06, 2007

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Copyright © Intel Corporation 2000-2007


Supported Operating Systems

    Microsoft  Windows  Vista*
    Microsoft  Windows  Vista x64 Edition*
    Microsoft  Windows  XP Home Edition*
    Microsoft  Windows  XP Professional*
    Microsoft  Windows  XP 64-bit Edition*
    Microsoft  Windows  2000 Advanced Server* ++

    Microsoft  Windows  Server 2003* ++
    Microsoft  Windows  Media Center Edition*
 

++  Not available on mobile platforms

Revision History

Date

Driver Revision

Build Number

April 6,2007

Production Version 7.5.0.1017

1017

March 30, 2007

Production Candidate 7.5.0.1017

1017

February 26, 2007

Beta 7.5.0.1014

1014

December 27, 2006

Alpha 7.5.0.1007

1007

October 20, 2006

Pre-Alpha 7.5.0.1002

1002

Notes:  

ICH9R A2 (AID) support:    This release fully supports the Alternate ID feature introduced in ICH9R A2. The OROM and driver released with this build will only work on ICH9 A2 parts and will not work for ICH9 A1/A0 parts. User needs to select ICH8R/ICH9R RAID controller when doing a ‘have disk’ installation or F6 install during XP for ICH9R A2 parts.

OROM Update:  We are introducing the support of two OROMs with this release.  Please select what features that you would like enabled on your platform by choosing the correct OROM build.  The UI/Driver will look to the OROM version when determining what features are enabled to the user.  (Note: Each OROM will have a RAIDCFG utility released with it that works only on that version.) 

   1)  RAID 0/1/5/10 + 256 TB:   This sku supports the standard RAID features RAID 0/1/5/10, and adds support for greater than 2TB volumes for data volumes only (no boot support due to an OS & BIOS limitation).  

2)       RAID 0/1 + IRRT:  This sku supports RAID 0/1 and Intel Rapid Recover Technology 

Possible Issues with Intel® RAID and Window Vista when using devices not compliant with Serial ATA LPM device specification: A change was made by Microsoft in the Microsoft Windows Vista setup process. The result of this change is that the Intel® Matrix Storage Manager Link Power Management (LPM) registry settings that were intended for mobile installations are added for desktop installations as well. These LPM registry settings are added for both the Intel® Matrix Storage Manager RAID driver on the Microsoft Windows Vista installation disk, as well as for any drivers added during the installation process.

Various desktop Serial ATA devices such as hard drives and CD/DVD drives have been reported that do not comply with the Serial ATA LPM device specification and display erratic behavior when LPM is enabled.

Because the setup change means that LPM is enabled by default for all Microsoft Windows Vista platforms, using a device that does not completely follow the specification may result in one of the listed issues.

  • Inability to install Microsoft Windows Vista (i.e. system halts during installation)
  • Performance degradation
  • Timeout errors reported by iastor or iastor(v) in Microsoft* Event Viewer*

Workarounds:

If you are experiencing installation issues, the following workarounds may help resolve the issue:

  • If available, install updated firmware for the device.
  • Attach the devices to ports 3-5 on the Intel® 82801HR/HH/HO I/O controller hub (ICH8R) or port 3 on the Intel® 82801GR/GH I/O controller hub (ICH7R)

If you are experiencing performance degradation or timeout errors, the following workarounds may help resolve the issue:

  • If available, install updated firmware for the device.
  • Delete the iastor(v) Parameters registry key by using the following steps:

    1. Go to Start -> Search.
    2. Type in RegEdit and hit the Enter key.
    3. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor(v).
    4. Right-click on the Parameters key under iaStor(v) and select the Delete option.

** WARNING: The registry editor is a powerful tool which requires precision when making modifications. There is no method of automatically undoing mistakes. If you do not feel comfortable performing these steps you may want to have someone perform them for you. Intel is not responsible for errors made by the user during modification of the registry.

Enabling LPM on ICH9R: With systems having Intel® ICH9R controller hub, LPM is supported, but is not enabled by default. If you wish to enable LPM on ICH9R systems, please refer the instructions in section 14 of the OEM technical guide for 7.5 posted along with this.

New Features

New Features in Baseline 7.5

Feature 

Description

Greater than 2 TB support

Intel® Matrix Storage Manager now supports data volumes that are greater than 2 Terabytes in size on Windows XP 64-bit Edition, Vista 32 & Vista 64 and Windows 2003 Server (no boot support due to an OS & BIOS limitation).  

Intel(R) Rapid Recover Technology support on Intel(R) 82801IR controller hub

Data protection using RAID 1 technology that mirrors data on the master (source) drive to the recovery (target) drive

Device Presence Detect support

Supports the detection of a CD/DVD inserted in to a CD/DVD drive after sleep state. 

Link Power Management (LPM) support on Desktop

LPM features that are supported by Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager for mobile platforms are now also supported on desktop ICH9R platforms

Known Issues

Known Issues in Production Candidate 7.5.0.1017

Reference No: 

Description

Affected OS's

235020

Chinese (Hong Kong): Installer (IIF) UI failed to load Chinese Traditional characters on Chinese - Hong Kong Vista and XP.

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2325021

Chinese (Hong Kong): Console UI failed to load Chinese Traditional characters on Chinese - Hong Kong Vista and XP.

Windows XP/Windows Vista

1946253,             2052877,     2332632                                                               

(Arabic :) The Firmware number of the HDD on the left pane is corrupted in the UI;

Rendering of percentage numbers in variables inconsistent between dialogs;

The word finish is miss matched between UI and the finish Button.

All OS’s

2328186

Recovery volume does not get converted to RAID 1 volume in IMSM UI on ICH9R

Windows XP/Windows Vista

1967402

RTL: form caption of About dialog is not RTL reading order

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2140100

When rebuilding RAID1 volume, progress status title and completion message display "Updating Volume"

All OS’s

2158365

DB: Intel® Matrix Storage console application crashes when enter more than 16 localized character on recovery volume name

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2197751

UI returns non descriptive error when deleting recovery volume with mounted disk

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2199152

Recovery volumes that auto-recover after being failed during a rebuild don't auto-continue the rebuild. Will have to go and manually rebuild.

All OS’s

2079363

Resetting any drive of a RAID 1 boot volume makes both drives appear as system drives and may hang the system. This is an expected behavior and not a defect.

All OS’s

2256215

Create Recovery volume lets user to select the same drive both for master and for recovery in IMSM console

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2436919

Greater than 2 TB volume information dialog prompts when creating a volume size not greater than two terabytes

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2326475

Convert to Recovery volume error message and Access Recovery Files information message in English in localized version of matrix storage

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2435738

KOR removdrv.txt has incorrect FNS information

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2211306

Create Recovery Volume Progress screen does not come up when process starts.

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2254072

Fails to handle error when master drive bigger than recovery drive on ICH9R

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2327523

 Matrix Storage Console UI Basic Mode does not display bitmap and wrap text causing text cut when window size is small

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2330169

CHS: Next button corrupted on Welcome screen of Create Recovery Volume Wizard, Convert Recovery Volume to RAID 1 Wizard, and Modify Recovery Volume Wizard.

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2332390

JPN: inconsistent font style and font size in Create Recovery Volume dialog

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2223744

Need to localize string "offline Member" for all languages

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2198287

HUN_Cut text occurred on the sys tray icon message  for Recovery volume(Master) Offline

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2333411

Parameter "Device Port" should be "Device Port Location" in create recovery volume wizard.

Windows XP/Windows Vista

 

Resolved issues

Issues Resolved in Production Candidate  7.5.0.1017

Reference No: 

Description

Components

 Affected OS's

2332121

String "Device Port" is in English and present incorrect information about device port.

UI 

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2290505

Intel(R) Rapid Recovery Technology is showing as available on unsupported platform

UI

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2330032

256TB OROM UI: UI allows for creation of two RAID volumes with the same drives (not a Matrix RAID Volume)

RAID OROM

N/A

2287904

RAIDCFG32 cannot create a second RAID volume

RAIDcfg32

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2331753

Creating Recovery volume causes blue screen

Driver

Windows XP/Windows Vista

2333496

IOCTL_SCSI_GET_INQUIRY_DATA returning corrupted data on system connected with six drives

Driver

Windows 2003

2287907

RAIDCFG32 /st indicates 'Normal' state as 'Updated'.

RAIDcfg32

N/A

Issues Resolved in Beta 7.5.0.1014

Reference No: 

Description

Components

 Affected OS's

2291196

Blue screen when creating Recovery volume on boot volume with Vista

Driver

Windows* Vista

2294301

Timeouts in the event log an a blue screen when running Apple* applications in Vista

Driver

Windows* Vista

2327965

No return of Serial number of SATA HDD through WMI

RAIDcfg32

Windows* Vista/XP

2291196

Intel(R) Rapid Recovery Technology volume state reported as normal during rebuilding

Driver

Windows* Vista/XP

2327965

RAIDCFG32 /spare accepts 2-digit port number and treats as single digit number.

RAIDcfg32

Windows* Vista/XP