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Intel Matrix Storage Manager 8.9 problem

idata
Employee
6,182 Views

Yesterday, I upgraded to Intel Matrix Storage Manager (IMSM) 8.9.0.1023 in preparation for upgrading from Windows Vista Home Premium x64 to Windows 7 x64. I was previously running IMSM 8.2.0.1001 without any problems.

After installing IMSM 8.9, I encountered an annoying problem after resuming from a system sleep state. The desktop environment came up almost instantly as before upon system resumption, but access to the RAID array was delayed by around 30 seconds. Thus the system essentially froze when disk access was requested. This happened consistently.

I was hoping that the problem was isolated to an incompatibility between IMSM 8.9 and Windows Vista. But unfortunately it is not. Upgrading to Windows 7 did not resolve the issue. Thus I must conclude that a bug was introduced between IMSM 8.2 and 8.9. I'm not sure reverting to 8.2 is viable. I tried 8.8 without success.

This is a nuisance issue and not fatal. But still, having to wait for around half a minute every time after sleep resumption is not acceptable.

Here is my config from a partial IMSM report:

Shell Version: 8.9.0.1023

OS Name: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

 

OS Version: 6.1.7600 Build 7600

 

System Name: TODD-PC

 

System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

 

System Model: P35-DS3P

 

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz

 

BIOS Version/Date: Award Software International, Inc. F12B, 09/18/2008

Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager

Intel RAID Controller: Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO/PCH SATA RAID Controller

 

Number of Serial ATA ports: 6

RAID Option ROM Version: 7.5.0.1017

Array_0000

 

Status: No active migrations

 

Hard Drive Data Cache Enabled: Yes

 

Size: 1863 GB

 

Free Space: 0 GB

 

Number of Hard Drives: 4

 

Hard Drive Member 1: ST3500320AS

 

Hard Drive Member 2: ST3500320AS

 

Hard Drive Member 3: ST3500320AS

 

Hard Drive Member 4: ST3500320AS

 

Number of Volumes: 1

 

Volume Member 1: Volume_0000

Volume_0000

 

Status: Normal

 

System Volume: Yes

 

Volume Write-Back Cache Enabled: No

 

RAID Level: RAID 10 (striping and mirroring)

 

Strip Size: 64 KB

 

Size: 931.5 GB

 

Physical Sector Size: 512 Bytes

 

Logical Sector Size: 512 Bytes

 

Number of Hard Drives: 4

 

Hard Drive Member 1: ST3500320AS

 

Hard Drive Member 2: ST3500320AS

 

Hard Drive Member 3: ST3500320AS

 

Hard Drive Member 4: ST3500320AS

 

Parent Array: Array_0000

 

Have you experienced a similar problem? If so, are you aware of a fix? Intel, if this has not been reported, how can I file a bug report?

-Todd

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22 Replies
idata
Employee
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FYI, I have the latest BIOS installed and as far as I know, I can't upgrade RAID option ROM version 7.5.0.1017, which should be OK in any case.

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idata
Employee
2,162 Views

8.9.0.1023 is known by us, forum users, to cause major headaches, there's a thread about it right on this same forum section where you posted this thread.

http://communities.intel.com/thread/5036

Random drive fails with new Matrix Storage Manager 8.9

it's at 50K views and 320+ replies/complaints and intel can't seem to find the cause and repair it.

The general solution is to downgrade to v8.8.0.1009, that has fixed the problem for the vast majority (including me on xp).

v8.8 might not be officially supported for Win7 but people that tried it reported that it works ok.

Edit: you might also want to try the drivers intel made for Dell, version 8.9.2.1002, but they are not guaranteed to work and Intel only certified them for a few Dell models that had some issues: http://communities.intel.com/message/71042# 71042

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idata
Employee
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As I stated in the OP, I tried 8.8 and it exhibits the same problem. My issue is different than the one in the thread you referenced. That is why I started a new thread.

I am interested in finding out if others are seeing the same behavior as I am. Are you able to obtain immediate access to your RAID array after resumption from sleep or do you need to wait almost 30 seconds? Even if you are not having a problem, please post. Maybe what I am seeing is now standard behavior, but I sure doubt it.

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idata
Employee
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I would really appreciate a quick post from people using Matrix Storage Manager > 8.2 as to whether or not you are experiencing the sleep problem outlined in the OP.

For all I know, a ~ 30 sec delay after resume from sleep was introduced intentionally by Intel after 8.2 for some reason.

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idata
Employee
2,162 Views

I was running the "stock" Win7 Intel drivers for my board, and didn't have the delay problem (using a RAID 10) -- but then after installing 8.8, my system now takes around 30-45 seconds to "catch up" and allow access to the RAID after recovering from sleep.

So, yes, I'm having the same issue. Hardware:

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 Motherboard

OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) OCZ3P1866C9LV6GK

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W Power Supply

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920

4 Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM drives

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idata
Employee
2,162 Views

Nicholas, you are running substantially different hardware than me, which pretty much proves this is a general issue.

I have been in contact with Intel Technical Support regarding this problem, so confirmation that it is not associated with the idiosyncrasies of my system should give Intel a bit more motivation to investigate this further.

Do you have any idea what the version was of the "stock" driver you were running before the upgrade? This would help to bracket when the bug was introduced. I jumped from 8.2 to 8.9, then went back to 8.8, but I suspect the bundled driver is something later than 8.2.

I assume you noticed the problem immediately after upgrading the driver without changing anything else, correct? And do you have the delay every time after resume from sleep as I do?

This problem is an inconvenience and I can live with it if I know Intel is going to fix it, but a greater concern is that it is symptomatic of something more severe.

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idata
Employee
2,162 Views

Sorry to change the subject a bit, but I am experiencing a simaler problem on a VAIO notebook with Windows 7 Home 32-bit. Every so often the same thing will happen only for 60 seconds and with no raid. This never occurred in Vista and it is very anoying. I have referred to many sources including this; http://derek858.blogspot.com/2009/01/windows-7-intel-sataahci-lockups.html http://derek858.blogspot.com/2009/01/windows-7-intel-sataahci-lockups.html and created other threads on Revision3 froms, and Windows 7 fourms. Everything points to this, or the incapatible chipset driver that sony has provided. I have contacted sony several times and they keep replying that they a not supporting W7 on my model (or any models before W7). this also never occurred in the Beta, or RC. this is very weird and Sony, Microsoft, or intel should listen to what is happening. Thank you for any help in advance.

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idata
Employee
2,162 Views

I think Windows came with 8.6 as the stock driver. But I am not 100% certain.

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idata
Employee
2,162 Views

You might want to check your Windows application log. (This can be examined through Computer Management.) Do a search for "Intel" and you should see informational events logged by the Intel Event Monitor. Since you may not have had the Event Monitor running until you installed 8.9 or 8.8, you might not find a log entry for the previous version, but you can give it a go.

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idata
Employee
2,162 Views

Unfortunately I didn't see the previous version number in the event log. I installed 8.9 last night (after backing up my entire system) and the "delay from resume" issue still exists for me. It seems like a genuine bug in the driver. Just not sure when it was introduced.

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idata
Employee
2,162 Views

Please see /message/68718# 68718 http://communities.intel.com/message/68718# 68718 for more information and possible solutions.

Thanks,

Keith

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idata
Employee
2,162 Views

Just found a more specific (and huge) thread for "Random Drive fails with New Matrix Storage Manager 8.9" whch directly addresses this issue. Look for an unreleased version 9.5.0.1037 that leaked onto the web. Intel apparently is also changing the "Matrix Storage Manager" name to "Rapid Storage Technology".

Had very reliable

  • Intel DG965WH Motherboard
  • Intel Matrix Storage Manager Version 8.0.7.1007 Intel Matrix Storage
  • Three Western Digital WD250YS drives in RAID.
  • Q6600 SL9UM cpu
  • Vista Ultimate

System very solid for 3 years. with no significant errors.

Then, per the motherboard RSS feed.

BIOS on MB, MATRIX SW and All OS and driver patches updated same day.

Done this in the past without any issues...

Upgraded to Matrix Storage Manager 8.9.0.1023.

Within a few days disks began erroring out of tthe RAID.

Had two spare disks I rotated into the RAID with rebuilds.

Went two weeks with a disk falling out of RAID approx every 2 days.

Saw failures every disk including original three plus two spares I had.

No pattern as to which port or drive would fail.

Didn't seem to matter if I was logged on or not.

  • Replaced DG965WH motherboard with a DP45SG.
  • Replaced Vista with Windows 7 using a clean install.
  • Still running the suspect Matrix Storage Manager 8.9 in anticipation of using a RAID later.

Haven't seen a failure in two days, but since 8.9 is required for Win 7, have no choice now.

Just saw the Intel bug report on this today. Wish I'd seen it earlier. Falling back to previous driver

rev was about the only thing I did not try.

Suggest a very noticable warning on the download page for 8.9 until this is resolved.

Saved the error logs of bunches of failures if that would help.

Reference Intel Bug CS-030818 saying they can't reproduce the bug.

Thanks,

Dick Martin

idata
Employee
2,162 Views

Created account to give my experience and frustration with Intel Matrix Storage Manager 8.9.

I have 4x1TB drives in RAID 10.

Using 8.9 driver version i had random system lockups, which resulted in reboot and rebuilding of RAID array.

Next i used 9.5.0.1037, be WARNED this driver is also broken. Even more frequent lockups. Also TaskManager(taskmgr.exe) was not responding frequently.

Installed 8.8 So far all good, over a week without lockup or rebuild.

My system is : Intel i7, Gigabyte EX58-UD4P, 6G RAM, 4x1T RAID10, 2x1T RAID0, W7 Ultimate 64.

Thanks,

Hope it helps.

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idata
Employee
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idata
Employee
2,162 Views

2 yr. old Dell XPS 410, Dell Bios version 2.5.3 (their latest) 11/22/2007, SMBios 2.3, Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz, factory installed Raid 1 (2-250GB HD) originally with Vista 32-bit, now upgraded to Windows7 Home Premium. Have had 6 Raid 1 failures since April of '09, all with 'degraded or with drive failure'. Dell HD diagnosis on all occasions showed disks "passed." Also passing on 'chkdisk and SFC/scannow"diagnosis. All failures were on disk 1 except for one (disk 0). I started with Dell (Intel) Matrix console 7+, then moved to Intel site for 8.5 (had 2 failures) and then moved to their latest 8.9 and have had 2 more failures in 3 weeks. (Intel says this issue has been reported but that they are thus far unable to re-produce it). I have case numbers with Dell support and with Microsoft. Because of 2 different O/S's and 3-4 different Intel Matrix console updates/drivers, could this possibly be a bios/firmware issue ? After reading through all of this thread, I wonder if my issue may be somewhat different because of all of the previous versions of Matrix Console drivers that I have used and still had problems. Based on this thread, I have reverted to version 8.8 to see if my results are better. Any help and thoughts would surely be appreciated.

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idata
Employee
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Thought I would share my solution with you:

/message/79202# 79202 http://communities.intel.com/message/79202# 79202

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idata
Employee
1,915 Views

Revereted back to 8.8 in October 2009 and have NOT had one problem since doing so. This was the anser for me and I am NOT going to update to 'newer drivers.For me, thre is no need t do so.

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idata
Employee
2,161 Views

I also have experienced this problem. Using a SuperMicro X8STE i7 MB and 4 Seagate 500GB drives, Raid 5. Windows 2008 server, 64 bit. Using 8.9 Matrix Storage Manager, the second drive - Port 1, would degrade out of the volume after about 6 hours or so. We first replaced the drive (twice), took the drives out of the RAID Cage, then replaced the MB. Each time we would rebuild the raid - which takes about 24 hours. The second drive would alawys fall out of the RAID.

On a whim, we found these issues about V8.9 on the Intel site. We have since moved back to 8.8 and the raid is holding steady at the moment.

Intel - I suggest that you remove your faulty software from the download pages. You are causing harm to your customers, integrators distributors and other manufacturers who are all links in the supply chain and depend upon a reliable raid controller driver. You have cost us a couple of thousand dollars in time, shipping, RMAs, etc.

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idata
Employee
2,162 Views

Can an admin please sticky this to the first page:

The Intel Matrix Storage Manager 8.9 has been replaced by:

Intel Rapid Storage Technology and the current version is 9.6.

It is not easy to find that the name of the software has changed, so there are still likely people out there that are having this issue and are blaming hardware.

I spent three hours searching the web to find out that it was just a software name change and that there was a newer version then 8.9, which was causing a lot of false positive drive failures.

Thanks.

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idata
Employee
2,162 Views

Here is how to correct and save your data at same time.

1) If you have drives that are marked failed, simply mark them them as normal.

2) Uninstall the Intel Matrix Storage Manager from control panel

3) Reboot, (bios should show good RAID SET) let Windows perform the disk check and allow to complete

4) Boot into windows

5) Download the 8.8.1009 drivers http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=17412&ProdId=3154&lang=eng http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=17412&ProdId=3154&lang=eng

6) Install the drivers, reboot.

7) Make sure to mark the 8.9.0.1023 drivers to ignore in Windows update, or you will be back to square one.

Intel (India) Engineers have no clue to the problem and are following the ignore and hope it will go away ISO 9001 procedure.

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