Random & frequent BSOD from IASTOR.SYS

gregrocker said:

Hi again Anna -

Can you post back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Help Forums ?

The hybrid HDD/SSD is normally configured using IRST to maintain a paging file on the SSD chip. Users who have turned off IRST and reinstalled report no performance difference.

Once you turn of IRST you may see the SSD chip show up on the drive selection screen during install. You would want to ignore it - although if its sizable enough we have had users format and install Win7 to it successfully.

If you try this while keeping the old install onboard you can assure it resolves the BSOD's while comparing performance to the old install. If you want to reinstall again using IRST with the chip then you can even try that.

In some cases bad boot code on a HD can cause issues only resolved by moving data off to wipe the HDD with Diskpart Clean Command. However that can be held in mind only as a last resort if the reinstall(s) don't solve the problem.

Here's the Disk Management screenshot.

I spent yesterday prepping for the clean install. I noticed that my BIOS is version A06, but DELL has A13 available? I guess Windows Update doesn't cover BIOS. Tried to install in Safe Mode but I got an error message saying "unable to load driver" and decided to quit.

Anna

Before shrinking C I would uninstall any programs you don't use, clean up and organize your files into User folders which you can just drag to the new data partition. Confirm twice that all of your data is there.

Make your backup media if you haven't already as suggested in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

Then run CCleaner Disk and Registry cleaners, followed by Puran Boot Time defrag with full Disk Check. Puran Defrag Download before shrinking C in Disk Mgmt: Partition or Volume - Shrink and creating a new which you label Data: Partition or Volume - Create New

If you have not yet tested if the OEM diagnostics partition will boot I'd do that next to know whether to save the OEM partition: Dell Diagnostics Utility - How to Run the

Reboot into BIOS setup, Set SATA controller to AHCI.

Then I would boot into installer using Dell F12 key at boot, during booted Custom install following the illustrated steps in Clean Install Windows 7 . During Steps 7 and 8 highlight to Delete the Recovery (which will not run after reinstall) and C partitions only. Keep telling yourself you will not touch the Data partition to avoid a mistake. Then highlight the Unallocated space you have made from Recovery and C . Create and Format a New partition there only, click Next to begin install.

Be sure to have your wireless driver on a CD, stick or stored on the data partition downloaded from the Dell Support Downloads webpage for your tag number so if its not provided during install you can install it to get online, enable Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3) then run all rounds of Important and Optional Windows Updates. After each requested reboot go back to Check for more Updates until there are no more. You can be setting up your desktop and browser while these are running, maybe installing some programs though I would spread those out to see if any affect performance.

If you prefer you can leave IRST enabled for this install to see if it is the cause of the BSOD's and retail the SSD chip paging cache. The reinstall may resolve the issue, but if not then you'll know to disable IRST to reinstall again.

gregrocker said:

Then run CCleaner Disk and Registry cleaners, followed by Puran Boot Time defrag with full Disk Check. Puran Defrag Download before shrinking C in Disk Mgmt: Partition or Volume - Shrink and creating a new which you label Data: Partition or Volume - Create New

The tutorial Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 #16 says not to defrag a SSD. I have a hybrid, so I am confused if I should run Puran?

Anna

Only the paging file is on a chip, but if you feel better then whatever Disk Mgmt can't shrink, Partition Wizard Boot Disk Resize can do for sure since no OS files are running when it shrinks.
Partition Wizard Move/Resize Partition Video Help.

I'm sorry to say I'm confused about my hard drives. I thought I had two physical hard drives, the first a normal 500GB HDD and the second a 32GB SSD. But apparently the SSD is only a chip and I have only one drive? So I can defrag my C: like a HDD? I may be just making this harder than it is but I'd rather not make mistakes. Anna

It is a bit confusing but generally that configuration is a HD with a chip on the mobo or HD used for paging file, although we've helped several (who insisted) actually install Win7 on the chip, which shows up to format once you unRAID it by turning off IRST in BIOS.

I think you bring up a good reservation about defragging SSD so see how much C shrinkage Disk Mgmt will give you without it, then if necessary run PW CD which will always be able to shrink as much as you're owed.

Disk Management calculates available shrink space is 80GB which isn't large enough for my User folder (150GB). I guess I need the PW CD, whatever it is? EDIT: nevermind, I think you're talking about Partition Wizard

Yes, it's our favorite tool here which has helped with countless thousands of complicated partitioning operations without a single failure. Here's a video to watch: Partition Wizard Move/Resize Partition Video Help.

Download the CD ISO, rightclick it to Burn with or Open with Windows Image Burner, burn to CD, boot and resize C.

Make sure you have the Win7 bootable installer or System Repair Disk on hand too in the rare case you need to Startup Repair the boot.