Windows 7: intel matrix storage manager and windows 7 64bit

Hi

I have windows 7 64bit running on my main desktop pc now. HDD's on the ich7 interface are running in AHCI mode.

I decided to install intel's ahci drivers and upon the first reboot there was around a 5 minutes pause of nothing on the windows 7 loading logo screen and then it finally booted, after logging in there was a very unresponsive desktop followed by a balloon popup telling me my drive is detected and to reboot. On the 2nd reboot the delay was back again at the loading logo but this time it was infinity and after 30 minutes I hit reset and booted using f8 last known good configuration, this gave me the 5 minute pause again but I was able to get to my desktop.

Looking at device manager showed that whilst using intel's drivers 2 of my 3 ich7 drives are detected properly but my boot drive simply shows as 'disk drive' rather than its actual name. I then uninstalled intel's ahci software and on reboot it was fast again using microsoft's ahci driver.

My laptop I did the exact same procedure, installed windows using ahci and its integrated ahci driver, then installed intel's ahci driver on top and that has no such problems booting.

I will update my specs so people have the info needed to help.

ok did a bit of googling etc.

the driver that my laptop is using was an 8.7 version of the driver issue by dell for its customers I had downloaded a couple of months back, the same driver works ok on this machine no delay in bootup (although no official windows 7 support). However the drive stays as just 'disk drive', if I load the intel matrix app it does correctly identify the drive.

I found a beta 8.9.4 driver (the official latest drive which hangs is 8.9.0) and that has the same issue as 8.9.0, it seems intel is writing bad drivers for windows 7 in my experience as some may remember I had issues with their graphics windows 7 drivers as well. I would love to know if there is a solution to this as for now I am probably going to revert back to the microsoft ahci drivers.

My research so far indicates it is possibly a compatability issue between my new WD 640gig cavalier and the intel matrix drivers.

So 8.7 no pause
8.8 not tried as cant find it anywhere I expect be same as 8.7
8.9.0 first driver to officially support windows 7 pause on 1st boot, 2nd boot does not finish
8.9.4 beta driver same behaviour as 8.9.0 but pause is a bit shorter

8.7 and 8.9.4 do not recognise the drive by its name in device manager, 8.9.0 did recognise it after some unresponsiveness in the OS but the reboot after did not finish.

I not sure what the point of your post is but I have an Intel Extreme motherboard 975XBX2 with the ICH7 controller and I'm running in ACHI mode with no issues using the Intel Matrix Storage manager. I have no slow startups or shutdowns. I also have 3 Western Digital HD's on this system.





Don't know how you came up with the ideal that Intel is writing bad drivers. You may want to check your BIOS settings or elsewhere.

I'm not saying you don't have a problem, but the 8.9 Intel matrix storage manager works fine on my Windows 7 (64-bit) install.

As a side note - When I installed Windows 7 my MB was already set to use AHCI so Windows was installed with it already enabled in the BIOS. There we're no install issues nor any now.

Just my two cents

Arrgh I had a longer reply but was lost when I viewed your screenshot so shortened retype.

The point of my post is that I am wondering if anyone else had the 5 minute (or so) pause on bootup on these 8.9 drivers and if they did how did they resolve it, I hope that makes things clear.

I did very basic diagnosis to confirm it is driver related, I tested multiple versions of the driver and they all exhibited different behaviour, 8.7 (ironically the non windows 7 driver) boots the system normally and I notice no ill affects, I would be curious to see a screenshot of your device manager. 8.9.0 (the so called stable driver) actually left my system in a unbootable state, the newer 8.9.x releases dont stop it booting but do have a lengthy delay.

You have western digital drives but they not the model that others have indicated is not fully compatible with the drivers the black 640gig cavalier drive or one of the new raptors.

There is really no bios settings to adjust, I can turn it on or off and thats about it, AHCI was on in the bios when I installed windows 7 hence I had the microsoft ahci drivers in place and running.

If you looked at my system specs, which is posted, you'll notice all my Weston Digital HD's are Caviar Blacks

As for my Device manager, it's clear, ie no yellow marks or anything else.



As stated before, I myself do not have any "slow" bootup times or any other issues with this version of the software installed.

And did you install the driver as well? RAID: Intel® Matrix Storage Manager Driver for Intel Desktop Boards

yes the driver installs, thanks for confirming the device manager. So the issue is probably not related to drive compatability then.

My device manager doesnt have yellow marks but you see in my screenshot my first drive is marked as 'disk drive' instead of its real name.

The drive marked "disk drive" what is it and have you checked disk management? Does it work? Could it be a format problem?

Since you have both chipsets on the board intel + jmcron you can disable the jmicro chip.
Ok when windows 7 INSTALLS if you have AHCI enabled in the bios under sata configuration or drive configuration - Windows 7 automatically installs the intel driver, however, for full functionality you need to download the intel matrix storage manager software. You don't need to install anything during installation, but check to make sure AHCI is enabled in the bios. If it isn't you can still fix it, but you will need to go here and follow the instructions, Error message when you start a Windows 7 or Windows Vista-based computer after you change the SATA mode of the boot drive: "STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE" otherwise, download the matrix software from below link :

You will find it at the intel site - http://downloadcenter.intel.com/default.aspx
Select chipsets - chipset software - intel(R) matrix storage manager - Select Operating System - select Windows 7 (64bit OR 32 bit) - select drivers - select intel(R) matrix storage manager 8.9.0.1023 - download and install.
(make sure you don't download the floppy configuration utility by mistake) - it will show up if you select utilities.

With the microsoft fix it if you find you havnt AHCI enabled in the bios prior to installing Windows 7 you dont need to install the matrix software the microsoft driver works fine.

For what it's worth, Intel looks likely to move to a new "Rapid Storage Technology" offering instead of the Matrix Storage Manager.

If you're comfortable trying something that's not yet formally out there, version 9.5.0.1037 has been circulating a couple months now, is supposedly WHQL'd, and can be readily found on the web.

A newer 9.5.4.1001 version just turned up, too, but lacks a traditional installer (and is relatively untested).

If you're having issues with the Matrix Storage Manager, I don't know that giving it a go could hurt.

Guys, if you read this entire thread, you'd see he has installed Windows 7 with AHCI turned on. You'd also see that his issue may not be with the Intel Matrix storage software, but another issue.


Thanks