Sorry, I totally forgot about McAfee. I'll go do that now. I really appreciate your time and effort!
Anna
EDIT:
So I uninstalled McAfee & installed MSE. Still BSOD but I like MSE so far.
Also attached are the screenshots of the BIOS when I tried to change the sata controller, plus the most recent system info.
Last edited by AnnaIrving; 14 Aug 2013 at 20:47.
Hello AnnaIrving.
It is a continuous series of BSODs caused by Intel RST driver. From the screenshots it is visible that you have RST (Intel Rapid Storage Technology) enabled. Disable it. As far as it is enabled, it will bounce back automatically.
Then come to Sata Operations. Set it to AHCI. Save, exit form setup. Can you boot to windows normally, hassles free? If so, upload your MSINFO32.nfo file after booting.
- Click on the start button
- Type "msinfo32" (without quotes) in the search bar of the start menu, click the resulting link. It will open the System Information window.
- File>Save. In the "File Name" filed, put "MSINFO32" (without Quote), give the save location to desktop, and click the "save" button.
- Give the time for processing, it will save a .nfo file on your desktop.
- Zip it, and upload it following the instruction.
If not, Go back to BIOS setup. Set the SATA to ATA (IDE mode) .... and again try to boot. If it boots, then upload your MSINFO32.nfo file after booting, following the same instructions given earlier.
If still failed, Set the Intel RST back to active and SATA operator at its place and report us back. Then we have to take some steps to get rid of those lot of factory installed bloatwares present in your system.
To change to the preferred AHCI mode follow these steps for AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 / Vista - Windows 7 Forums
Part of the problem could be inferior Factory Preinstalled Win7 with all of the bloatware and duplicate utiltiies which have better versions built into Win7. These throttle Win7 from its native performance and can cause problems.
That's why most tech enthusiasts will not run such an install but instead Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. Everything is provided in the blue link tutorial.
At the minimum I'd Clean Up Factory Bloatware.
If this doesn't resolve performance problems, work through these Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7. Be sure to run the Dell PC Diagnostics as suggested: Dell Diagnostics Utility - How to Run the
Hi Arc & gregrocker,
Thanks for your time. I am not 100% I followed your directions so I'll describe what I did. I went to Msconfig-Services and disabled Intel Rapid Storage Tech. I rebooted, went to BIOS and set Sata Operations to AHCI, saved. The windows logo froze during the "fireflies coming together" stage, flashed BSOD for a second, and started rebooting again, repeat from beginning. I entered BIOS again, set Sata to ATA, and the same pattern happened. I then set Sata back to Intel RST, windows booted normally, and enabled (delayed auto start) the service again.
Anna
Hi Anna -
Please try the steps in AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 / Vista.
Be sure to set a System Restore Point - Create and have a System Repair Disk or bootable installer media in case restore is needed.
If you decide to do the superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 then first reset the BIOS to defaults and set the SATA controller to AHCI.
Hello Anna. As far as you will use the RST setup, the same BSOD will continue to occur.
The best you can do is to set the SATA mode to ATA and go for a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.
It will remove all the bloatwares applied by Dell in a single go.
Then, after teh installation, if you want to use AHCI (it assumed to work faster), follow the suggestion that Greg already supplied: AHCI : Enable in Windows 7
Hope it will go nice.
If any confusion is there, or anything is not clear, ask us before you start.
I'm sorry I didn't realize I was supposed to follow the AHCI page instructions.
Right now I can't do a clean reinstall because I can't back up my 200+GB files (I am temporarily in a low tech country without my external HD). If I enable AHCI, will that stop the BSOD until I can get home in a few months and do a clean reinstall?
EDIT: just to confirm: when I do a clean reinstall, do I set the BIOS to ATA, reinstall, then set to AHCI? Or do I set to AHCI before install?
Anna
It's worked in the past consistently, which is why it was made into a tutorial. But Arc has more experience with IRST so will know for sure if there are complications to be avoided, and how.
You always want to try install first in AHCI which is most modern.
Anna, you should always have your files backed up because at any minute you can have a HD failure. So your files are valued only as much as you are willing to back them up.
Here is a modern method to Sync, Backup and Store your Files to the Cloud with Skydrive - Windows 7 Forums
Last edited by gregrocker; 15 Aug 2013 at 11:49.
You're absolutely right. My mistake was leaving my external HD (with my backed up files!) at home because electronic items tend to "disappear" in this country. I see your point that I should have my files backed up AND close at hand. I went into regedit, made the changes, rebooted, and set the Sata to AHCI. Unfortunately windows is not booting up, it's still freezing at the windows logo and restarting. When I set the Sata back to Intel RST, it boots normally. I've confirmed the regedit changes are correct and saved. Am I doing something wrong? Anna
There are special changes required in the BIOS for your SCSI configuration, as just explained to me by Arc. These may complicate the tutorial's application here. I will defer to Archie because he has more experience with IRST and the BSOD's it causes. He feels it requires a Clean Reinstall which is always a good thing.
If you have no storage for awhile then one idea to consider is shrinking C to do a booted reinstall to a new partition in AHCI with the BIOS changes Arc says you need pertaining to SCSI. You still should have access to your files on the old partition even if it will not boot.
Later we could help you remove the old install correctly by deleting its partition, then moving/resizing into the preferred left side of HD, or even temporarily deleting the old windows folder. You could always go back to the old install by resetting the BIOS to make it boot.
Let's see what Arc says about this.
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