I may be completely wrong, but I do have *just enough* space free on my HD (241GB free out of 445) to maybe create another partition and save my backup there before clean reinstall? maybe? I don't know if it's better or worse than shrinking the C drive.
If that's the case test it by creating a new partition there clearly labeled Data, move your data over.
What's important here Anna is that once you confirm your data is all there and readable, to do a booted Clean Install Windows 7 then during Steps 7 and 8 delete all but the Data partition (triple check!) to create and format a New partition at the front of the HD for Clean Reinstall.
Archie has recent experience with the changes necessary for SCSI to implement AHCI, so he needs to sign off on whether this will work for sure. Data should always be readable in another partition.
I'd also upload as much of your most important data that's not yet been backed up at home using Skydrive which offers 7gb free storage per Windows Live/Hotmail ID, or more for cheap as explained in Sync, Backup and Store your Files to the Cloud with Skydrive - Windows 7 Forums
Thank you gregrocker for your time and patience. I'll wait for Arc's confirmation that it'll work (plus, I'm still confused if I should set sata to ata first or not?) before going forward. In the meanwhile I'll try to create a partition. I'll make sure to back up most essential/recent files using skydrive and my usb stick. Anna
Hello Anna ... if you follow what Greg suggested in post #22 , it will work.
Your problem is this part ....
Disabling it does not work for you, coz toy have no other storage controllers present in your system which are native (pciide, pciidex, atapi, ataport). all those load is taken by the SCSI setup ....
As the other drivers are not present, and the setup is restricting them to be auto-configured at startup, you cannot boot at any other configuration than the present. But the present situation, as you are experiencing, is crash prone.
If you set the storage to IDE mode and make a clean reinstall as Greg suggested, it will be all OK.
Wouldn't she want to try AHCI mode first before IDE, Archie?
What exact changes does she need to make in BIOS besides choosing AHCI? Just disable IRST?
And yes these changes are always made before reinstall. I wanted confirmation from Archie that nothing about the change from ISRT to AHCI would interfere with data being read (I cannot imagine any such scenario) and also settings changes needed pertaining to SCSI drive which he told me he just experienced on a rig of his own so is fresh to him.
I just started going through the Partition or Volume-create new tutorial. Before I proceed, does the fact that I have a HDD/Solid State Drive hybrid(?) change any of the steps for new partition or clean reinstall? Anna
Last edited by AnnaIrving; 15 Aug 2013 at 19:50.
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.
Greg, I suggested IDE, as iastor.sys uses both the forms, SCSI and AHCI. I was a bit worried (due to her BIOS setup thing that she showed us) that if it is in AHCI mode it may get the iastor driver from either chipset installation or windows updates ..... IDE is safe from that tension. And, if it is upgraded to AHCI later,it will use msahci only, and will be totally safe from the threats of iastor.
I am not very sure about Inspiron's BIOS .... but not very sure other than one thing that it is to disable the Intel Smart Response Technology, caused by RST, which is actually RAID.
No code has to be inserted here.
If I am not wrong, it is lebeled as Disk 1: Intel RAID 0 Volume or something similar.
Sorry for the multiple post, it may not be very useful information for Anna, but here is the difference between two instances of RST driver, iAstor.sys.
In Anna's case ....
No code has to be inserted here.
In case of another OP ...
No code has to be inserted here.
Same driver, same location, but used in different mode. The second one is comparatively easier to deal with, but for the first one, a clean reinstall is needed, as it is to change the storage controller mode in the BIOS, which makes the system inaccessible.
The RAID is for adding in the small SSD paging cache if it's similar to what we've seen in the past. It won't show up in Disk mgmt, but often does after unRAIDing by turning off IRST in BIOS and setting to AHCI.
Does the SCSI configuration that concerned you come into play here, Archie?
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