BSOD 0x8B and 0xC5. Usually during heavy load and RAID SSDs

evcelica · 07 Apr 2015

I have had many BSOD pretty infrequently (once a month or so maybe) It is always while running ANSYS finite element program and using the RAID hard drives. (Onboard RAID w 2x Samsung 850 Pro)
It was always 0x8B. I had a suspicion it was the RAID drive SSDs
I disabled caching on that RAID drive, and now it seems I get both 0xB8 and 0xC5.

I uploaded two dump directories.

Also it seems after a crash it will take 10-15 minutes to post. It just sits there with the windows logo. Then when it does come up the RAID drives won't be there. If I restart again it is fast, and the RAID drives will show up.
I've never had a crash under heavy load when the RAID wasn't being used. But I'm not sure if this is the cause or not since it is so infrequent.

I would be eternally grateful for any help!
Thanks in advance.

Arc · 09 Apr 2015

The BSOD was caused by Intel RAID.

Code:

BugCheck C5, {fffff8a00457b2a8, 2, 0, fffff80003ffcb15}

*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for iaStorF.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for iaStorF.sys
Probably caused by : Pool_Corruption ( nt!ExDeferredFreePool+249 )

Followup: Pool_corruption
---------

RAID is often problematic. You dont need RAID, apparently; as it is seen in your storage environments. And you have both the Intel and Marvell RAID enabled. Marvell is also problematic, much more than Intel RAID.

The long term solution is to disable RAID, set the storage controllers to AHCI and do a clean install of windows.

But if you dont want to do that right now, try to update Intel RAID driver (IRST). https://downloadcenter.intel.com/

See how it runs stable in coming six months with the updated driver.

evcelica · 14 Apr 2015

Thank you very much for the reply!! I appreciate it very much.

I have a few questions, as I do need the RAID. It didn't show up in one of the files because sometimes when I restart the computer, the RAID drive disappears (and it takes 20 minutes to post), and I have to restart the computer again to get the RAID to show up again.

Can I disable Marvel RAID and leave the Intel RAID? I'm only using the Intel RAID. Any Idea how I would do that?
I'm using the latest RSTe drivers from the ASUS website for the p9x79WS board. (3.8.0.1108) I've seen newer ones, lok like 3.8.0.1111 is the newest now, and I tried to install them but I got an error message, something like "system not compatible" or something. Is there a special way to install the newer drivers? Or should I not install them since they didn't come from ASUS?

Also it looks like I am using the RSTe drivers, but I have the iRST service installed, and it never starts running. Should I uninstall that in the control panel? And maybe install the RSTe version? RSTe is chosen in the BIOS, I didn't know if I should switch it in the BIOS over to iRST?

Thanks again for the reply, I really do appreciate it!

Arc · 15 Apr 2015

The Marvel RAID controls the Marvel ports on the motherboard. There are two deep blue SATA 6GBPS ports on the board, those are the Marvel ports.
To avoid Marvel, either dont populate those two ports or uninstall the Marvel driver. When the Marvel driver is uninstalled, those two ports will work as normal SATA 3GBPS ports (like the four sky blue ports) .... there will not be any visible performance difference, but the stability will increase.

If you want to disable Intel RAID, disabling IRST in the BIOS would be a must.

If the newer IRST drivers are not compatible with your system, install that one is compatible, you have done it rightly.

Probably now it will run stable for a few more months after updating the RAID driver, but as far as I have noticed, this issue bounces back. Let us expect that it will work good for long. :)

evcelica · 22 Apr 2015

Thanks again for the advice.

The 0xB8 (Attempted_switch_from_DPC) is the real problem.
That has occurred the most.
So The c5 started after I disabled the write caching for the ssd in an attempt to change some setting and stop the BSODs. It didn't, and I got the B8 and the C5 (only one at a time though)
Any idea what was the cause of any of the 0xB8 blue screens?

They happened while I was using the AHCI driver and an mushkin scorpion deluxe PCIE SSD.
I suspected it was the PCI-e SSD, so I removed it, and switched over to two Samsung 850 Pro SSDs in RAID 0. I installed the most current version of the RSTe drivers, and I had to switch my boot drive over to the marvel ports because of this.
I still got the 0xB8 blue screens.

I will be re-loading the operating system soon anyways, but I sure would like to know the cause, as it has been haunting me for over a year.

Arc · 22 Apr 2015

A 0xB8 is a technically a driver caused BSOD, and for your case the driver is iaStorA.sys. From the data you attached with teh original post :

Code:

BugCheck B8, {fffffa8030d49660, fffff88003ab0040, 0, 0}

Probably caused by : ntkrnlmp.exe ( nt!SwapContext_PatchXRstor+120 )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------------------------
fffff880`03acdc58  fffff880`012bd19cUnable to load image iaStorA.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for iaStorA.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for iaStorA.sys
 iaStorA+0x6719c

Which is ...... in your computer .....

No code has to be inserted here.

As both the bugchecks are showing the same thing, I did not document is separately in post #2.

Apparently you havent taken the suggestions and guessed some causes for the different bugchecks, you havent got the desired result.

As there is no existence of any AHCI driver till you updated the data for the last (and first) time, sorry that I cannot say anything as to what is happening there with AHCI. If you upload the data, I can check it for you. :)
But checking is not the goal, that is action, and fact based action. You have to accept the fact that it is Intel RAID that is causing the BSODs for you, and nothing is different with different codes.

evcelica · 22 Apr 2015

Thanks for the help.

What do you mean I haven't taken the suggestions? I did all this changing of settings in the past, and would just like to get these BSODs to stop, and am willing to do whatever you suggest.
I accept the RAID is causing the problem, I've always had that suspicion.

I've been using the newest RSTe drivers from ASUS support as far as I can tell. (3.8.0.1108 for P9x79WS motherboard)

I'm not an expert, I'm actually pretty ignorant to all things RAID, so I don't know how to fix this. I do need RAID, so I can't disable it as far as I know? What are my options? Are there other drivers that I could be using instead of the Intel ones?
Are there Windows RAID drivers that I could use?
I've thought about switching from RSTe to RST? But iastorA is a driver on RST as well, so that might not do anything?
What about getting a RAID card instead? Or would that be just as problematic.

I've to collected all my bug checks and re-uploaded 1 file. I might not have the earliest crash dumps with the pcie-SSD, since I may not have had a page file then. But I don't care about those anyway.

Arc · 23 Apr 2015

Your post #5 shows some unexpected things which lead me to think that you havent followed the suggestions.

Data talks clearly and precisely that that we can do. If you are still having BSODs, let us see the data following the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions .... I will come to know what is the exact situation, and how far you have taken the previous guidance. :)

evcelica · 23 Apr 2015

OK Thank you,
I followed the BSOD posting instructions, didn't I?

I've had one BSOD since the original post, on April 15th, it was a 0xB8. ATTEMPTED_SWITCH_FROM_DPC. It is uploaded it in the original post #1.
I will update it if I have another blue screen.

Previous Guidance was:
1.) Use newest RAID drivers:
--> I am using the newest ones available for my motherboard. (RSTe) but I will switch to iRST to see if it makes a difference.

2.) Disable Marvell Ports:
--> I can't (I don't think I can anyways) do this since RAID drivers were not installed with the OS. So I had to move my boot drive (single SSD) to the Marvell port, and install the RAID SSDs on the 6gbps Intel ports. If I tried to put the Boot drive on the 3gbps ports, it wouldn't post due to the missing drivers (Instant blue screen). I'm not sure if I can switch it back now or not. I guess I could just plug the boot drive into the Intel ports and see if it posts. It seems that the Marvell controller isn't the problem though?

3.) Disable Intel RST and RSTe in BIOS
--> That would mean setting it back to AHCI mode? Wouldn't that make RAID not work anymore? I do need RAID, so this isn't an option is it? Would I be able to do RAID some other way?

Sorry if I'm slow at making the suggested changes. I can't work on this computer all the time, as its part of a homogeneous computing cluster, being used for heavy computing most of the time. So I only have a small amount of time to get in, backup all the drives, and make these changes, making sure I don't screw anything up. It's the only one in the cluster that's having these problems.

Thanks again for the help,
I'll change over and reinstall the RAID drivers within the next few days, and keep updating.

Arc · 23 Apr 2015

evcelica said:

OK Thank you,
I followed the BSOD posting instructions, didn't I?

Yes, you did it initially. But you need to do it everytime you report a further BSOD.

So attach the data with your reply post.

BSOD 0x8B and 0xC5. Usually during heavy load and RAID SSDs

BSOD 0xB8 and 0xC5. Usually during heavy load and RAID SSDs