BSOD referencing iaStor.sys. Running Win 7, 64-bit.

[dysphoria]

Replaced avast! with MSE successfully. Clean boot through CCleaner (screenshot included). Froze (iaStorA.sys BSoD) after 5 or so minutes. I've had enough for the day, haha. Bedtime for me.

View attachment 325492

 

[dysphoria]

Strangely enough, it really only seems to BSOD when connected to power. I've been running off the battery for about 2 hours now, and nothing ominous has happened. I took a peek around the net for similar symptoms. There were quite a few, but their freezes were either immediate (mine are not), or not BSODs at all (mine are). One guy solved his problems by making his "power plan" the same for both the battery and ac power. I did that as well, but it didn't solve it.

 

[essenbe]

I'm not a real great Laptop person, but they are still computers. But, some differences in them. Does your laptop have some type of HP optimized power plan? I have a Samsung laptop which does. I really don't use it, but it has one and I thought that may help.

 

[Slartybart]

HP, like most PC mfgrs do not ship discs, they give the user the method of creating one set of install media. Either the discs or the Recovery partition can be used to recover from a severe system failure.

Creating Recovery Discs or Saving a Recovery Image to a USB Flash Drive (Windows 7) | HP® Support​

Having both the HP install media and the plain vanilla install media (created from the downloaded ISO) is a good strategy.

 

[dysphoria]

Yessir. I am running off the HP Recommended power plan. I suppose I should be more on the ac power, but since the BSoDs started, I just charge it at night and run it off the battery for most of my use during the day.

 

[essenbe]

I've just been looking and it seems this is a common occurrence, just the responses are different. Some are graphics related but all are while on power brick. I find a lot of complaints but no solutions, yet.

 

[Slartybart]

Hi dysphoria,

I have an HP dv6-c610us laptop. It's always 'fun' trying to find stuff on HP.

I did discover what CTO means though - Configure to Order. This brings up questions re: RAID.

Did you order the machine configured with RAID.
Is this a refurbished machine?
Did you make any changes regarding ACHI, RAID, or legacy.​

When I tried to locate information for your machine, it took a while - and that's not even looking for drivers, just the machine.
Reference docs

• HP Pavilion dv6t-7000 CTO Entertainment Notebook
  
  
• User Guide
  
  
• Maintenance and Service Guide
  
  
• Hard Drives & Solid State Drives
  Identifying, Preventing, Diagnosing and Recovering from Drive Failures
  Care and Maintenance Measures

There is also a QUAD edition, but the product number in both URLs are the same. In a post on Tom's hardware, a user identified the product as A3F49AV, so I don't think this is the machine you have (post# 23, product A3E83AV)

There are some interesting notes on this thread

• No IDE in Dev Mgr
  I'd like you to try this
  
  Right click Computer
  Select properties
  Pick Advanced System setting in the left hand panel
  Press the Environment Variables button (lower right)
  The upper section is User variables
  Press the User variables New button
  Enter the following in the field boxes

  Variable name: devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices
  Variable value: 1​

  Press ok
  
  Then open Device Manager
  Click the View menu
  Pick Show hidden devices
  
  Post a screen shot of the top most level of Device Manager
  If there is a ghost (light grey icon) IDEATA/ATAPI category, expand that and post a screen shot​
  
  
• fewer less frequent BSODs when on DC only
  See this to inspect and verify the adapter is correct for your machine (was it replaced at any time)
  Using and Testing the AC Power Adapter

Thanks,

Bill
.

 

[Slartybart]

Forgot a few questions

Is the laptop in a docking station?

How long does the battery last after full charge?

How does the PC behave/perform if you remove the battery and run on AC only?

Thanks,

Bill
.

 

[dysphoria]

Hey Slartybart!

I did custom order my laptop, yes. Not refurbished; brand new.

Here are the specs from my order that I saved...hopefully that helps.

YOUR CUSTOMIZED HP PC

HP Pavilion dv6t
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M Processor (2.5 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz)
• NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 630M Graphics with 1GB of dedicated video memory
• 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 750GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
• 32GB mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
• $40 OFF Microsoft(R) Office Home and Student 2010
• No additional security software
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• 15.6-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1366x768)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam
• Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)
• Backlit Keyboard with numeric keypad

I followed your instructions through the variable name/value fields. Here is the screenshot after the Device Manager instructions you gave me.

View attachment 325642

As for the power supply...

It has never been replaced--I am still using the original adapter that was issued.

"Is the laptop in a docking station?"
No.

"How long does the battery last after full charge?"
Possibly about 4-5 hours if I turn the brightness down. Around 2-3 with full screen brightness.

"How does the PC behave/perform if you remove the battery and run on AC only?"
Never tried that one, actually... Will give me something to do tomorrow! I'll also check out your link, "Using and Testing the AC Power Adapter".

I wanted to say that about a month ago, I ran a battery test in HP diagnostic mode (I forget the exact name, but it wasn't BIOS). Anyway, the battery tested fine then.

 

[Slartybart]

Thank you K - the feedback you provided is great.

When you get the chance, could you expand the Other Devices in DevMgr? (view menu - show hidden. You don't have to set the variable again though, it's already defined)

I can't see where the RAID comes from, even considering

750GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
32GB mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache​

that's going to take more research.

I think what happened is the IDE ATA configuration got buried somehow and it's going to show up under Other devices (to be honest I expected it to show up as a ghost entry). Once (if) you find the IDE controller device, I think it's just a matter of reconfiguring, possibly reloading the driver. But don't change anything yet - more investigation is required to do it correctly without causing more issues.

I'll take a look at what HP offers as drivers - that always gives me a clue on where to start.

Please post the results of the AC / battery removed test - it might take a few days (ha - no BSODS would be great)

Bill
.

 

[essenbe]

Bill, the driver is under storage devices and is the Intel Raid driver. In bios Intel Rapid Start is enabled. I think Raid has to be enabled and the SSD is used as a cache for the mechanical drive.

 

[Slartybart]

As I said, this is an interesting issue. The mSATA 32 GB drive must be configured as cache, not a drive.

The Service manual calls it a drive, but Disk Mgr doesn't see it as a drive. It is a separate device, not a component of the HD.

So the question remains: Why or How does the Intel Mobile Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller come into play.
essenbe identified iaStor / IRST as the probable possible cause of the BSOD (there is the secondary issue of AC power), determining if there is a RAID requirement for the SSD cache is the next thing.

back to reading.

Bill
.

 

[Slartybart]

Bill, the driver is under storage devices and is the Intel Raid driver. In bios Intel Rapid Start is enabled. I think Raid has to be enabled and the SSD is used as a cache for the mechanical drive.

Thanks Steve, you posted while I was typing. I think we think alike.

I'm also interested in what shows up under Other devices when hidden devices are selected. I suspect that might be where the IDE ATA devices are - don't know for sure.

I want to find out more before I can say I know we know alike Because I don't know enough about mSATA or how it is configured for cache.

Bill
.

 

[Slartybart]

More references:

HP Intel Rapid Start Technology (FFS) Guide

IRST User Guide

Superuser discussion on a Dell with similar configuration

Search results - site:communities.intel.com intel rapid start required for mSATA HDD cache

This is interesting, but does not apply in this case (Rapid Storage Technology 18.5 GB + 8 GB Rapid Start Technology (hibernation) only equals 26.5 GB, which less than the 32 GB on the SSD.
https://communities.intel.com/thread/50806

Apr 9, 2014 1:17 PM ... Based on your description I have to point something you said and that where the issue lies.

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology requires 18.5 GB as minimum capacity of a SSD to cache the system and the
Intel® Rapid Start Technology requires a hibernation partition with equal to or larger than the amount of system memory.
This means that the total should be 34.5 GB of the SSD while your system has a SSD with 32 GB capacity.
.....

---

I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that IRST cannot be disabled. A configuration change perhaps, but since reading the IRST user manual, it is needed for the system (mSATA + HDD). I'll need to keep reading to see how much IRST can be configured.

I wonder if turning off hibernation (cripples Rapid Start) and trimming the SSD (if possible as it's cache, not drive) would bear any fruit.

I'll post again after reading a lot more - my apologies for free association posting, it's the way I think - out loud.

Bill
.

 

[dysphoria]

Hello!

I'll start running without the battery (only AC power) in a bit, and see how it goes.

Here's my screenshot from Device Manager you requested.

View attachment 325734

 

[dysphoria]

Ran on the adapter w/no battery, and it crashed (BSOD) as usual.

 

[Slartybart]

Thanks K,

Not what I anticipated in the Other Devices - oh well, it was a guess.

Ok, AC only causes a BSOD - post the dump, please.
That rules out the battery, but makes the AC jack or power block more suspect.
The fact that you also get a BSOD on battery only (less frequent) indicates a possible short.

The iaStor / IRST issue perplexes me. AHCI and RAID are there (per Intel), RAID shows up indirectly. HP locks down the BIOS, so we can't get to the deeper settings.

Both IRST and Rapid start are controlled by Intel software (start menu - Intel?). After all of that reading, I still don't have a solution to IRST. I do, but it's an unknown and it's a bit of work on your part - and it isn't certain to solve the BSODs.

Let me talk it over with some other members, then we can discuss it with you. It involves a reinstall of Windows, without IRST - but hold on, it's only any idea (could be a bad idea )

Let's see if essenbe sees anything new in the dump after you post the newest one.

Thanks for all of the feedback and your patience. You're really helping members on this side of your monitor.

Bill
.

 

[Slartybart]

Hi Kenin,

essenbe tested my idea and found that it's not going to affect the issue. It looked promising at first, but he discovered that while the IDE ATA controllers were present, IRST still controlled the drive. That means that iaStor is still an issue.

I checked Intel and found a newer IRST release than the one offered by HP. OEMs, especially HP, seem to slow down, even stop offering newer updates after a year. New models come out and you have to really look hard to find updates for a 1 year old machine.

I've pretty much exhausted what I can offer.
I'll go back over some things I have questions about to see if I missed anything by sped reding

Most of the BSOD team was included in my PM discussing the reinstall idea, so they're aware of this thread.

Ever the optimist, hopefully the 13.1.0.1058 IRST driver will help.

edit: I told essenbe that I didn't forget about the AC power issue.... but I guess I did. I didn't mention the increase of BSODs when the AC power brick was connected. Now I didn't forget

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/De...g&OSVersion=Windows 7 *&DownloadType=Drivers
Download SetupRST.exe
The other two ZIP files are specific to 32 and 64 bit F6 floppy installs

Bill
.

 

[dysphoria]

Come to think of it, I really cannot remember the last time I crashed while running on the battery... I really only plug this thing in to charge when I am not using it. Would be NICE if I could be able to keep it running while under power, however. Anyway, here's the crash dump you requested!

View attachment 325779

 

[essenbe]

All of the most recent dumps were from 7-15. No surprises here

 lmvm iaStorA
start             end                 module name
fffff880`01431000 fffff880`016e7000   iaStorA  T (no symbols)           
    Loaded symbol image file: iaStorA.sys
    Image path: \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\iaStorA.sys
    Image name: iaStorA.sys
    Timestamp:        Mon Oct 28 16:15:26 2013 (526ED3EE)
    CheckSum:         0009FA1B
    ImageSize:        002B6000
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4

lmvm iaStorA
start             end                 module name
fffff880`016d5000 fffff880`0198b000   iaStorA  T (no symbols)           
    Loaded symbol image file: iaStorA.sys
    Image path: \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\iaStorA.sys
    Image name: iaStorA.sys
    Timestamp:        Mon Oct 28 16:15:26 2013 (526ED3EE)
    CheckSum:         0009FA1B
    ImageSize:        002B6000
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4